Casting Shadow in HBO's "American Gods".
Okay, two articles about the casting for HBO's upcoming adaptation of Neil Gaiman's American Gods before I leave for the airport (going to Thailand for 6 days):
Racialicious on the opportunity presented and also the potential for race-fail:
The main character of American Gods is Shadow, a wandering ex-convict who finds himself in a battle of mythology - the older Gods of folklore, brought to America by waves of immigration and kept alive by their devotees are set to face off against the newer Gods like the internet and the media. But what is most compelling to me isn’t just the story line - it’s that once again, Gaiman has been explicit about which of his characters are nonwhite by design. Gaiman, writing on the WELL message boards, explains his thoughts around Shadow:
[I]n my head at least he’s one of those people whose race doesn’t read easily - in the celebrity world, Vin Deisel’s an example of the same kind of look. But it seemed appropriate in a book about America that the hero was of mixed race.
Salon.com links to a chart that shows the cast recycling at HBO. It's nice to see The Wire cast featured so prominently; as one of the few dramas on television in recent years with an overwhelming non-white cast, I think you could look to no better show for casting inspiration.
Remember that Neil Gaiman is going to be a writer and executive producer on this show, so presumably that gives him quite a bit of influence over casting - even more, perhaps, than George R. R. Martin had over the casting of Game of Thrones - so it would be good to see him put his foot down and insist on a cast that accurately reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of contemporary America, most especially for the part of the lead role.
This entry was originally posted at http://the-grynne.dreamwidth.org/938966.html and has
comments.
Racialicious on the opportunity presented and also the potential for race-fail:
The main character of American Gods is Shadow, a wandering ex-convict who finds himself in a battle of mythology - the older Gods of folklore, brought to America by waves of immigration and kept alive by their devotees are set to face off against the newer Gods like the internet and the media. But what is most compelling to me isn’t just the story line - it’s that once again, Gaiman has been explicit about which of his characters are nonwhite by design. Gaiman, writing on the WELL message boards, explains his thoughts around Shadow:
[I]n my head at least he’s one of those people whose race doesn’t read easily - in the celebrity world, Vin Deisel’s an example of the same kind of look. But it seemed appropriate in a book about America that the hero was of mixed race.
Salon.com links to a chart that shows the cast recycling at HBO. It's nice to see The Wire cast featured so prominently; as one of the few dramas on television in recent years with an overwhelming non-white cast, I think you could look to no better show for casting inspiration.
Remember that Neil Gaiman is going to be a writer and executive producer on this show, so presumably that gives him quite a bit of influence over casting - even more, perhaps, than George R. R. Martin had over the casting of Game of Thrones - so it would be good to see him put his foot down and insist on a cast that accurately reflects the racial and ethnic diversity of contemporary America, most especially for the part of the lead role.
This entry was originally posted at http://the-grynne.dreamwidth.org/938966.html and has
comments.