Hollywood whitewashing outcry as Leonardo DiCaprio lined up to play Persian poet Rumi

[Recursion]

http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/films/news/hollywood-whitewashing-outcry-as-gladiator-writer-says-he-wants-to-cast-leonardo-dicaprio-as-persian-a7070381.html

The Oscar-winning writer of Gladiator has sparked a whitewashing outcry after saying that he wants Leonardo DiCaprio to play Persian poet Jalaluddin al-Rumi in a new film about his life.

David Franzoni told the Guardian that he hopes to “challenge the stereotypical portrayal of Muslim characters in western cinema” by giving “a face and a story” to the Sufi scholar whose epic poetry has been translated into many languages and remains “hugely popular” in the United States.

However, while Franzoni and producer Stephen Joel Brown’s plans to explore the 13th century “Shakespeare” have been welcomed, their aim of casting white Hollywood actors in the lead roles has been met with anger. Although shooting is not likely to start until next year at the earliest, Franzoni and Brown intend to approach DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr for the parts of Rumi and Iranian mystic Shams of Tabriz respectively. “This is the level of casting that we’re talking about,” Brown said.

The lack of diversity in film is a controversial issue at the moment. The Academy failed to nominate a single black actor in its leading Oscars categories for the second year running, while Marvel has come under fire for casting Tilda Swinton as a Tibetan mystic in Doctor Strange. The castings of Scarlett Johansson as Japanese character Motoko Kusanagi in Ghost in the Shell and Zoe Saldana as the considerably darker-skinned soul singer Nina Simone have also provoked fury.

[yuiyoshida]

1. Ghost in the Shell

is gearing up soon for the same kind of thing. Its disgusting, that they will take something very Japanese and a popular Anime, and rework it for American audiences who have no interest with Japanese faces.