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Honestly, I don’t see a problem with this so long as she does a good job portraying her character. Nobody minds when Maya Rudolph race swaps, so why is this such a big issue?
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hey! what a neat costume! just in time for halloween! i don’t even need any makeup - i’ll be angelina jolie as marianne pearl!
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…. is she wearing makeup? It looks like she’s wearing caked-on brown foundation or that fake bronzing stuff.
Either way, I’m really grossed out by that photo.
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I’m with Eva on this one, I’m not sure I’m “getting” the problem.
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Haha! One of the commenters on Gawker wrote: “This was a job for Rhea Perlman.”
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i think the problem–or one at least–is, why don’t they just hire a latina actress?
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Maya Rudolph “race swaps?” Since when? (this is my cousin so be careful :))
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robyn: yes, I do “get” that, and that was my first thought. But there are many factors that come into play there (and I’m not saying any of the motives are necessarily OK, just playing devil’s advocate here) - 1. billing: they need to find an actress who will sell the film, 2. talent: depending on the nature of the part, they need to find someone with the necessary skill to fit that role
If they had chosen a Central or South American actress, then people would get upset that they didn’t use a Cuban actress. It’s probably a lose-lose situation for the film makers. I personally think Jolie should have turned down the role and suggested to the powers that be that they get a Latina actress…but hey, whatever.
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makeesha - I see what you’re saying about billing. Even though perhaps using a relative unknown from the theater might give the film an “indenpendent” sensibility.
“Talent” is where some of us get stuck. There is NO actress, that naturally possesses Marianne’s characteristics AND is talented? It’s a vicious cycle - you’re not known, we’re not confident you can fit the bill AND “1)we’re not casting a _____ OR we’re not looking for a racially ambigous character, the lead is clearly ____ and you’re not ___ enough, you have a lotta talent kid! thanks for coming and good luck on your search”.
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ooooooh Gandalf me love your cousin!!!!! She is insane!!! {hugs}
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My armchair casting would have been Thandie Newton. It frightens me to think of Jennifer Aniston playing the role, like eary rumors had said.
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But instead, Thandie Newton is in the new Eddie Murphy buffoonery-fest. It’s so nice that actresses of color are being offered these great opportunities.
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Ooh, that make IS caked-on. I’m thinking they could have found a “known” actress to play the part without having to work so hard at bronze-facing Jolie. Nothing against her skill or skin color, just a ready to see some new faces that are already bronzed.
I do, however, realize that they need a “star” to help sell the movie. -
The main thing that bothers me about this is that there are many women of color, famous and not so famous (Halle Berry, Thandie Newton, etc.), that could have had the opportunity to portray Maryanne Pearl. But of course it went to Ms. Jolie who just so happens to be a “close friend” of Mrs.Pearl. It is offensive to me that a white woman can do “Brownface” and no one, except for forums like this, seems to see how this is problematic.
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My major objection is that you NEVER hear of a talented Black or Latino/a actor/actress that plays the role of a real life White person. I mean, I personally would love to see Will Smith (in whiteface, of course) playing George W. Bush in a movie, or Gabrielle Union in whiteface playing Hillary Clinton, but you just don’t see that. So why is it really “ok” to allow a white actress to (so freakin’ poorly too - she looks nothing like Marianne Pearl) play a person of color??????
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What I mean by the Maya Rudolph reference is that she consistently portrays women of all different races, bot white, black and latina. Why is it artistic and all around okay for her to use her talents to morph into people of different races but not for Angelina Jolie?
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Eva and Makeesha:
If an “ambiguous”-looking actor takes on different ethnic roles, then fine (look at Lou Diamond Phillips), so long as it makes visual sense.
But there is a long (bad) history of white people darkening their skin rather than the industry hire actual minorities. It’s pathetic that this is still a problem. I don’t hear of an ethnic minority CHANGING their skin tone to do a role (correct me if wrong, beyond Eddie Murphy), especially in a serious dramatic role. Comedy (however one defines it) at least KNOWS what it’s doing. For a film that wants to be taken seriously to do it smacks of cluelessness and entitlement, even w/ the best of intentions.
Ironic fact: Today would have been Daniel Pearl’s birthday.
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Eva: you answered your own question. As often happens in theater, but less often with TV and film (due to the medium, not necessarily the talent), conveying a character usually requires acting with one’s voice, body, and BRAIN. Not the color of one’s skin.
All they did here, as far as I’m concerned, was play a little “Black Like Me” action and assume everyone would be fine with it.
(http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0057889/)It’s blackface (or tanface), pure and simple.
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Coming from a women of color. There is a problem when Hollywood won’t even get a black or half afro women to play a black or afro character. “They cant say that, the fact that her color do not mean anything, its the story that matters.” Because if it didnt, they would have gotten Angelina to play her without make up. It looks like modern day black face, to me.
Hollywood has a history of picking women of color based on how light there skin color is and how close they look to being european. -
GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT VERSION SORRY:)
Coming from a women of color. There is a problem when Hollywood won’t even get a black or half afro women to play a black or afro character. “They cant say that, the fact that her color doesn’t mean anything, its the story that matters.” Because if the color of her skin didnt mean anything, they would have gotten Angelina to play her without make up. It looks like modern day black face, to me.
Hollywood has a history of picking women of color based on how light there skin color is and how close they look to being european. -
Thanks for posting this because I thought I was going crazy when I saw this photo earlier today. I was like…did she brown up….couldn’t have…. YES SHE DID! I’m so glad I’m not loony.
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I still don’t understand what the hullabaloo is all about. Women like Cameron Diaz and Aleix Bladel are latinas and yet play white women all of the time. Others like Jennifer Lopez have portrayed caucasian women. So it’s not as though it doesn’t happen the other way around.
Lyonside - I don’t really understand your logic here. So it’s okay for comedians to swap races but not ‘dramatic’ actors? -
People of color would understand more then someone who is not.
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Maya Rudolph is a mixed raced woman, her mother was African-American (black), her father is Jewish (white). That might be why she plays women of different races.
Cameron Diaz plays white women, because she is white (you can have White Cubans, Afro-Cubans, Aisan-Cubans, the same way you can have African-Americans, Asian-Americans, European(white)-Americans) Pearl’s mother is Afro-Cuban.
I suspect Aleix Bladel is also a white, although my son is blonde and blue eyed like her and I look like Marianne Pearl (my mother is Afro-Caribbean, my father Irish).
The part should have been given to a mixed race woman, Jolie has taken a meaty role from a woman of colour. I would have hoped that while holding her daughter-of-colour she tried to understand the the limited roles out there for women of colour. It appears that she didn’t. What does this say to her daughter?
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This isn’t the first time this has happened…
World Trade Centre (Oliver Stone), the heroes, two Marines, weren’t both white…one was a black man (Marine Sgt. Jason Thomas) who was cast and played by a WHITE actor.
“…”missing” Marine, the actor playing him is a white man. In real life, Sgt. Thomas is African-American. ”
“Shamberg [the producer] said he apologized to Thomas for an inaccuracy in the film: Thomas is black, but the actor cast to portray him, William Mapother, is white. Filmmakers realized the mistake only after production had begun, Shamberg said.”
usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-15-sept11-hero_x.htm
Years ago Elizabeth Taylor played an Egyptian.
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This may be taken badly, but I think she looks good. On a completely not-analysed kinda way: she looks more “natural” and attractive to me like that than the way she usually looks.
*shrug* I’m just being shallow, it’s just kinda interesting.
To completely not address the specific issue on hand: it drives me insane that Egyptians are traditionally represented as white (in white films). WTF? Cleopatra would have been BLACK! Like, black black. Or perhaps dark bronze. Certainly not white with black hair. Grr.
Apologies for not really communicating my point all that well, but I can’t keep my mouth shut and don’t have the presence of mind right now to edit properly
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Eva, the simple answer boils down to the fact that white people (and I guess people who “look white”, but to a lesser extent) have privilege in Hollywood, and by that I mean they’re going to be considered “normative” when casting a role, which means more work for them (this is somewhat balanced by the fact that there is more of them so they have to work harder at auditions, but they get more auditions in the first place.)
If we had even a representative amount of people of colour in Hollywood (there isn’t; blacks are slightly higher than representative; Asians and Latinos are nowhere near representative.)
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It is a problem because, this is the same crap Hollywood pulls all the time when it comes to race.
You mentioned Halle Berry playing a white lady in an upcoming film. I bet they won’t have her puting on makeup, to make her look WHITE. That is the reason the me and a lot of people are uneasy about this.
The only reason Angelina got the part any way was because, the film is being produced by Brad Pitt’s company.
Thandie Newton should have gotten the role anyway.
And another thing, if Hollywood gets away with putting someone in BROWNFACE or BLACKFACE or whatever the hell you want to call it. What makes you think they wont try to pull this same miss all the time, in the few roles that people of color do get.
Angelina has a warped sense of race anyway. In an interview with Anderson Cooper, she was asked what country she would adopt from next, she stated:
“It’s going to be the balance of what would be the best for Mad and FOR Z right now. Another boy, another girl, which country, which race would fit best with the kids.” (http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0606/24/acd.01.html)
What does she mean, what race best fits the kids? come on. When I first heard that she was adopting children of a different race, I thought it was cool, because she is showing that no matter what race you come from, we are all brother and sisters, peace and harmony. But when she said that shit, it sounded like she was picking out clothes or something.
Thanks
P.S. Sorry about my rant.
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One more! From reading Jay’s comment: I was really really shocked when I found out Halle Berry got all excited (heard 2nd hand, I have no interest in movie awards) for winning an Oscar(?)… Because she was the FIRST EVER black woman. Like, what, 1 black man’s ever won? I dunno, that may be an exaggeration.
But it pisses me off that if there’s a black role in Hollywood there’re like 3 actors used. Bah.
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Gandalf:
Does that mean Minnie Ripperton’s your aunt? OUR aunt? -
I guess Sophie Okenedo was busy and couldn’t audition for this role right? And I guess we also are supposed to think that Jolie being Brad Pitt’s (who is producing this) fuckbuddy too had nothing to do with her getting this role, right? RIIIGHT.
In her defense, Marianne wanted Jolie to play her, and she’s British, so she probably has no clue as to why Americans (with the whole Blackface era) would be pissed off about this. But still…what an awful decision. Is it too hard to ask that mixed race people on screen actually be played by mixed race people?
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merq, that’s what it means. You a Daugherty?
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Angelina Jolie playing Pearl’s wife I really have no trouble with if is now self-identifying as mixed. I belong to an online mailing list of Creole genealogists who have roots in Louisiana as Jolie has (her mother). May it be possible that is now such a stretch with? She might really be a silent person of color?
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I respect your point mystic. But for AnJo to find & claim her Creole roots NOW would be at the very least opportunistic-to put it kindly. Those “creole” roots weren’t impt enough to bring up when her career was getting started….Those roots either don’t magically confer poc status when she hasn’t lived it other than on set.
Gandalf - I was think about those high notes all day yesterday!!
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I am a black woman and I fail to see the issue here. In fact I think the makeup is dead on and AJ looks uncannily like Marianne Pearl in that picture.
Also with her very mixed background and European upbringing, I doubt Mrs Pearl considers herself as black, like people in the US (one drop rule) probably do .
I read that Mrs Pearl approved of Jolie’s casting. If she’s OK with it I’m OK with it. -
The question is: are people going to give a crap about the story, or even Jolie’s performance, or are they going to be talking about “Angelina” looking so “DIFFERENT” and how “BRAVE” she is to change her appearance? If she gets an Oscar nom out of this, I will retch.
Eva:
Eva wrote:>I still don’t understand what the hullabaloo >is all about.
Do any of your examples CHANGE THEIR SKIN COLOR for a role? That’s what’s so damn offensive.
>Lyonside - I don’t really understand your >logic here. So it’s okay for comedians to >swap races but not ‘dramatic’ actors?
No, I’m saying that the history of comedy often involves changing one’s appearance, right or wrong, specifically to entertain the audience, to use or abuse stereotypes, etc. The audience is IN ON THE JOKE. Now whether the joke is funny, especially if dealing with skin color and when considering the history of blackface (and yellowface and redface - Native Americans were often played by Europeans in makeup for TV and Hollywood) in the US, is totally up to the viewer.
With a drama, especially one based on a REAL person, one that is still breathing, no less? And for them to claim, “we had no idea?” Is BULL.
It’s not a matter of allowed or not, but of intent and sensibility.
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Sean Penn isn’t actually mentally impared but he portrayed one in I Am Sam. Similarly, not all deaf or blind characters are portrayed by actual deaf or blind actors. That’s what acting is all about. Acting like a person different from who you are. If anything, we should be anticipating this with some optimism to see if Angelina actually does a good portrayal or not. The point is to represent the story, and who knows? Maybe she IS the best one for the job.
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Eva: I’m wondering if you’re being deliberately obtuse. There is a difference between letting one’s voice and body movement convey a character (a la’ Dustin Hoffman in Rainman) and someone wearing makeup to portray an ethnic minority, especially given 1) the history of blackface, 2) the not-so-historical marginalization and ghettoization of ethnic minority actors, and 3) the lack of decent roles for minority actors overall even now.
Your comparison again does not wash.
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Is it really only about the story? So… Angelina was cast to really “flesh out” this role the way no other actress could? The way no other black or mixed race actress could? Yeah, I doubt it. It’s about the connections that she has, the fact that her name sells tickets. I don’t know where all of this Angelina-is-the-most-phenomenal-actress-ever tripe is coming from…yeah, she can play crazy, but I’m not seeing any range here. I wonder if I’ll be able to see this movie and take her performance seriously, all the while staring at her Instant Bronze Sunless Tanning Lotion-saturated skin. *sigh*
Color matters, esp. when it involves a biopic. To me, colorblind means ignoring who a person is and where they come from. Pretending everyone’s the same when they’re not. It’s usually used in situations like this one, to make up for the fact that WOC actresses can’t even play themselves. Let’s cover up the injustice with a term that’ll make people feel guilty for bringing up the massive elephant in the room! And I don’t fool myself into thinking that Angela Bassett could ever audition for the role of say, Hilary Clinton, and get it.
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Eva is being closed minded.
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There’s an article with Thandie Newton’s reaction to the photo of Jolie in makeup at http://www.thesun.co.uk/article/0,,2004580002-2006470388,00.html
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It seems that Eva is unaware that white latina/os exist. The comparison between mental/physical incapibilities and ethnic/racial identity is a weak and irrelevant one. How can you compare the two?
And personally, I don’t think she looks anything like Mariane (the skin color looks like the self tan bronzer…at best, she looks like she’s of S. Italian/Greek descent).
Now someone who looks like Mariane Pearl is Troy Beyer (who happens to be biracial - black and white). -
Hey, I’m a woman of colour too.(I’m half british, half korean, and of jamaican, japanese and filipino decent.) I don’t get it, how come all the white women-in brownface get more attention get more attention then the black women in white face, so it’s ‘daring’ for a white woman to play a woman of colour but for a woman of colour to play a white woman, oh how dare she! WTF! how unfair I agree with Keysha know matter what rACE YOU ARE WE SHOULD ALL LIVE IN PEACE AND HARMONY-pace out!!
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sorri i meant peace out(and also sorri for the caps
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I work in “the biz” and the answer to why they chose Angelina is simple- Brad Pitt’s production company is producing the project, they own the rights to it, so I’m sure there was never any casting process at all. That’s the way a lot of casting decisions in Hollywood are made, sadly.
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Oh and my boyfriend is a Latino actor, his film parts in the past year have included gangster, mob guy, homeless person, and he also played a Middle Eastern terrorist. So you tell me what’s fair about that.
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I’m being close-minded because I believe in giving her, and this role, the benefit of a doubt?
I guess by these standards, actors should only play other people exactly like themselves. Jessica Alba should not have dyed her hair blonde for the Fantastic Four movies because that was portraying her as white. She shouldn’t have gotten hair extensions and played a Malayasian woman because she’s not actually Malaysian. Keanu Reeves shouldn’t have portrayed a white man in The Gift because he’s not really white. If actors only portrayed characters of similar ethnic backgrounds as themselves we would be at a loss for something to watch on tv or at the movies. Quite frankly, I think this has been blown completely out of proportion. -
I’m with Eva on this.
Quick backstory: Aniston expressed quickest interest, and originally pitched the project to Pitt’s company while they were married. Pitt developed it while they were splitting up, Jolie moved up in the casting queue. Hook with Brad Pitt, you could be the star of this, race/ethnicity/creed irrelevant.
Interesting that Pearl herself didn’t seem to have a problem with Jolie’s casting. Maybe it’s because she’s *not* African-American… but a French national of mixed Afro-Cuban-Dutch heritage? So where did this sudden transnational push to adopt Ms. Pearl into the fold start?
While flattered, I’m sure she’d be kind of surprised to suddenly find out she was suddenly co-opted by a racial and ethnic group she felt she genuinely didn’t belong to, that didn’t represent her, that labeled her something she herself doesn’t identify with.
Though I can name some popular European actresses that might be better suited for the role, they wouldn’t have the box office draw in the US. Also, Pearl and Brangelina have gained much value from their joint PR and media exposure.
Boosted sales of Pearl’s book, which pours money into the foundation named after her husband. Jolie’s chatted up humanitarian causes and the UN work– especially to the very areas where they would be filming. Jolie gives birth before the appeal gets filed by the man who murdered Daniel Pearl, etc. Everything is buzz with this couple more than any other actress that’s been named.
As for Dorothy’s point: it cuts both ways. What “black” actor can you think of would willingly undertake “whiteface” as you’ve laid it out? It not only sounds as derogatory as “blackface”, but the assumptions and intent are just as suspect. How supportive were women and blacks towards the idea of a “White Chicks II” again?
More to the point, start with every single Shakespearean historical play (all based upon real figures) on which great actors of all backgrounds cut their teeth. Try the popular 1996 novel/1998 movie “Primary Colors” where the African-American Henry Burton is a *very* thinly-veiled George Stephanopoulos. Even Earle Hyman (Russell Huxtable on “The Cosby Show”) who, since the 1950s, has maintained huge popularity as an African-American performer in Norway performing Henrik Ibsen plays among other things.
If the concern is that you don’t hear of “enough” blacks in “traditional” white roles”: it is done and heard of globally, it just depends upon which ones you’re talking about.
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I fail to see the great “racial” difference between Angelina Jolie and Marianne Pearl.
Can the people making the “brownface” remarks define “white” and “person of color” and tell us where the dividing line is?
“Pure” whites versus “impure” coloreds? Hell, you might as well say “Aryan” and “non-Aryan.”
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BRAVA EVA! You have the most nuanced view of this issue. Count this woman of color and anti-racist activist since the 1960s in with those who agree with Eva.
This just goes to show just how far we’ve come since the European invasion of the Americas through the Civil Rights Movement up through now, and how far we still have to go. It also goes to show how there are so many related issues (blind vs. traditional casting, American vs. European vs. world P.O.V., white vs. varying shades and nationalities of people of color, the identity issue black/white/bi-/multi-, etc.) which intersect and overlap. Oy! Ah yah!
Has anybody seen the side by side photos of Angelina Jolie as Mariane Pearl, and Mariane herself? It’s uncanny how alike they look.
Has anyone seen the HBO documentary “The Journalist and the Jihadist” aired last week? Mariane is VERY LIGHT. (And I’ve seen ‘white’ blacks throughout the years. Hello, I never knew Jennifer Beals was bi-racial until years after Flashdance.) I don’t think Mariane’s race/heritage could be immediately guessed on seeing her.
I disagree that Angelina Jolie is in “brownface.” I think that would be offensive and anathema to her. In that photo, Jolie doesn’t even match the ‘brownness’ that white actresses get with their fake tans.
I would have loved Sophie Okonedo or Thandie Newton (on another racial controvery front, many African Americans are upset that her husband is white and brand her a race traitor) in the role. Someone on another board was decrying that there are many struggling black actresses who should have been cast.
REALITY CHECK: No unknown female actor, regardless of color, is going to be cast as the lead of a major movie because producers will insist on someone who can OPEN their movie and be the best bet for getting bottoms into the theater seats on the first weekend.
I’m going to take a wild guess and say the production budget is about $25-50 million plus (based on Brokeback Mountain) . Double that for the publicity/promotion.
Thandie is just getting known to the general public with Crash. I don’t think Sophie has quite made it on the radar yet.
I also disagree that Angelina was cast because she & Brad are hunnybunnies. She’s got the chops and she can open a movie (see Lara Croft, Mr. & Mrs. Smith)
Does Angelina’s humanitarian work and values count in her favor? I think so.
(No use arguing with the cynicsm and negativism of those who oppose this casting, or just Angelina Jolie period. C’est la vie, everyone has their own opinion, and that’s cool.)
Does the fact that Angelina is heartily endorsed by Mariane herself, and Daniel Pearl’s parents (before the donations, btw) count? I think so — and that should be the end of it.
P.S. Props to Jennifer Aniston for pushing to pick up the rights. And >, a narrow miss on casting her as Mariane. A big important story would have been reduced to a tv Movie of the Week — not that there’s anything wrong with movies of the week, but the horror, the horror.
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1. Never said that Mrs. Pearl was African-American, but it IS a Hollywood (i.e. US-made) movie, so the history of movie-making and the roles (or lack of) for minority women in the US apply.
2. Jessica Alba mentions don’t hold water - I’m really tired of this straw man. Hair color is easily changed by ANYONE. Skin color (aside from a tan) is NOT so easily changed in daily life, and it has scads of negative connotations for people of color in MANY areas of the world. And who ever said that there are no natural blonde Latinos?
3. Portraying a fictional character (dude, a superhero? A “thinly-veiled” based-on-real-life character? Still fiction…) in an action movie is different from a modern day biopic.
4. Comedy is judged, rightly or wrongly, by different standards than drama. Action-adventure is also judged differently than political drama. Apples and oranges and bananas. It’s like saying, “Well, the physics of the Terminator/Matrix movies work like this, so I can use the same physics in a historical biopic of Albert Einstein.”
5. What someone does in real life shouldn’t affect, for good or bad, what one is saying on TV or movie screens. Therefore, Jolie can give all her profits to charity, and I would still object to face-paint to portray a woman of color.
6. If it doesn’t matter, why bother changing her skin color at all? Why not just cast HER? Why is it so important to see a badly tanned woman (and yes, I have seen pics of Marianne Pearl, and there IS a difference, in skin tone if not actual coloration…) instead of an actress portaying a real person, unless *gasp* IT MATTERS?
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But it is important to lay the distinction (finally) between laying claim to roles based upon resemblance and appearance; ability and substance; and this notion of what’s owed to whom– as I think you’ve started to.
If the complaint were simply that not enough quality roles go to qualified women of color, or that women of color have barriers including a notorious triple standard (discrimination-sexism-exoticism) in the casting decisions (even when evidence shows they can and will bring $$$, audiences, and critical acclaim to a film) it would be easy enough to push for something.
But saying that a biopic role should be played by a person of color is trickier. Those roles can be. But they won’t always. Opportunity and personal decisions will sometimes– definitely not always, but sometimes– factor into the dearth too.
And what happens when the subject is alive and doesn’t particularly identify themselves one way or the other with race/ethnicity of the person portraying them? That’s the rub. Because you don’t often have biopics made where the disparity would be so noticeable, it’s less of an issue.
When it is noticeable, and the subject isn’t consulted in advance, would be akin to co-opting another person’s identity altogether? After that person is gone, well, it’s a different matter who plays them (family members and their lawyers might say differently of course).
Personally, I think it would be a riot to see the next year’s worth of biopics (especially the artsy edgier ones) in the queue with people of color playing the leads.
That’s not saying I wouldn’t want to see the looks on the anyone’s face when the Chicano Timothy Leary, Black Tommy Lee, and Indian Philip K. Dick walked into the casting calls for the respective biopic projects (which actually are currently in production by the way.)
They may be judged by different standards, but I’d still hope we could count Dave Chappelle as Bush and Richard Pryor as Nixon. The point was that it’s false to say the depictions of public, popular, visible “white” real-world figures by “nonwhite” actors in popular culture *never* occurs with attention or accolade (or scrutiny). It does so, but often isn’t appreciated for what it is, regardless of form.
If it helps, there are Hollywood biopics on Charley Pride and Emmett Till currently in the works among others. I don’t know of any leading white actors that read for the leads.
The darkening is indeed more questionable and troubling to me, but I haven’t made up my mind why it’s more bothersome than acting protheses. Jolie can be kinda pale…
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WED., 10/25/06, MADONNA ON OPRAH–
I’m sure the show will focus on the controversy surrounding Madonna’s adoption of Malawi orphan David, and cross-race adoptions in general. So it’s likely that Angelina’s adoption of Maddox and Zahara will come up.
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Halle Berry was in Talks to Play Marianne-
IN the Issue of US Magazine, Oct 30, with Britney Spears on the cover they say that Halle Berry was in talks to play Marianne Pearl but Brad wanted Angelina Jolie to have the role. I bet that is why Halle is now interested (reported by some sources) in playing the role of the caucasian teacher who ran for office. Aint that a blip! -
You guys are funny.
Now, do you really think that even if Mariane had a problem with Angelina being cast in the part that she could have (or would have) publicly given anything but her absolute support for this project? You folks obviously know nothing about Hollywood contracts and publicity clauses. Especially ones involving such superstar bigwigs as Brad and Angelina.
And please, please stop comparing this race issue with such trifling issues as hair color and curls. This is a historical account of someone’s REAL life, and using an actress of a clearly different race (not nationality, not height, not shade, not size, but race) is in poor taste. And please do not keep saying that they needed a credible actress, a box office name, because I can list a dozen successful black or mixed actresses who have brought $$$$ to box offices in the past.
Also, as has been pointed out several times before - Angela Bassett and Denzel Washington will NEVER be cast as the Clinton’s or the Kennedy’s in any major Hollywood film, unless they themselves were signing the checks.
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This is why the world is filled w/ racism b/c all of you who think Angie is not fit to play a mixed role, only see colour. When we should be admiring films for its artistic views we can only fill our minds with negativity. I am black and I think Hollywood doesn’t pick people of colour to play a lot of roles, because many are not willing to break stereotypes of themselves and be diverse, instead we think we are automatically entitled to play that role because we’re black. You’re right by saying Thandie or Halle could have played that part, but how do we know they weren’t busy?
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I think that everyone of you that has a problem with the fact that jolie is playing the part of a mixed raced person have serius issues and maybe you should think about that. it is called rascisim. Does it re3ally matter if she is black white purple who cares . As long as the story gets out , about what this pour women went through and is now dealing with . It is about a pregnant women who’s husband inwhich she loved dearly was murdered not about race or colour. So get over it
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One more thing i think that Jolie looks great , and if you saw Mariane on Oprah like I did hs elooks fro much like her. And if Mariane accepted her being casted to play her why are all you having issues with it ? Is it becasue you have nothing better to do but think of reasons to get on your high horses on black and white issues when ever you get the chance. This is why there will always be an issue , because people who have probably never even been treated differently becasue of their skin colour need something to bitch about . The only way to get over something is to forgive . and well unless you lived in Georgia , or Mississippi back some 70 years ago shut up by now would ya!
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This is all about pulling in the money, and Jolie does that. Elizabeth Taylor did that. No one actually cares what “the people,” think, certainly not those within the minority population of the United States. It’s about voice and visibility, and it’s all related to power.
Don’t watch it, don’t patronize the film. Big deal. Years ago, perhaps 1988 or so, this issue was tossed about with the casting of James Earl Jones in some breakthrough role normally given to white men, and the theatre community was aghast. You know he played his accent off, though. Actors are paid for their talent; if Jolie has it, let her show it off.
Has anyone considered this supposed jumbled heritage of Jolie’s? French/Haitian/Carribean-something, I read in a mag last year. Maybe she’s in deep cover.
No normative expectations here, anyway. Mariane probably confounds people everyday when they meet her for the first time. Her existence is the reason forums like this even exist.
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When Hattie McDaniel won the Oscar for Gone With theWind she received a standing ovation–and then went to sit in the part of the auditorium reserved for ‘coloreds’ none of theblack cast was invited to the wrap party.
Ask a neo-nazi what the difference is between Marianne Pearl and any other colored chick? There are no black female cinema stars in France,where Marianne comes from? Coincidnce? -
Let’s ask the neo-nazis or the right wing conservatives about what the difference is between Marianne and any other woman of color. Marianne is from France-where there is absolutely no Black female representation in the cinema……….
Invisibility is the greatest form of discrimination. How dare Angelina miss the point. How deeply unfortunate that Marianne not have insisted.
As a Black woman, I feel no need to justify my indignation. -
The world is becoming a much smaller place. Soon it will be far too small a place to worry about race or ethnicity. We will all be “mixed” in some form or fashion.
One of my favorite TV shows is Prison Break. Neither of the lead actors are Caucasian by “traditional” definition. The show is great! It’s entertaining.
If we begin over analyzing things then we lose the moment. In reality Denzel shouldn’t have been cast in the Pelican Brief, Angela Basset shouldn’t have been cast as Tina Turner, Sir Anthony Hopkins definitely shouldn’t have been cast as Coleman Silk…I can go on.
It would have been nice to see a woman of color play the role…however, getting a film green lighted with any of the names that have been bandied about is about as likely as__________(you fill in the blank).
It’s unfortunate but we haven’t yet gotten to the point in Hollywood where there is a woman of color with mass international, box office appeal. Thandie Newton looks more like Marianne but can’t carry a movie…did any of you see Shade or The Chronicles of Riddick?
At the end of the day, the story is not going to draw anyone to the box office. There’s probably about 15,000 people at best world wide who even know or care about who Marianne and journalist what’s him name are. If and when we line up to see this film, it’s because of the name in the title role. I think Angelina can draw the box office crowd and carries some credibility because of her international work and let’s face it…she has global appeal.
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I am a Black French Woman. I like Angelina Jolie, as I believe that she is one of those ladies who are true to themselves or at least doesn’t exhude that genuine hollywood two-face fake mild manners/nature. She is not bland. Unlike Jennifer Anniston or the likes.
This has nothing ot do with her being or not completely white, it just that I like people who are true to themselves and don’t annoy you with fake hollier-than-thou attitudes.As for France. It is a deeply racist country. They had just recently created the Black History Day (10 mai 2006). There are no Female Black actress in France and barely any recognisable Black French Actor. Why do you think Djimon Hounsou went straight to Hollywood without doing his time with great french directors and french fim industry. He got his breaktrough playing a slave in Amistad but there are French Armistad and will hardly be, as there is a long way before French history, government… recognise their wrongdoings… and therefore recognised or value their Black communities (which as of now still are, not officially, but de facto, second class citzen”… Remember November 2005, it did say it all, and it had nothing to do with Muslim or other religious matters.
As for the race issues. The race issue is viewed differently from what u have in the US. We have Black, Mulatto, White, Arabics and so on. Sometimes, mixed race people do not considered themselves as Black or will do if they are being rejected by White majority. But there is no real definition of Black identity in France. We are still struggling with inner component of Black communities in France… African vs. Caribeans and so on. Mixed raced people either chose to be Black or to be White or actually take advantage of either groups.
As for Marianne Pearl, I just feel sorry for her loss but as a French Mixed Black Woman, I don’t relate, therefore, Angelina Jolie can play her role if she has the means and the talent for. Marianne Pearl is not a Black figure in France nor anywhere else and I don’t recall her claiming her Blackness. I don’t see the point in fussing about the color of the person who portrays her. There are people who take their culture (not to say color/race, because I don’t feel comfortable with the whole concept, I believe in One Human Race and different shades of cultures, therefore I ‘d rather speak culture) as in Black culture up to the world and demand recognition for that. Marianne Pearl did not, as well as Wenthworth Miller, Jennifer Beales (though recently in L-World) and so on. If these people don’t act or feel like they belong the the Black Culture or Black world, why would people who portray their stories on movies should have a specific color?
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Great post Keyniata and I enjoyed reading it. I don’t have a problem with Angelian Jolie playing Marianne Pearl, but why whoever is in charge of the film decided that Angelian had to go brownface or tanface to play the role. If a black actor or an actress is casted in a role that was specifically written for a white person they don’t make them go white face for the part, but allow them to act the role as if race is not an issue. I think the same should have been true for Angelian part as Marianne Pearl, but I guess someone thought it was a “great” idea to have Angelian to go tan in this movie, for what purpose I have no clue because it brings nothing extra to the film.
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Does anybody remember Hallie Berry in the God-awful ‘Queenie?’ I do believe she wore some sort of lightening make-up, to make her seem ((laughably) lighter than her mother (played by Jasmine Guy) and appear indistinguishable from the Whites, among whose rank she sought to live and love.
Jolie is deep toned enough, I think, to wear a light bronzer and seem a bit more “ethnic” than not. Brownface, though…
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>There’s probably about 15,000 people at best world wide who even know or care about who Marianne and journalist what’s him name are. If and when we line up to see this film, it’s because of the name in the title role.
Monica, do you really feel comfortable broadcasting your complete ignorance of global affairs and small-minded, self-absorbed, isolationist behaviors?
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Let me start by saying “Queen” was an excellent movie that told the story of a black woman born to a slave woman and a white man. In one part of the movie, the woman Halle portrayed was raped and beaten by a white man for trying to pass as a white woman (hmmm). I believe the actual character being portrayed actually did all she could to make herself look whiter.
And just a note, just because a black woman does not agree with Angelina playing a biracial woman, does not make that black woman racist.
I’m not too upset with Angelina playing the role of Marianne Pearl and I do admire her as an actress (among other white actresses and black actresses), as well as all the work she is putting in helping children in different countries, and I take no offense to her adopting a black child as some do (real quick, Angelina adopting a black child and making it one-less “child” that will starve to death is the one admirable something that should not offend black people because if she didn’t, it would be like “What about the kids in Africa, why didn’t she adopt a child from Africa”…hmmm), but I would give a damn if Jane Fonda were cast to play the role of Coretta Scott King because I take pride in my race (which again, does not make me neither racist nor do I discriminate). Let’s all understand that, respectably, a white person would get upset if Halle Berry played Marilyn Monroe in a story of her life and rightfully so. Would we ask them what the big deal was, I mean…Halle is half white you know? ACKNOWLEDGE and RESPECT, that’s what it boils down to. Acknowledge the fact that there are just as many eligible black or biracial actresses qualified for this and other roles (acting abilities and their “box office brand name” if I must), and respect them enough to even consider them. Do not merely brush them off and insult them because it is thought they won’t bring in the cash…wait, I guess it’s not important how many people view the film and gain something from it, it’s about the money…my bad.
Oh yeah, did you know that Lena Horne was overlooked for playing the role of a mulatto black women in a movie called “Showboat”(a role given to a white actress by the name of Ava Gardener, you may have heard of her) and another called “Pinky” (hmmm). It is often said that it is important to remember our history so that it may not repeat itself…why did we forget? Why are black women still not given the same opportunity as women of “another race,” and not only in Hollywood, but everywhere? All this talk about Angelina given the part because her name brings the big bucks is really quite disturbing, and if this is why she was cast, then yes, there is one more reason black women are insulted, and I would be quite disappointed in Mrs. Jolie as well.
I mean honestly, what is the point of celebrating black history if we can’t look forward to allowing our children to view Martin Luther King Jr. portrayed by Denzel Washington instead of Tom Cruise. What is the message we giving our future generations. It seems like we are trying to fade the black….
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Crystal B.:
Don’t make me laugh. Queenie was, to quote myself, God-awful:
SCENE:
Queenie throws open the door to the church where the Black people are singing and praying. Queenie’s clothes are disheveled, her hair is splayed across her face and eyes, her skin in worn and dirty.
As the music of the spirituals rise, and with the Blacks still blissfully unaware of the return of the prodigal daughter, Queenie runs down the aisle, and falls just inside one of the pews of the congregants, holds on to woman’s knees, and intones in high, plaintive wails:
QUEENIE: I’se a Nigra! I’se a Nigra!
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Spare me. Haley probably rolled in his grave with that production.
And why was not Jasmine Guy cast as Queenie? Could it be that Halle Berry was the bigger draw, and Hollywood was laid at her feet for the taking at that moment in time?
****************Be disappointed, or upset. I don’t take issue with your disappointment.
Did you happen to catch Sidney Poitier portraying Thurgood Marshall? I nearly threw my television out of the window every time the camera went in for a tight shot.
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Kim, as awful as you think Queen was, it’s quite interesting how you described that one scence to the T… you didn’t miss a beat. I’m not sure why Halle was chosen over Jasmine, but either works for me because they were both playing black women in the film.
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I didn’t miss a beat because I’ve learned that when some holier-than-thou Brother at a social gathering wants to dismiss me for ‘looking like [i] look,’ or for being an uppity Black woman, I’ve pulled it out of my hat and gone into full Halle mode.
Then I compliment him, in all his finery (suit, fancy tie, fancy shoes) on his daishiki, rubbing the lapels between my fingers as I dismiss his silly ass.
Stops the party everytime.
Also do it with Ntozake Shange’s work.
Nice to meet you.
Seriously, did you catch Sidney’s act? It’s an old one, but I’m right at the cusp of middle age, so it’s in memory.
I’m all for color-blind casting, but come on.
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I like that…can I give you a “You go girl” one time?
No, I didn’t catch Sidney as Mr. Marshall, but now you have me eager to take a look at it.
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EVA- I get that you want to be open minded about the part, but consider this. There was a play off broadway where a black man portrayed Jesus. What do you think happened? People rioted, and actors recieved death threats. This occured in the early 90’s. Worse such hatred was not widely publisized. Worse still, Jesus IS a person of color. It enraged biggoted whites to see an accurate representation of him. So I hope you are able to see that historically ANY thing of value that people of color have contributed has been either downplayed by hollywood or “appropriated”. I am talking about from Egypt, to Jesus, to Jazz, to rock and role, and now hip hop. People of color are creating wonderful things each day, and RARELY given credit. We are commonly left to play pimps, hos, and other criminals. THAT is why Angellina Jolie playing this role is a problem. As disempowered people we need to see OURSELVES in these roles. Not another white person pretending to be all emcomassing. While, Alluding to my earlier example, we can’t even play ourselves.
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Monica the only reason that Angelina Jolie, and NO OTHER ACTROR could, is because mainstream culture doesn’t want to see anything else besides whites, or as close to white as possible. If this society was more open minded, who could draw a crowd would not be an issue.
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Sorry I forgot a piece no other actor coud play the role…. you know because Angelina will bring in the big bucks…ok I’m done.
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I didn’t see the movie with S. Poitier portraying Justice Marshall. So, I did not understand the “close-up”comment. Please clarify.
Also, I can remember there was an issue with Cicely Tyson playing Mrs. King. As well as the problem with Mr. Gossett playing Sadat.
I feel that everyone on this planet has racial/color/ethinicity issues. Not just African Americans. We seem to verbalize it more than others.
No, I do not agree that Mrs. Jolie should be portraying Mrs. Pearl. As an intelligent and worldly woman, there is no way on this earth she has not heard about the plight of people of color.
Finally, I applaud Mrs. Pearl on her choice to show her hair from “the continent”.
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Tisha-
I am assuming you are referring to the tight shot I referred to when Poitier portrayed Marshall.
I was merely commenting on the stark sense of how wrong it was, aesthetically, to have the dark-skinned Poitier portray, and impress on the minds of young Blacks and Whites, an image that in no way came close to depicting the look or intensity of Marshall. (Poitier is intense, granted, but Marshall’s countenance goes more to a sleepy-eyed, steely resolve to stomach another’s foolishness, and not to indignation, in my opinion).
Your comment about Gossett as Sadat is interesting, as I vaguely can see strains and thin images of that depiction, but feel that his actual bone structure lent itself to Sadat’s features moreso than did Poitier’s to Marshall’s, and therefore, not absurdly out of place. Kind of like Sadat with a summer tan.
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why would angelina turn down a part when she could have been making a fortune off it! thats not how show biz works and she looks fine in the picture.
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You mean to tell me they could not find one black,hispanic or something other than white actress to play Mariane Pearl?
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Kim-
Thank you for the onslaught of compliments. This film is being released in America my dear….last I checked the country as a whole reads on an 8th grade level and Borat is a top rated movie. Thoughts of global affairs are not part of the American mainstream…there is more concern for American Idol and the latest cover of People Magazine than transformational diplomacy or nonproliferation. The average American couldn’t tell you what happens outside their state let alone the country. Sorry if it offends you but Marianne Pearl is not a household name.I think the fact that you have read a book or two and can write compound sentences makes you feel special…the sad part is that in America, it probably does make you special. You might want to peak your head out of the academic reliquary for just a moment and take a look at the box office masses.
This movie is being released for a specific audience that an American woman of color can’t penetrate. Angelina will be able to draw that audience to the box office. I think that’s pretty much says it all.
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Monica…
You’re funny. You’re the one watching Prison
Break. Anyway, on the subject of bankability and carrying a film: -
It’s not a smart show but it’s entertaining. ;o)
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Thandie Newton would have never gotten this role due to her past relationship with Brad Pitt. I don’t think Marianne Pearl sees/identifies herself as a woman of color, she therefore would have no problem with someone like Angelina Jolie portraying her.
Troy Beyers looks more like Marianne Pearl than Angelina or Thandie.There are a lot of mixed race, multicultural people who do not want to be labled as Black or as African American, but they are in fact just that. Jennifer Beals and Wentworth Miller are two half-Black actors that come to mind that don’t portray Black characters or even identify with Black characters. They both have played either White characters or mulatto.
I doubt a lot of AA’s know who Marianne Pearl is, read her book, knew that she was of Afro-Cuban ancestry, or will even go see the movie due to its subject matter.
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Then I repeat what I said far far upthread:
If color and physical appearance of the actor doesn’t MATTER (a valid point with many non-biopic films), then why change the SKIN COLOR of said actor?
Why not cast an actor of color? And what is the film saying by NOT casting an actor of color?
>I don’t think Marianne Pearl sees/identifies herself as a woman of color,
I think that’s conjecture - it seems from her statements that Ms. Pearl is just glad that her husband’s story is getting told and that a high-profile actress is involved. Has she SAID anything about her self-identity?>There are a lot of mixed race, multicultural people who do not want to be labled as Black or as African American, but they are in fact just that. Jennifer Beals and Wentworth Miller
Um, NO. You’re confusing ROLES with ACTUAL PEOPLE. Jennifer Beals to my knowledge has not denied her mixed background, and neither has Miller. Their phenotypes are such that, yes, they are going to be offered “white” roles. That doesn’t mean they identify as white. Or that if they did, that that would apply to other mixed-race people of any background. Sheesh…
>I doubt a lot of AA’s know who Marianne Pearl is, read her book, knew that she was of Afro-Cuban ancestry, or will even go see the movie due to its subject matter.
Again, unprovable, unsubstantiated, and pointless - what, a part-black actress should only cast in a role for a part-black person if members of the black community know who they are? What?
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I find these comments interesting. I agree with what Lyonside has said throughout, as well as Kim and several others.
I am originally from France and now living overseas. While I can attest to Keynisha’s (sp?) description of France as deeply racist, she is wrong to say that Black people in France do not have a collective identity. Believe me, as racist as France is you soon figure out that you are seen as and treated as and grouped with other Blacks, based on your African heritage somewhere along the line.
One guy may have his Senegalese identity, I have my Martinican identity, but neither of us have any difficulty understanding and accepting that we are both black.
Even mixed with a white parent, people are still discriminated against for their blackness, so I doubt a woman as intelligent as Mariane has showed herself to be would have such a careless attitude to race, that she felt any color actress can play her, no big deal.
I think perhaps she felt it was a necessary compromise to get her film to a mass audience and she might have been swayed by the large donation Brad and Angelina gave to the fund set up in her husband’s name, too.
I think the film could have a lot of the right kind of success without Angelina playing the lead. Her company still had the publicity muscle to promote it even if she wasn’t starring. It is not necessary to have the Hollywood tabloid set to have a sucessful movie. The success I can guess that Mrs Pearl wants from this movie is not just make money, as some cynical and mistaken people have suggested.
From her interviews it is clear that No. 1 is to spread interest in her husband’s cause. To have some wider impact so people don’t forget as soon as they get home.
Hotel Rwanda got a lot of people talking about the genocide and it had no white “bankable” leads. Many of the type of people that Angelina’s bankability would attract, those who would not go to see it if it was a black actress, are not the ones who ultimately would care much about the cause of Daniel Pearl, anyway. For the lasting impact, it is necessary to appeal to a more intelligent, deeper-thinking audience. The blacking-up will distract this kind of people.
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I also heard that Brad Pitt was going to play Daniel Pearl initially. Is that true? Also does anyone know if Daniel Pearl was also mixed. I know at least part of his ancestry is Jewish.
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Why is anyone surprised by a white woman playing an ethnically mixed woman of African descent. Have you seen Marianne Pearl? She looks more like Sophie Okenado or Thandie Newton who are both biracial. It would not be a big deal of they allowed the swap to happen where it benefitted black actresses as well. As a young black actor I am constantly faced with not having enough European features to portray a black woman on film. However this is something that Hollywood is notorious for they dont like seeing faces that dont look like theirs. Its very sad that this creative and liberal industry is constantly trying to erase blacks from history and the screen. I dont argue that Angelina is talented but I dont think she should have gotten this role.
I dont know about you but when I saw Elizabeth Taylor portray Cleopatra the Queen of Egypt I was through.
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How old were you when you saw that? At seven or so, I thought nothing of it.
Question: What do you mean you lack the “European features to portray a black woman on film? ” Did you intend to word it such?
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Hello,
I have read a lot of the posts. People that said they were in the marches to people that are just plain ignorant.
It amazes me when a woman of colour is abused or has an issue she is always crazy or racist. That shows you how use to and comfortable the nation has gotten in abusing her and letting her believe it is always her fault. I don’t particularly care if Angelia Jolie plays black or Chinese but I am sure if she did play Chinese there would be some flack.
When black women were in slavery they were told it wasn’t that bad and we loved it, until the slave letters surfaced. We liked being rape and defiled also, it was all our imagination. The rapes that have put a wedge between the black female and the male because he couldn’t stop it so now he has hate himself because every time he looks at his woman it reminds him of that very action. He hates himself and his people. The division placed into the race via Willie Lynch’s letter of how to divide us against each other which by the way has seemed to work beautifully. That too was all our imagination. Whenever, we have had issues or point out different wrongs, it is thought they were are the racist or it shows that the people that are doing wrong to us never ever like to admit it.
The crosses that were burned on the lawns along with the homes, churches and the 4 little black girls that died. Would it have been ridiculous if they had 4 little white girls play in the TV movie? Yes, it would have. What everyone has skimmed over or overlooked. You brought up Cleopatra, Sheba and etc. but not one person actually hit the nail. Hollywood wants only the successful/thinking person of colour to be portrayed by white actors. That way you don’t get rid of those images of a black individual not being in turmoil, poverty or abused in some way. Image is everything. Everyone will see you in that level. Remember it was thought during slavery the person of colour was placed here to be abused and they used the bible to validate it.
I am mixed person. My mother was black and my dad is a full American Indian. I won’t get started on the Indian because the women get next to nothing in film. I don’t agree with people singing black, dancing black and looking black. The reason I don’t is because it was used to hold black people back on a grand scale in the first place so there is the argument. Before you couldn’t get a job because your skin wasn’t white, lips to big and butt too. But now all this is fashionable so people are running to doctors and everything including Angelia to get lip implant or injection and spray on tans, butt implants and the list goes on but guess what now it use again to take the roles from black actress because now you can be mimicked. Pretty slick isn’t it? Then if we say anything we are racist. It is all a mind game because one doesn’t want to be labeled the bad one but most abuser does this tactic.
Look at kids that are abused or wives and some cases men aren’t they made to feel they are always bad and they brought it on themselves. It is the same with racism. We can keep doing this as long as we have some Sambos give our story validity. Samboitis is a horrible disease and has not fully been recognized by doctors.
Rule though I won’t buy her book or go see the movie. Martin Luther taught one thing money talks. Stop giving Sambos money and people that tell you that you are nothing and not valuable. They will get the picture to their shrinking bank account. And please above all stop buying copy cats. I think you will see your self-esteem raise when you take control of your image and not let others tell you how you should feel, it is your imagination please let me take advantage of you and I’m not racist, I just playing a role. All of these quick stand-up comments are standard and we have heard them thru the centuries and they should be thrown out with the dirty bath water.
By the way Angelia Jolie I believe is mimicking Countess Josephine Baker who had the first rainbow tribe of kids. It works they all got along.
One note, actually it is not educational to have bio-pictures racially incorrect. People don’t learn anything. If they have never seen a person of colour or mixed person they never know what they look like and when they see one because they will either be racist or not very personable. I would love to see an actual Indian (a real one). I would love to see an Arab sometimes playing an Arab instead of a Jew and/or visa versa.
I hope this opens a few heads but I am sure those that don’t like the uncomfortable feeling of knowing the past (for real) will come with something else to stop the change.
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One tidbit–By the way Halle Berry played Queenie because the author picked because she looked close to his grandmother. At the end of the movie they show a portrait of his grandmother most people thought was Halle. It wasn’t her at all.
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Hello,
I would like to add a couple of comments here, first off, wrong is wrong and right is right. I don’t have to mention to anyone who I respect as an actress or actor to state how I feel as a woman of colour towards the issue at hand. IT IS WRONG that Angelina Jolie is portraying a mix-race woman. It’s appaling that hollywood and those who share the same mentality would even fathom thinking this is okay in today’s society. But then again what is “today’s society” really about. Nothing. Not change, not development, not social awareness, not anything but to eliminate the black woman. To me a white girl is soo threaten by a black woman she has turn into her via fake implant lips, cheek bones, butt implants, tanning beyond belief until skin cancer (tan lotions), and trying to sing like her. But unfortunately black people have allowed this to go on i.e. Christina Aguiellra, J-lo (wearing an afro in her video), Jessica Beil (fake butt or the qwest for a black woman butt) and so on. What’s also wrong is black women allowed it instead of not allowing it in the first. Now that it is on a big screen you really don’t like, and I don’t either. But what do you do, get up and get out and start spreading the correct image of yourself and you will see things change. More than a couple of comments but I hope it enlightens and uplifts. -
First let me preface my response by saying this, I am an African-American man, and I can understand both sides of the argument on the race of the actress debate. First, as a woman of Dutch and Afro-Cuban descent she has the right to want whomever she wants to portray her, black or white. From what I understand though, she did not want an African-American to play her, and that’s her perogative, not to mention a dealogue unto itself. Not to mention the fact that Plan B, Brad Pitt’s production company bought the rights to the project and Ms. Jolie happens to be his woman. Secondarily, I can also understand why Black women are upset. If you think hard about it there are very few black actresses in Hollywood that get major play. When I say this I am talking the female equivalent of a Denzel, Morgan, Will, Jamie, or Sam. The only one I can think of is Halle Berry, and she is mixed. I say Halle because no other black actress gets the plethora of roles or those that have the “potential” of being very financially successful at the box office. True Jada, Angela Bassett, and Thandie Newton are great but they don’t get as many opportunities. So I understand a sistahs pain. That being what it is we live in country that promotes a certain kind of beauty….So let the debate rage on.
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Without a name, the movie probably wouldn’t get made. Thandie Newton, is half white and Ugandan, not Euro Cubano like Marianne Pearl. Which makes her hardly more racially qualified to play the part. But to make race and ethnicity a casting requirement, does a disservice to talent. Hallie Berry, maybe more Afro than AJ but “as a Black Women” Barry, who is really half white and raised by a white woman, you have to ask: is she really better for the part? And let’s face it, Marianne Pearl is light damn near white while AJ is not completely whitebread Sandra Dee.
Her features and lips give lie to something other than the All American caucasion next door. They’re much more genetically close than you may think. If she looks close enough with hair and makeup, then why not. That’s what movies and acting is all about - creating illusions. Give Laurence Olivier’s Othello over Larry (I mean Laurence) Fishburne’s anyday.
At the end of the day, watch the movie. Black, white, and all in between, either she creates a great role or she fails.
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Quick correction regarding Cleopatra and the Egyptians: Cleo was only an Egyptian by culture, not by race. The dynasty she belongs to, the Ptolemies, is a Greek family.
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I don’t think so …just because you can rewrite history doesn’t mean that is true. She was not Greek. She was African. You know what is really rude is people that tell Africans their own history. Although known to be of African descent she is still deliberately portrayed as being white. She came to power at the tender age of seventeen and the most popular of seven queens to have had this name. She is potryed that way because the thought of two white guys losing their mind on a women other than their own is still unacceptable so the history was changed, just like King Tut. I saw King Tut face when unearthed from his tomb. He look African to me. He did not look white. Also your skin is a different appearance from a white mummy verses a black mummy.
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Sorry for getting here so late but I just had to throw my 2 cents into this debate first off to Eva I don’t know if that is a Latina name but if it is I can bet you wouldn’t want Gywneth Paltrow or Helena Bonham Carter playing Selena or Freda Kahlo so who are you kidding. And for those people who say what’s the ‘big deal’ may I remind YOU of the very,very,VERY hateful furor caused when the makers of a statue to honor the 3 firefighters[who just happened to be white]who were holding the flag wanted to change one to African-American and another Hispanic. A lot of people in this country were solidly PISSED[so much for the ‘unity’bullshit]so why shouldn’t people on this board be pissed about Angelina?!! Racism especially in Hollywood cuts very long and very deep and that’s why folks are so upset blackface,wether deliberate or innocent,is a hurtful act of thoughtlessness and complete insensitivity which is what we have here. Let’s STOP sugarcoating the shit shall we,we ALL know what a 100 percent shitstorm it would cause if they cast Halle Berry or Selma Hayek as Amelia Earhart or Molly’unsinkable’Brown from the Titanic. Yet we not only see white folks playing off others races but actually expecting ‘praise’ for having range WTF?!! Is this 2007 or 1932 I thought blackface went the way of crank cars and the sassophone so apparently I don’t HAVE to have lived 70 years ago because racism and insensitive assholes who think they are ALWAYS right so don’t dare disagree are alive and well in modern day America. This almost as bad as Katherine Hepburn playing a Japanese woman and Marlo Thomas palying a Chinese woman let’s see that SAME thing with Lucy Liu playing Eva Braun doubtful.
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Troy Beyer is the spitting image of Marianne Pearl. I think Angelina Jolie looks like a joke. I WON’T be seeing this movie because of this slight…
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As an Afro-Cuban woman I see no problem with this. It seems to always tug at the nerves of overly-conscious African Americans. Had they given the role to an African American woman, what difference would it make? None. Marianne Pearl is MIXED. She could have been played by just about ANYONE with talent. In any event, I am glad that Angelina got it. She has done a lot to bring attention to the world’s problems when most Americans are worried about stupid Paris Hiltion or how “unblack” Obama is.
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As an Afro-Cuban woman I see no problem with this. It seems to always tug at the nerves of overly-conscious African Americans. Had they given the role to an African American woman, what difference would it make? None. Marianne Pearl is MIXED. She could have been played by just about ANYONE with talent. In any event, I am glad that Angelina got it. She has done a lot to bring attention to the world’s problems when most Americans are worried about stupid Paris Hiltion or how “unblack” Obama is.
Meanwhile if Denzel was to have played Hannibal, African Americans would have used the race card to point out that a Black man can play Hannibal. No. Hannibal was NOT African-American. But, you can’t tell any one that cause it will enter through one ear and out the other. Race, race, race… WHO CARES?!
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Aliana-
Race, race, race-you are right, us Black Americans are overly race conscious. You know how we Blacks are…always concerned about race. Why are we like that? Why can’t we let things go, and just accept that race doesn’t matter that much.
I mean, people like Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Sojornor Truth, James Baldwin, Gwendolyn Brooks, were all so concrened with race that it was almost all they ever talked about. Couldn’t they find something else to talk about? Geez…they really set a bad example for the rest of us. All they ever wanted to do was uplift Black people, help Black people, better the condition of Black people, end desegregation, end discrimation, end racism, blah, blah, blah! I mean why do those types of things always tug at our nerves?
Well, maybe us Black people will get it together and stop thinking about race so much! Good call, Aliana!
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Brad Pitt is the producer of the film. That may be the answer to why Jolie was casted as Mariane Pearl. However, Gloria Ruben, Thandie Newton or Victoria Rowell “look” more like Mariane. In my opinion, it is evident that she has African American ancestry more so than Latin. See photos of her and Jolie standing next to each other. At gettyimages - search under Mariane Pearl.
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African Americans tend to be so race conscious in America well…because…our every existence - our rights, our ability (correction: inability) to live in this country like other humans was determined by our race. An entire nation permitted the mistreatement of African Americans based on race. Did you forget what you read in HS about slavery?? We didnt deal the race card sweetie. And we sure didnt initiate the card game.
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……that’s true, you didn’t deal the race card, but why continuously let it hinder you, your growth, your ability to look beyond?. Honestly, work on it, you’ d be surprise how inspiring, freeing and uplifting it will be.
I see NOTHING dubious, insulting in Ms Jolie (I admit, think she’s the cat’s whiskers) playing the role of another female irrespective of colour, ESPECIALLY because said female is a MIXTURE of so many different races/cultures, irrespective of what SHADE nature relegated her to have, but also too BECAUSE it’s called acting. -
…and another thing, after reading some of the comments, if we spend our time “watching what others are doing/responding”, then we’ll never be able to progress. Point is, AAs are way behind in just about EVERY aspect of life in the US, education, sexual education, emancipation, jobs. You name it, the statistics will bring proof as to how far behind they are. Let’s focus on righting these inadequacies instead of resorting to petty shade debates…WOMEN are better than this……
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I think Marianne had the final decision on whom she wanted to have portray her on film; Angelina and Marianne (and Brad) are all close friends; both Angelina and Marianne can identify with each other through their humanitarian efforts, single motherhood, limelight status, etc. I think Marianne wanted her message to be heard on a larger stage and her friend (who just happens to be a wonderfully talented actress) happed to be available. Brad and Angelina helped her bring this story to the masses (who don’t always pick up a book and read)…the real story, not the media spin. I congratulate both of them! Sorry, but race is not an issue here, intolerance is the issue. HOW IRONIC!
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Can we get beyond skin color and into Qualifications? Angelina’s mom is French she had already gone to that sector of our world and helped out delivering food, so was already familiar with the territority. Marianne was a journalist for French radio at the time. They were living there.
Jolie has lived/participated and interacted with the people of this area. On a resume, isn’t that more significant than skin color? If reversed it would be.
I am so disappointed that so many of ‘my people’ can’t get past the color of their skin. Everywhere we go our demand is for Equal Opportunity; may the most qualified candidate get the position/role/ scholarship, etc. But, suddenly, when the best person got the role, the outcry is for race preference to prevail over qualifications. Angelina is half-French, was already first-hand familiar with that corner of our world, and is totally enamored of Marianne Pearl.Brad Pitt was the only Producer who actually read the story. The Jolie-Pitts have also contributed to the Daniel Pearl Foundation. What support has been given to Marianne Pearl/DP Foundation by all of those who choose to take Equal Opportunity out of this equation? How many have helped Marianne and the Daniel Pearl legacy? Over 200 journalists have been killed since Daniel Pearl was kidnapped and beheaded. I followed that story closely and wept, never knowing at the time that the wife was a woman of color. Quite frankly, it didn’t matter when the event actually occurred. How many of the hotly expressive critics have looked into what is the mission of the foundation established in his honor? How many of our people have bothered to find out and help? Wake up Black America! Equal Opportunity is not about racial preference. Right?
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You are right. Everything you said Insight is dead on…in theory.
Do you know who S. Epatha Merkersen is? She is a detective on the long running series Law and Order. She is am exceptional actress. She won an Emmy for “Lackawanna Blues”. So, I wonder why Helen Mirren played the Queen of England instead of Epatha. I think that Epatha would have done a fine job.
Cate Blanchet played Katherine Hepburn but Angela Bassett would have been a great choice. I think Katherine Hepburn and Angela Bassett have the same jaw line and same strength. But, oddly enough, it went to Cate Blanchet. Hmmm….
In fact, I don’t think I have ever seen a movie, to date, with White characters who were based on actual people, where people of color played those roles.
Do you think that maybe the uproar is over the fact that there is a stark disparity in the roles available to people of color, especially women of color? And that maybe, if things were more fair to begin with, this would not seem so insulting? Perhaps some Black people are upset because there is still a fight to see brilliant, Oscar worthy roles for women of color. I think that corporate America has been called to task over diversity in a way that Hollywood has not because Hollywood can hide behind more nebulous issues such as who decides what talent is and who has it, or more simply put “they” get to decide who is right for the part. Hollywood is as vulnerable to institutionalized racism as corporate America, and yet it has never had any of the legal safegaurds put in place (or rather strictly enforced) to attempt to break down that racism. I think that this is a huge issue because Hollywood controls the images of Black America and those images are broadcast all over the world. When Black women are given opportunities to play a woman like Marianne Pearl, it helps to dismantle the idea that we, i.e. Black women, can only be whores or mammies.
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Dear Insight…I think that michelle TOTALLY missed your point. Marianne is not black or african. She is Dutch-Jewish, Afro-Latino-Cuban and Chinese Cuban, and was raised in Paris. That is seven different cultures running through her veins…good luck on finding a beautiful, charismatic and talented actress to fill that description!
Brad Pitt is interested in sharing the story via motion picture. They didn’t MAKE Marianne like or choose Angelina. Brad and Angelina are humanitarians and lovers of life, as was Daniel Pearl, and as is Marianne Pearl. Can you imagine Marianne meeting Angelina? Marianne has an actress in mind. Angelina is at a meeting with Brad and Marianne. As the ladies begin to talk, they realize how very similar they are. Marianne decides that the actress portraying her MUST be Angelina, not based on skin color, but based on chemistry. Marianne CHOSE Angelina, and they are inamored with each other.
If you have a problem about skin color, then why don’t you ask Marianne about her choice? I think her answer will surprise you. She embraces the differences in cultures, traditions, etc. She probably never gave race the first thought. Angelina ‘gets’ Marianne, they appreciate each other. That’s it, end of story.
Furthermore, for the issue of slavery in the US…it was a grave error. It never should have happened. There were people who refused to own slaves, and fought and died to rid of slavery; according to the history books, they won. God never intended for any human to be in bondage. I pray that one day, we will all have one voice together in harmony. However, God did intend for African Americans to be here, or He wouldn’t have allowed it. I am white, and I am glad that our country has different religions, cultures, colors, dialects, etc. What a boring place it would if we didn’t have all the differences.
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Hello,
In your post I am now very clear why there are not many Black actresses working in Hollywood. I am gald that you posted that because I have been very saddened by the Marianne Pearl situation. I guess my sadness was based on hope for Black actresses getting an opportunity to bring strong and complex characters to life. I know that you don’t speak for all White people, but now I know that there is no hope.
As a white person, if you cannot see the link between slavery, reconstruction, the rise of the KKK, the movie Birth of a Nation, Blackface minstrel shows, Lena Horne being rejected for movies playing a “mulatta” in Show Boat (because she was Black) and this situation, then there really is no hope. I think that White America is typically slow to draw very important connections to different cultural events that continue the spread and growth of institutionalized racism.
Carmen Van Kerckhove is co-founder and president of 
TheThink on 10 Oct 2006 at 10:17 pm
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