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A row over racism has soured the release of the latest film in which Gérard Depardieu takes on one of the giants of French history.
Black actors and campaigners are upset that the white film star was cast as Alexandre Dumas, a French national hero with mixed African blood.
The blond, blue-eyed Depardieu sports curly hair and darker skin to play the creator of The Three Musketeers inAlexandre Dumas.
Dumas, the world's most-read French author and an exuberant, high-living celebrity, was the grandson of a former Haitian slave. His father, although a Napoleonic-era general, was referred to as a Caribbean "negro".
In his lifetime the novelist was mocked for his African features and he called himself un nègre.
Gerard Depardieu sparks racism row over role as mixed-race Alexandre Dumas
Seeded on Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:08 PM EST
Article Source: The Times- Enjoy this article? Help vote it up the 'Vine.
- Public Discussion (9)
Non-white celebrities, some Dumas experts and black organisations are angry because they say that the producers missed a chance to celebrate ethnic diversity in France and remind the world of the writer’s origins. “There is a mechanism of permanent discrimination by silence,” Jacques Martial, a black actor, said.
Patrick Lozès, the president of the Council of Black Associations of France, said: “In 150 years time could the role of Barack Obama be played in a film by a white actor with a fuzzy wig? Can Martin Luther King be played by a white?”
In an online statement the council said that the casting of Depardieu was evidence of France’s failure to promote non-white stars in its cinema and media.
“Very few of our compatriots know that Alexandre Dumas was mixed race and considered to be a black in his lifetime,” it said.
- 1 vote
#1 - Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:08 PM ESTThe investigation revealed that white actors were deemed to have universal voices able to dub black actors such as Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.
Meanwhile, black artists were victims of prejudice and stereotypes, which meant that they were hardly ever chosen to dub white stars.
The investigation onto the matter was conducted after black actress and singer Yasmine Modestine complained that she had been the victim of discrimination when she was excluded from dubbing a white star in an American television series.
Directors in the dubbing world believe that black people have black voices. But if that’’s the case how come whites are allowed to dub blacks?
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/french-film-industry-branded-racist-for-banning-black-actors-from-dubbing-white-stars_100138125.html
no surprise
- 3 votes
#2 - Mon Feb 15, 2010 4:45 PM ESThttp://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/world-news/french-film-industry-branded-racist-for-banning-black-actors-from-dubbing-white-stars_100138125.html
Interesting -- thanks for the link, Kid.
- 1 vote
That's too bad. I know France has a different perspective and philosophy regarding racial groups but it does seem that they missed a great opportunity to show how diverse Paris really is. I would've loved to watch the movie. I like foreign movies, even some of the pathetic goofy Indian movies (Do Knot Disturb for example). But I just might have to pass on this one.
- 1 vote
#3 - Mon Feb 15, 2010 5:43 PM ESTDumas was a quarter black and three quarters white. A white actor seems a reasonable choice. Is there a black French actor with the same box office draw as Gérard Depardieu? I'm sure that was a major factor. They darkened his skin and curled his hair. The picture I saw of him made him appear as a quadroon.
- 1 vote
#4 - Mon Feb 15, 2010 10:39 PM ESTI'm sorry, I really just don't care. They picked a phenominal actor to play a very crucial role and I am sure he pulled it off in spades. Given the right makeup he could do it. And if you can find a mixed race French actor who can outperform GD, then you should have put him in the role instead. Since they obviously couldn't, shut up and get over it.
- 2 votes
#5 - Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:07 AM ESTThey picked a phenominal actor to play a very crucial role and I am sure he pulled it off in spades. Given the right makeup he could do it.
I'm sure this is the exact same thing people said during the minstrel days.
- 2 votes
#6 - Wed Feb 17, 2010 11:26 AM ESTFrance hasn't had any good actors since Yves Montand, Alain Delon, and Jean-Paul Belmondo. But this is France. They think Jerry Lewis is a comic genius.
- 1 vote
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