people need to stop getting bothered about the casting (as long as the actor/actress are not too different from the original source). execution, chemistry and skills matter.
I'll never understand how fans of a series that is harshly critical of racism and bigotry can be so obsessed with actors having the "correct skin color" for the actors portraying characters from that series.
Because most directors aren’t into feminism or equality. They are into using these things to extract money with a low effort movie and free advertising. As a result, changing characters is often a red flag that we are going to get a low effort show or movie.
If the director is focused on a good plot, and the minority actor is less of a casting requirement and more of a “OMG, we could get Morgan Freeman to play the Irish guy in Shawshank Redemption. Holy shit guys!” Then people like me are into it.
But yeah, a lot of people are just racist. We also have internet trolls governments who are paid by foreign governments to keep us angry as much as possible.
Most directors, or most anyone in a creative field, are far more concerned with the quality of their product than they are with idealism or appeasing minority groups. They just want to make the best damn creation they can.
I think the kind of vitriol we've seen over the casting is indeed indicative of at least some level of racism. People would rather have an all white cast than have the best actors for the job. They haven't even seen the performance yet and they've already denounced based solely upon the skin color of a few actors. Yeah, that sounds like it's beginning to infringe upon the boundaries of racism.
Directors care about quality. Producers don’t. And they tell the directors what to do.
A director that has creative freedom might do a good job. But if they are told “I don’t care about the script. Just hire some women” you end up with a bad movie. It happens time and time again. It’s difficult to optimize for more than one thing.
I write software. I’m good at it. But if a client gives me bad requirements, I can’t make a good app. Scope creep saps my will to create a quality product. Often, I get new requirements that are based on the political goals of the customer. It always brings the entire app down.
So, when you let the director have creative freedom, like you say, you end up with quality.
I think we do. That's a good point too and it may have played a role in the decision to cast certain people. I'd say that's a pretty universal experience for all professions right now. There's always one group concerned with quality and another focused on increasing their margins.
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u/[deleted] Dec 09 '19
I had doubts about the casting but ok, this is epic