Hollywood has faced massive amounts of criticism in modern media for a slew of different reasons. But one criticism it receives perhaps the most frequently is centered around one concept: casting mainstream actors to play racial minorities, LGBT+ roles, or other marginalized individuals that the actor doesn't necessarily identify with. This is also commonly referred to as "whitewashing."
One of the most recent cases included actress Scarlett Johansson and her role as a transgender man in the film "Rub & Tug." She was cast to portray the real-life Dante Gill, a transgender man who ran a string of prostitution dens disguised as massage parlors in the 1970s-80s. However, after facing extreme backlash from the LGBT+ community, activists, and others, she backed out of the role in early July.
Johansson is far from the only celebrity to find himself or herself in this situation – take, for example, when Jake Gyllenhaal portrayed a Persian man in "Prince of Persia" in 2010, or when Sean Penn played the gay rights activist Harvey Milk in "Milk."
The practice of casting actors of different races or identities than the character dates all the way back to theater in the 1500-1600s, well before Hollywood itself. William Shakespeare, the famous playwright and poet active in Elizabethan England, was known for his all-male performances. He would cast younger men to play the female characters in his plays, largely because acting for women was considered inappropriate and even illegal in most places at the time. Older men were also cast to play older women, which might explain why the three witches in Shakespeare's "Macbeth" have beards.
Shakespeare, along with many playwrights and writers of the Elizabethan era, also used "blackface" to portray African characters, which included painting the skin of white actors with oil or paint and having them parody African speech.
This kind of entertainment existed in America as well, specifically in the early 19th century when minstrelsy – performances imitating African American culture and speech – were widely popular. These minstrel shows featured comic skits, dance numbers, and even musical performances by people in blackface makeup that mocked African cultural practices and speech. In fact, minstrelsy was the first theater practice that originated in the country and was distinctly American.
But time has passed since the Shakespearean and pre-emancipation era, and the blatantly racist minstrel shows were left behind while women were also slowly integrated within theater and film. As the Hollywood film and production industry began to explode in the late 1800s and early 1900s, white actors were preferred over minorities in casting – like Warner Oland, an actor in the 1930s who was popular for playing Chinese and Chinese-American roles.
The film industry also steered mostly clear of depicting homosexuality, as it was largely considered taboo and immoral. Including LGBT+ individuals or topics in movies sometimes resulted in government censorship and protests from the Catholic church or other organizations. It wasn't until the civil rights era in the 50s and 60s that there was an active push to include sexual, gender, and racial minorities in film and television.
Resulting from that push, which has lasted into the year 2018, the number of people of color and LGBT+ people represented in film and television has grown exponentially, and there are many productions that circle around real marginalized populations and their history.
Take, for example, African American actor and filmmaker Jordan Peele's first film "Get Out," which featured an African American first-time actor (Daniel Kaluuya) as the lead and became the most profitable movie of its year. (It grossed $253 million at the box office, eclipsing its production budget of $4.5 million.) Netflix – which is slated to gain 70 million new subscriptions by the year 2020 – has an ever-growing LGBT+ category. Marvel's "Black Panther," which features a predominantly African and African American cast, grossed billions worldwide and is among the highest grossing films not only in the U.S. but of all time.
As previously mentioned, Johansson eventually gave up her "Rub & Tug" role – and she isn't the only actor to voice regret for this kind of role. Jared Leto has come forward since winning an Academy Award for his performance as a trans woman in "Dallas Buyers Club" and said he would have probably passed on the role if he were offered it today. In a similar sentiment, actor Jeffrey Tambor said, "I would not be unhappy were I the last cisgender male to play a female transgender on television" when accepting his 2016 Emmy for "Transparent."
Many within the industry say casting actors outside of the race, gender, or sexuality portrayed in film has nothing to do with implicit bias or discrimination and everything to do with box office numbers and using household names to attract audiences. Ridley Scott, who directed "Exodus: Gods and Kings," said that without casting widely known white actors, the film would never have been made. "I can't mount a film of this budget, where I have to rely on tax rebates in Spain and say that my lead actor is Mohammad so-and-so from such-and-such. I'm just not going to get it financed," Scott said in an interview with "Variety" in 2014.
Other studios say they cast an actor based only on talent and performance regardless of the actor's or character's race, like Warner Bros., which received intense backlash for choosing a European actress to play a Native American character in "Pan," a live-action adaptation of "Peter Pan." An insider of the project, who did not wish to be named, told "The Hollywood Reporter" in 2015, "We looked at Native American actresses. We looked at African American actresses. We looked at African actresses. We looked at Middle Eastern actresses. White actresses. After a very exhaustive casting process, we ultimately went with the best actress for the part."
Another industry defense is that throwing down the "DNA gauntlet," as producer Doug Wick calls it, on the casting process is restrictive to the film's potential to best portray the character. "There is certainly a history of insensitivity. And you have to ask if it's part of a dangerous pattern," he acknowledged in an interview with "The Hollywood Reporter." "But you can't throw down the DNA gauntlet, and you've got to be able to cast for artistry and in the spirit of the character."
Many still refute these claims made by producers and others within the industry and say that the disregard for race in casting is highly insensitive, especially toward minorities who are already disadvantaged compared to white or cisgender actors. Some say that Hollywood's reliance on the same actors just furthers the issue of diversity even more, like Rebecca Pahle, who writes on "Pajiba" that the disregard is disingenuous and complicit with the larger problem. "There are good actors of color out there...and there would be more if studios would put a smidge more effort into finding talented actors of color who are being passed over in favor of white actors with a little bit of name recognition."
It's clear that the debate surrounding accurate racial and sexual representation in 2018 film and television is only growing – Hollywood is increasingly accused of erasing identities for profit, while producers defend their casting choices. Many films have been widely successful despite these claims while other films suffer, like "Rub & Tug," whose production is now in jeopardy after Scarlett Johansson exited her role. No matter the outcome of "Rub & Tug" and other future films, it is obvious that studios will have to more seriously weigh casting decisions against the ever-growing demand for representation.
