‘Superman & Batman’ movie will follow ‘Man of Steel’

The most high-profile example of a white actor adding make up to play an Indian that I can think of is Sir Alec Guinness in A Passage to India. Even in 1984, this was regarded as something of an anachronism.

 

Wait. Are we now seriously bitching that a Hispanic, Ricardo Montalban, who brilliantly portrayed one of the most iconic characters in Trek history, was not sufficiently "brown" enough to play Khan?

What happened to "get the best actor for the part regardless of race"?

 

But what does giving a nonwhite actor a chance have to do with this?

Sorry, I don't have any new pictures of Amy Adams to get the thread back on track. You're right though, all threads seem to devolve to this at some point so I'll shut up.

 

I hope no one will suggest that Hollywood should pay reparations to all the ethnic actors who auditioned for roles that ended up going to white guys. That would be ridiculous, but I wouldn't be surprised if it happened.

Peter Sellers played an Indian in "The Party." I can't think of anyone of any ethnicity who could have played the role better. But that whole movie was farce, absurdity for absurdity's sake.

 

Hispanic is a pretty broad term. From the European Montalban to the African Zoe Saldana. Cameon Diaz's paternal ancestry is Cuban!

 

From the fan perspective I see here, casting any actor for a role that doesn't fit their physical appearance is a capital offense. It doesn't matter that James Roday's actual surname is Rodriguez, there's no way he should be cast as a Hispanic character. He's too white, too European.

My eyes are rolling so fast that I can't see straight.

 

It has everything to do with it! The whole reason discrimination is bad is because it hurts the people who are discriminated against! Whether a character onscreen looks like a character in a comic book or an earlier screen depiction is an abstract, intangible issue, because the character doesn't exist and can't be harmed. But real live human beings are harmed by discriminatory casting practices. So that's what's actually important here.

 

This is fun and all, but again: Why is all of this Khan casting stuff in the BvS thread when there are who knows how many others overrun with it?

 

Perry White. All racebending casting leads to Khan.

 

But that's my point, your statement was all about the character but then you are talking about casting actors. Regardless if Montalban or an Indian actor was cast the genetically superior Khan is still shown to be of Indian descent. The point doesn't change because they didn't hire an Indian actor.

 

You are right, but Montalban looked like he had super human strength.

 

Particularly when he picks up Chekov one handed and the stuntman behind them totally is NOT helping to lift him up!

 

Not to mention all the times that Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez has been cast as white presidents, white lawyers, white cops, white special forces agents, etc.

 

I think the original point was, UNLIKE the past, we should be more conscious of ethnicity (I don't like the term "race") when casting in the future. In the past the majority of comic book characters were white because of the times. Nobody would have believed that the editor of Metropolis' major newspaper could be black in the fifties. Peter Parker and nearly every other hero up until the seventies was white for no particular reason other than it was normal to cast whites as the main characters.

It should be encouraged to recast these roles in the 21st century to more accurately reflect the real world as it is today.

As for Khan, it was just an example of recent casting that should have been given more consideration. I for one don't think anything less of casting Montalban as Khan in the sixties because it was "the times" and it was great for a latino actor to be cast (and who went on to have a long and respected television and film career).

A recent example of something similar this year was Rosewater, casting a Mexican actor to play an Iranian. Another was casting a latino actor to play a Native American in the the Twilight movies, something that received a great deal of criticism among the many Native American/Canadian actors who could have played it.

We really should have moved beyond that by now and be looking to the variety of non-white actors who are actually capable of playing roles. So many brown people get cast as terrorists regardless of their nationality that it would be nice for somebody to get a meatier role.

Regarding Momoa, I certainly hope that he gets written more like his character from SGA and not Conan. Aquaman is a well spoken, thoughtful, and honorable regal character, not a barbarian. In fact, he should be even closer to Superman in personality than Namor. I, personally, think that Momoa has everything he needs to play a great Aquaman.

 

That's very OCD, and probably indicative of other many things that folks way above my pay grade love to diagnose.

 

A cool mash-up. Since we are suffering from a serious case of thread drift.

 

And not a single speck of colour among all four heroes. Well, except for the gold coloured border I guess. This movie is going to be so dreary.

 

Red and blue aren't colors?

 

Faded, washed out, and muted colours don't count.

 

Sure they do. Color is right there in your description. The red and blue in the Superman picture pretty much leaps off the page next to the more muted colors in the other pics.