Colman Domino : ‘Boardwalk Empire’ Passed On Him For Role Because He Wasn’t Light-Skinned

[hewontgo]

Colman Domingo Says Agent Told Him 'Boardwalk Empire' Passed On Him For Role Because He Wasn't Light-Skinned https://t.co/insX49HjBr
- Deadline Hollywood (@DEADLINE) December 27, 2023
In 2014, following his Tony nomination, Domingo was stuck auditioning for “under-fives,” roles that have fewer than five lines of dialogue

Comments

[altheablue]

This is such ridiculous fucking bullshit I'm enraged. We all know productions pick and choose when to keep "historical accuracy" and when to throw it out of the window - ofc THIS had to be the thing they couldn't ~compromise on. Fuck off

[_kleptomane]

The title makes it seem like there was prejudice or racism at work, when what it’s really about was it being a moment that made him revaluate how he approaches projects. He is an incredible actor, and it’s nice to read he’s well aware of his worth and talent. Rustin was a little glossy, traditional, and its budget showed in a way, but his performance was completely arresting and I’m glad he’s getting recognition for it. I really hope he gets an Oscar nomination for it.

[sandstorm]

It can be both.

[_kleptomane]

To give further context to my comment. My partner works for a special collections music archive library and he was in part, briefly consulted by this show’s producers and creators for some of the music and technicalities involving it at the time. They were super anal about it and wanted incredible accuracy. I can imagine this attention to detail also applied to a bunch of other aspects of the show.

Colorism, racism, prejudice are of course still very much an unfortunate part of the industry and I didn’t mean to imply otherwise by my comment.

[ginainabottle]

After the callback, a historical researcher on the show reminded producers that the maître d’s in those nightclubs were typically light-skinned, and Domingo was not.

Never watched BE, but it's interesting how fictional shows allow all kinds of poetic license, for example, when it comes to women being hairless and dolled up even in dire situations, but when it comes to race it always has to be historically accurate.

[phililen3]

Interesting~~~ 😒😒😒
I'm with ONTD. These fuckers love to pick and chose when to stick to the historical facts. I hate it.

[champagnexdream]

Right? It would be one thing if they were historically accurate about everything (and even still…), but that’s not even close to true

[hiimtish]

Their loss. Boardwalk was one of those shows I was absolutely obsessed with during its run, mainly because the cast was SO good. Maybe with Colman on it would have pushed it over the edge into ‘memorable’ territory.