Casting Film Couples Race is still a black-and-white issue
 

I'm still trying to sort this out in my head...

Personally I think that race has some interesting issues when it comes to casting.

I don't think that Kingpin should have been a black man in DareDevil, in the comics he's always been a white man. If that character is so changeable, then why not change up Daredevil to be a blackman? or Superman for that matter...

As far as the couples go, I am in a mixed marriage myself. I don't really think too much of it when it's mixed, but I do tend to think of it as more leaning towards black if the top bills go to mainly black actors/actresses.

Before anyone takes offense at the studio's refusal to have an all-black couple, I would like to point out that the reasons are purely economic. As the article said, such a pairing would be less popular in the areas where the film is screened (including the US), and the studio, being a for-profit enterprise, has money as its top interest. The reason for the societal bias toward the preference of seeing people of their own race in movies is because they are able to identify with them easier, llike it or not. Based on the population of the United States and other countries where this will be screened (probably mostly in Europe, but don't ask me for figures), most of the viewers will be white, so the company decided that profit would be maximized by not having two black people be linked romantically.

I am somewhat guilty of this as well. Though Hitch isn't in my interests regardless of the casting, porn is. I wouldn't mind watching an Asian or black woman in porn, but I'd be turned off if the guy was black or Asian. It's harder for me, a white person, to identify with non-white men in porn (as if I could identify with white men with 8 inch dicks), and after all, that's the reason why guy/girl porn is watched, anyway.

I can vouch for the trends on the International market as it is my job to know these trends... There is practically no market for "black films". A black cast will have trouble selling abroad.

That said, the film has Will Freakin' Smith in it... Sales may be less brisk than usual but it will still sell.

The real issue is that this was a Romantic Comedy... no one batted an eye when Will was linked to Rosario Dawson in Men in Black II or, as pointed out, in Ali. The genres have everything to do with it...

some things will take generations to grow out of. its sad too.

Merely a reflection of the discrimination that the media perpetuates . . .

sigh................

so archaic.

I would have thought once a black actor had reached a certain height of fame ,that he would appeal to all races. Will Smith is Will Smith!! , a bankable actor who people would go see a film just because he was in it. And they would respond to his experiences in the movie in the same way they would respond to someone of their own race, in the sense of being able to imagine themselves in the role.

Im surprised this isnt the case.

i would say it's also the fault of many "black" movies (barbershop,...i can't think of the others names but all the ones with snoop dogg). The comedy in those movies is geared toward blacks and really doesn't appeal to others. Therefore, people get the idea that if the leading roles are all blacks, it'll be another one of those movies which most likely won't interest them. That's what i've observed.

it really shouldn't have mattered with will smith in there though.

I'm not much of a Will Smith fan, but it does seem like a bit of a stretch in this case. The ads I've been seeing are focusing on Hitch's role as a date doctor for the fat guy from King of Queens. If that is the focus, it doesn't seem like the ethnicity of his girlfriend would much matter.

I wonder why it's only a couple of interracial mixes that cause problems. You won't see a black man / white woman pair unless the interracial aspect is the focus of the story, and to a lesser extent, the same is true of white man / Asian woman pairs. Yet, a white or black / Latino mix doesn't seem to raise eyebrows. Curious.

yeah, race-sensitive casting is an interesting thing.

here in portland, a theater company recently did a production of My Fair Lady, where they cast eliza as a black woman. this seems all well and good at first, but when you think of the story-- essentially it's about "civilizing" a lower-class, poor, ignorant person so that she is fit to mingle with high society. a lot of people were bothered by what were suddenly recontextualized as very racist overtones.

i guess that was kind of a tangent, but it's a good story i think. oh well.

i guess as long as race is something people still think about, even subconsciously, inter-racial relationships (romantic and otherwise) will be something of a sore spot.

hollywood is about making money. it can be shifty about 'liberalism' and 'conservatism' depending on which way it can make more money. And films carrying black leads tend to not do as well internationally as others, especially if its drama.

/was an extra on the set of Hitch.

The comedy in "Barbershop" was geared towards blacks?? I don't know if you noticed but it was the #1 movie in America for a few weeks. It grossed $75 million as of November 2002 (according to imdb.com). If you watched the movie, you'd see the humour isn't geared towards blacks. It's humour geared towards being funny.

As far as the producers of "Hitch" scared to cast two black actors as leads because they fear to lose an audience... It's just sad. I've noticed the ads feature Kevin James pretty heavily, too.

In this celebrity-worshipping culture, Hollywood could fight racism very easily. Give Tom Hanks a black wife in "Cast Away" and don't make a big deal out of it.

While the studios do this to make money, we should also agknowledge their role in perpetuating these kinds of myths. I can't think of a single family sit-com, for instance, that has an interracial leading couple. In fact the only sit-com I can think of that has any interracial couple is at the very end of friends (but I don't watch too much TV0.

Obviously this is in respose to continued prejudice in society. But whats the message society is getting back from the media? The the racists are right, that happy families only consist of people of the same race. So its a vicious cycle.

If the studios would just suck it up and ignore skin colour, eventually the dipshits who don't like movies involving the VISIBLIE MINORITIES would become acclimatised to a more diverse cast, and the studios could go back to making that extra 3 mil profit off their big movie.

I've got a question!

Do we still have the same respect for the Fresh Prince since he recognizes the problem but doesn't pull out of the movie?

This is not a loaded question. On the one hand he's being an armchair activist, but on the other, by staying in the racist Hollywood environment, he's a powerful black role-model.

Oops, I guess I just did a lot of the answering of my own question. D'oh!

Lenny and Carl? (well, maybe) :)


Personally, I didn't see anything interesting in ads for "Hitch" (regardless of the skin color of the actors/actresses therein).

Then again, I really have trouble trying to persuade myself to see any of those Hollywood multi-million dollar "movies" these days.

The notion that a few kids with a HandyCam can make a better movie than most of these "blockbuster" films is lost on those Hollywood "big shots."

Now I'm going to "click" the Submit Reply "button."

It happens and it's unfortunate. But I think the telling thing is Europe in this little microcosom is more intolerant than the good ole U.S. in my own opinion. And frankly I think the black white relationship(with Will Smith being the black half of it) really woudln't have been a big problem over here. It might have turned a few people off but Will is starting to eclipse his race. You see Will Smith first then black actor second at least I think so. What is really disturbing to me is that Europe that is supposed to be home to such progressive societies would not turn out to watch a movie with a black romantic couple. I have a perfect way to blow the whole race thing right out of the water.

More gay and lesbian couples and the story is told that doesn't play it up in a big deal that they are homosexual. After that is pushed through and people stop looking at that as being offensive seeing a man and a woman on screen in a romantic role and they are interracial or both black/asian/latin would no longer be a big deal I think.

I did see it, and I thought it was hilarious, but i could see how it wouldn't interest many people. Maybe barbershop was a bad example. How about soul plane? I realize that yes it's geared towards being funny, but whether you want to admit it or not, it's geared toward a certain demographic as well, and I think that people have gotten pretty good at figuring out what movies will interest them and what movies won't. So I think that many people equate an all black cast to that type of movie, and that just doesn't interest them.

I think one problem is that hollywood is too concerned with making money off of each film, that nobody is willing to take chances.

Has anyone been watching wife swap? I've been quite surprised that they've had many interracial couples on there (surprised in a good way). But it also saddens me a little that they sometimes make a big deal out of it. It is definately refreshing to see it on everyday television though.

It's ridiculous that we still have to carefully construct racial balances in film to market them properly.

it kind of sounds like he is just trying to hype himself or get attention for a project to me... I mean, I dont know, I cant imagine it would make much difference having amixed relationship in a movie like that,,,, I cant imagine wanting to watch a movie like Hitch whatever race any of the leads were... but I wouldnt even think about it in terms of going to see a movie... I suppose there may be a very small number of KKK/Ayrian Nations fruitcakes who might nit like it, but are these people teh target audience for Romcoms anyway?

Obviously, there is racism in the UK as well, but in terms of the few organised racist groups it is not really aimed that much at blacks, more at Southern Asian's/Islam & Sikh - and much more at "Asylum seekers" and illegal immigrants - who are mostly East European. I honestly cant imagine anyone in the UK caring about romcom's having two black leads (in fact, there have been some that have that I can think of)... I couldnt imagine anyone anywhere caring about it to be honest.

As for the "racism" in the oscars stuff... I think thats a bit silly. Jamie Foxxx won best actor this year, and Halle Berry won best actress a little while ago, lots of black actors have won awards, and lots of white actors, and so on...

Halle Berry and Denzel Washington are the first black to win best actor/actress category. The last time a black person won that category was in 1964. Best actress before that? No black woman ever. Black women had to have leading roles in order to be nominated, but there were no nominees either.

Haha, point

:thumbsup:

I must admit, the fact Larry Fishburne, Denzel Washington, and Morgan Freeman dont all have best actor wins is kind of surprising.

edit - well, at least Denzel has won one!!!!

Morgan Freeman has played almost exclusively supporting character roles, for which he has nominations and one win. He's a bad example if you're looking for racism.

I just picked 3 of my favorite actors

then why isn't he offered better leading roles? he obviously can carry a movie as he's done in the past...

For the same reason you won't see Paul Giamatti in leading roles. He's a wonderful actor, but isn't the leading man type; he's a character actor, better suited to the supporting role.

When you think "black leading man" Freeman isn't on the list. Denzel Washington, Wesley Snipes, Laurence Fishburn, Will Smith, Samuel L. Jackson, Don Cheadle (why doesn't he get more work?) Ving Rhames, one or two others leap to mind.

Freeman has been consistently honored for his excellent work over the years.