Jolie and Pitt, with 'Heart'

[SiennaInLondon]

^ Erm sorry but it only makes you person of colour if you are thinking with white-centricism. In a globalised world, everyone is a person of colour. That kind of chip-on-shoulder thinking is as bad as the casting directors who would only choose a white person.

The more people that DON'T CARE. The better.

Furthermore I doubt they chose Angie for her whiteness. I think they probably chose her for her bankability. Schmucks like me will go see any Jolie film in existence.

 

[sonjanicky29]

^ Erm sorry but it only makes you person of colour if you are thinking with white-centricism. In a globalised world, everyone is a person of colour. That kind of chip-on-shoulder thinking is as bad as the casting directors who would only choose a white person.

The more people that DON'T CARE. The better.

Furthermore I doubt they chose Angie for her whiteness. I think they probably chose her for her bankability. Schmucks like me will go see any Jolie film in existence.

The only thing about that is that most of Angelina's movies have done bad at the box office.People are only really interested in her personal life.So you can't really said they picked her because of draw.Personally,i think its because she is the producers babies mama

 

[~Blythe~]

I am just p*ssed at the total lack of cultural sensitivity shown. Of course many people are going to be offended and hurt by this. They would have forseen this, yet they went ahead with it anyway. I find that disrespectful.

 

[~Blythe~]

In a globalised world, everyone is a person of colour. That kind of chip-on-shoulder thinking is as bad as the casting directors who would only choose a white person.

Not really -- not until every race has had a history of many many generations being bullied, maltreated and oppressed can we ever qualify as equals and begin to understand.

 

[Zen]

I guess this is a sensative issue....hmmm

 

[Merrick]

The more people that DON'T CARE. The better.

No the more ppl who care and ask why blacks are often cast as white even when the studios are trying to be factual the better, how is it good to have black talent over looked and they just slap some make up on a white actress and go "see she makes a passable black!"
I am a Jolie fan, I've seen just about every good/bad/piece of crap she's ever made, but for someone who's so big on rasing this multicultural family she more so than others should have shown cultural sensitivity.

 

[Merrick]

I guess this is a sensative issue....hmmm

 

[Boluda]

Actually miss Angelina Jolie, her heritage is Czechoslovakian, French and Native American....source: New York Times..

yes, she probably has a drop of native blood, that doesnt make her native, com'on.

im only saying, angelinas heritage is a mix bag just like everyone in this day and age, but she remains essentially white.

In defense of my gullibility anyone who speaks with a British accent sounds very European, thus a French character (say, the cast of Ever After) can speak with a British accent and sound totally authentic to me

trust me, italians and french dunnot sound british when speaking english...and it not just about an accent its also mannerisms, etc. whole different cultures.

 

[Zen]

^ About the accent thing....I think she was being sarcastc...

 

[Zen]

No the more ppl who care and ask why blacks are often cast as white even when the studios are trying to be factual the better, how is it good to have black talent over looked and they just slap some make up on a white actress and go "see she makes a passable black!"
I am a Jolie fan, I've seen just about every good/bad/piece of crap she's ever made, but for someone who's so big on rasing this multicultural family she more so than others should have shown cultural sensitivity.

Yeah, I can understand that point....

 

[Little Tiny]

No matter what is in Angelina's blood background-she's a white girl.I'm not seeing this movie.
It's ridiculous to me to hire white actresses to play black characters just as it is the other way.That is just silly and a waste of time and talent.Halle Berry or someone else light-skinned and African-American should be playing this role-there are plenty of talented women to choose without just giving it to Ms.Popular white girl of the moment..There are enough different problems with race for this to be going on in the movies.

 

[smartarse]

The bottomline is, it all comes down to the person being portrayed. Mariane Pearl wanted and saw to it that Angelina Jolie should play her . Then so be it. She didn't have an issue on the race thing...so neither should people.

I personally think Rae Dawn Jong is a spitting image of Mariane, but that's just physically. Don't know how well she could've imitate Mariane's french accent, tho.

...with Angelina she can do accents effortlessly. So perhaps that's one of the strong points Mariane saw in her.

 

[tiffany]

I'm really glad they're making a film based on Pearl's death, it was a terrible event and every attempt to bring his life and work to light seems like a wonderful thing to me

About casting a caucasian in the role of Marianne Pearl, it does come across as cultural insensitivity. What's doubly irritating about such a move is that it sort of detracts from the whole point of a project like this, ie: drawing attention to Pearl's life and work They'll be a buzz about "how racist the studio is" etc etc instead of promoting dialogue about celebrating investigative journalism and the people who undertake such jobs even in the face of harm

 

[LoveLetter]

...with Angelina she can do accents effortlessly. So perhaps that's one of the strong points Mariane saw in her.

OMG, you were joking, right? Her so-called British accent in "Tomb Raider" is a joke. You could hear her jumping between (fake) British and American accents. I don't think she was cast, in all of her films, becasue of her acting talent, if there is any.

 

[Zen]

^^^ OMG....now that I think about that...that was embarrassing to watch. Same with Gwyneth Paltrow when she did Sliding Doors....I think Naomi Watts is really good doing American accent along with Cate Balnchette....Now those two can act...

 

[mellowdrama]

Somehow I was picturing Tim Curry in the role. He's good at sensitive portrayals like this: http://emmanuel.denis.free.fr/images/rocky.jpg

 

[Anastasia]

Wonderful post!

I also agree that Thandie Newton would have been a perfect choice. She doesn't get nearly enough work for someone so talented and beautiful. It's a shame.

Seeing the pictures of Jolie in blackface makes me feel the same sort of discomfort that seeing Bing Crosby in blackface in Holiday Inn does. It may be a great movie, Marianne Pearl may be ok with it, but I don't want to be cringing in my seat for the entire movie (and even if I close my eyes, there's the inevitable terrible accent), so I'll be skipping this one.

 

[Boluda]

No matter what is in Angelina's blood background-she's a white girl.I'm not seeing this movie.
It's ridiculous to me to hire white actresses to play black characters just as it is the other way.That is just silly and a waste of time and talent.Halle Berry or someone else light-skinned and African-American should be playing this role-there are plenty of talented women to choose without just giving it to Ms.Popular white girl of the moment..There are enough different problems with race for this to be going on in the movies.

or even French for that matter....im sure theres pleny of light skinned mixed girls who are French like Mariane Pearl...

 

[SiennaInLondon]

No the more ppl who care and ask why blacks are often cast as white even when the studios are trying to be factual the better, how is it good to have black talent over looked and they just slap some make up on a white actress and go "see she makes a passable black!"
I am a Jolie fan, I've seen just about every good/bad/piece of crap she's ever made, but for someone who's so big on rasing this multicultural family she more so than others should have shown cultural sensitivity.

No because every time issues like this come up, it smacks of persecution-complex politics and it alienates the movie going public who will side with the face they know -i.e. Miss Jolie's

I think the more people WATCH films like these, they understand race not by being conscious of it, but by being sympathetic towards characters who are a differenct race to them. Oscar winners aside, Hollywood has always been quite progressive when it came of civil rights etc. As George Clooney said in his Oscar speech, the academy gave a black woman an Oscar back when her compatriots were still segregated on buses and in schools.

Bringing race up and making it an issue, is a great societal mistake in the 21st century. This is not the 1960s, there are better, heck cleverer, ways of making it an equal rights world.

 

[smartarse]

I LOATHE political correctness. There are times its just not needed.

well said, SiennaInLondon!