Casting fail incident in The Hobbit.
Nov. 30th, 2010 11:46 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
mijanThis is relevant to our interests:
(Taken directly from THIS article in Entertainment Weekly)
"A casting agent working on director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was fired from the production after placing ads in a regional New Zealand newspaper seeking extras with “light skin tones,” according to Agence France-Presse."
The issue was brought to light when a woman of Pakistani heritage wanted to become a background extra as a Hobbit, and was told succinctly that they were only looking for (quote) "light-skinned people."
"...video footage shows the casting agent telling people at an audition, 'We are looking for light-skinned people. I’m not trying to be … whatever. It’s just the brief. You’ve got to look like a Hobbit.'" (So, the casting guy was caught directly on tape saying this. His words.)
And a more detailed article on Google news.
And on the Atlantic Wire.
This... shall be interesting. They're saying the casting agent was NOT told to discriminate by race, and he's been fired. I wonder - was he really acting on his own? Was he sacrificed for the PR? What were his instructions for casting? What does a Hobbit look like anyway? (Yes, we have the description from the books, which describes short folks with big feet and curly brown hair, but no specific racial indicators beyond that.) I wonder how fandom will react. Thoughts, anyone?
(Edited title to avoid misinterpretation.)
(Taken directly from THIS article in Entertainment Weekly)
"A casting agent working on director Peter Jackson’s adaptation of J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Hobbit was fired from the production after placing ads in a regional New Zealand newspaper seeking extras with “light skin tones,” according to Agence France-Presse."
The issue was brought to light when a woman of Pakistani heritage wanted to become a background extra as a Hobbit, and was told succinctly that they were only looking for (quote) "light-skinned people."
"...video footage shows the casting agent telling people at an audition, 'We are looking for light-skinned people. I’m not trying to be … whatever. It’s just the brief. You’ve got to look like a Hobbit.'" (So, the casting guy was caught directly on tape saying this. His words.)
And a more detailed article on Google news.
And on the Atlantic Wire.
This... shall be interesting. They're saying the casting agent was NOT told to discriminate by race, and he's been fired. I wonder - was he really acting on his own? Was he sacrificed for the PR? What were his instructions for casting? What does a Hobbit look like anyway? (Yes, we have the description from the books, which describes short folks with big feet and curly brown hair, but no specific racial indicators beyond that.) I wonder how fandom will react. Thoughts, anyone?
(Edited title to avoid misinterpretation.)
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no subject
Date: 2010-12-01 04:10 am (UTC)I feel kind of bad for the casting guy, and I don't think it's fair that they fire him for that. That was kind of ridiculous on their part...
And as it has been pointed out, the LotR characters are old-European culture types, and so caucasian does make sense. And if the main Hobbitses are going to be caucasian, it would probably be best if none of the extras really stuck out, right? So, I guess as long as no one sticks out, whatever should go, only the main characters should "stick out."
And by the way Mijan, you make an excellent Hobbit. Just putting that out there.
no subject
Date: 2010-12-01 04:26 am (UTC)If the casting guy wasn't given any racial restrictions by the producers who hired him to cast the extras, and then imposed race restrictions on the applicants, then it would be fair to fire him. However, I feel if he WAS told to go for a certain look, and then they fired him for PR and to save face, then that wasn't fair to him. Because, yes, Hollywood casting is ALWAYS specific, and race is often a criteria for roles. If someone makes a Barbie movie, you can bet the lead actress will not be Asian, Hispanic, or black. If someone makes a movie about Harriet Tubman, you can bet the lead actress will not be Caucasian. (Oddly, if someone makes a movie about Jesus, the lead actor will probably not be Jewish... but whatever.) Anyway, Hollywood DOES discriminate by race when it casts certain roles. That's nothing new, and nobody expects otherwise.
I can see why, in a large crowd, it wouldn't be such a big deal to have people of varying skin tone. At the same time, the Hobbit communities are genetically isolated, and would have been fairly monochromatic, as most societies were in the distant past, when travel was much more difficult, and genetic groupings stayed more isolated. (But hey, I studied population genetics, so my analysis is probably too scientific here.)
Anyway, I see both reasons for wiggle room in casting extras, reasons why this WAS handled well, and reasons why this was NOT handled well. I'm just really honestly curious to know how fandom will react to it. There are bound to be a large range of reactions.
And... YAY HOBBIT! I do love being a Hobbit. And... I think I would fit the criteria. 5'1", naturally curly brown hair... if only I was in New Zealand!!!