During a conversation series at East Hollywood's Upright Citizen's Brigade Theatre, director Jordan Peele spoke to an audience about a range of topics covering his career.
Peele spoke of his humble beginnings, educational journey, early career and what has captured most people's attention: his take on inclusive casting.
The headline inducing quote being, "I don’t see myself casting a white dude as the lead in my movie."
Though the focus has been predominantly on this line, Peele quickly added, "Not that I don’t like white dudes," as he nodded towards the moderator of the event. "But I've seen that movie."
Contextually the quote, which has drawn ire over the internet, came in response to his discussion about the power he wields with the success of Get Out and now Us.
"The way I look at it," Peele explained, "I get to cast black people in my movies. I feel fortunate to be in this position where I can say to Universal, 'I want to make a $20 million horror movie with a black family.' And they say yes."
Peele's answer was succinct and concise, highlighting the privilege he is now afforded, that only came after loudly disproving long-held myths about representation and the profitability of non-white leads. His debut film Get Out was a breakout success, but made on a modest budget of $5 million and without the draw of an A-lister such as Will Smith or Denzel Washington.
His sophomore film Us continues that success and has taken him even further, and again he did it with the decision to cast a black family and two actors, still fairly on the come up, as the film featured Lupita Nyong'o and Winston Duke in their first leading roles of their careers.
However, that hasn't stopped the director from receiving negative backlash, which has resulted in a skewed double standard when compared to similar responses from other critically adored auteurs in Woody Allen and the Coen brothers. It should also be clarified that Jordan Peele's quote only addresses the leading roles in his films, as his movies still feature prominent roles for white actors such as Catherine Keener, Bradley Whitford, Allison Williams, Caleb Landry Jones, Stephen Root, Elisabeth Moss and Tim Heidecker.
In contrast, Allen and the Coens' reception of criticisms towards their casting choices reflect a point of privilege, one that Peele hadn't been afforded until after proving himself.
In a rare sit-down interview with Roger Friedman of The New York Observer in 2014, Allen was broached with the subject of casting, or lack thereof, of black actors in his films, which brought about a defensive reply from the director, who was described as horrified by the question.
"Not unless I write a story that requires it," Allen said. "You don’t hire people based on race. You hire people based on who is correct for the part. The implication is that I’m deliberately not hiring black actors, which is stupid. I cast only what’s right for the part. Race, friendship means nothing to me except who is right for the part.”
While seemingly a response that toes the line of being a reasonable explanation, Allen fails to see the contradiction in his answer. If he writes a story that requires the casting of a black actor then he is in fact hiring actors on the basis of race. To that end there has only been one black actor in a prominent role for a Woody Allen film in the last 20 years: Chiwetel Ejiofor in Melinda and Melinda.
A similar situation occurred with the Coens in 2016 during the promotion of their film Hail, Caesar!, which happened to coincide with the Oscars when the hashtag #OscarsSoWhite reached a fever pitch thanks to the list of nominees that year.
During an interview with Jen Yamato of The Daily Beast she brought up the topic with the two directors, asking them about the criticisms about the lack of minority characters in their film, to which they replied in a decidedly defensive manner.
"Why would there be?” countered Joel Coen. “I don’t understand the question. No—I understand that you’re asking the question, I don’t understand where the question comes from."
Yamato followed it up, asking if it is "important or not important to consciously factor in concerns like diversity," which garnered this response from Ethan Coen.
"Not in the least!” Ethan replied. “It’s important to tell the story you’re telling in the right way, which might involve black people or people of whatever heritage or ethnicity—or it might not."
Having a film populated with diverse characters isn't a lot to ask for, but the Coen brothers' response is indicative of the privilege they have been afforded their entire careers if their first thought is "Why would there be?"
If these directors have free reign to cast actors of their choice without considering diversity, then Jordan Peele cannot be criticized for his statement, particularly when it doesn't entirely eliminate the possibility. ~Paolo Maquiraya
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