Luxor4u

Jodie Turner-Smith has been chosen to play the part of Anne Boleyn in a new Channel 5 drama series. Jodie is black. I wonder what the reaction would be to a white actress playing the part of Winnie Mandela in any tv series? Mmmmmm??

I imagine there’ll be a lot of comment

I remember going to see Dev Patel playing David Copperfield in the film adaptation last year. After a few minutes you simply didn’t notice that Dickens’ creation had turned into an Indian.

I suspect it’ll be the same for Anne Boleyn if the actress performs well and the film is a worthy representation of the historical drama.

Providing it’s simply a question of skin tone. I don’t think you could get away with changing much else. We’ve seen enough representations of Anne in film and TV series to have formed a fairly definite idea of her character.

newcastle wrote: Tue Dec 15, 2020 7:19 am I remember going to see Dev Patel playing David Copperfield in the film adaptation last year. After a few minutes you simply didn’t notice that Dickens’ creation had turned into an Indian.

I had a similar reaction to Dev Patel playing David Copperfield. I wasn't sure at first if I wanted to see it or not, but I'm glad I did finally go. The film was so eccentric anyway that having my image of David Copperfield changed, made not a jot of difference.

Many years ago I went to see one of the UK's well known opera companies perform Madam Butterfly. It was a stunning performance, but what my friend and I couldn't get over was the reference to the child which was the result of Butterfly's union with Lt. Pinkerton. Butterfly, a young Japanese woman, was played by a suitably Asian singer, but Pinkerton was played by a black man. To be fair, he had a stunning voice and we didn't really notice his colour (even though theoretically a black man would never have made it to Lieutenant in the American army during that period) until we heard them say that the child was fair and blue eyed.

Madam Butterfly...a favourite of mine!

Yes, the libretto specifically refers to the golden haired, blue eyed child...when Sharpless asks if the child is Pinkerton’s .

I suppose you had to suspend belief for a moment

Love that opera it always makes me want to cry.

The new Netflix series “Bridgerton” sets out to give actors of colour an unusual degree of exposure....particularly when it’s a Regency period romp!

I’ve watched the first episode - and will watch the rest over the next two days - and, so far, I’m impressed.

It’s certainly a surprise to see so many aristocrats of colour in those pre- Markle days. Coloured servants of course...but nothing higher.

Portraying Queen Charlotte as having African blood somewhere down the line was a bold move....but not implausible given her distant Portuguese ancestry.

I watched Invictus again on tv a couple of days ago. There is no way you could have had a white actor playing Nelson Mandela, surely?

hatusu wrote: Sun Dec 27, 2020 12:47 pm I watched Invictus again on tv a couple of days ago. There is no way you could have had a white actor playing Nelson Mandela, surely?

As I said in the case of a black actress playing Anne Boleyn, there are situations where the colour of the character is so incidental to the plot that, after a while, you simply don’t notice it. Even so....I think so many of us know the history that the image must be a constant irritant.

As it would if the film industry ever took it into its head to portray Anne’s daughter, Queen Elizabeth I , as black!

Likewise, I don’t think it would ever be acceptable to portray Nelson Mandela as white.....particularly as the issue of “colour” was so much part of his story.

In the olden days, I suppose we could have blacked-up Anthony Hopkins. He’s a superb mimic and would have had no difficulty in impersonating that distinctive Mandela drawl.

Now there’s a thought!