This past August, actor Ed Skrein decided that he wanted to be part of the solution and not just another part of the problem. After being cast as Major Ben Daimo, a character with Asian ancestry, in the upcoming Hellboy reboot, the British movie star made what he called a moral decision and stepped away from the high-profile film.
Sadly, as it turns out, the caucasian actor has actually turned out to be a member of the minority when it comes to white big-screen players refusing to portray persons of color. The newly-released Natalie Portman movie, Annihilation, features both Portman and co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh breathing life into characters who are Asian and Native American, respectively, in the source material. The two Hollywood veterans' characters, Lena and Dr. Ventress, appear in the the Southern Reach Trilogy book series. Add Portman and Leigh to the list (Scarlett Johannson in Ghost in the Shell; Tilda Swinton in Doctor Strange; Emma Stone in Aloha) of white stars who've graced the screen in roles intended for minorities in the last few years.
While Portman has lent her name to the #MeToo movement (despite her past support of controversial director Roman Polanski and participation in the film Everyone Says I Love You, by even more controversial director Woody Allen), she's conspicuously absent from efforts to eliminate white-washing in Tinseltown. It seems that the women of Hollywood (the caucasian ones, at least) pushing for more female representation in the film industry don't necessarily view their crusade as inclusive of their minority counterparts.
Originally Posted 2/24/18
Well this is definitely disappointing news to hear but ironically he has a pretty diverse cast otherwise so why whitewash the two main characters? Anyways, as far as the movie itself goes, it appears to be getting raves from critics in general but it is NOT the movie I expected. The positives are that the acting was very good, by all the cast, which on a different note is pretty much all female. I was especially pleased to see Jennifer Jason Leigh, who is such an underrated actor in Hollywood and really has never gotten her due. She played in a film called “The Last Exit to Brooklyn”, in which she gave the performance of her lifetime, in my opinion. The visual effects in this film are amazing as well. However, the build to the climax in this movie is so slow and then, at least in my case, I am left scratching my head at the end wondering, “What was that?” All I can say is, be prepared to leave the theater doing the same thing.
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