A casting head said: “I couldn’t put you in a Shakespeare movie. They didn’t have black people then.

[kpete]

What It’s Really Like to Work in Hollywood*
(*If you’re not a straight white man.)


MORE:
http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2016/02/24/arts/hollywood-diversity-inclusion.html?_r=2

[ladjf]

1. Hmm. Othello anyone? nt

[Xipe Totec]

2. And Titus Andronicus nt

[Aristus]

14. Aaron in 'Titus Andronicus'.

n/t

[el_bryanto]

3. Great article; thanks for posting. nt

[Solly Mack]

4. K&R

[whatthehey]

5. Well, if the out of Africa hypothesis is as solid as it seems

I'm pretty sure they had black people for a hell of a long time before white ones, assuming you're willing to call erectus "people", since that's when pigmentation shifts started.

But, rampant parochialism and prejudice aside, there is a glimmer of technical truth possible. Assuming you are talking about Shakespearean works set in his own contemporary and historical England, there were a vanishingly small number of black folks in England, and only then really a tiny few in his lifetime (if memory serves I remember reading about the wonder caused by Catherine of Aragon's African retinue). Certainly for a producer consumed with visual historical accuracy, putting a black actor in, say. Richard III would make as much sense as costuming one character in Victorian garb.

Not a particularly common concern especially in movies however, so not much of a fig leaf. Far more likely the casting guy is a dickwad.

[csziggy]

13. Shift in pigmentation took place more than once, probably

And from studies I read years ago, it takes about 10,000 years to lighten pigment to northern European colors.

In addition a year or so ago a genetic study found a measurable level of African genetic material in English people that dated from very early, maybe the Roman period.

24 January 2007
Genes reveal West African heritage of white Brits

Gene tests on a sample of “indigenous” Englishmen have thrown up a surprise black ancestry, providing new insight into a centuries-old African presence in Britain.

The research, funded by the Wellcome Trust, identified a rare West African Y chromosome in a group of men from Yorkshire who share a surname that dates back at least as far as the mid-14th century and have a typical European appearance. They owe their unusual Y chromosome to an African man living in England at least 250 years ago and perhaps as early as Roman times, the researchers say.
https://www.newscientist.com/article/dn11018-genes-reveal-west-african-heritage-of-white-brits/

[mountain grammy]

6. K&R

Thanks for posting..

[alarimer]

7. Well, all the women's roles were played by men once upon a time

And the real beauty of Shakespeare is the adaptability. So that exec was full of shit. And he never heard of Othello, apparently.

[Wounded Bear]

8. Denzel Washington played an Italian prince in...

Much Ado About Nothing. Did quite well, too, as one might expect from such a talented actor.

I must admit to a sense of shock when he first came on screen, but he nailed the performance IMHO. After I dialed down my innate racist and just watched the film, his race didn't matter.

I always consider this when I hear shit like the uproar over the Brits picking a black woman to play Hermione.

Hey they're actors. There really aren't that many roles where the race of the actor matters much.

[WinkyDink]

9. I saw (and met!) Denzel when he played Brutus in B'way's "Julius Caesar" about a decade ago. Yum!

[tkmorris]

10. That was a very good read

Thank you for posting this.

[KitSileya]

11. http://medievalpoc.tumblr.com/

Lots and lots and lots of historic evidence in art of persons of color in Europe during all of history. For heaven's sake, the British circumnavigated the globe during Shakespeare's lifetime. He didn't think that they went to Africa, and some African people went to Britain (or were forced to go there?)

[rusty fender]

12. Ridiculous racist justification for denying

AAs acting roles.

Anyone familiar with opera knows that AAs have been cast in starring "white" roles way before Hollywood ever did. Singers were picked based on their voices, not the color of their skin.

[Guy Whitey Corngood]

15. These assholes need to stop pretending they're just soooo much more 'evolved' than

the rest of the country. Many of the artists in the industry might be. But executives can really be out of touch asshats. They share a lot of the same ignorance that plagues the rest of the country.

[MisterP]

16. man, Hollywood doesn't count Jews and Italians as whites

gotta change yer surname

[malaise]

17. Institutional racism is live

and well