Movie Characters that have changed race

Zillah

I think a black Sherlock would be tricky unless it's a modern version. Glossing over what it would be like to be a black man working as a professional investigator, hob-nobbing with royalty and nobility, in 1800's London would be a bit weird.

Chris_Heilong

When you need to add some token colour to a role in order to modernise it black seems to be the go to. I think Asians need a look in and not just for a martial arts/mysterious East role.

pixelburp

Zillah wrote: »

I think a black Sherlock would be tricky unless it's a modern version. Glossing over what it would be like to be a black man working as a professional investigator, hob-nobbing with royalty and nobility, in 1800's London would be a bit weird.

I dunno; at this stage the Sherlock template is so overused, it could be a unique enough approach to have a black Sherlock in Victorian times: a Sherlock that has to work twice as hard to dazzle a police-force already skeptical of his investigative techniques as it stood. Africans were a presence in London iirc so it wouldn't be an unlikely scenario. But in that case, the skin colour here is relevant because it informs the story and the characters within, so it has a place.

Zillah

pixelburp wrote: »

I dunno; at this stage the Sherlock template is so overused, it could be a unique enough approach to have a black Sherlock in Victorian times: a Sherlock that has to work twice as hard to dazzle a police-force already skeptical of his investigative techniques as it stood. Africans were a presence in London iirc so it wouldn't be an unlikely scenario. But in that case, the skin colour here is relevant because it informs the story and the characters within, so it has a place.

Yes that's my point! You can't just swap the race around and act as if nothing happened - you'd have to have it feature as a part of the story. Which could be quite interesting, actually! Butlers gaping at a black man visiting Buckingham Palace, snooty aristocrats reluctantly acknowledging his brilliance, etc.

redlead

Jack Reacher - In the books he's a six foot five, 250 pound lump of muscle. In the film they turned him into a Tom Cruise

On a more serious note, Othello has been played by white actors on many occasions.

tony1kenobi

Kirk Lazarus played Staff Sergeant Lincoln Osiris in the aborted Tropic Thunder film. I've seen footage.

Ralf and Florian

redlead wrote: »

Jack Reacher - In the books he's a six foot five, 250 pound lump of muscle. In the film they turned him into a Tom Cruise

On a more serious note, Othello has been played by white actors on many occasions.

Played as a black man in makeup so technicly speaking the character hasen't changed race.

silverharp

Jesus , mostly played by white guys in the movies :pac:

Kirby

Most of America believes Jesus existed.....and the vast majority of them think he was white.

If he was played any other way there would be uproar.

Wedwood

The Russian Submarine captain in Hunt For Red October who became Scottish.

The English Secret Agent who became Scottish.

The Irish 'Untouchable' who became Scottsh.

Eugene Norman

Zillah wrote: »

I think a black Sherlock would be tricky unless it's a modern version. Glossing over what it would be like to be a black man working as a professional investigator, hob-nobbing with royalty and nobility, in 1800's London would be a bit weird.

The black actors in period pieces might be non-White but it's not mentioned. It's not that they white up -- it's a black guy playing a character who was white but so what. We don't worry about hair colour. Or height.

I agree with that as it happens. Saw a brilliant black guy play Scrooge in San Francisco once ( where they were all Americans playing in English accents ) and that worked

Eugene Norman

redlead wrote: »

Jack Reacher - In the books he's a six foot five, 250 pound lump of muscle. In the film they turned him into a Tom Cruise

On a more serious note, Othello has been played by white actors on many occasions.

Macbeth by non Scots.

silverharp

the bond one is interesting , there were people saying was it was supposed to be a code name so there would be no reason a "james Bond" couldnt be black or Asian or whatever , but in the last movie they show his parent's headstone so the family name is Bond based on one of the later Ian Fleming books and his father is Scottish. So anyone looking for a Black Bond or Batman aint real fans.

ThisRegard

silverharp wrote: »

So anyone looking for a Black Bond .....aint real fans.

johnny_ultimate

silverharp wrote: »

the bond one is interesting , there were people saying was it was supposed to be a code name so there would be no reason a "james Bond" couldnt be black or Asian or whatever , but in the last movie they show his parent's headstone so the family name is Bond based on one of the later Ian Fleming books and his father is Scottish. So anyone looking for a Black Bond or Batman aint real fans.

Ah, the good old 'real fan' fallacy, happily undermining the already shaky logic that the James Bond character hasn't already undergone countless examples of canonical revisions and conflicting details, personality or backstory (and indeed his supporting characters too have regularly undergone pretty radical changes) Not to mention the fact that he's one of pop culture's most intrepid time travellers.

silverharp

johnny_ultimate wrote: »

Ah, the good old 'real fan' fallacy, happily undermining the already shaky logic that the James Bond character hasn't already undergone countless examples of canonical revisions and conflicting details, personality or backstory (and indeed his supporting characters too have regularly undergone pretty radical changes) Not to mention the fact that he's one of pop culture's most intrepid time travellers.

well I was trying to be diplomatic , if people are clamouring for a black Bond or black Batman then its for political reasons and less so to see the quality of the story improve. Stan Lee came out with something similar that he is happy to create black characters but not to change the race of pre existing characters.

pixelburp

silverharp wrote: »

well I was trying to be diplomatic , if people are clamouring for a black Bond or black Batman then its for political reasons and less so to see the quality of the story improve. Stan Lee came out with something similar that he is happy to create black characters but not to change the race of pre existing characters.

I can only speak for myself, but that's hogwash; I for one am not 'clamouring' for a black Bond, nor particularly have any great opinion who should play him next; I just don't see the changing of a fictional character's ethnicity as some great shocking political decision that somehow insults the mythology or must be objected to. If it has no affect on the narrative, then Bond's skincolour (or any other character's for that matter) doesn't matter at all. Does it affect the story? Nope, cool, let's move on. If it DOES change the nature of the story then objections are more valid. Would Idris Elba make a good Bond? Personally? Yeah, he has the swagger and charisma & would be an interesting counter to the positively dour, miserably portrayal by Daniel Craig.

silverharp

pixelburp wrote: »

I can only speak for myself, but that's hogwash; I for one am not 'clamouring' for a black Bond, nor particularly have any great opinion who should play him next; I just don't see the changing of a fictional character's ethnicity as some great shocking political decision that somehow insults the mythology or must be objected to. If it has no affect on the narrative, then Bond's skincolour (or any other character's for that matter) doesn't matter at all. Does it affect the story? Nope, cool, let's move on. If it DOES change the nature of the story then objections are more valid. Would Idris Elba make a good Bond? Personally? Yeah, he has the swagger and charisma & would be an interesting counter to the positively dour, miserably portrayal by Daniel Craig.

I just prefer if character writing was left to writers. You have feminists at the moment trying to sh1t all over game of thrones so just not in favour of attempts to influence writers one way or the other and let the cards fall where they may otherwise

pixelburp

silverharp wrote: »

I just prefer if character writing was left to writers. You have feminists at the moment trying to sh1t all over game of thrones so just not in favour of attempts to influence writers one way or the other and let the cards fall where they may otherwise

So is ethnicity a prerequisite to character then? Writers are only influenced if, again, the ethnicity has some baring on the story or the characters within it. Now this is all the ultimate in hypotheticals and guesswork, but there's no reason why a non-white Bond would just do his thing and no mention would be made of his skin-colour. I'd like to think we'd all be grown up enough to do just do that and accept Bond as Bond whether he be black, white, or even Australian He's not really a character anyway, just a fantasy-figure.

In any case, the writers won't decide who'll play Bond, that'll be the producers, casting agents, money-men etc. and it's silly to think most casting isn't in some way influenced by marketing, politics, favouritism, blowjobs or whatever. If anything, influence from protest groups are at least slightly less manipulative and more ... benevolent in their outlook, however misguided you might feel about them. In all likelihood the very last person to be consulted will be the writer, especially as they'll have enough trouble working all the product placement into the films.

timthumbni

Deleted User wrote: »

I Am Legend.

The character in the book is described as being of British-German descent with blonde hair, blue eyes, so white as white can be. Then he becomes Will Smith.

Originally sort of charlton Heston looking perhaps.

ruskin

silverharp wrote: »

the bond one is interesting , there were people saying was it was supposed to be a code name so there would be no reason a "james Bond" couldnt be black or Asian or whatever , but in the last movie they show his parent's headstone so the family name is Bond based on one of the later Ian Fleming books and his father is Scottish. So anyone looking for a Black Bond or Batman aint real fans.

The producers love, and even seem to encourage discussion about the possibility of there being a black Bond, to make them seem progressive and open-minded, whereas in actuality, Barbara Broccoli and Michael G. Wilson have rigid, formulaic guidelines for each Bond film and actor that has never been radically altered in 50 years. The very notion that the producers would actually seriously consider a black man to play Bond is preposterous (from their point of view), but some trivial speculation they allow to develop in social media to make them seem less regimented in their decision making than they actually are.

ThisRegard

So Bond can be Scottish, English and Irish, but not black ?

Imnotthehulk

ThisRegard wrote: »

So Bond can be Scottish, English and Irish, but not black ?

In fairness, it's any wonder that he can even be blond. When Daniel Craig got the role there was a fan and news (tabloid to be sure) campaign against him as Bond.

Personally, I wouldn't have any problem with a Bond of different ethnicity, although I think Chiwetel Ejiofor would be the better choice over Idris Elba ... but I wouldn't want to see a female Bond.



To add to the discussion, Johnny Storm (aka The Human Torch) changed race in the most recent Fantastic Four film.

Perry White in Man Of Steel was played by Laurence Fishbourne.

Several of the characters in The Last Airbender became white.

Oh ... and John Wayne played Genghis Kahn in The Congueror ...

silverharp

Imnotthehulk wrote: »

In fairness, it's any wonder that he can even be blond. When Daniel Craig got the role there was a fan and news (tabloid to be sure) campaign against him as Bond.

Personally, I wouldn't have any problem with a Bond of different ethnicity, although I think Chiwetel Ejiofor would be the better choice over Idris Elba ... but I wouldn't want to see a female Bond.

in that case I'd go for Adrian Lester. Personally never liked Craig , he lost the suave or slightly whimsical edge that the other Bonds tended to have, Ill go with the comment I came across about Elba, he's too street :eek:
I havnt come across any black Sherlock Holmes yet :pac:

darkdubh

silverharp wrote: »

in that case I'd go for Adrian Lester. Personally never liked Craig , he lost the suave or slightly whimsical edge that the other Bonds tended to have, Ill go with the comment I came across about Elba, he's too street :eek:
I havnt come across any black Sherlock Holmes yet :pac:

It seems there was,though nearly 100 years ago,its billed as comedy so doubtful that it was a very serious attempt at adapting the story.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0235234/