In the 90s Sinbad was a mid-level actor and comedian. He was a household name to some people, but he never really got very far beyond a few starring roles, mostly on tv. Aside from "Jingle All the Way," his most noteworthy film was a comedy called, "Houseguest." He was popular in the black community, of course, so he had (and probably still has) fans there.
I think they picked him because he auditioned well, and yeah, even in the 90s, they were trying to insert diversity more into the casting of their films, but it wasn't just blatant rage-baiting and ticking off boxes with no-talents like it is today. Any non-white actor auditioning for a role still had to do well, even back then, and I guess the producers liked Sinbad's audition at the time. They needed someone who could act like the stereotypical, nutty, postal worker getting ready to go postal. At least in this film, having a black character in the city, who is a mailman actually makes sense, since despite Minnesota having a lot of white people living there, the cities [even in the 90s] had many types of people, and it makes sense to run into some non-white people in Minneapolis once in a while, and people of all colors work in the post office.
You know what's interesting about the ranting is, nobody cared back in the 90s. Before the internet got really advanced, before everyone had smartphones, and before social media became a thing, most people didn't take drama Queens/Kings like Myron seriously at all. They would just look at him as a loudmouthed nutjob that watched tv too much and would then walk off and ignore him. That's how all fringe nutties were treated before social media elevated them to a role with power and influence they never should have had to begin with.
What's also interesting, is this film would not be made today, simply because they had a manly, straight, masculine, white guy like Arnold as the hero; a black man like Sinbad as the villain; no gay characters; most of the cast is white; and one of the biggest themes in the story is traditional family values. Those are all big no-no's in Hollyweird today, and frankly, I'm glad the movie was made in the time it was. Could you imagine how terrible it would be today?
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Tam87 (1381)
15 days ago
I think they picked him because he auditioned well
I might've thought that until I read the imdb trivia:
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0116705/trivia/?item=tr2047178&ref_=ext_shr_lnk
Chris Columbus at that time was the Christmas film guru in Hollywood with both Home Alone's being blockbusters, meaning if he thought a particular actor was right for Myron, then he would've been spot on. He was overruled by his bosses because the 90s was the start of what you see today i.e. studios turning down a better actor in favour of an inferior one just for political reasons.
Could you imagine how terrible it would be today?
It would be an awful film if it came out today, definitely. They can't make good christmas films anymore because all the best stories have been told, and all the new generations of writers can only insert all their agendas into the scripts they write. There has to be an unlikable female lead, the men have to be weak, and there has to be tokens & gays all over the shop. This film was written from the heart, it wasn't following a checklist, that's why it works.
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AmeriGirl26 (14789)
15 days ago
They picked him because he was taller? Talk about dumb.
There are other good Christmas stories, but nobody in Hollyweird wants to tell them because they don't like telling wholesome, good stories anymore. That's why many have been relegated to places like Hallmark and Netflix, because they wouldn't make it otherwise to any screen, never mind the big one. It would have been different 20 years ago.
Judging by the changes I'm hearing about going on in the studios now, I think the tide might be turning, but it takes a while for the Hollywood machine to realign from one direction to another. It'll probably be 5 years before we start seeing anything really good and not agenda driven. As for good big-screen Christmas films, I don't think we'll see anything noteworthy at all for another 20 years, if ever again.
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Tam87 (1381)
15 days ago
It's a shame because I remember going to see Christmas films in the cinema like the Home Alones or Tim Allen's Santa Clause etc and it's strange to think they don't make stuff like that anymore. At the time they were just regular films, but looking back it's like looking through a time warp before the woke age came around and ruined everything. You can just sit back and watch something that's free from woke agendas, it's great.
They can never take those films away from us, even if they tried to do things like edit out Trump from Home Alone 2. Regardless of whether they can start making good films again, we'll always have the classic stuff we grew up on to appreciate.
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