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Jolie's Cleopatra casting starts race row
teenagemartyr
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The producers of the forthcoming Cleopatra film have been criticised for casting Angelina Jolie in the title role.
An article by Shirea L. Carroll on website Essence.com blasted Oscar-winning producer Scott Rudin and the makers of the historical epic for selecting Jolie to play an African queen.
She wrote: "Honestly, I don't care how full Angelina Jolie's lips are, how many African children she adopts, or how bronzed her skin will become for the film, I firmly believe this role should have gone to a Black woman."
Carroll suggested that Vanessa Williams, Halle Berry and Thandie Newton would have been better choices for the part, and lambasted Hollywood for previously casting white women Claudette Colbert, Vivien Leigh and Elizabeth Taylor as the Egyptian queen.
Stacy Schiff, author of the biography Queen Of The Nile, Cleopatra: A Life on which the movie will be based, previously endorsed Jolie, saying that she had "the perfect look" for the role. Schiff has also suggested Jolie's partner Brad Pitt to play Cleopatra's lover Marc Anthony.
http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/movies/news/a229411/jolie-cleopatra-casting-sparks-race-row.html
I have to say that I slightly agree; we're in 2010 and audiences wouldn't be put off by a black leading lady. You wouldn't cast Jim Carey as Martin Luther King, would you?
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They should definitely pick a dark skinned actress. We don't want to see Jolie plastered in ronseal (like Alec Gunness in Passage to India). Vanessa Williams is a better looking than Jolie too.
Acting ability and how big a draw the actress is, along with budget, isn't discriminating against anyone, whereas to me, the journalist is the one discriminating against others.
I have always liked Egyptian history and it's shame they are doing another movie about Cleopatra would have preferred them have done a movie about Hatsheput were one would have dark skinned actress playing the part.
Lots of movies have been made about Greek and Roman history hopefully this will spark a trend for movie makers to look at Egyptian, Persian, Mesopotamia and others for movie making.
:cool:
I didn't think Cleopatra was black either, more sallow - Greek/turkish complexion. I think Jolie is a mistake simply because I don't think she will carry a film like this, remember Alexander? She's more suited to slightly indie films or big action types imo.
Yes yes! People always go for Cleopatra but Hatshepsut was an epic woman. I'd much rather see a film about her life than another about some manipulative chick and her asp:o
But I guess she's not a dramatic enough name:rolleyes:
Only woman ever to become Pharaoh if I remember correctly? Your correct but I think it's the epic love story that sells Cleopatra - although Hatshepsuts story would be far more interesting IMO! (played by Jolie of course! Sorry - am biased, love her!)
I agree with you. The journalist just being quite racist. I didn't read any journalists complaining about the Nancy in the BBCs Oliver Twist being played by black actresses...
I think Anjolina Jolie is an excellent choice for Cleopatra.
The journalist's ignorance is only matched by their racial paranoia.
Depictions of Cleopatra in paintings, sculptures and coins show a Caucasian person. She also has a large, prominent Greek/Egyptian nose. Shouldn't the writer of this article be angling for either a Greek or Arab actress to be playing this role? :rolleyes::rolleyes:
There was a bit of a fuss from Iranian historians when a mixed race black actress was chosen to play Roxanne the Satrap's daughter, in Oliver Stone's film about King Alexander. They pointed out that Roxanne came from a nomadic pale skinned Iranian tribe. Perhaps an Iranian-American or Arab-American should have been selected for this role instead?
We hear the same nonsense discussed about Tutankhamun the Egyptian boy king. Dr Hawass, the head of Egyptian Antiquities has stated quite clearly that he was NOT black.
No doubt the next Egyptian monarch to be Afrocentrised will be Queen Nefertiti - who is also plainly, not black either!!
:rolleyes:
No, Nancy was Charles Dickens character and she was white.
There would be no need to "plaster" Angelina in Ronseal because Cleopatra was of Macedonian Greek origin. Therefore, Angelina's own skin tone would be fine. :rolleyes:
Have seen a mummy supposed to be Hatshepsut's - even having been dead for thousands of years, she looked elegant (and caucasoid) and beautiful with long red hair (so, no, she wasn't black either).
I'm not sure Cleopatra was black - Cleopatra was descended from Ptolomy who was one of Alexander The Great's most loyal Generals and therefore more of Greek extraction.
If anything Angelina is too old for the part - Cleopatra was in 22 when her she gave birth to Caesarion she had with Caesar.
And which part of the book would that be?
What part of the book says she's black?
None, but by the racial mix of London at the time she could have been.
Slavery was illegal in Britain from Manfield's law in the early 1800s, so there were lots of free black people living in the country.
Genetically most were mixed race due to diplomatic marriages between kingdoms in the ancient near east (from Africa to Southern Europe); and depictions show that basically they looked like Egyptians do now i.e. varying in colour and look from very dark to very pale, varying in face type as well.
So, no problem with Jolie being cast as Cleopatra BUT I wish they would make movies about other Egyptian Queens who to be honest have more interesting back-stories e.g. Hatchepsut, who ruled the country about a thousand years before Cleopatra; Nefertiti and her daughter Akhensenamun who were around during a period that makes Rome look like the average episode of Play School. Then you have the wives of Ramesses III who tried to bump him off...
What ????