The Link World
Monday, March 17, 2014 at 8:25AM Gilt City contest to see IF/THEN the wickedly talented one and only Idina Menzel's new Broadway show
The Wire is documenting the Kevin Spacey / Rob Ford feud
Instagram Madonna dresses up as Daenerys Targaryen, Mother of Dragons
Coming Soon 3D retrofitting continues for animated films and The Incredibles and Ratatouille are in process
i09 another "Let it Go" cover (they never end) this time using famous Disney cartoon voices
Cinema Blend rumors circulating that Halle Berry has been cut from X-Men Days of Future Past. Less bad wigs in a movie is always a plus
In Contention Guy Lodge on the winners of the Miami Film Festival includeing the Brazilian thriller A Wolf at the Door. Could it be their Oscar submission this year?
Variety talks to Scarlett Johansson about Woody Allen and like Cate Blanchett she's level-headed about it
Ongoing Controversy
Felicia Day is upset, like we are, about the casting of a white actress as Tiger Lily though I'm linking up to this because even in the pro-ethnic casting majority people keep perpetuating the notion that it would be a risk and no such famous actors exist because they don't get the opportunities and in all of this so few people ever mention the fact that there IS a Native American actress who is beautiful, not completely obscure, and the right age for it who has already carried a movie. How can people have forgotten Q'Orianka Kilcher from The New World this quickly? She is 24 and talented and beautiful and this is ridiculous. Obviously I missed my calling to be a casting director and slap sense into everyone.
I had already posted this on Twitter but just to remind everyone this is the movie she starred in and this is what she looks like now.
Q'Orianka in The New World (2005) and last year at an Oscar Party
In Development
Variety because there hasn't been enough film and television related to Silence of the Lambs, a new possible biopic of a psychiatrist who treated the man who inspired Buffalo Bill
Variety casting on Greta Gerwig's sitcom continues. Adorable Nicholas D'Agosto from Masters of Sex on board
Coming Soon it's tough to keep track of Clint Eastwood's projects but after Jersey Boys he's doing American Sniper and it looks like Bradley Cooper and Sienna Miller will star as man and wife in the true story about a legendary Navy SEAL.
Empire Paul Feig (Bridesmaids, The Heat) is working on an original film musical !
Cinema Blend Jon Hamm and Zach Galifanakis will headline the comedy Keeping up with the Joneses about a suburban couple whose neighbors are undercover agents. No word yet on the casting of the wives
And FYI... our own Amir Soltani is launching a new podcast called "Hello Cinema" with a focus on Iranian Cinema. Here's the teaser...
Reader Comments (16)
Yeah, I commented on the Kilcher issue myself on my blog the other day. She would have been the PERFECT choice for this role. Still, I'm intrigued by the Mara casting because she could bring something special to the role (she's such an interesting talent).
I'm torn.
But like a fellow blogger mentioned, how is this any different than the casting of Michael B. Jordan as The Human Torch? He's a white character with a white sister (they didn't even change her race) and now he's black, which means he's...adopted? So now you're messing with the fabric of the whole comic book story, or is he going to do the movie in white face?
And the blogosphere as a whole embraced his casting and are now pissed about this...?
Didn't know about the Gerwig sitcom, and I understand the lady's got to eat and pay rent, but she deserves something juicier than a TV spin-off. This news kind of brings me down. It's how I feel about the squandered comedic talents of Anna Faris and Allison Janney on their show.
Actually Q'orianka Kilcher already played Tiger Lily in Syfy's "Neverland" miniseries, though I agree, there have got to be plenty of beautiful Native American actresses who are being neglected for the role.
I am of a multifaceted view on the Tiger Lily casting debate, agreeing that whitewashing of Native American roles is a shame. On the other hand, I also see that there may be something character specific that Rooney Mara brings to the role, just as I saw something character specific to Johnny Depp's casting and performance as Tonto. The film could be good. The performance could be great. There may be more to the depiction of Tiger Lily than we're hearing. I think my level of understanding in this case is a reluctance to jump to conclusions on implicit or overt racial prejudice. All I can say that the skill of the performer excites me, but I know that's not what this debate is about.
If Kilcher can dance, she should be Tiger Lily in the TV musical version of "Peter Pan" coming next Christmas. I'll assume they'll cut the terribly racist "Ugga Wug" song--at least the now-offensive lyrics (ugga-wugga meatball?!?!),--but they might keep the music and drums as an excuse for a good dance number.
After seeing Nick D'agosto naked and simulating orgasm in "Masters of Sex," no clothed performance will do. That sort of thing will keep you going for a long, long time.
Andrew the two situations aren't on equal footing, there are so many white characters in film / pop culture (Felicia quotes around 80% in cinema) that casting one black actor in a traditionally white role does not equate to casting a traditionally non-white character with a white actor when there are so few of them to go around in the first place. Plus not everyone even accepts the race switch in castings, I have seen so many people being up in arms about Quvenzhané Wallis being cast as Annie.
andrew -- that is specifically what Felicia Day expresses in her post, the "why" of how it is different.
pam -- yeah. i was upset about the Gerwig sitcom. wrote about it here though i have to admit that in retrospect when I was interviewing her last year she did seem kind of disappointed exhausted by how hard financing and finances was/were for indie films. I didn't really include that part in the interview but it was there however subtly.
Andrew: Really? There's an unarguable problem with the Fantastic Four casting, and it has nothing to do with race: They look WAY too young, even if this is supposedly motivated on wanting to "build a franchise." That's the undebatable problem. The race thing is debtable, but I would only really snarl in attack at ONE race change: Janet Van Dyne, The Wasp. It was stupid when the Ultimate Universe did it (I am NEVER going to read Ultimates 1 or 2 just on the back of that STUPID decision by Mark Millar, even if they're "good") and it'd be stupid if the movie followed along, which it looks like they're not going to. (Evangeline Lilly is at least in talks. I was so nervous that they were going to go down the same kind of bad road the Ultimate Universe did in regards to Wasp when the rumor was Rashida Jones.) So...YAY for that! Everything else I'd pretty much just go: More realistic representation. YAY!
Andrew - I don't see the problem with the Human Torch being black and adopted. Right now the only canonically adopted character is Superman/Clark Kent.
Volvagia - I'm curious what line was crossed that means it's okay for the Human Torch to be re-cast with a black actor, but it's terrible when The Wasp becomes Asian American.
Ratatouille is my favorite Pixar, but why would we want the horror of it being in 3D? That kitchen scene should now become one of the scariest of all time.
I just realized that saying "the kitchen scene" regarding Ratatouille is basically the whole movie. I meant the scene at the old lady's home with the ceiling. Come to think of it, it wasn't in the kitchen, was it...
kin -- I CAN'T EVEN. horrifying
Anne Marie: The line where her name is an, at least implict, pun on being white? It's a racially charged superhero name when you think about it and probably the ONLY racially charged superhero name given to a white character. Personally, any adaptation of the character concept should (and probably will) lean on the FAR more interesting original concept, backstory, additional skills (beyond superpowers) and thematic underpinnings: "Yes, I am calling myself Wasp. Yes, that IS meant to evoke both the animal and the racial term. Yes, I DID do the costume design for those Hunger Games movies between adventures. Wanna fight?" That could be awesome in at least being DIFFERENT for a superhero movie. Even forgiving the racial stuff, another super scientist...isn't and PLEASE don't go down that road Edgar.
As for the Johnny Storm thing: I am generally against singling out RACE as the bad decision in casting decisions that change a character's racial background. This Fantastic Four casting is awful (Eddie Redmayne as eternal joyous ham Doctor Doom? Looks like Fox didn't learn anything from last time: Subtlety and Doctor Doom go together like oil and water), but AGE is more a concern than anything.
Volvagia, I'll take lady scientist over fashion-conscious lady any day, if we're addressing annoying stereotypes for women in movies. Of course, the fashion designer trope has mostly been confined those ubiquitous fluffy bits of nonsense called "chick flicks," so I don't expect you to have wasted any of your time or awareness on them. And if her name was a pun on being white, so what? Being white wasn't as fundamental to her character as, say, her superpowers or her fantastic leadership qualities.
I agree that the ageism with the Fantastic Four casting is sad and problematic. Two steps forward, one step back.
Anne Marie: I'm sorry about...earlier. It's a complicated issue, I messed up, let's not talk about it. As for what I said: If you don't want her as what she is in the mainline comics? Fine. But DO NOT settle for another bleeping super scientist. EVER. There's too many. GIVE HER ANOTHER JOB THEN.
You make a good point. "Asian Super Scientist" is as overplayed a trope as "Blonde Fashion Diva." It would be nice to see something completely out of left field, job-wise. Trash collector perhaps? Client services rep? You never see those in movies, and it would definitely give her the motivation to get the heck out!
And I'm sorry about the low blow. I shouldn't drag stuff from the past into the current conversation.