Color-blind casting

Nontraditional casting, integrated casting, or blind casting (short for color-blind/gender-blind casting) is the practice of casting without considering the actor's ethnicity, skin color, body shape, sex and/or gender. A representative of the Actors' Equity Association has disputed the use of the term "color blind", preferring the definition "nontraditional casting". Nontraditional casting "is defined as the casting of ethnic minority actors in roles where race, ethnicity, or gender is not germane".[1]

Examples
Production Year Description
Doctor Zhivago 1965Yuri Zhivago was played by Egyptian actor Omar Sharif.[2]
Batman 1967Eartha Kitt was cast as Catwoman on several episodes.[3]
Jesus Christ Superstar 1973African-American actor Carl Anderson was cast in the lead role of Judas Iscariot, successive to Ben Vereen playing the role in the original 1971 Broadway production.
I, Claudius 1976Darien Angadi and Sam Dastor played key roles with Renu Setna and Roy Stewart in smaller speaking roles.
Sadat 1983Louis Gossett Jr. as Egyptian president Anwar Sadat, although Sadat's mother was from Sudan.
Never Say Never Again 1983Black actor Bernie Casey was cast in the role of Felix Leiter. Most other depictions of Leiter, a recurring character in the James Bond franchise, have been white. Jeffrey Wright played the role in Casino Royale (2006).
The Mahabharata 1989Men from distinctly different ethnic groups were cast to play Indian brothers in the epic story of the nation's mythical founding.
Batman 1989Billy Dee Williams was cast as Harvey Dent in the 1989 film. In subsequent films, the character was played by Caucasian-American actors Tommy Lee Jones and Aaron Eckhart.
After the Fall 1990Josette Simon played Maggie at the London National Theatre in 1990. The role is widely supposed to have been based on Arthur Miller's former wife Marilyn Monroe.[4][5]
The Bonfire of the Vanities 1990Morgan Freeman plays Judge Leonard White, who was described as Ashkenazi Jewish in the original novel on which the film is based.
Les Misérables 1993Filipino singer and actress Lea Salonga plays Éponine in the Broadway production of Les Misérables.
The Pelican Brief 1993Denzel Washington plays a character described as white in the original novel by John Grisham.
The Shawshank Redemption 1994An adaptation of Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption. The character Red, described as Irish in the novella, is played by Morgan Freeman.[6]
Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella 1997The movie contained a racially diverse cast, with Brandy Norwood as Cinderella, Bernadette Peters as her stepmother (with Veanne Cox and Natalie Desselle as Cinderella's stepsisters), Victor Garber as King Maximillian, Whoopi Goldberg as Queen Constantina, Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother and Paolo Montalban as their son, Prince Christopher.
The Nutty Professor 1996Eddie Murphy plays Sherman Klump/Buddy Love, previously portrayed by Jerry Lewis.
Dr. Dolittle 1998Eddie Murphy plays Dr. John Dolittle, previously portrayed by Rex Harrison.
Annie 1999Audra McDonald plays Grace, the secretary of Oliver "Daddy" Warbucks played by Victor Garber. At the film's ending, Grace and Warbucks become engaged. No reference is made that McDonald is African-American and Garber is white.
Wild Wild West 1999African-American actor Will Smith plays Captain James West, a character originated by Caucasian actor Robert Conrad.
This England: The Histories 2000British-Nigerian actor David Oyelowo played Henry VI of England. Oyelowo was the first black actor to play an English king in a major production of Shakespeare[7][8][9][10]
Smallville 2001The television series cast African-American actor Sam Jones III as Clark Kent's childhood friend Pete Ross. In the decades-old comic books, this character was white. Kristin Kreuk, of Dutch and Chinese descent, was cast for the originally red-headed character Lana Lang; and Allison Mack was cast as Chloe Sullivan, written to have a non-white ethnic background.
Daredevil 2003Black actor Michael Clarke Duncan played Wilson Fisk (AKA Kingpin), who was portrayed in earlier comics versions as a European American.
Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 2003Black actor Bernie Mac portrayed Bosley, who was previously portrayed as white and was played by Irish-American Bill Murray in Charlie's Angels (2000).
Catwoman 2004Halle Berry portrayed the titular character in the 2004 film.
Alexander 2004Persian King Darius III is portrayed by Israeli actor Raz Degan. Indian King Porus was portrayed by Thai actor Bin Bunluerit.
The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy 2005Mos Def was cast as Ford Prefect. Although Ford's ethnicity was not explicitly stated in the books, he was described as having ginger hair.
Batman Begins 2005Colin McFarlane was cast as Gillian B. Loeb in Batman Begins and its sequel, The Dark Knight.
Fantastic Four (2005 film) 2005Mexican-American actress Jessica Alba played the Invisible Woman (Susan Storm), a character traditionally portrayed as non-Latin white. African American actress Kerry Washington played Alicia Masters, a character traditionally portrayed as white. Both of them reprised their roles for Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.
Grey's Anatomy 2005During the creation of the television series, none of the characters was assigned a race. Color-blind casting was used to choose the best actors for the roles, resulting in a racially diverse cast.[11]
Casino Royale 2006Jeffrey Wright was cast as Felix Leiter in Casino Royale and its sequel Quantum of Solace (2008).
Robin Hood 2006Kwame Kwei-Armah was cast as De Fourtnoy (Master-at-Arms) in "Who Shot the Sheriff?", the third episode.[12]
The Nativity Story'’ 2006Joseph is portrayed by Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac. Magi Balthasar was portrayed by Cameroonian-French actor Eriq Ebouaney. Elizabeth and Joachim were portrayed by Iranian actors Shohreh Aghdashloo and Shaun Toub, with the latter being Jewish.
Merlin 2008Several non-white actors play roles traditionally described in the historic Arthurian legends as European, most notably Guinevere and Elyan the White.
Max Payne 2008Ludacris plays the role of Internal Affairs agent Jim Bravura, who is portrayed as white in the video game.
Iron Man 2008African-American actor Samuel L. Jackson played Nick Fury, who was previously depicted as white in a variety of mediums.
King Lear 2010Black British actor Pippa Bennett-Warner played Cordelia in the 2010 Donmar Warehouse production of King Lear, starring Derek Jacobi in the title role.[13]
The Karate Kid 2010In Chinese American martial arts action drama film, black actor Jaden Smith plays main character of Dre. The original 1984 film of the same name had a slightly different story and the main character's name was Daniel LaRusso and he was of Caucasian descent.
Death at a Funeral 2010A 2010 American ensemble comedy film directed by Neil LaBute. The film is an American remake of the 2007 British film of the same name. Most of characters in the remake were black while in the original movie they were of caucasian descent.
Thor 2011The role of the Asgardian sentry Heimdall, based on the Marvel Comics character commonly depicted as white, was played by Black British actor Idris Elba.
Skyfall 2012The role of Miss Moneypenny, which had previously been cast as white, went to Naomie Harris.[14] She reprised the role in the next James Bond film, Spectre.
Steel Magnolias 2012A contemporary retelling of the play Steel Magnolias and its 1989 film adaptation. The new film stars an all-Black American cast, including Queen Latifah as M'Lynn, Jill Scott as Truvy, Condola Rashād as Shelby, Adepero Oduye as Annelle, with Phylicia Rashad as Clairee and Alfre Woodard as Ouiser.
The Great Gatsby 2013Indian actor Amitabh Bachchan played Meyer Wolfsheim, a character described as Ashkenazi Jewish in the original novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald.
Man of Steel 2013The role of Perry White, previously portrayed by white actors, is played by African-American actor Laurence Fishburne.
The Sound of Music Live! 2013Audra McDonald plays the Mother Abbess, a role traditionally played by a white actress.
Hannibal 2013Laurence Fishburne co-starred as FBI agent Jack Crawford. In the previous films of this franchise, this character had been played by white actors.
Thor: The Dark World 2013The role of the Asgardian sentry Heimdall, based on the Marvel Comics character commonly depicted as white, was played by Black British actor Idris Elba.
Mary Kom 2014Priyanka Chopra, who is of Punjabi heritage, portrays Mary Kom, who is of Kuki descent.
Annie 2014Black actors Quvenzhané Wallis and Jamie Foxx played the characters Annie and Will (Warbucks) who have been portrayed as white in the previous productions.
The Amazing Spider-Man 2 2014Jamie Foxx played Max Dillon / Electro, who was commonly depicted as white in the comics.
The Flash 2014Black actress Candice Patton plays character of Iris West. The originating comic book series featured the character as Iris West Allen, who is of Caucasian descent. Wally West was also race-swapped, and played by African Australian actor Keiynan Lonsdale.
Fantastic Four (2015 film) 2015Black actor Michael B. Jordan played the Human Torch (Johnny Storm), a character traditionally portrayed as white.
Hamilton 2015Broadway musical. Historical figures including the Founding Fathers, who were all white in real life, are played by people of multiple different races.
Quantico 2015Indian actress Priyanka Chopra portrays Alex Parrish, who was originally written as white. Eventually, the character become half-Indian.
Supergirl 2015In American television series, based on DC Comics character Supergirl, black actor Mehcad Brooks plays the character Jimmy Olsen and another black actor David Harewood plays the character Hank Henshaw. The originating comic book series featured the characters as James Bartholomew "Jimmy" Olsen and Hank Hendshaw, both as of Caucasian descent.
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child 2016Black actress Noma Dumezweni played Hermione Granger, a character who was portrayed by white actress Emma Watson in the Harry Potter films.[15][16]
Suicide Squad 2016African-American actor Will Smith played the supervillain Deadshot, a character traditionally portrayed as half-Hispanic.
The Rocky Horror Picture Show: Let's Do the Time Warp Again 2016This remake of The Rocky Horror Picture Show stars black actress Laverne Cox as Dr. Frank-N-Furter, a role originated by white male actor Tim Curry. Victoria Justice, who is of Puerto Rican descent, portrays Janet Weiss, a role originated by Susan Sarandon. The film also features black actress Christina Milian as Magenta, a role originated by white actress Patricia Quinn.
Doctor Strange 2016British-Nigerian actor Chiwetel Ejiofor played Karl Mordo, who is a Transylvanian baron in the comics the film is based on, and British actress Tilda Swinton played the Ancient One, traditionally represented as an old Himalayan man.
The Promise 2016Guatemalan actor Oscar Isaac plays the Armenian protagonist.
The Girl with All the Gifts 2016In British post-apocalyptic zombie horror drama film, based on a novel by M.R. Carey of the same name, black actress Sennia Nanua plays main character of Melanie, who is of Caucasian descent.
Dynasty 2017Based on the 1980s series of the same name where both of the lead families are white. In this reboot, the Colby family is portrayed by African-American actors.
Riverdale 2017Based on the characters and setting of the long-running Archie Comics series, multiple characters traditionally depicted as white in the comics are portrayed by non-white actors in the show. Most notably, Veronica Lodge is portrayed by Camila Mendes, who is of Brazilian descent: indeed, the entire Lodge family has been depicted as being of Latin-American descent in the series. Reggie Mantle is portrayed by Asian-American actors Ross Butler in season 1, and Charles Melton from season 2 onwards, Pop Tate is portrayed by black actor Alvin Sanders and Josie and the Pussycats, a band originally consisting of one black member and two white members in the comics, are converted into an all-black group: Josie and Melody, both previously white, are portrayed by Ashleigh Murray and Hayley Law, respectively.
Spider-Man: Homecoming 2017Anthony Revolori, of Guatemalan heritage, plays Flash Thompson, a white character from the comics previously portrayed in Spider-Man and Spider-Man 3 by Joe Manganiello.
Beauty and the Beast 2017Gugu Mbatha-Raw plays Plumette, a castle maid who was represented in the 1991 animated film as a white woman. Similarly, Audra McDonald plays Madame De Garderobe, an opera singer who was also white in the animated movie.
The Dark Tower 2017Black actor Idris Elba plays Roland Deschain, a character who is described in the Dark Tower series as white and is said to have been inspired by white actor Clint Eastwood.
Frozen the Musical 2017Black actor Jelani Alladin plays the character Kristoff, a Scandinavian ice harvester.
Thor: Ragnarok 2017The role of the bounty hunter Valkyrie, based on the Marvel Comics character commonly depicted as white, is played by African American actress Tessa Thompson. The role of the Asgardian sentry Heimdall, based on the Marvel Comics character depicted as white, was played by Black British actor Idris Elba.
Justice League 2017Aquaman/Arthur Curry was portrayed by Jason Momoa in this 2017 film.
Troy: Fall of a City 2018The BBC/Netflix co-production, which retells the Iliad, depicts Achilles and Zeus as being black, with the respective roles played by David Gyasi and Hakeem Kae-Kazim.
Deadpool 2 2018The character Domino, drawn in comic books as an albino Caucasian with a dark patch of skin in a diamond surrounding her left eye, is portrayed by African-American German actress Zazie Beetz;[17][18] the anomalous skin patch was instead lighter than the rest of her complexion. The film also features Māori actor Julian Dennison as Rusty Collins / Firefist, a white[19] Oklahoma native in the comics and biracial actor Lewis Tan (of partial Chinese descent) as Shatterstar, an extraterrestrial who in the comics has the appearance of a white human.[20]
Fahrenheit 451 2018The character Guy Montag, who was portrayed by Caucasian actor Oskar Werner in the 1966 adaptation, is portrayed by African-American actor Michael B. Jordan. Additionally, the character Clarisse McClellan (portrayed by Julie Christie in the 1966 film) is played by Algerian actress Sofia Boutella.[21]
Titans 2018African-American actor Anna Diop plays the superhero Starfire (Princess Koriand'r). An alien who is drawn in comics with orange or golden skin, Starfire has been previously portrayed by white performers and drawn in cartoons with light tan skin, despite originally being black-coded.[22][23]
Colette 2018Saudi actress Aiysha Hart plays the character Polaire. Polaire is a French woman.
Pokémon Detective Pikachu 2018Biracial actor Justice Smith plays the main human character Tim Goodman, who was a brunette Caucasian male in the 2016 video game.
Mary Queen of Scots 2018A British historical drama included Gemma Chan as Elizabeth Hardwick and Adrian Lester as Lord Thomas Randolph.
The Witcher 2019Yennefer is played by half-Indian actress Anya Chalotra, who was white brunette in the original, similarly done with Vilgefortz (Mahesh Jadu). White character Fringilla Vigo is played by black actress Mimi Ndiweni; Istredd (Royce Pierreson) and Triss Merigold (Anna Shaffer) are also white in books, yet are played by actors of color.
Birds of Prey 2020Biracial actor Jurnee Smollett-Bell plays the character Black Canary who is Caucasian in the comics.
Artemis Fowl 2020In the novel, the character Butler is described as Eurasian, specifically Russian-Japanese; in the film he is portrayed by British Nigerian Nonso Anozie. Anozie's casting, combined with the character's physical description of terrifying anyone in his presence and backstory of his family having served the Fowl family for centuries, had been criticised for embodying several stereotypes of African Americans, in particular the "scary black man" and "black servant" tropes.[24][25]
The Great 2020 In 18th century Russia, the entire court would have been white. Elle Fanning who stars as Catherine the Great in the series spoke of using color-blind casting from the very beginning to make "people from now to be able to relate to the show" and "have everyone represented"[26]. Sacha Dhawan, a British-Indian actor, plays Count Orlo, and Abraham Popoola plays Rostov.

The Non-Traditional Casting Project

The Non-Traditional Casting Project was founded in 1986 to examine problems of racial discrimination in theatre, film and television.[27] The Actors' Equity Association is a co-founder.[28]

Debate and "Color-Consciousness"

In the theatre community, there is significant debate over the concept of color-blind casting vs "color-conscious casting".

In 1996, Pulitzer-winning playwright August Wilson used his Princeton University address on black culture in America "The Ground on Which I Stand" to attack the notion of color-blind casting.[29]

"Colorblind casting is an aberrant idea that has never had any validity other than as a tool of Cultural Imperialists who view American culture, rooted in the icons of European culture, as beyond reproach in its perfection... We do not need colorblind casting; we need theatres." - August Wilson

In 2017, Associate Editor of American Theatre magazine Diep Tran declared "color-conscious" to be a preferable term. "Color-conscious means we’re aware of the historic discrimination in the entertainment industry... and we’re also aware of what it means to put a body of color onstage."[30]. The idea promotes intentionality and race-conscious affirmative action to avoid racially homogeneous casts, and has been supported widely across the theatre community.[31][32]

In 2018, the Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law published the article "There’s No Business Like Show Business: Abandoning Color-Blind Casting and Embracing Color-Conscious Casting in American Theatre". The article discussed the implications for US employment law and mooted that color-blind casting has not produced its intended result. "Race is still a determining factor in American society, and it is “counterintuitive to argue that problems related to race can be fixed by ignoring race altogether".[33] The Broad Online calls a color-blind casting "a superficial solution to a deeper problem." [34]

Popular shows that employ color-conscious casting include: Hamilton: An American Musical, the BBC’s Les Misérables, and the film Mary Queen of Scots (in which the black actor Adrian Lester plays a 16th-century ambassador). In 2017, director Michael Streeter made a color-conscious casting decision for his production of "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?" - believing "the decision would add depth to the play".[35] Edward Albee’s estate denied permission for the production, stating the casting "would fundamentally change the meaning and message of the play". [36]

See also

References
  1. Eisenberg, Alan (23 October 1988). "NONTRADITIONAL CASTING; When Race and Sex Don't Matter". New York Times.
  2. "Doctor Zhivago". IMDB. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  3. Mitchell, Maurice. "EARTHA KITT: A BRIEF HISTORY OF THE FIRST BLACK CATWOMAN". The Geek Twins. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  4. Louise Jury, "Colour-blind casting finds new stars for Billy Elliott" Archived 3 January 2008 at the Wayback Machine, The Independent.
  5. "Evening Standard Theatre Awards, 1990". Archived from the original on 17 September 2010. Retrieved 29 June 2007.
  6. "Top Ten Reasons We Can't Get Enough of The Shawshank Redemption". Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  7. Fiachra Gibbons, "RSC casts black actor as English king for first time", The Guardian, 19 September 2000.
  8. Hugh Quarshie, "Black kings are old hat", The Guardian, 20 September 2000.
  9. Kate Kellaway, "My kingdom for a part", The Observer, 8 July 2001.
  10. The latest British Theatre news for 04/01/01 Archived 4 December 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  11. Matthew Fogel, "'Grey's Anatomy' Goes Colorblind", New York Times, 8 May 2005.
  12. "Robin Hood (2006) - 1x03 - Who Shot the Sheriff?", Episode World.
  13. Tim Walker, "Black actors are 'forced to leave Britain for America'", The Telegraph, 17 June 2011.
  14. "No-one objected to Moneypenny being black because public were not told, says Naomie Harris". Retrieved 19 November 2016.
  15. Maltby, Kate. "There's nothing confusing about a black actress playing Hermione Granger – Spectator Blogs". Spectator Blogs. Retrieved 23 December 2015. JK Rowling tweeted this morning that she'd never specified Hermione's skin colour in the books
  16. J. K. Rowling [@jk_rowling] (21 December 2015). "Canon: brown eyes, frizzy hair and very clever. White skin was never specified. Rowling loves black Hermione" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 20 January 2016 – via Twitter.
  17. Thompson, Luke Y. "Interview: Deadpool's Rob Liefeld Talks Sequel, X-Force, And Taking Things Slow (Or Not!)". Forbes. Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  18. "Zazie Beetz from "Atlanta" is going to be in "Deadpool 2," and we definitely approve this decision". Retrieved 23 May 2018.
  19. "Who Is Julian Dennison's Mutant Kid Character in DEADPOOL 2? (SPOILERS) | Nerdist". Nerdist. 18 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  20. "BAZAAR Spotlight: Meet Lewis Tan, Hollywood's Kickass Asian Action Star". Harper's Bazaar Singapore. 10 May 2018. Retrieved 24 May 2018.
  21. Real, Evan (19 May 2018). "Michael B. Jordan Talks Significance of Inclusivity in 'Fahrenheit 451'". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 23 August 2018.
  22. Herapocrypha (16 November 2018). "Too Black to be Orange, or an Alien: Starfire meets the 21st Century (and 20th, 19th, 18th…)". Medium. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  23. "Racist Comic Fans Run Titans Star Off Instagram for Not Being the Right Kind of Black". The Root. Retrieved 4 March 2020.
  24. Agrawal, Aarushi. "Artemis Fowl movie review: Adaptation of fascinating books reduced to Hollywood's formulaic young adult fantasy". Firstpost. Retrieved 12 June 2020.
  25. Bernardoni, Angela. "Artemis Fowl on Disney+: Give Reasons Why We Could Do Without It". Stay Nerd (in Italian). Retrieved 13 June 2020.
  26. Cohen, Anne. "Elle Fanning Was Born To Be An Outrageous, Messy Queen & The Great Is Proof". www.refinery29.com. Retrieved 23 June 2020.
  27. Jensen, Sharon. "The Non-Traditional Casting Project". National Endowment for the Arts. Archived from the original on 27 August 2009. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  28. "Actors' Equity Association Benefits: EEO & Diversity". Actors' Equity. Retrieved 1 July 2009.
  29. Wilson, August. "The Ground on Which I Stand". AmericanTheatre.org. American Theatre. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  30. Gelt, Jessica (13 July 2017). "Authenticity in casting: From 'colorblind' to 'color conscious,' new rules are anything but black and white". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  31. Rana, Jaya (20 May 2020). "Are we blind to the need for blind casting? Jaya Rana discusses if the questions surronding 'nontraditional' casting can ever be answered". Cherwell.org. Cherwell - Oxford's Independent Student Newspaper. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  32. "The Guardian view on colour-conscious casting: mixing it up can be a good thing". The Guardian. 30 January 2019. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  33. Bria Hopkins, Kristin. "There's No Business Like Show Business: Abandoning Color-Blind Casting and Embracing Color-Conscious Casting in American Theatre" (PDF). Harvard Journal of Sports & Entertainment Law. 9: 141. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  34. Willcocks, Lydia. "Colour conscious casting should be prioritised". thebroadonline.com. The Broad Online. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  35. Gelt, Jessica (13 July 2017). "Authenticity in casting: From 'colorblind' to 'color conscious,' new rules are anything but black and white". Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 28 May 2020.
  36. Paulson, Michael (21 May 2017). "A Black Actor in 'Virginia Woolf'? Not Happening, Albee Estate Says". The New York Times. Retrieved 28 May 2020.

Further reading
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