Angelina Jolie is currently shooting a movie in India where she plays a biracial woman....this is beginning to cause a stir.

http://www.news.com.au/da...26,00.html


ANGELINA Jolie has sparked a race row by playing a mixed-race woman in her latest film.

The Hollywood beauty has been cast as the widow of murdered US journalist Daniel Pearl in A Mighty Heart - which is being produced by Angelina's partner Brad Pitt.

The casting decision has angered black campaign groups who are furious a white woman has been chosen for the role.

One outraged person wrote on website blacklooks.org: "I had assumed the days when white actors took on roles of black people had long passed."

Another wrote: "You can't tell me Halle Berry, Judy Reyes or other women of African descent wouldn't have been a better choice."

Oscar winner Angelina plays French freelance reporter Mariane Pearl, who was five months pregnant when her husband was kidnapped by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in 2002.

The Wall Street Journal reporter was later beheaded. Despite the furore surrounding the film, the real-life Mariane, 39, is pleased that Angelina will be playing her in the movie.

She said: "I'm delighted Angelina Jolie will be playing my role. I deeply admire her work."

leeroysoupnutz said:

Well, there u go, I guess.

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[Edited 10/13/06 7:02am]

Fauxie said:

yea, kind of.

Hmm, I'm thinking Troy Beyer would've been a better pic. But who remembers her last film?

exactly...

i guess angelina jolie playing a character who is of mixed race heritage is a lot like acting, really, isn't it?

so wait, what kind of job is angelina doing for this project?

Anx said:

The question is: Can Jolie act well enough to do the Pearl story justice?

ThreadBare said:

is mrs. pearl prone to fits of dramatic pyrotechnics? jolie is a good actress - i thought she was great in 'girl, interrupted' - she's just been making a lot of crap blockbusters, presumably to fund all her humanitarian work.

was there this much of a to-do when anthony hopkins played a mixed-race man in a film a couple of years back?

ThreadBare said:

yes she can, I mean on the real I guess we could get all up in arms about her not being mixed race or black or whatever but since it's Brad's show and I didn't see no Black folks lining up to bring the story to film it's kinda too late to throw stones. Angelina looks exotic enough, at least she won't be blond in this one

where is troy by the way? and Halle is too expensive for this, and the other girl, from Beloved where is she? I mean yeah there are others who could have done the part, but who knew what the budget constraints were. Angelina is probably working for scale on this one.

Anx said:

I remember his name being banded about regarding the Hendrix biopic too.

Number23 said:

i'm still trying to wrap my head around queen latifah playing janis joplin.

Number23 said:

The Human Stain
there was some to -do but it was obvious that those who were doing the to-do-ing hadn't read the story. I loved that movie and I thought that he was a perfect fit for the character. But that's just me.

so if someone is part black and part white, shouldn't the role be equally accessible to a black actress or a white actress?

if a film is made about the life of a gay person, is it right for a straight person to play that part? how could a straight actor possibly know what it's like to live as a gay person?

if it's insulting for an actor of one experience to portray a character of another experience, should we do away with acting altogether? maybe we should ban anything that isn't reality programming.

Anx said:

I see your point. I think there's a difference between casting someone along orientation lines versus their ethnicity for a role.

I'm not crying foul over Jolie's casting. I can think of many more women, white ones, who look "more mixed" than she does, though.

And technically, Hollywood casting seems a bit more committed to similarities in portrayals of white figures than to those about nonwhite ones. Did you see the Charlie Pride-Terence Howard thread a few weeks ago?


grammar edit
[Edited 10/13/06 8:00am]

Anx said:

therein lies the rub huh? it's so funny to me that people don't see issues like that, they only see one side of it and how it fits in to their own personal historical perspective. Everyone has been through this process, Asians, native Americans, blacks and whites, straight, gay, male , female, the list goes on. We could talk about limited opportunities for everyone mentioned above, we could talk about all that but I believe that this one was a money thing for real, I mean why shouldn't his Boo, play a major part in the picture, oh wait isn't that nepotism?

My only problem with it is that I would like to see more Black actresses get a chance with different roles, but this is Hollywood. it isn't about meritocracy,and there is always a hint of racism when it comes to these types of roles. in a perfect world a Black/latin actress who looks like they have African blood coarsing through their veiwns will get the role. Like I said before, she sells tickets. it is being produced by her man. What do you expect. So, I will let it be. Then I ahve a a problem with Black actors and actresses supporting lesser known producers/directors to at least create more roles for them. they don't supprt. There are a few, but none for the most part, and that is why they will keep getting those bullshit roles.

when i was in college, we had a couple of professors who cast black student actors and actresses in white roles for mainstage productions. that was considered "groundbreaking" and "progressive". i kinda saw both sides of it. if there weren't substantial roles for these student actors to play, then they should have an opportunity to perform in what's being performed. however, to be painfully honest, a black woman playing "big mama" in "cat on a hot tin roof" was a little distracting!

so do we throw versimilitude to the wind for the sake of acting talent, or do we stay faithful to the physical characteristics of the character being cast?

really, i don't think there's a wrong or right answer, but i think whatever answer is chosen should be committed to, both by those who do the casting and those who comprise the audiences.

Anx said:

i think it depends on the peice. if there is a reason that it should be cast according to race, do so. i certainly can't imagine "raisin in the sun" with a white cast.

but there are lot's of things where i dont think it matters. we did a production of "you can't take it with you" where they cast by talent, rather than race. we had a white grandfather, an asian mother and a latin father producing a black son and no one really questioned it.

Has anyone on this thread seen the movie Suture?

I highly recommend it.

cborgman said:

of course, you also have playwrights who get really upset when you do something like this. edward albee shut down a production of 'the zoo story' because a woman wanted to play one of the two male roles.

it's not only about skin color, and acting chops. it's about who's going to sell tickets, cause movies is a bidness. Brangelina is so hot, it makes sense, if i'm a movie producer.

Anx said:

while i love him as a writer, he is a fucker that way. he shut down a production of "who's afraid of virginia woolf" because they were going to do it with two gay coouples instead of straight couples.

ryan met him when he worked at oscar wilde bookstore, used to come in sometimes. said he is nice, but arrogant as all fuck.

cborgman said:

i talked to him once for a long time when i was in college and directing my own production of 'zoo story'. he was very very nice. i can totally see him being completely crotchety about his work, though. but i think he has a point - his plays are so often about power dynamics that the relationships have to be specific. i think 'the zoo story' is a love story about two men, to be honest. and i think 'virginia woolf' says a lot about his feelings on gender relations. i think he'd rather set limitations than spell out the subtext. i can get with that, depending on how much it serves the work.

Anx said:

i absolutely love zoo story, always wanted to do it and play the "crazy" one

Nothing changes in Hollywood.

yeah she's playing a biracial woman, so what?? what about the story line? I mean his story was sad to me, HBO did a special on it and after watching it, I felt sad. That's such a terrible thing to happen to a family.

What a fucking stupid argument. I think it's a good challenging role that in no way offends the race. Fucking sensationalism.

Oh I read Bionic and that 'sure, she'd be good in that.' Damn tiny phone- but no, she doesn't look anything like Mrs. Pearl.

cborgman said:

i played the "not-crazy" one. one day i'd like to direct/perform it again and play the "crazy" one, just to say i played both.

leeroysoupnutz said:

Let me see here, Brad Pitt is producing the movie...Brad and Angelina are currently a couple and just had a kid together. Hell if I were banging Angelena Jolie I would cast her as Kunta Kinte !

And again, Brad Pitt is banging Angelina Jolie, not Halle Berry, Judy Reyes, etc....(at least not that we know of ).

It's called keeping one of the finest women on earth happy people, not racism.

Angelina Jolie IS bi-racial.

And what's the difference betwixt this and Jessica Alba playing a white woman in F4? ..which I still don't understand..