In this time of ‘change’ that we find ourselves living in, has Hollywood stepped up to the plate to show the true diversity of the world? As an industry Hollywood green lights projects based on formulas, you take one A list male lead and one A list female love interest and you have a great chance of bringing in some cash.
The problem occurs when casting must decide the race/ethnicity of those lead characters. Which skin color brings back the best return on investment for a studio? Should you cast an actual Iraqi in The Prince of Persia or do you have Jake Gyllenhaal play the part.
It turns out the only color Hollywood is interested in is ‘green’ and in order to maximize the amount of green a film brings in, execs choose to whitewash scripts.
ForaTv tackle this issue of race and film funding in the clip above:
Muslim-American writer Wajahat Ali discusses the uphill battle minority filmmakers often face when funding projects through Hollywood studios. As an example, Ali relates one producer’s unintentionally funny casting suggestion for the role of a Pakistani father in a film adaptation of his play, “The Domestic Crusaders.”-ForaTv
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