Was Race An Issue In 'Hitch' Casting?: Will Smith Says Moviemakers Afraid to Cast Black Woman

MSNBC ^ | 2.24.05 | Jeanette Walls

[Petronski]

Read this month's issue of Elle.

I'll take your word for it. ;O)

The direction of the movie admitted that he wouldn't cast Smith with a white woman because it was too distracting.

And by pandering to those who might be "distracted" by such a thing, they endorse the idea that it should be a distraction. That's pitiful.

This is the twenty-frickin-first century, and this director pandered to bigotry because doing the opposite might have harmed box office sales.

I'm pretty sick of this crap.

[cyborg]

I think it depends on the movie. Sometimes with certain story lines and two black actors, some white people will think it isn't for them. There was a children's book author who said this is especially true when parents are picking out book titles for children. If a black child is on the front cover, white parents will automatically assume it's a book about being black. Some people may go to a movie and if a black person is in a particular role, they may not like it because in their minds that's 'not realistic'. I bet they catch these things in test audiences though.

[wtc911]

see my previous post # 17. The films you both mention are genre films that do not expect or need foreign revenues to make money.

[cyborg]

You're right. I think by making it an issue, they're reinforcing it.

[gopwinsin04]

Then how do you explain Ice Cube being cast as a sub for Vid Diesel in 'xXx,' that is a huge budget picture..

[gopwinsin04]

'Soul Food' 'Love and Basketball' there are plenty of exceptions to the rule..

[cyborg]

Ice Cube has mainstream potential. A lot of white people, especially younger people, like him.

[Petronski]

You nailed it in #9: it's all about the money. Hollywood types talk a great game, but when it comes down to it, it's money.

[wtc911]

if Halle Berry wanted to play that role in a comedy the producers would have bent over backwards to let her!

__________________________________

Don't count on that. Berry gets a lot more than Mendez but doesn't bring a cooresponding increase in BO. Film making is a business with a formula. Right now Latin women fit more grooves than any other demographic. Look at how many of them are constantly working. Hollywood plugs them in to a role to do one thing, make it more "exotic" without being black. On the flip, show me three studio films with both leads being Latino. That doesn't happen either.

[PISANO]

It is amazing that the more successful Will becomes, "MAKIN IT in the White MAN's world as it were", the more LEFTIST his thinking becomes. How can a guy making 25 million a picture, find ANYTHING to complain about UNLESS of course it is RACE related?

Does ANYONE any longer give a crap if the leading man and women in any movie is Black, White, Asian or Latino? Who even notices that any longer?

Hey WILL, you Jesse and Al go in hiding, write a War & Peace type novel and leave us alone with your silly ideas that ....ooze of racism.

[gopwinsin04]

'Boomerang,' Coming to America..' shall I continue? (all with good worldwider Box Office)

[cyborg]

BTW, certain rappers are leaving rap and getting into acting. I think some can act better than they can rap. Queen Latifah can do both, though I think she is really good actress. Speaking of mainstream marketable black people, she was in a lot of mainstream magazines and I love her new look. I didn't see the Steve Martin movie but the idea of Eugene Levy in love with her is a hoot.

[wtc911]

That's too easy. Ice Cube has, on his own, created a market for anything he does. This will be his first big budget lead. Let's see if he joins Smith and Denzel. And let's see who his female lead is.

[k2blader]

How about an Asian woman? :-)

[Yaelle]

I think that is silly. Several times I have bought greeting / birthday cards that I later found out were "Mahogany" or whatever, i.e. marketed to black people. The sentiment fit, so who cares? Why do we always have to "match"?

I am so glad my child goes to a school where there is absolutely no majority or minority (I wish there were more Jews there, though...). It's a quarter black, a quarter white, a quarter Hispanic, and a quarter Asian. I wish we could be a color-blind society.

[gopwinsin04]

I think Halle just wanted to 'cash in' with the Oscar like a lot of people do. (she was great in romantic comedy opposite Eddie in Boomerang)

If she did 'Hitch' she would have to probably take a lower salary because Will is a guaranteed Box office draw..

[cyborg]

Distinguished Gentleman... I remember when that movie came out and my dad loved it, my dad who was to the right of Archie Bunker *lol*

[exnavychick]

That was the first one that popped into my mind, too.

I was so jealous of Julia...Denzel is just FINE, FINE, FINE!! Makes Will look like a boy in comparison, imo. :)

[gopwinsin04]

Zhang Ziyi..she's probably going to be the next mainstream big thing in Speilburgs 'Memiors of a Geisha'

[inkling]

Not garbage at all. Hollywood is a business with its eye eternally on the bottom line.

Exactly. Hollywood is extremely bigoted in its casting choices. And they're Dems, so that's no big surprise.

I still remember that the studio was demanding director Robert Rodriguez cast a blonde "Michelle Pfieffer-type" opposite Antonio Banderas in Desperado. Yeah, she would have fit right in that dusty Mexican town. Thankfully, Rodrguez refused and cast Salma Hayek (sigh) in that role. I, for one, am eternally grateful. :-)