During times of universal hysteria, stating the obvious based on logic and fact become becomes a revolutionary act.
The recent revolutionary is Australian actor Guy Pearce, best known to audiences for his performances in L.A. Confidential (1997), Memento (2000), The Hurt Locker (2009) and so many more.
What
did Pearce say?
He
posted the following on Twitter regarding the new unwritten rule in Hollywood that only trans actors can play transgender roles.
“A
question — if the only people allowed to play trans characters are trans folk,
then are we also suggesting the only people trans folk can play are trans
characters?
Surely
that will limit your career as an actor? Isn’t the point of an actor to be able
(to) play anyone outside your own world?”
Pearce
rose to fame playing a crossdresser in Priscilla, Queen of the Desert (1994).
The film received great acclaim and was also lauded for its humane portrayal of gay characters.
Perhaps
in today’s time, Pearce would never have got the part because he is neither gay nor a drag
queen in real life.
There was, as expected, a backlash against Pearce.
Some pointed out that because roles for trans people are so limited in mainstream film and television, they should be prioritized for trans actors.
Most were just outraged without basis.
This
caused Pearce to delete his original tweet and post a lengthy letter on Twitter the
following day apologizing and clarifying his position.
https://twitter.com/TheGuyPearce/status/1640825189054251008
The
following are key excerpts from the text:
“I
see that raising the question of gender identity within the casting process on
a platform like Twitter was not a good idea. For that, I apologize, enormously.
I acknowledge it has only stirred up and inflamed attitudes and made us all dig
our heels in.”
Pearce
wrote that the subject is “complex and sensitive” and slammed the practice of ‘discrimination’,
adding that his family has suffered due to prejudice
“Our
industry is already a cesspool of politics, bums on seats, funding, nepotism,
and favoritism”
“It’s
clear a great many minority communities are underrepresented onscreen and that
so too are actors from those communities”
"But
I don't believe artists who have to announce their personal identity, sexual
preference, political stance, disability, religious beliefs, etc. to attain
work.”
“I
believe that to suggest 'acting' can only come from our own lived experience
annihilates our imagination. I wouldn't want that restriction placed on a
minority actor or any actor for that matter, myself included.”
Pearce
is a well-known actor with a reasonable amount of power in the industry. He
wasn’t denigrating any individual or group, he was merely pondering aloud some
very valid points.
Yet he was compelled to apologize because he knows that outrage from online mobs could result in him being branded a bigot and the worst would result in him being blacklisted.
We saw proof of the existence of a blacklist in 2019 when President Trump held a fundraiser at Beverly Hills. Will and Grace ‘star’ Eric McCormack called for Trump donors in Hollywood to be outed implying that they deserve to be boycotted for their political positions.
https://twitter.com/EricMcCormack/status/1167309987393110016
This explains why the newcomers in Hollywood, go out of their way to prove their loyalty to the cause by attacking President Trump or supporting BLM, LGBT+ issues, or the war in Ukraine, etc.
They know it will give them the right kind of attention and ensure lucrative employment for ages.
So should casting be strictly on lived experiences?
Last year, during an interview Tom Hanks, who played a gay man suffering from AIDS in Philadelphia (1993), for which he won the Oscar, claimed that straight must not play a gay man because audiences wouldn't accept the inauthenticity.
In 2021, Actor Eddie Redmayne who was nominated for an Oscar for playing a transgender man in The Danish Girl (2015) told The Sunday Times that he erred in accepting the role and that wouldn’t have accepted the role now. He added that only transgender actors should play transgender characters.
When
the madness reaches such proportions it is worth revising the basics.
The whole point of acting is portraying another person. Great performers relish playing characters that are totally unlike them. The point of the craft is to surrender entirely to the screenplay and become the character.
Sir
Michael Caine said his performance as an alcoholic morose British journalist
living in Vietnam in The Quiet American was his best because there was not a
trace of ‘Michael Caine in it.
It must also be remembered that casting in a movie, especially for the principal cast is often depends on the market viability of an actor.
The reason they cast Tom Hanks as a gay man in Philadelphia they knew he would draw audiences into the cinemas. Perhaps it resulted in audiences becoming more empathetic towards gay people. If an unknown gay actor had played the part, the movie would probably have vanished. Back in 1993, Hanks was lauded for playing a gay character, it was even considered a move of solidarity with the gay community.
But an act of bravery back then is now an act of bigotry.
Needless to say, this is insane.
If casting is based on lived experiences, films set in another era or crime thrillers, fantasy films, sci-fi pictures, and superhero films would never get made.
The
whole point of fiction would be meaningless if it is based on lived experiences.
If you want complete authenticity there are documentaries and even they have a level of contrivance.
In the end, it is all about quality and not the race and gender of the performer.
Last
year, Cuban-born actress Ana de Armas played Marilyn Monroe in the fictionalized psychological drama film Blonde.
Ana retained her Cuban-Spanish accent while playing one of America’s most iconic
actresses, but it didn’t matter because of her interpretation she
managed to capture the essence of Marilyn the tortured icon who concealed her
pain behind her smile and cheery public demeanor.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIsFywuZPoQ
Sir Sean Connery played Indiana Jones’s Dad, a Russian submarine captain, and even a Muslim tribal warlord with his Scottish accent, but it didn’t matter because he managed to capture the authenticity o the character.
https://youtu.be/AGUtyWSwaN4
In recent times we are seeing the opposite occur with 'color-blind casting, where non-white actors play white characters.
It worked remarkably when Lucy Liu played Joan Watson in Jonny Lee Miller's Sherlock Holmes in Elementary 2012-9. Watson was female and Asian-American. But it didn't matter because Liu did very well portraying Holmes's friend and companion.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIsFywuZPoQ
British-Indian actor Dev Patel played King Arthur's nephew in The Green Knight (2022) and the titular character in The Personal History of David Copperfield (2020). The supporting roles in these films were also a result of 'color blind' casting.
Both films did reasonably well
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xXh53I-Sdsk
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sS6ksY8xWCY
Emma Corrin identifies as non-binary and uses them/they as pronouns played by Princess Diana in The Crown and the titular character Lady Chatterley's Lover (2022). Both characters are straight, female, and very feminine.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZOkXE3B0pDA
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3EW6XqCaQjY
Based on the new rules of race or gender-based casting, these are inauthentic presentations.
The only solution to this madness is to remove all boundaries of faux political correctness from the fields of art.
Let actors be cast on their acting abilities only, no other restriction is necessary.
Also appears on American Thinker
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