"A Mighty Heart," Michael Winterbottom's film based on Mariane van Neyenhoff Pearl's book about her husband Daniel, a journalist who was kidnapped and executed in Karachi, Pakistan, opens this weekend. I've had my say about the casting of (Czech / Haudenosaunee / American) Angelina Jolie as (Dutch / Cuban / French) Mariane Pearl. And so has Mariane Pearl, who told Newsweek: "This is not about skin color. I wanted her to play me because I trust her. Aren't we past this?"
Well, some people are. And some aren't. Like, I guess, the people who hired Halle Berry to play white Nevada schoolteacher Tierney Cahill in the upcoming "Class Act." (Berry's at least as much white as she is black. But will she wear "whiteface" in the movie? Do you care?) Or, perhaps, the ones who hired John Travolta to play a woman in "Hairspray." Or even those who think it was just wrong for Marriane Pearl to have married a white Jew in the first place. (Miscegenation!) Let's take that logic to its inevitable extreme. Some people are sticklers for racial, cultural and gender purity. If only race, culture and gender were really that monolithic and clear-cut...
And we're talking about actors here. I'm not advocating blackface or whiteface minstrelsy (that implies bad acting, doesn't it?), but these people are supposed to be able to play characters other than themselves. That's what they do.
Maybe Jolie is terrible and totally miscast in the part. I don't know, I haven't seen the movie yet. But a commenter at the site concreteloop.com succinctly summarizes my own feelings about the matter at this stage:
At first it does seem a bit odd, because I am sure there are women of African American or Afro-Cuban descent who could play that role but I would not say this is modern day black-face. If it were some blond-hair, blue-eyed non-talented actress, I would really have a problem. However, I do think Angelina is a great actress and as a matter of fact Mariane Pearl wanted Angelina to portray her in the film. So shouldn’t her wishes be respected?Producer Brad Pitt, who hired his honey for the part, said he was nervous about doing it, but he felt it was the right decision for the movie: "I knew the part had to be played by someone with Mariane's strength and understanding of the world, but I didn't know how to broach the subject. It feels a little like Wolfowitz trying to get his girlfriend a job. [...]
"I know that people are frustrated at the lack of great roles (for people of color), but I think they've picked the wrong example here."
View image Halle Berry plays Tierney Cahill (pictured -- either the one on the left or the one on the right) in an upcoming movie. You see the resemblance. Gotta problem with that?
I guess it also depends not only on whether you think Mariane Pearl has a (moral? contractual?) right to approve who plays her in a movie made from her own book, but whether you consider Angelina Jolie an actress or just "Brad's girlfriend" -- you know, half of "Brangelina." (Or even whether women are capable of making such important judgments, since those who cry "racism" here insist that Jolie and Pearl do not have the personal or professional credibility or authority to make such decisions for themselves.)
And whether you consider the fact that both share Northern European / Caucasian heritage. Much of the criticism I've seen has focused on the tabloid "Brangelina" phenomenon (as if that were real anywhere beyond the supermarket checkstands), or has tried to tie this casting into the history of racist portrayals of African-Americans in Hollywood movies. (In that regard, I recommend Donald Bogle's book, "Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies & Bucks.") But is that really an appropriate conclusion to draw in this particular instance?
I agree that actors of color should be offered more and better roles -- including those that weren't originally written to be one race or another. (Sigourney Weaver played a man's role in "The TV Set" without changing a word. Other parts have been re-written for the actor selected for the part.) But is the problem really one of casting people with the same racial make-up as their characters? Or is it more significant that writers and directors and casting directors are not making films with enough characters of color?
On the practical side... well, a star is a star. Angelina Jolie and Halle Berry are Oscar winners, marquee names, not struggling unknowns. (Not that struggling unknowns or semi-knowns don't deserve a chance, but they're unlikely to get one in such a high-profile project.) Mariane Pearl wanted Angelina Jolie to play her, sought her out, and sold the rights to Brad Pitt's production company. Based on this "package," the film was able to get a greenlight from Paramount Vantage, with the expectation that they would make a profit. The question becomes: Is the only form of "good casting" to make sure the racial balance of the character matches that of the actor?
Is Beyonce really too light -- or too dark -- to have played a character based on Diana Ross in "Dreamgirls"? Is Denzel Washington really too dark to have played light-skinned, reddish-haired Malcolm X? Was it racist to have cast Chinese actress Gong Li as a Japanese woman in "Memoirs of a Geisha"? Were Al Pacino -- or Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio or Robert Loggia -- terrible in "Scarface" (1983) because they are not Cuban? Was it wrong for Benecio Del Toro (Puerto Rican-American) to play a Mexican cop in "Traffic"? If these actors were good or bad in those movies, was it because of their racial background, or because of the roles and their performances in them?
I wonder what happened to a sense of proportion here. This isn't exactly Mickey Rooney playing a grotesque caricature of a Chinese guy in "Breakfast at Tiffany's." Doesn't the performance itself count for anything -- or is it all about appearances? (OK, if Jennifer Aniston had been cast as Pearl, I'd be a lot more skeptical. Even though she's only two years younger than Pearl, while Jolie is seven years younger. But if Jolie is playing Pearl in 2001-2002, then she's just about the perfect age, no?)
Jim,
As for your last comment regarding the ages of Aniston and Jolie relative to Mariane Pearl: If we're into age as well as race here, with both actresses younger than the reallife subject (and not having seen A MIGHTY HEART either), first do you mean seven years younger than Pearl now, or than she was five years ago when the events depicted in the film took place?
Second, and more to the point, there probably is the usual double standard about age whether it's male actors we're talking about or actresses: I didn't see a peep of protest earlier this year when Richard Gere, 57, played Clifford Irving, who was 42 when he pulled THE HOAX on Howard Hughes. However, 47-year-old Kevin Spacey did get skewered for playing Bobby Darin, who died at 36. So perhaps it even depends on who the actor is. Irving gives matinee idel Gere the perfect opportunity to deny the fact of his aging a little longer (and playing a guy whom contemporary accounts described as irresistible to women) while still getting credit for taking on "character roles."
And yet we probably do get suspicious when actresses in what Meryl Streep years back described as the golden age (an actress's 30s) play older characters. I haven't researched this, but was Reese Witherspoon younger than June Carter was when Carter met up with Johnny Cash? Probably. But I see this ultimately as no more valid an issue in a blanket way than race, which I think should be responded to on a case-by-case basis.
No, this isn't Mickey Rooney as a Chinese; nor is it Alec Guinness as an Arab prince in LAWRENCE OF ARABIA or an Indian teacher in PASSAGE TO INDIA. Moreover, erasing Alicia Nash's Salvadoran ethnicity in A BEAUTIFUL MIND in order to turn her into All-American Girl Jennifer Connelly crossed the type of line that to my mind shouldn't be crossed.
I hadn't heard about the Halle Berry casting, but that's the first case of so-called "colorblind" casting (having an actor of color play a role not written as black; e.g., Morgan Freeman in UNFORGIVEN) as a real-life subject (and again, "colorblind" casting has been more frequently seen with male actors, I believe, than with women).
Films about living subjects when those subjects exercise some control and approval over casting are often interesting issues anyway. Sissy Spacek seemed all wrong to play Loretta Lynn in COAL MINER'S DAUGHTER until the publicity pointed out that she was Lynn's choice. Apparently Lynn recognized an understanding that she felt the actress would have. The same is apparently true here. Thandie Newton may have felt she was better suited in terms of race to the role of Mariane Pearl. But could Newton, who IMO has given tense, strident performances in her last few films (e.g, PURSUIT OF HAPPINESS, CRASH) and really hasn't been impressive since BELOVED, have approached the role with the knowledge of the issues as Jolie (as per this week's NEWSWEEK profile, Colin Powell testimonial and all)?
If they'd had Nicole Kidman do the part, I could see an objection, but Jolie actually does look like Marianne Pearl.
But you forgot the ultimate WTF cross-racial casting -- LL Cool J as Robin Williams' cousin in Toys.
Curiously enough, Halle Berry underwent a sort of "whitefacing" for her role in the t.v. miniseries Alex Haley's "Queen" back in the early 90s.
The character she played was a racially mixed former slave whose complection was so light that she could "pass" for white.
Although obviously naturally light-complected, make-up was used to make Halle Berry look lighter skinned.
Obviously, for every role cast, there are hundreds of actors out there who didn't get it. I hate to be facetious, but I'm reminded of the scene in Tootsie where Dustin Hoffman is auditioning for everything, no matter how ridiculously inappropriate he is. Casting takes a perfect storm of the actor's draw, the production company, the rights, salary, availability, and more. Sometimes it fails miserably. Sometimes happy accidents occur. But in general, if an actor creates a believable character, that actor has been successful and done their job. Writing more plentiful powerful roles for the wide range of humans on this planet is its own issue.
I don't think there's much call to disparage Newton's recent performances--those were two of the most thankless roles in recent film history, written as one-note emasculating harridans. What's more, Newton's statement about Jolie has been widely exaggerated. She said she was surprised by reports that Jolie wore skin-darkening makeup, but that she wouldn't comment until she saw the movie. I tend to agree with Newton, in the sense that if you're going to do "color blind" casting, you should also allow a color blind performance: how relevant to the role is the exact shade of Mrs. Pearl's skin?
Fact is, with most movies based on real-life events, it really doesn't matter if the actor actually resembles the person they're portraying. Often we don't know what the person looks (or looked) like, and don't care. Regardless, most portrayals of non-celebrities will feature an actor at least two or three times better-looking than the real person. Do we worry that Julia Roberts doesn't look like Erin Brockovich, or that Meryl Streep didn't particularly resemble Karen Silkwood?
"Sigourney Weaver played a man's role in "The TV Set" without changing a word."
...And for "ALIEN," since you mentioned her.
"OK, if Jennifer Aniston had been cast as Pearl, I'd be a lot more skeptical."
Wow. If Pitt hiring Jolie was already awkward....
You know it's a shame that this was blown up and exaggerated. No one whether they want to believe it or not is a Pure anyway . Okay so what Angelina played the role of a woman who is french, dutch, and cuban, Angelina is of mixed heritage also . The woman she played is not even African American. Halle is not just african american she is half white.
I could see there being a problem if Diana Ross was called upon to play the role of Liza Minelli's mom who played in the original Wizrd of Oz , or if Eminem was called upon to play the part of LL , lol okay something like that would totally make no sense, but to get one woman with a mixed back ground to play the role of another I see no problem, and Angelina happens to be a great actress. In the end that is what I want to see someone who gets the role and does a wonderful job , and the roll fits them. The race card is over played sometimes in instances like these, mixed people can play the roles of other mixed people and that is okay .
So let's close this type of topic , there are real issues out there, and real racial issues but this is just not one.
Guten morgen
Buenos dias
bonjour