The Social Network
Yep, the movie The Social Network is already out and in theatres (still?). And although the casting of Max Minghella for the role of Divya Narendra - a real American-born Indian man - was discussed over racebending.com forums (as well as the role Priscilla Chan would play in the movies), there simply wasn't enough information that could support or confirm our suspicions of racebending in the film. We left it open that it was most likely a racebending movie.
Leave it to David Fincher - the Director of the movie - to lay it all out for us with eye-opening clarity:"I love Max Minghella. He came to us, uh, he obviously came to read for another part, and we had read enormous- probably a hundred- Indian actors who came in to read for Divya, and I saw footage of the actual Divya Narendra, who I've met now and he’s kind of like Warren Beatty. There's nothing, aside from being incredibly tan, there's almost nothing that seems particularly ethnic about him... and we couldn't find somebody who had that sort of smoothness. I looked, I looked, I looked. We went to London, we went to, I think, Paris, we went to Montreal. We cast from everywhere. And finally in the end I just felt that Max had the most, kind of... [trails off]. I just wanted to make sure that Divya was an equal. He was the most important third wheel in this triumvirate." - David Fincher.
An excerpt from the DVD commentary. The bolding is mine.
Um. Really?
Leave it to David Fincher - the Director of the movie - to lay it all out for us with eye-opening clarity:"I love Max Minghella. He came to us, uh, he obviously came to read for another part, and we had read enormous- probably a hundred- Indian actors who came in to read for Divya, and I saw footage of the actual Divya Narendra, who I've met now and he’s kind of like Warren Beatty. There's nothing, aside from being incredibly tan, there's almost nothing that seems particularly ethnic about him... and we couldn't find somebody who had that sort of smoothness. I looked, I looked, I looked. We went to London, we went to, I think, Paris, we went to Montreal. We cast from everywhere. And finally in the end I just felt that Max had the most, kind of... [trails off]. I just wanted to make sure that Divya was an equal. He was the most important third wheel in this triumvirate." - David Fincher.
An excerpt from the DVD commentary. The bolding is mine.
Um. Really?