Everybody loves Anna Kendrick

[Hannibal Scorch]

3 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

The Japanese reaction was never the problem; they have their own well-established film industry. It was how it went over with Western-Diasporic Asians, who regularly have had a problem with under-representation in Western media, and a number of whom could've had the role instead.

And I do agree that they shouldn't have done that. I was just surprised by their lack of surprise really. I only found it out recently when I was looking into the trans role

[Keith Houchen]

1 minute ago, Devon Malcolm said:

From a purely marketing point of view, you'd think it made sense to cast Johansson but I do wonder if this could be an opportunity to try something else. Would the publicity of casting an actual trans person in the lead role of a major American film generate good box office by itself? I think there's a chance it would. Johansson isn't quite a completely reliable box office presence anyway - even with all the controversy, Ghost in the Shell (which I actually liked and thought she was really good in - I much preferred it to the anime) wasn't a hit.

There were calls that The Rock had taken a role from a disabled actor in Skyscraper, someone on here mentioned to me on Twitter that it wasn't doing well box office wise when I asked which disabled actor would have drawn the numbers The Rock does.  I guess it comes down to taking risks, quite hard to do when you're talking about the cost of blockbuster films.

I remember how people were saying how the leads in the new Star Wars were a woman and a black man and look at the box office for that, but then people countered with how it was Star Wars and would have done those numbers anyway.  However, as Carbs said, there are enough people who have an agenda against stuff like that, whether it's the Ghostbusters remake, Gamergate, or a black man playing Bond.

[Carbomb]

8 minutes ago, Keith Houchen said:

I think some of my thoughts were shaped by people almost demanding that a trans actor should have the role automatically.  I did see a trans actor put it well when they said it's not about getting the role, it's about not even getting an audition for the role, and other roles.  They were saying how they aren't claiming to be as good as the leading names but more a case of how they'll never be in the same room as the leading names, regardless of whether the role is trans or not.

Excellent point about Representation, I guess it's the difference between representation and tokenism.

You've put it even better there. Exactly that.

There are several things to take into account here. One of them is the recent point made by those in the #MeToo movement, when challenged with the notion that it would remove talented men from the pool: there is no shortage of talented, non-horrendous people who could take the place of those arseholes.

Not saying ScarJo is an arsehole; just that the logic is similar. There's no threat to the cis talent pool, and eliminating all of them as possibles for a leading trans role does not mean there aren't enough talented trans actors who could fill it.

Also, it's the age-old question: how can there ever be any trans stars if they're never given any roles to show they're stars? They're already not given cis roles, so why deny them the few roles that are available?

7 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

From a purely marketing point of view, you'd think it made sense to cast Johansson but I do wonder if this could be an opportunity to try something else. Would the publicity of casting an actual trans person in the lead role of a major American film generate good box office by itself? I think there's a chance it would. Johansson isn't quite a completely reliable box office presence anyway - even with all the controversy, Ghost in the Shell (which I actually liked and thought she was really good in - I much preferred it to the anime) wasn't a hit.

Absolutely. The sheer historicity of such a casting would make it immediately more bankable, I think.

[Devon Malcolm]

1 minute ago, Keith Houchen said:

There were calls that The Rock had taken a role from a disabled actor in Skyscraper, someone on here mentioned to me on Twitter that it wasn't doing well box office wise when I asked which disabled actor would have drawn the numbers The Rock does.  I guess it comes down to taking risks, quite hard to do when you're talking about the cost of blockbuster films.

I remember how people were saying how the leads in the new Star Wars were a woman and a black man and look at the box office for that, but then people countered with how it was Star Wars and would have done those numbers anyway.  However, as Carbs said, there are enough people who have an agenda against stuff like that, whether it's the Ghostbusters remake, Gamergate, or a black man playing Bond.

Skyscraper has done really well worldwide but under-performed in the USA, not sure why that is, but I think it was the same pattern with Central Intelligence and I also think I read that percentage wise Jumanji did better outside of America as well.

The thing about Ghost in the Shell is that they could have avoided a lot of the controversy if they hadn't set it in Japan. I'm not sure why they did that. As soon as they do that then they immediately run into troublesome ground. I saw a lot of people asking why Rinko Kikuchi (who is awesome) wasn't in the lead but I'm quite sure it would have drawn less with her in the lead. If they'd set it in America, I don't think anyone would have batted an eyelid.

In terms of Star Wars, the last Star Wars film released (Solo) had a white man and woman in the leads, and it tanked. Box office success can be quite arbitrary and unpredictable a lot of the time.

[Hannibal Scorch]

14 minutes ago, Devon Malcolm said:

From a purely marketing point of view, you'd think it made sense to cast Johansson but I do wonder if this could be an opportunity to try something else. Would the publicity of casting an actual trans person in the lead role of a major American film generate good box office by itself? I think there's a chance it would. Johansson isn't quite a completely reliable box office presence anyway - even with all the controversy, Ghost in the Shell (which I actually liked and thought she was really good in - I much preferred it to the anime) wasn't a hit.

I am quite glad someone else liked Ghost in the Shell, I thought I was alone in that as never a fan of the Anime.

As to the Skyscraper casting who could they have had instead? Adam Hill? Or are they suggesting his character shouldn't have had a disability as he didn't. In which case I wonder how those people feel about adaptions of The Elephant Man? Or Spider-Man for that matter? 

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

I am quite glad someone else liked Ghost in the Shell, I thought I was alone in that as never a fan of the Anime.

As to the Skyscraper casting who could they have had instead? Adam Hill? Or are they suggesting his character shouldn't have had a disability as he didn't. In which case I wonder how those people feel about adaptions of The Elephant Man? Or Spider-Man for that matter? 

Spider-Man? Please clarify.

[Hannibal Scorch]

6 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

Spider-Man? Please clarify.

It was a poor attempt at sarcasm at how someone who has been bitten by a radioactive spider should have played him instead of Tom Holland. It sounded funny in my head but I am known for my misfires

[Carbomb]

1 minute ago, Hannibal Scorch said:

It was a poor attempt at sarcasm at how someone who has been bitten by a radioactive spider should have played him instead of Tom Holland. It sounded funny in my head but I am known for my misfires

Ah, I see.

Oddly, the moment I read your post, I immediately thought of Rhys Ifans playing The Lizard in The Amazing Spider-Man. But then I immediately discounted it because it was pants.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

19 minutes ago, Carbomb said:

ScarJo

Have you made that up Carbomb or do people actually refer to her as ScarJo? If it's the latter I'm vetoing on that alone. 

[Carbomb]

Just now, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Have you made that up Carbomb or do people actually refer to her as ScarJo? If it's the latter I'm vetoing on that alone. 

I've seen it before, but Keith said it first.

[WyattSheepMask]

Add me to fans of the Ghost In The Shell live action. I like the anime too, but I thought the film was very good and was glad that it wasn’t just a carbon copy.

It just goes to show how quickly things have changed in the attitudes towards the casting of roles. When Dallas Buyers Club came out 5 years ago, no-one mentioned anything about the casting choices. If it was made today, Matthew McConaughey would have a Twitter-mob giving him shit for not having AIDS.

I remember years back when I was in China, the film Memoirs of a Geisha was receiving some backlash because the lead was a Chinese actress playing a Japanese role. Obviously, there are many historical reasons as to  why this caused issues in those countries, but I don’t recall hearing anything about it in english/western media

[Devon Malcolm]

5 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

Have you made that up Carbomb or do people actually refer to her as ScarJo? If it's the latter I'm vetoing on that alone. 

They do but she hates being called that.

[Scott Malbranque]

I think Olivia Colman is just lovely. And everyone else should, too.

[TheBurningRed]

Chloë Grace Moretz is wonderful. 

[Devon Malcolm]

2 minutes ago, TheBurningRed said:

Chloë Grace Moretz is wonderful. 

But again, is your perception that EVERYONE thinks this? Because I can assure you they don't!