MovieChat Forums > The Devil's Double (2011) Discussion > Actor's ethnicity/nationality doesn't m...

Actor's ethnicity/nationality doesn't matter.

posted 14 years ago by pimpindino-1
15 replies | jump to latest

I read another thread that focused on the ethnicity of the actors. Whether the creators should have chosen actors true to the ethnicity/nationality of the actual characters/figures of the story or people that actually only looked like they could be that ethnicity or from that part of the world.

In my opinion, it shouldn't really matter. As long as the actors look the part and can deliver the needed performance, its good enough. Its a plus if you can find actors from that part of the world or of that specific ethnicity to star in the film but at the end of the day, it all boils down to whether or not they can get the job done.

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[–] DeAd_MiKe_187 14 years ago

I never understood the uproar that people cause when an actor isn't the "right" ethnicity. Why does ethnicity/race/nationality matter so much to people? I remember people complaining that Christian Bale wasn't American and therefore shouldn't play 'Batman.' Well, he wasn't REALLY Batman, either. He wasn't really a psychopath/murder/rapist, but he did a fine job pretending to be one in 'American Psycho' (which, he still wasn't American for, too).

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[–] DeAd_MiKe_187 13 years ago

We are "morally superior" for saying it doesn't matter because it doesn't, regardless if you think it does. If you could accept that an actor who is actually not Saddam's son (and his double) could play Saddam's son (and his double), then why can't you accept that somebody of one ethnicity can play somebody of another ethnicity?

There's no logical reason why an actor has to *be* the same 'ethnicity' as someone they are playing, and yet they don't have to *be* the same 'profession' or 'type of person' as the person they are playing. If the guy can 'act' like Saddam's son, then he can 'act' like he's an Iraqi. Deal with it.

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[–] melchior6 13 years ago

That's what acting is about... portraying something you are not. I'm all for actors trying to portray diferent ethinicities as that shows the true measure of talent.

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[–] MilesAhead 13 years ago

The main contention in the hollywood whitewashing issue is that is that White Americans are taking roles away from ethnic minorites. But I think here some are upset at the idea of a European passing for an Iraqi becuase it implies that Middle Easterners are racially close. In fact people in Iraq are not a separate race. Ealry agriculturalists in Europe came from the Middle East. Indo Europeans settled in West Asia etc. This idea that Iraqis are somehow a separate race because of their religion and culture is subjective. Many Arabs who settle in the US are accepted as White after a generation or two. Have a look. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arab_American. On the one hand there is this racist notion among Whites that Europeans are somehow a pure race far removed from surrounding peoples, and then there is this stupid politically correct trend of wanting to add as many people as possible under this new notion of people of color to make caucasians seem like a small minortiy in the world making non whites feel better about themsleves. It's all a bunch of subjectiuve BS. If some Euorpean can pass for Iraqis or Iranians and vice versa then implies racial proximity.

Walking through the cow pasture of life you are bound to step in some truth

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[–] MilesAhead 13 years ago

Oh ffs shuuuut uuuuuuuuuuuup. You're not enlightening anyone with your grade 10 history lesson. Oh and look...a wiki link!

If you are replying to me, I don't think you understood my point at all.

Walking through the cow pasture of life you are bound to step in some truth

[–] luks-11 13 years ago

To me it's like accents: as long as it's convincing then it doesn't matter. If, however, I'm not convinced then it's just as irritating to me as, say, an American actor doing an abysmal English accent or vice versa and completely takes me out of the film.

It's funny because I don't remember hearing anyone complain about the fact that Ben Kingsley played Gandhi and in fact he won an oscar for that role. He was convincing and that's all that matters.

[–] essex9999 13 years ago

I agree that it doesn't matter. It's all about credibility. A white actor playing, for example, Nelson Mandela, would not be credible because they could never look enough like him to be believable. That's not what we're dealing with here. Casting a blue-eyed blond as Uday/Latif would have been ridiculous, but Cooper's appearance in the movie is authentic.

If you disagree and think Cooper's ethnicity is an issue, I'd be curious to know where you draw the line. Would any Arabic actor have been OK with you, or only an Iraqi (because all Arabs are not alike, after all)? What about an Iranian? An Afghan? A Pakistani? None of them are Arabs, but they're South Asian Muslims. Would that make it OK in your book? Once you head down this path, where do you stop?

Cooper did a great job, and to a Western audience - that is, the audience this movie was made for - it was very credible. That's all that should matter.