[NY Post] ‘Jaws’ star Richard Dreyfuss slams new Oscars diversity rules

defending blackface…lol

 

"I can't play a black man!?! I thought this was Amurika!"


@Os Trigonum : "ya I was thinking the same thing! This is a violation of basic free speech principles!"

 

His theory is correct, an actor should be able to play anything.

But I wouldn’t have put it the way he did. Read the room, bruh.

 

it’s historically been 1 group of people that are allowed to play anything while other groups get denied or passed over

Scarlett Johansson plays the main character in Ghost in the Shell and it’s pretty much crickets, but let somebody black be a mermaid and it’s the crime of the century…

 

Yeah, I 100% agree it’s total bullshit how whites get a pass.

Dreyfuss is right, any actor should able to play any part. It’s an art and it’s fantasy.

 

He's not getting the aspect that if a demographic of people are underrepresented in the industry then why use white people to fill the roles of those demographics instead of just hiring people that are actually part of that demographic?

And when you combine the fact that a large part of the hiring process in this industry is knowing the right people, white people typically know the right people more than minorities giving an unfair advantage to white people in the hiring process.

 

they should, but it will never be the case…and he’s only saying what he’s saying because Hollywood is giving more minorities and underrepresented groups a chance…if it was the usual status quo where white people can play anything and all other groups have to stay in their lane, then he wouldn’t be saying sh*t

if a black person isn’t a gangster/thug, rapper, slave, Black Panther, or MLK, then it’s “woke”

if an asian isn’t the main star in a martial arts film or Shang-Chi, then it’s “pandering”

the Dora Milaje in Black Panther is “woke” because all the warriors are female and now Hollywood is pushing “girl power”…them using Tenoch Huerta to play Namor and going in a Mayan direction was a big deal too

blackface will even get defended

and it’s not just in Hollywood either…hell, I see it in anime…

dude with blond hair and blue eyes looking whiter than bed sheets talking about my name is Serizawa Hoshijoki…bro stop, your name is Ryan Smith

 

Exactly.

Everyone is going to completely miss his point and focus on the "blackface" crap.

eta: now I'm remembering Al Pacino (not a Jew) playing Shylock in Merchant of Venice and totally overacting just like you'd expect him to.

 

Those are your workarounds right there, that's basically a Nora Ephron script with a bisexual best friend, like Anna Paquin, Aubrey Plaza, Megan Fox

ain't gonna be no Sounder reboot

 

In other news, an area nonagenarian told local school children to get off his lawn. Film at 11.

Clearly, this is what the world is missing more of:



Back then they did it for the same reason they do it today - they didnt want to offend people. I would rather live in a world where people are offended by seeing blackface on screen instead of being offended at seeing black people on screen.

If Richard Dreyfuss wants to finance his blackface epic universe out of his own pocket for artistic reasons, he's totally welcome to do so. Ultimately, people will advise against it, but nobody can stop him if he's really determined. He shouldnt be surprised when his reputation is ruined and he loses his shirt because nobody wants to dedicate their money and time to being offended, but he can put out whatever art he wants, if he's willing to put his money where his mouth is.

Also, would be hilarious to see the reaction change if he was talking about actors swapping gender instead of race.

I mean ultimately, you can get Boban to play the lead roll in your epic Vern Troyer biopic, but it makes much more sense to get someone appropriately Vern-Troyer-sized, if that person is available, in spite of what some people think of small people:

 

Only part of your post I disagree with.

LOTS of people do exactly this, it's a ****ing cottage industry.

Also, now I want to rewatch Under the Rainbow and Time Bandits.

 

Hollywood is very progressive. They don't need these type of rules.

 

Dreyfuss suggested movies should remain focused on the reality of the story instead of manipulating it to meet a standard of who’s in it.

“I once worked for a guy who was making a film about the gangsters of the thirties,” Dreyfuss recalled. “I said, ‘Why did you change this incident and that incident from the reality? Because the reality was so much more interesting than what you created. And by changing it you made it simple and smaller.”
​

Are films focused on reality or peddling fantasy? A bit of cherry picking by Dreyfus right there.

It was only recently that there was an unofficial rule about there being only one marquee black star in blockbusters. There were all sorts of dirty casting rules such as women being cut off certain age, Asian woman playing exotic prize, Asian or Indian man playing engineer/doctor or being socially inept comic relief, black people fitting certain "molds".

So it's rich when Dreyfus complains the age old cliche about "letting the best be chosen", except with the casting rules of old only random white guys could get the juiciest bits written for them "to grow and expand as auteurs" or a youngish "it girl" with a drastically shorter shelf life.

He lets the unspoken part of the industry carry water while he complains about unfair mandates.

Maybe in his defense of "expressing art", he only wants an art that he enormously benefitted previously.

I'm sick of lazy "checkbox" casting as the next person...the LGBT with no personality or depth other than being LGBT, the interracial couple that's often drama free and incredibly boring, or some handicapped character not adding to the drama but rather "thriving" despite their handi-ness. All contrived, all aspirational junk.

Still it's more of a problem with the writers, the lack of emotional depth they have, and the audience/industry that tolerates it. Being forced to write more interesting minority roles is still a challenge and maybe when that changes we can readress white people taking them.

Still far from it as these rules is pretty much a token system that's still slanted towards traditional white talent. But for Best Picture, you assume the writer and director is up for the task...

 

It's privilege. He simply can't comprehend that white male actors during his era had a automatic advantage because of the entire concept of "networking" which is essentially "knowing the right people". White males especially during his era always had this ingrained advantage. Only in hindsight do these old men want to paint a narrative that it's all merit based and that only naturally through merit based selection that it was only white people selected to roles and that was the reason not because of the "old boys club" of frat style networking.

 

I can see his point and fear some great stories won't see the light of day now or won't get the recognition they deserve because of these changes. But on the flip side, some great stories will now be told because of these changes.

At the end of the day, the Academy is ultimately an industry group and they must, or should, ultimately answer to their members.

ACADEMY ESTABLISHES REPRESENTATION AND INCLUSION STANDARDS FOR OSCARS® ELIGIBILITY

 

Great stories are told. They're called indie movies. There's no better time than now to film a quality low budget movie.

The play for these complaints is where the money goes and what the "establishment" recognizes...which then funnels more viewer money and recognition.

 

Good for him
@Salvy
@rocketsjudoka
@ROXRAN
@J.R.
@Xerobull

I’m sure that woke Disney was going to make a remake of Jaws using an Orca or a tuna cause the WHITE Shark is not diverse enough

 

@JayGoogle
@Xerobull
He’s right

we don’t need another White Man can’t jump remake with Latinos and Pakistanis

it’s the same stupid story woke Hollywood can’t write anything
Fire those writers and let AI write

 

While I fully agree the motion picture industry was long engaged in miscasting of non white characters with actors and systemistically shut out actual actors who racially fit their roles or forced them to play humiliating roles.

This is one of my favorites:

And this movie was priased for its portrayal of rural China. Luise Rainer (who is German) won a best Actress award for her portrayal of the a Chinese peasant.

Another thing I find funny about the current paranoia about Drag was that for most of the history of theater the roles of wmen were played by men going back to ancient Greece. In that case it was because seeing an actual woman stage was considered offensive. It was a big part of the plot of Shakespeare in Love.

I still think Dreyfus has a point. Art should be appreciated primarily for art and not whether it meets current sensitivities. The Triumph of the Will and Olympiand are great movies that influenced many filmmakers even though they were made by and were in praise of Nazi Germany. Gone with the Wind is a great movie even though it is offensive to current standards. More recently Blazing Saddles, M*A*S*H, Tropic Thunder are all controversial movies that offended many. It's doubtful in 2023 that any of those movies could be made now.

It's good that Hollywood is making more diverse movies and casting actual people of their race. I love as an Asian that Michelle Yeoh, Key Huy Quan, and James Hong got recognition for Everything Eyerywhere All at Once. Especially since Asian Actors like James Hong were actually shut of of roles in movies like The Good Earth. That doesn't mean that great art that isn't diverse or pleasing to current social mores can't be made. If the standard of what makes great movies is how much it meets our social mores then that is just the flip side of The Good Earth, that it could only be made and get praised because it's casting didn't offend the social mores of then.