By Enrique Castillo
Times were when a particular dominant ethnic culture in performing arts had the unbridled privilege of setting and even breaking its own set of rules. “An Actor Can Play Anything.” This bill of goods was, of course, an unwritten rule. Which is why that group could practice or dismiss the rule as it desired. This interpretation existed almost exclusively for one particular ethnic group.
Smear on blackface and play African-American roles. Red face, throw on feathers and play Native American; stretch your eyes and play Asian/Pacific Islander (API). And of course, use your basic Egyptian makeup and smear on some spirit gum and stick on a phony mustache for your Mexican or Latin American and everything else under the sun that equated, anything else or “Other.”
When that privilege began to ebb and the “Others” began to challenge the status quo, reality began to set in for this privileged group. Then some within this privileged group, who professed to be “woke” and on the side of the underprivileged, began to show their true colors. Case in point, American journalist and sportscaster Rachel Nichols who unknowingly recorded her phone conversation while talking with Lebron James’ advisor Adam Mendelsohn and the former’s agent, Rich Paul about African-American co-worker Maria Taylor, who had been selected to cover the 2020 NBA Finals and replacing Nichols. Nichols is heard saying. “…Just find it somewhere else. You are not going to find it from me or taking my thing away.”
Then there’s actor Richard Dreyfuss (Jaws) who recently shared his thoughts on White actors being able to play Black in a recent interview with Margaret Hoover on an episode of PBS’s Firing Line, “He played a Black man brilliantly,” said Dreyfuss about Lawrence Olivier. “Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play [in] The Merchant of Venice? Are we crazy?”
Mr. Dreyfuss, we suggest you read Noah Berlatsky’s recent CNN opinion piece on Helen Mirren playing Golda Meir in the film Golda or David M. Perry’s opinion piece on Bradley Cooper’s fake proboscis for his role as Leonard Bernstein in Maestro. Someone is being told that “if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t be play” Jewish.
It’s time for this privileged group to face reality.
No you can no longer blackface or put on feathers or stretch your eyes and play anything you feel is your right – without controversy. This practice is also now being challenged by Little People. After the trailer of the new re-fashioned film on Willy Wonka entitled Wonka was released this past month, the Little People community called out the casting of Hugh Grant as an Oompa Loompa, bemoaning that that role should have gone to a Little Person.
And, when it comes to accents, if they are European accents, there seems to be no problem. However, if the rule of no accent is specifically applied to the “Others” when they are being considered for a lead or prominent role, that is when “they” choose to dismiss the rule. Think of Arnold Shwartzenegger, Jean Claude Van Damme whose accents did not deter them from playing the lead in several films. Russell Crowe as Maximus “the Roman” with his “un-authentically Italian accent ” won an Oscar for this role in Gladiator.
This privileged group believes they have been flawless in their accents for decades. Think Richard Burton speaking “flawless” German in (Where Eagles Dare, 1968); Horst Buchholz’s “flawless” Spanish accent in (The Magnificent Seven, 1960). Then there is Lawrence Olivier, Kirk Douglas and Tony Curtis’ with their “flawless’ accent as Italians in (Spartacus, 1960). They didn’t even try.
It must be nice to be that privileged, especially when rewarded for it with a golden statue confirming your exceptional and “flawlessly accented” performance. We can almost hear them say, “I make the rule, I can break it whenever I damn please.”
Nothing capsulizes this “rule’s” sentiment more than what I read in the great late director Hal Ashby’s unpublished memoir that his former assistant let me read; and I am paraphrasing here: “There are three things that separate me from a lot of people, I was born white, I was born male and I was born in this country [the U.S.]. That means I don’t have to look over my shoulder.” He knew well the cloak of privilege he was born with.
But times they are changing and as the “MAGA” mentality that has benefited that particular privileged group continues to be challenged there is still one ethnic group that remains in the crosshairs of “the rule”– Latinos. Think Ben Affleck in (Argo) who played real life CIA Operative Tony Mendez. And more recently, think Alex Wolff who was cast as Nobel Prize winning physicist Luis Alvarez in the much lauded Christoper Nolan’s film Oppenheimer. And more recently, let’s not forget Leonard Bernstein’s Costa Rican-Chilean wife Felicia Montealegre being played by Carey Mulligan in Maestro.
Yet, some who have the complexioned ability to blend and have some crossover success might continue to defend the rule, out of desperate survival or acquired privilege. Martin Sheen whose real name is Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez and his son Charlie Sheen (Carlos Irwin Estevez) come to mind. Martin’s other actor son Emilio Estevez however, seems to have defied the rule and maintained pride in his heritage, and was ultimately advised by his father, “‘Don’t make the mistake that I did. Don’t change your name.” Yes, time has a way of assisting one in seeing things a little clearer and assuaging the need to conceal or deny one’s heritage.
Now that the “Others” have begun to challenge the “rule” and point out its inconsistencies, it’s about time to throw out the rule and adapt to what Greek philosopher Heraclitus wrote; “There is nothing permanent except change.” Or more simply put by an unknown author, “In order to change, we must be sick and tired of being sick and tired.”
What this year’s WGA and SAG/AFTRA strikes have brought to light is that the privileged group is now feeling what the “Others” have been feeling for generations about being replaced on screen. Looking into the future, AI is one of the main issues. Now “they” are afraid of being replaced by AI. For the “Others” it’s more personal. As the character Ramon states in the 1940’s film Salt of The Earth: “Okay, so discrimination hurts everybody… but it hurts me more!”
MAGA? America has never been greater… for the underprivileged and the world. Now, many more are speaking out more freely and more can be stated about how and who built the film industry (Hollywood), how they did it, and how the “Others” can claim their space and move forward. But that’s for another article.
For now let’s just welcome Mr. Dreyfuss to the New World!
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