THR mentions Warner Bros, which was already walking on egg shells with its Peter Pan castings, given the original play’s “racial insensitivities” that include a song called What Made the Red Man Red?” Their Rooney Mara casting was immediately kiboshed:
…Choosing Rooney Mara — an actress of Irish, German and French-Canadian ancestry — to play Pan’s Tiger Lily prompted an outcry, with 90,000 people signing a Care2 petition in protest. Now, as Pan heads for an Oct. 9 release, it enters a cultural landscape of increased racial sensitivities around film and television casting and a social media environment that amplifies those concerns. Warners, ironically, has been branded as insensitive for attempting to offer a color-blind, modern Pan.
A source working on the Peter Pan remake says:
“There’s a misconception about the ethnicity of the original character and we felt no obligation to perpetuate that misconception. We looked at Native American actresses. We looked at African-American actresses. We looked at African actresses. We looked at Middle Eastern actresses. White actresses. After a very exhaustive casting process, we ultimately went with the best actress for the part.”
Quotes from other Hollywood insiders:
Producer Doug Wick: “The fundamental rule is, you get to hire the performer who can best convey the spirit of the part. There is certainly a history of insensitivity. And you have to ask if it’s part of a dangerous pattern. But you can’t throw down the DNA gauntlet, and you’ve got to be able to cast for artistry and in the spirit of the character.”
Anonymous producer: “If you’re going to wait around to find the perfect actress who is a quarter Asian, and not just a quarter Asian but a quarter Hawaiian Asian, you will never cast your movie.”
And if you do nothing, then you risk looking like an uncreative racist producer with a narrow mind. “Try” doesn’t seem like much to ask.
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Image via Sony Pictures