Simon Callow - Daily Fail

[DeRigueurMortis]

Actor Simon Callow weighs into the PC debate in film and theatre
mol.im/a/7250493

I agree with him in principle but would also like to see more proportional representation of minority groups.

I agree with him too. The problem is that we cannot expect actors to ALWAYS be what they're playing because then the window for interpretation is gone.

We could never have had a black Nancy in the TV version of Oliver Twist....

Proportional representation of minority groups will come when more writers write for them. And when casting directors open their minds. At the moment casting directors don't look at a script and read a character description with an open mind at all.

I'd be curious to know what the actual numbers are for diversity in television.

Bu I do agree, it's stupid. As long as the actor can convince the audience they should be able to play the role.

Even if we end up with white actors in yellowface like in the original Miss Saigon? And stunt the opportunity for Asian actors?
Or a white blonde haired blue eyed Maria in west side story, removing the one major role available for Latina actresses?
I totally agree that it shouldn't just be mothers who play mothers and students who play Hamlet and aliens playing aliens but sometimes it is important to provide opportunities where there previously have been none.

I'd actually love it if trans actors played trans roles so people could see the reality rather than the carefully filtered social media pictures.

I'd actually love it if trans actors played trans roles so people could see the reality rather than the carefully filtered social media pictures.

Yes agreed. I’m usually of the opinion that people, within reason, can play anything as long as we believe it. But I also hate that often transwomen are played by women. If Hayley on Coronation Street was played by a transwoman, I don’t think they would have got the same response.

What happened with Hayley? Did she reveal it after being in the programme for a while? Being a woman she could do that but for some transwomen (interestingly my autocorrect wants me to separate the word) people would be able to tell on first meeting I think.

I broadly agree with him but I don’t think actors should pretend to be other races.

So they can be aliens, robots, cannibals and murderers but not of a race or sexuality that they are not in real life?

OK. Let's just close down the cinema, turn off the telly. Actors are being sanitised and cannot do what they have done for millenias... the art of interpreting human nature!

Fuck. That!

“What happened with Hayley?”

IIRC she announced it to Roy when he proposed?
I fully agree that had Hayley been played by a trans woman the reception would have been different. I have yet to see a trans woman who passes without careful photoshop, makeup and posing.

No one will ever agree to the notion that you can't play somebody completely unlike yourself, or that you have to cast the role from the group you are characterising.

Actors are picked based on who is the best one for the job which includes things like popularity, and the indefinable charisma - that element which which mesmerises audiences, but is difficult to analyse.

It would be a complete waste of time to pick someone who, for instance, was trans, but was not known, had no charisma, and couldn't rake in the money.

No one will do it.

I'm sure, if you can find someone who characterises the role, due to personal experience, but can also be successful, then of course.

Until the success of a film will rely entirely on the characters own personal experiences, then it won't happen.

Datun wasn't that the whole reason for the back lash re Scarlett Johansson being slated as she was set to play a trans role?

She was the centre of controversy again last July when news broke that she planned to portray Dante "Tex" Gill, who ran a massage parlour business and prostitution ring in Pittsburgh in the 1970s and '80s, in a movie titled Rub & Tug. Johansson first responded to the criticism with a dismissive comment to Bustle through her publicist: "Tell them that they can be directed to Jeffrey Tambor, Jared Leto, and Felicity Huffman's reps for comment," referring to actors who had previously portrayed transgender characters.

(wiki - Dante "Tex" Gill (born Lois Jean Gill, April 2, 1930 − January 8, 2003) was an American transman gangster and massage parlour owner.)

From this v recent report:

www.smh.com.au/entertainment/movies/scarlett-johansson-says-i-should-be-allowed-to-play-any-person-20190715-p52797.html

Datun wasn't that the whole reason for the back lash re Scarlett Johansson being slated as she was set to play a trans role?

Not sure what bit of my post you're referring to, girl?

The backlash is about the rights of trans people. Clymer, complaining that Scarlett Johannson has no shortage of roles. As though movie moguls divvy up roles to be fair.

A significant number of people go to the cinema to see the actor, irrespective of what role they're playing.

But yes, I think that very few people would agree with employing someone based on their personal experience, rather than their acting experience.

I don't imagine Johanson would have got involved, had the project not been pulled at the last minute. That must have been pretty irritating.

There's a whole other layer to this as well: it's not at all clear that the character Johansson was set to play identified as a transman rather than a butch lesbian. I don't have references to hand, but there have certainly been those arguing Dante is a victim of being retrospectively transed by those who can't believe a woman would behave like that.

Sorry Datun I wasn't very clear, but you've managed to answer what I was trying to say anyway

wabegyrist oh, that's interesting. I'll have a google

Sorry Datun I wasn't very clear, but you've managed to answer what I was trying to say anyway blush

Oh good!!

Babs (ACRONYM!) in tlog was played by a man, that's probably not acceptable either though, is it...