Kurt Warner Is On To Something With This "Denzel Should Play Me" Thing
Wednesday, August 18, 2010 at 10:01AM
NFL quarterback (or if you're from St. Louis and a Rams fan -- "hero") Kurt Warner of the Arizona Cardinals has said many times that if someone decides to make a film of his life story he (per his wife's suggestion) would like Oscar Award-winning actor Denzel Washington to play him.
And what man wouldn't? Amiright? That Denzel is golden. But seriously, Denzel not being a white dude aside, that Kurt Warner is on to something.
It was a couple years ago when Angelina Jolie irked a whole bunch of not-white-women when she played not-white-woman Mariane Pearl in "A Mighty Heart." But, as many people pointed out (including yours truly) Mariane Pearl requested that her newly found BFF Angelina Jolie play her. Despite this, for many, it was just another spin on the whole messed up history of white people playing characters who were not white in real life.
But I've got a way to solve this.
From now on, whenever for whatever reason a role is "miscast" via race/gender/ethnicity/age under the guise of "best actor for the role" (and seriously, both Jolie and Washington -- with their Oscars -- are pretty serviceable actors) they should declare color-blinding casting on the whole shebang. I mean, you've already decided to cross into the uncanny valley of "But Angelina Jolie is not biracial or of Cuban descent!" or "Kurt Warner IS NOT A BLACK MAN!" I say, go all the way with it. Flip the whole table. Call race "shenanigans."
If they ever make the Kurt Warner story, they should make it a topsy turvy example of how the best parts should go to the best actors, regardless of ethnicity when race is not the main focus of the film. Make race irrelevant by treating it like the social construct it truly is, not just the boring "the default people are white people in fantasy" tired ol' trope that recent M. Night Shyamalan film The Last Airbender either intentionally or unintentionally ran into. Really. Pretend like race doesn't exist and cast an Asian American guy to play the smack-talking wide receiver.
For real.
As I ranted on Twitter Tuesday night, cast Korean American actor Daniel Henney as Isaac Bruce. Cast Rams owner Georgia Frontiere as Cicely Tyson. Get Zach Galifianakis for Orlando Pace. Have Lost's Naveen Andrews play Marshall Faulk. Get rapper/actor/St. Louisan Nelly for Trent Green. Cast George Lopez as Dick Vermeil and John Cho as Mike Martz. Get Sam Jackson to play the mayor of St. Louis. Have Regina King play Kurt's wife Brenda. GO THERE WITH IT, HOLLYWOOD. Go ... all ... the ... way.
Get Cedric the Entertainer to play ESPN's Chris Berman.
Push the racial boundaries to such absurd points that people will honestly have to focus on the performance. Create a familiar fiction that is both rooted in reality yet wholly unique at the same time. Create a trend never seen before in film. Make race so absurd that you either have to confront it directly or block it out and focus on the story at hand.
So, what I'm saying is -- If you're going to cast Angelina Jolie as Cleopatra and re-ignite the whole "what race was Cleopatra?" debate, silence your critics by casting Idris Elba as Marc Antony and Dennis Haysbert as Caesar. Believe me, everyone will be so titillated/confused that they'll forget the initial slight and go "This doesn't matter, because they just color-blind cast the whole thing and called racial shenanigans!" Yeah, some folks will be mad that some short, stumpy Greek/Egyptian/North African woman didn't get the part of Cleopatra and "insert-well-known-white-British-actor-here" won't get another shot to chew up some Shakespeare-lite as Caesar, but if you decide all it's bullshit and you're just going to cast whoever you think is cool, you'll really get fewer angry people.
Naturally, this won't work with every film. In an industry where black actresses struggle for work and all Asians play either A) nerds, B) take-out delivery guys, C) Zen masters or D) something to shoot at, I wouldn't suggest a repeat like casting The Last Airbender with a ton of white folks and pretending like it's "progress" to Charlie Chan an anime series. I'm also not necessarily interested in Ben Kingsley playing Adolf Hitler or Matt Damon as Martin Luther King Jr., but in stories where race is not central to the plot (as in the lives of Kurt Warner or Cleopatra, which are largely stories about personal triumph and political power/historical tragedy -- not racial adversity) it could be interesting.
Calling shenanigans on race in stories that aren't explicitly tied to race or ethnic struggle would give minority actors stuck in stock characters and unchallenging roles a chance to show their range, while giving everyone a shot at some unusual parts.
Plus, it might actually make things ... dare I say it ... fun.
But back to the whole "Denzel should play me" thing. Kurt attributes this idea to his wife Brenda and says:
"It would probably challenge Denzel in ways he's never been challenged before," Warner said.
And I bet he'd welcome that challenge, Kurt. I bet he would.
Reader Comments (27)
Remember when some people went nuts when Blair Underwood played Jesus Christ?
for some folks, race IS the central plot in their lives, even when their struggle has everything to do with their own personal actions.
sad to say the least.
silence your critics by casting Idris Elba as Marc Antony and Dennis Haysbert as Caesar
YES this makes my loins quiver
As a Cardinals fan, this just makes me love Kurt Warner even more (and his wife, Brenda). This whole idea is genius!! Someone should really take on race irrelevant casting in a major movie, blow America's minds, and then go on Oprah to talk about the whole thing.
You want to challenge Denzel? Cast him in a comedy.
I swear I am so tired of seeing that man play angry, emotionally distraught, but ultimately triumphant, black male role models. Can I get this brother to crack a smile in a film, please? He hasn't done anything close to a comedy since that weak remake of The Bishop's Wife.
In the '80s, he did a few comedies and, in my opinion, did a decent job. But once he played Stephen Biko, it was over. He was labeled the next Poitier and the brother hasn't smiled since. I wonder if he has to find his own Uptown Saturday Night in order to break himself from this chain of heavily-dramatic filmwork. The Book of Eli allowed him to be an action hero. Somebody needs to let him to a crack at comedy again.
Awesome post Danielle
If Denzel should play anybody it should be Obama that would be great! I agree with Warner but it would never happen hell white people go apeshit when a person of color is suggested at playing a FICTIONAL supposedly 'white' character. Like when love of my life[secretly]Daniel Craig said the next Bond should be black the white blogsphere was hella pissed funny those SAME people saw no problem with the casting of Airbender or Marianne Pearl or thug Mickey Rourke playing Genghis Khan like John Wayne before him. And speaking of Mrs. Pearl just because she approved of Angelina doesn't make it ANY less fucked up and she of all people should recognize that considering the racial climate of Hollowood but I guess some people don't care about anybody but self. Hollyweird has a long,sad,VERY sordid history of white people playing people of color even when it's flat offensive and ridiculous[re:Mickey Rooney Kathrine Hepburn]. But don't expect any attitude toward consistency and fair play from those same folks even the ones who yack about a 'level playing field' I'm no psychic but I can gurantee it won't happen.
Broadway and theater have been years ahead in colorblind casting...but there is much less $$$ riding on those decisions.
One of my all time favorite news articles, was a story in the New York Times about a white reader and theater goer who was upset about the casting of a black dancer as a "snowflake" in the NutCracker. A black snowflake????? WTF!
Her night was ruined!!!!!
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/17/magazine/17wwln_ethicist.html?_r=1
Still a classic...even four years later!
;-)
That...was.....FANTASTIC!
HA! Even though you said this scenario would not be allowed - my mind immediately flashed back to that scene in Designing Women when Suzanne watned to wear 'black face' at that talent show where they were singing Motown tunes. And they told her that was racist. And she's like if Dustin Hoffman can play MLK... And they say, "he would never play MLK he's white." And she's like, "Well I think that's RACIST. The job should go to the best actor." Snicker. Ahhh gotta love the 80s classics.
Agreed. It's the reason dicaprio's Romeo and Juliet stood out to me. Also if you view bitish contempoary films they mix race with the same feel. Love actually had a diverse cast that was so natural. It's one of the reasons it's always been a favorite.
Hey, I like that idea. If Denzel were to play Kurt Warner or if a movie purposely color-blind cast a film and call "race-shenanigans", I'd actually pay to watch just it to show support of the concept, no matter how bad it looked. If they ever get around to making that Cowboy Bebop movie, I'd hope they'd do something like this (the Jet character would be better as a brutha).
M. Night really screwed-the-pooch on his filmmaker credibility w/ that craptacular Airbender movie though. The writing was terrible, the character development was non-existent, the fight scenes were ridiculously lame, and the acting? [Pfft] Even though I was not initially happy w/ his choice of cast, I really would've forgiven it if they truly had been the "best actors for the role" as he kept stating. I'm glad I sneaked into that movie. He should have gave full credit to "Alan Smithee" for that bomb.
Best idea ever. That is all.
lol, weird.
I agree with colorblind casting...that's how we ended up with a short African American woman playing Dr. Miranda Bailey instead of the tall non-African American male Shonda Rimes had in mind for her Grey's Anatomy character.
My opinion aside, I wonder what "our folks" would say (or tweet) about a person of color choosing a "brilliant" person of a different ethnic background to play him or her in a play or film. Can you see it? President Obama requests Patrick Dempsey to portray him in an upcoming film! Mr. McPresident's "blackness" would come under fire faster than the last burger on the grill at the Labor Day cookout. (And I don't see Mrs. O calling on Angelina or Julia for the role of McFirstLady either!) But I guess Obama is a bad example because his is not exactly a simple story of a man who married well and became President of the United States. Is a person of color's story ever not about color? I don't know...I'll have to think about that for a minute. (Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to return to swooning over Idris Elba as Antony!)
Thank you Danielle for your brilliant posts!! They make my day!!
Like the idea of color blind casting in many films; but biographies are a bit different for me. There have been quite a few colorblind casts in past movies when I was younger 150 years ago. there weren't enough Puerto Ricans to cast WEST SIDE STORY, CLEOPATRA AND many others because they were working off "colorblind". Should we go back to colorblind casting, I'm quite sure that minorities will have even fewer roles.. LOL
I love the roles that Denzel plays. I haven't seen a film yet that didn't interest me whether he was smiling or not. If it ain't broke, don't fix it!
Some of us actually like to see talented actors do a variety of performances. If it's the same thing film after film, then it is broken. But hey, some people like "broken". I think the brother deserves better, but maybe it's just me.
Just wanted to say I loved this post! That is all.
random but color blind casting was a big part of why i was so fascinated by the cinderella remake w/ brandy and whitney houston. i loved that a black queen and a white king would produce an asian prince.
anyway, i agree with your idea about making color blind casting the norm.
I can't remember who, but a while back a 2nd rate Black NBA player said he wanted Al Pacino to play him in a movie. Jacked up race AND age. I'd love to see Ceddy play Chris Berman.
The make-up and special effects departments are getting better, so maybe we can have more color blind casting.
I don't like the idea of oolor blind casting--I just want Hollywood to start reflecting that America is made up of black and other minorities too--who are just as hip, cool, swave etc. Meaning, STOP making all of these exclusive to whites only movies, and have the movies adequately reflect mainstream society. And nope, I'm not talking about the token roles with one black person--but equal opportunity heroism etc. It really disgusted me when the director of that movie about 9-11 cast the role about a black (I think he was a firefighter or a cop) to a white actor. To me that was immoral..and the director shrugged it off. I was offended because I felt it was again another attempt to "block" blacks in this country being properly represented as compassionate, humaine and patriotic.
Denzel is old, dark, and crusty. His "sale by date" passed years ago! Furthermore, the guy isn't a very nice person. He a place in my friend's building here in NYC and the guy is always rude to guests, tenants, and even the doorman.
Since I don't know Denzel personally and probably never will, I am more concerned about the part he plays. There have been many actors that are used in playing dramatic roles and i see nothing wrong with it. I know that if there are movies that I see certain actors where I can pretty much say, I feel that's going to be a good movie. When Denzel first changed over from the good guy to TRAINING DAY, there were people for miles saying that they didn't like him in that role because he had always played good guys. I thought the role, as he played it was fantastic, but then I haven't seen him in many roles that I didn't like. I certainly feel that his success to date allows me the confidence in knowing that he is pretty secure in the roles that he chooses. I contiue to mantain that a biography should be as close as possible when it comes to casting. Other films would be wonderful with color blind casting. But as I said before, we saw color blind casting, but leaning to white actors, for years. It concerns me that might happen again. sometimes we have to careful what we ask for.
Remember the Color-Blind casting of the remake of Rogers & Hammerstein's Cinderella?
Brandy was Cinderella. the Prince was Asian. The Queen was Whoopi Goldberg (the King was white - I don't recall the actor). Whitney Houston was the Fairy Godmother. I think the evil stepmother and stepsisters were of different races, etc.
It was a made-for-TV movie, I think in the late 1990's. I recall reading some articles about the casting, saying "this is it" re: "White-only" casting for Classic roles in Hollywood. THEN, Hollywood went back to the same old casting.... {Sigh}