MovieChat Forums > The Sleeping Dictionary (2003) Discussion > casting Jessica Alba...

casting Jessica Alba...

posted 20 years ago by cata_caterpillar_girl
12 replies | jump to latest

the film itself was pretty decent, but if it did want to make some political impact, it lost it with filming a Westerner as the title role. it is however understandable that the filmmakers wanted a marketable name. and i do understand that the character was supposed to be half-English. i was just personally a little insulted that the filmakers chose Jessica Alba, whose lineage doesn't even approximate Indo or Malay. i'm sure there are plenty of half-European Southeast Asian actresses who would have been more appropriate for the part. but this is Hollywood. maybe i was just insulted by her acting. that's probably just me, most of you seem to be enamored by her. just my two cents...

[–] bballplayr 19 years ago

I agree whole heartedly. She not only fills the roll superficially, aesthetically, but she cannot act. That is what annoys me most. The travesty of a movie they calle 'Fantastic Four', which opened recently, had her starring in it, and now I have officialy written her off as an actress. Everyone needs to fall out of infatuation with her looks and realize that her acting is terrible.

This movie mught have been able to redeem itself if it had not cast such a mediocre movie star.

[–] cestlavie03 19 years ago

Agreed. Her in this movie bothered me a little bit... but oh well.

Now. . . bring me that horizon

[–] pink_noise 19 years ago

This was filmed before Dark Angel even aired. Jessica Alba was not exactly a big, marketable name. If you're going to be offended by the film industry casting actors that don't match the nationality of the characters then DON'T watch: Memoirs of a Geisha. DO watch: documentaries.

They're actors -- they EMBODY characters, they don't have to be literal representations. I don't want to blow it for you, but Marlon Brando wasn't Polish, Johnny Depp isn't Scottish, Al Pacino isn't Cuban, and Liam Neelson isn't German. I guess Meryl Streep has been miscast several dozen times too.

Alba was well cast in that her coloring was a perfect match with the other women, and she looks similar enough to pass, and yet stunning enough to stand out as not quite one of them, which was what she was supposed to do.

[–] 19 years ago

[deleted]

[–] plucko 18 years ago

Pink noise, I agree with you. ilovemyipod - I saw Jessica for the first time in The Sleeping Dictionary and I thought it was a great movie, and that she was a great actress - actually, I even thought she was Indonesian / Malaysian or something. I didn't know she was American and I think she's done a great job. I know there are many better actors and actresses than Jessica, but there also people who are worse.

[–] supertrashtastic 17 years ago

She's not a very good actress IMHO.
I wish they could have used a more local actress rather than an American but that doesn't really bother me as much as her bad acting in such a dramatic role.
she definitely can pass as half south east asian. But her accent was pretty horrible. Then again I'm from South East Asia and I suppose not many American/English viewers would be too familiar to the right accent.

[–] MazulaBitchOnFire 17 years ago

I totally agree. She was absolutely horrible in this film! I'm not even South East Asian and I thought her accent was terrible. Every time she spoke I cringed.

Thank God you're here... Where have you been b!tch?! - Mr. G

[–] anonmuss 17 years ago

Yup, she's gorgeous to look at but she doesn't look asian at all... and she was overacting in lot of the scenes, she's a better actress now, but in this movie she was just irritating...

[–] design-geek 18 years ago

i'm sure there are plenty of half-European Southeast Asian actresses who would have been more appropriate for the part. but this is Hollywood. maybe i was just insulted by her acting.

LOL that was funny :-D

I'm a big fan of JA because of Dark Angel, but I admit she's not a very good actress. And she couldn't even do proper stunts in Dark Angel. And I agree, an actual SE Asian actress would've made the film something viewers could take more seriously. BUT, although she isn't part Asian, I think she looks more SE Asian than Mexican, so I don't think the casting choice was that bad in the looks department. Anyway, this casting makes more sense than her as an all-American superhero...

[–] MariaTie 16 years ago

She looks alot more SE asian than American.

[–] vicky_lc2001-1 16 years ago

Just to let you know, when I first heard & saw Jessica Alba I seriously thought she was a Filipina or at least partly. I'm a Filipino myself, so to me & most of us here in the Philippines, she looks SE Asian enough.

I had a weird dream last night...
You had yourself a vision.

[–] christy51274 15 years ago

Physically, JA is stunning, however her acting is below par. Like I mentioned in another thread. The film industry usually (not always) prefers stars over character actors. Sad.

"Don't like me? Then jog on, my friend."