April 26, 2022—Recently, there has been a lot of noise on the issue of non-Jewish actresses playing Jews, like Rachel Brosnahan (Mrs. Maisel) and Katherine Hahn (Phyliss Shapiro in ‘The Shrink Next Door’)
In a recent interview, actor Brian Cox (‘Succession’) noted: “authentic casting, where roles are reserved for actors with the same lived experiences as a character, ignores the “craft of acting.” I couldn’t agree more.
Cox went on to say he had spent a lot of his recent time, watching movies, including Russell Crowe as a mathematician with mental illness in ‘A Beautiful Mind’ and Eddie Redmayne as ‘Stephen Hawking’ in The Theory of Everything.
Cox added: “My wife said: ‘Of course, they wouldn’t be allowed to do that now.’ I said: ‘What do you mean?’ And she said: ‘Well, they’re not disabled or mentally ill.’ But that’s wrong, because it’s acting, it’s a piece of craft. Casting a severely disabled or mentally ill person to play such a part “might be exploitative”, he added.
Then again, recently, actors with disabilities have been cast in roles that require honesty. Marlee Matlin, Paul Raci (Oscar-nominated for ‘Sound of Metal) to name a few. Acting requires people to stretch themselves. Should Paul Newman have been allowed to play Rocky Graziano? Marlon Brando to play Vito Corleone? We now see Black actors and actresses playing roles not written specifically for Black actors. Don Cheadle regularly gets cast in roles that were not "written, Black." Carol Channing, who was Afro-Europea, never played a Black role that I can recall in her long, illustrious career. I don't know if Kirk Douglas or Michael Douglas could have had the careers they had if they had been limited to playing Jewish roles. If only Jews can play Jewish roles does that mean Jews should be prohibited from playing non-Jewish roles? Wouldn't that be a much worse outcome for the Jewish acting community? For historical characters or a particular storyline, accuracy is important when it comes to casting, especially for ethnic roles but beyond that, it’s about acting chops.
If it appears I am arguing for accuracy but also arguing for the best person, I am. and I am confused about how to do the best job.
The historic practice of casting "Anglo" or White actors in Hispanic, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Native American roles limits opportunities for minority actors and can impact authenticity. In Hollywood, they call it whitewashing or racebending.
Conversely, we have the history of Anthony Quinn and Rita Hayworth, Hispanics who rarely played Hispanics, but who were superb actors in whatever roles they were cast, and Michael Ansara, who was Middle Eastern and also played almost every ethnicity, most notably Native Americans, during his career.
In the 1961 musical “Flower Drum Song,’ Koreans, Japanese, and Filipinos were cast as the Chinese characters, at a time when Hollywood assumed ‘they all look alike,’ or it could have been the scarcity of Asian-American actors at the time.
Great acting is great acting and unless for specific accuracy issues, "casting based on religion or ethnicity" seems highly problematic to me. But there are no easy answers. But let’s not forget also, that ethnicity plays a big role when the part calls for it.
It is important that producers, directors, and casting agents, as well as those of us who love movies and television, address these issues. That still goes unaddressed.
Krishna Bhanji was as believable as Adolph Eichmann as he was as Gandhi, not to mention Jewish characters such as Harry Fertig, a litigation lawyer in ‘Confession,’ Itzhak Stern in ‘Schindler’s List or Jack Warner in ‘Life.’ And equally right for his role in ‘Sand and Fog.’ We know him as Sir Ben Kingsley.
Realistic portrayals need to be the benchmark for casting these days. They don’t always achieve that but I, for one, think Tony Shaloub and Rachel Brosnahan convey a sense of character that is believable, and in the end, isn’t that what was acting is all about? I wish them knochis.