LOL And the cast is too old for this. But at least black people are FINALLY getting some roles. Shakespeare originally wrote it for a black cast.
shareRace swapping happens a lot on stage, so I think this is more of a stage tradition thing. Washington has done Shakespeare before and he has the gravitas to handle the role. I say give Joel Coen a little credit; the man's an artist. I bet he'd have cast Denzel Washington regardless of PC culture or lack thereof.
shareThat's the 2020s for you...I wonder if it will ever change back to the climate in which they didn't have to do this nonsense. Seems unlikely at the moment.
shareFFS is Shakespeare, do you have any idea how many versions of his work exist?
BTW Dint Laurence Olivier blackfaced to play Otelo?
Some people see a problem, I don't, I get it a lot of actors want to play Shakespeares' characters and dialogues ¿what is wrong with that? this is more about the performance the delivery of the text than the "historical accuracy" I have not seen this movie yet but it's gonna be great to see Denzel playing Macbeth.
Retards complaining about black or Hispanics playing roles in Hollywood are so much douchebags as the whiny morons crying all the time for lack of representation, two faces of the same rotten coin, the worst part is that both sides think they are better than the other.
FFS, this is a literal interpretation. FFS, it makes no sense. FFS, they should have had it set some place else.
shareWhy? Does your butt hurt if they don't make it in Senegal or Mexico?
In the case of Anne Boleyn, I understand it and agree I'm Latin and in my country, everybody made memes about it, and though it was ridiculous to put a black actress to play an England queen, ¿but Shakespeare? his work has been adapted in any way possible, in the present, in the future, in alternative past, in an alternative present, is theatre you sound like those morons who cried cultural appropriation when Scarlett Johannsson played Motoko on the Ghost In The Shell adaptation
Shakespeare is about the words and the performances. just enjoy the fucking thing and look for a better cause to be angry about.
Just so long as we make all white characters black, I am fine. Black is remarkable. Black is innovative.
Built on Black History!
What a moron, a lot of white actors have played Otello in my first response I say I didn't see anything wrong with Laurence Olivier doing blackface to play Otello.
I don't see anything wrong with Scarjo playing Motoko those are fictional characters and their history is fiction and more yet Shakespeare has been adapted so many times.
I have more difficulty accepting Dev Pattel playing Sir Gawain than seeing him playing Hamlet because with Shakespeare you kinda expect to see all sources of adaptations and as I say is more about the performance and dialogue than anything else, so seeing a black, Indian, or whatever actor doesn't ruin the movie for me.
You don't. I do. I am sick of black actors being put in roles that are meant to be white characters.
If you want to have a black actor play Macbeth, then set it in another time, in another place.
Not difficult to understand.
LOL who cares what you want or I want? I not talking about personal preferences I was talking about the validity of race-swapping in a Shakespeare adaptation if you don't like this movie just don't watch, but I have to say you sound a little racist even Marlon Brandon played a Chinese person in a movie what is the big deal with a black actor playing a fictional character on an adaptation of a classical play? you must hate theater because theatre is way freer in that regard than cinema.
I'm not a fan of race or gender-swapping because most of the time is just politics and end up ruining good premises and good stories (I'm hating everything I'm hearing about the new amazon adaptation of Tolkien's work for that very reason you can smell politics all over the decisions they are making) but race-swapping for artistic reasons I think is ok in some cases mostly with an actor like Denzel
Well, I do. LOL
shareI agree with you: roles should go to the right actor, the best performer who fits with the team and vision, and Denzel Washington was Joel Coen's choice. It's not like he was forced into this by a studio. You're also right to point out that stage performances play fast and loose with this kind of thing.
So, I'm with you 100%.
On the other hand, I think a lot of people complain about stuff like this because of the people who started their own rant machines about Scarlett Johansson in Ghost in the Shell. Their logic is (and it's not unsound), "If you aren't allowed to alter roles' races to accommodate white/European actors, you can't alter roles' races for non-white actors, either."
My philosophy has always been in the, "Whoever can play it best," camp. I would also agree that there's a difference between adapting Shakespeare with altered races and showing a historical figure with an altered race (you cite Anne Boleyn). Respectful portrayal should be made of people who really lived.
As an interesting puzzle, what about a character like Gloucester in Richard III? That's historical, yet Shakespeare. Actually, I believe Macbeth was based off of a real person as well. For my money, I'd err on the side of "More actors!" and allow persons of non-Tudor origins to play the part.