Passing for Mighty
When I learned that Angelina Jolie was playing the role of Mariane Pearl in the film A Mighty Heart, I had an "Is it just me or..." moment.
A Mighty Heart is follows the story of the search for kidnapped Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl in 2002.
Angelina Jolie is white. Mariane Pearl is biracial, or rather multiracial: Afro-Cuban, Chinese Cuban, Dutch and Jewish.
So: Is it just me, or does anyone else have a problem with a white actress playing a real-life woman who is not white? Jolie plays the role of Mariane Pearl with her hair piled atop her head and a few curly tendrils framing her face.
Is it just me, or have the media NOT taken notice of the odd casting? Granted, it's not odd when you realize one of the producers of the film is Jolie's companion, Brad Pitt. Still, you would think that with all the couple's sensitivity and humanitarianism, they might have been more sensitive to casting the actress playing Ms. Pearl.
Off-hand, I can think of three biracial actresses who would have fit the bill nicely! My first choice would have been Jennifer Beals. Thandi Newton would have been great. How about Kidada Jones? It's not like Jolie needs the work.
I doubt Brad Pitt would pick a woman of color to play Angelina Jolie in her bio-pic.
This train of thought puts me in mind of other odd casting choices that Hollywood makes. Think about Zhang Ziyi of China playing the lead in Memoirs of a Geisha. Two of the other two female stars are also Chinese women playing Japanese women. There are countless examples in the annals of filmdom. I would welcome some discussion of this issue.
Certainly, producers should have latitude in casting films. But when aiming for historical accuracy, it seems downright reckless to play fast and loose with essential facts of the story.
In twenty years, when a teacher shows her class A Mighty Heart, will the students remember the real Mariane Pearl? More likely, they will remember the puffy-mouthed Angelina Jolie.
Is is just me, or is this a white wash?