Sydney Tamiia Poitier has already auditioned for Uhura?

[Reepeep Boltightener]

PowderedToastMan said:
i am sorry, but who is going to protest saying that Sydney Poitier's daughter is not black enough...that is just absurd.

Ok Sidney Poitier being who he is and what not, fine. Number one, she has already appeared in Grindhouse which I am sure was not high end cinema worthy of the legacy of Sidney Poitier.

Two her mother was white, so no I am not saying Sidney Poiter's daughter isn't black enough, I am saying that Joanna Shimkus, who was born in Canada and is of Lithuanian descent is too white to play the role.

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

Nichelle Nichols describes her own background as including Cherokee, Egyptian, Ethiopian, Moor, Spanish, Welsh and "a blonde, blue-eyed ancestor or two."

 

[Opus]

The Realist said:
I'm liking this bit of potential casting. She's a gorgeous woman and a decent actress, which frankly is probably enough: I don't think the Uhura role is ever likely to call for too much heavy thespian lifting. And while Trekmovie.com notes, "Poitier is 34 which is a few years older than they appear to be looking for that role," you could have fooled me. I'm actually surprised she's that old; from seeing her on V. Mars and elsewhere, I would have figured mid to late twenties.

Her age doesn't matter. What matters is the age range she can play. It is obvious she could pull off 25 or so.

As I see it, she's a very elegant, beautiful woman and a wonderful choice for the role of Uhura. Very classy.

But this is all speculation at the moment. She's just been to an audition and hadn't heard anything. No negotiations, no call-backs yet, nothing. In other words, it's a non-news event.

We'll see...

 

[The Realist]

OphaClyde said:
Her age doesn't matter. What matters is the age range she can play. It is obvious she could pull off 25 or so.

I agree, for the purposes of this movie. Another factor in the producers' minds, however, might be her potential longevity in the role (this goes for the other new cast members as well). IOW, if they're still making movies with this cast a decade from now, they may not want a 45-year-old Uhura. The younger they can cast, the longer they can put off the geriatric jokes for the sequels.

But I agree with you also that she's a terrific choice right now, as well as that this is all very premature. A single audition is a long way from being the new Uhura.

 

[Barbados Slim]

While you guys are harping over her skin tone (which doesn't matter) and her age (which she looks way young) I'll comment on the one thing that does matter: Her acting!!!

She's not that good of an actress. She was way hot in Grindhouse, but her performance was pretty blank slate. While she's not wooden, she was always "reading lines" instead of acting naturally. Her character was hypersexualized and that seemed forced too.

She also kinda sucked on V.Mars.

So, I'd say no. Not because of her skin tone (yes, Johnny, that is kinda racist) but because she's not very good.

 

[Sharr Khan]

Hey, there's no way some black guy would get to play Kirk or Spock, right? So fair is fair. Uhura should LOOK black, dammit.

That'd be a good argument, if they were talking about a blonde haired blue eyed Kara Zor-El type of girl for the part - "White girl", isn't the first thing I think looking at Sydney Tamiia Poitier.

And I'd bet on a movie set, with makeup and lighting she's scream Uhura...

Sharr

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Sharr Khan said:

Hey, there's no way some black guy would get to play Kirk or Spock, right? So fair is fair. Uhura should LOOK black, dammit.

That'd be a good argument, if they were talking about a blonde haired blue eyed Kara Zor-El type of girl for the part - "White girl", isn't the first thing I think looking at Sydney Tamiia Poitier.

And I'd bet on a movie set, with makeup and lighting she's scream Uhura...

She's a very pretty multiracial woman. I just don't see someone who was intended as being quintessentially African (albeit with Roddenberry's somewhat limited grasp of real African culture) as being playable by someone so evidently... non-African.

I'd really love to see an actual African actress cast in the part, complete with a real "dutch-ish" accent. That is... IF we were really going to see Uhura (and I'm far from convinced so far).

 

[Sharr Khan]

I'd really love to see an actual African actress cast in the part, complete with a real "dutch-ish" accent. That is... IF we were really going to see Uhura (and I'm far from convinced so far).

Isn't that retrofitting changes though? I can't say Uhura ever came across to me as "quintessentially African", aware perhaps of her heritage but that's another kettle of fish.

None of this should be a shock since the actress who originated the part was an African-American woman...

Though I understand the accent thing I'm not sure about the consistency there - again Nichelle Nichols never played her with one - no need or expectation for Uhura to have one here either.

Sharr

 

[Cary L. Brown]

Sharr Khan said:

I'd really love to see an actual African actress cast in the part, complete with a real "dutch-ish" accent. That is... IF we were really going to see Uhura (and I'm far from convinced so far).

Isn't that retrofitting changes though? I can't say Uhura ever came across to me as "quintessentially African", aware perhaps of her heritage but that's another kettle of fish.

None of this should be a shock since the actress who originated the part was an African-American woman...

Though I understand the accent thing I'm not sure about the consistency there - again Nichelle Nichols never played her with one - no need or expectation for Uhura to have one here either.

Sharr

it's probably just that I've spent some time in central Africa... and I know the culture. The character was named with a "true African" name... Uhura is a corruption of a Bantu word, after all. And in the original Trek writer's guide, as I recall, she was described as coming from the "United States of Africa" (anybody have a copy of that laying around that they can check?).

People here in the USA tend to assume that everyone in Africa is poor and uneducated, and that it's an armpit. And yes, there are certainly elements of that in some situations. But real African culture can be pretty amazing, and the people (and their speech patterns) are very much different than those we have here. African-American culture and African culture are almost entirely unrelated.

So I'd still prefer seeing someone like her:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/6476643.stm
play the role. But hey, that's just me...

 

[Opus]

The Realist said:

OphaClyde said:
Her age doesn't matter. What matters is the age range she can play. It is obvious she could pull off 25 or so.

I agree, for the purposes of this movie. Another factor in the producers' minds, however, might be her potential longevity in the role (this goes for the other new cast members as well). IOW, if they're still making movies with this cast a decade from now, they may not want a 45-year-old Uhura. The younger they can cast, the longer they can put off the geriatric jokes for the sequels.

But I agree with you also that she's a terrific choice right now, as well as that this is all very premature. A single audition is a long way from being the new Uhura.

I agree with you about the 45 year old thing, but I'd just like to point out that 45 is A LOT younger than it was 20 or 30 years ago. And something tells me she is likely to age quite gracefully.

 

[Venardhi]

I'm with the "cast an African girl" mob here. Look what happened the last time we got an 'enormously talented' bi-racial actress to take on a geek role as an African woman: Halle Berry as Storm.

Okay, maybe that isn't a very good argument, but I still don't think she is right for the role. The darkness of her skin isn't the issue for me, just that she feels very 'American' in her speech and body language.

There are bi/multi-racial people in Africa, and I imagine many more are likely to pop up in 200 years. . . I just feel like a modern day 'Star Trek' should have a truly diverse cast, not fake it with bad accents and unfamiliar names.

 

[Sharr Khan]

Okay, maybe that isn't a very good argument, but I still don't think she is right for the role. The darkness of her skin isn't the issue for me, just that she feels very 'American' in her speech and body language.

The thing is, Uhura hasn't ever been portrayed as anything but "American" in her speech or body language. Worrying about this no 40 odd years after the fact is a whole lot of nothing.

This is like something I ran across on an Import Model board. Someone complaining that a particular girl was to "Western" - well ah yeah - she's from Canada - complaints about being to Western are silly given she *is Western* but with an Asian heritage. Assertions she would look or behave otherwise are rather silly.

*and ah what was wrong with Halle as Storm?

Sharr

 

[Venardhi]

Everything, but that is beside the point.

Yes, in the original series and movies Uhura might as well have been from California or New York or Vancouver. . . but as long as they're casting a real Russian to play Chekov(reportely), and hopefully a real Scottsman to play Scotty, why not cast a real (or at least convincingly) African woman to play Uhura? What would be the downside? This won't be the same cast, and even the characters will be as different as Bond is from movie to movie, so why not?

 

[Noname Given]

TrelaneRetired said:
There's a thread on IMDB where Sydney Tamiia Poitier says she's already auditioned for the Uhura role but hasn't heard back. Kind of intereting...
Here's the link

I can see the audition tape now:

Uhura: "They call me Ms. Uhura!"

 

[Sharr Khan]

Venardhi said:
Everything, but that is beside the point.

Yes, in the original series and movies Uhura might as well have been from California or New York or Vancouver. . . but as long as they're casting a real Russian to play Chekov(reportely), and hopefully a real Scottsman to play Scotty, why not cast a real (or at least convincingly) African woman to play Uhura? What would be the downside? This won't be the same cast, and even the characters will be as different as Bond is from movie to movie, so why not?

Well my point is really they should pick *who they think is the best*, and leave considerations of ethnic backgrounds aside. If the best actor happens to share something with the character ok but don't make it the driving reason for casting them.

But its clear that this isn't intended as a "redo", with the casting of Nimoy. Things shouldn't be introduced like accants and such that were'nt part of the characters before we saw them.

If this was a total redo of Star Trek then okay I'm with you start over but its not at least as far as I can tell. This is supposed to be the same universe as the one we're already familiar with.

To some extent I think all this worry about who might play Uhura and her ethnic background is a bit insulting to Nichelle Nichols in as much as it seems to say: "Hey look you were good but look we got a 'Real African-American women' to play the part now.

Saying that I know these actors are going to make the part their own - but that's apart from introducing things like accents we'd never heard the character have before.

And actually noticing race or making it a priority over acting abilities is pretty PC.

Sharr

 

[Admiral Buzzkill]

As is always the case, there's no need to emphasize background over ability in order to fill a job because if the effort is made one can find someone of any background who has the skills.

In other words, it's not like all the skilled actors in the world are Americans.

It would be novel to see this "multinational crew" actually portrayed by a multinational cast. Beyond adding a few Canadians to the mix as usual, I mean.

 

[JSX]

Id Like to see Meagan Good in the role... Or in anything really...

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0328709/

 

[guardian]

Well, Uhura wasplayed in the 1960s by a woman of that era.
There was a whole lot less mixed marriages back then.
There was also a lot of sexism and other ideas that fell by the wayside.

Now it's 2007 and it seems pretty clear that racial mixing will be fairly common in the future---so the idea that a woman from africa must be 'very dark' seems silly.

Are folks suggesting that she must be dark because Nichols was dark?
If that's the case, then must she look like her in the face and be the same height?

I hope they just hire actors who can do a good job and skip the molded image from the past.

If she's a black actress & can act--I'm happy to see her in the part.
The Chekov guy didn't look exactly like koenig either from the one shot I saw.

 

[Triptacular]

I'd like to see Tatyana Ali (http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0004700/) as Uhura. She's a very good actress with a strong filmography. She's also about the right age and height.

I want a good actress too. None of these parts will be good if they just get young people with no idea what they're doing. Contrary to Hollywood belief, looks aren't everything.

 

[vulcangrrl]

Temis the Vorta said:

TrelaneRetired said:
There's a thread on IMDB where Sydney Tamiia Poitier says she's already auditioned for the Uhura role but hasn't heard back. Kind of intereting...
Here's the link

I dunno, this might be un-PC, but I think she's too light-skinned.

Hey, there's no way some black guy would get to play Kirk or Spock, right? So fair is fair. Uhura should LOOK black, dammit.

And that casting sheet was specific enough to say they were looking for someone of specifically Japanese ancestry to play Sulu, so assuming that's authentic, they ARE going to be looking for details like Uhura being dark enough to suit the role, just like they want a Kirk who isn't too tall (not over six foot). This isn't casting by affirmative action here.

She's 5'11". Cripes, she's also too tall.

Ok, I'll bite. Why can't a black guy play Kirk or Spock?

What is it about the roles of an ambitious farm kid who eventually becomes the youngest starship captain of all time and his half-Vulcan sidekick that can only be played by white guys?