Gone are the days where brown skinned actors are typecasted to play the thick accented T-Mobile kid. These days, if you are brown, Hollywood is looking for you to play the role of a terrorist. United 93, the movie about the plane that crashed in Pennsylvania on 9/11, hits the big screens today and The LA Times did a great article on the men that play the terrorists.
As filmmakers tell a number of stories about Sept. 11 and other attacks both real and fictionalized — a rapidly growing list that includes “Munich,” “Syriana,” “Paradise Now” and Friday’s “United 93” — there’s increased demand for young Middle Eastern actors. But directors and their casting agents must convince those actors that their cinematic cause is more noble than that of directors a generation ago, who routinely depicted Arabs as cartoonish, fanatical madmen.
Mazhar Munir from Syriana
When writer-director Stephen Gaghan was casting “Syriana,” his ensemble drama about the political and personal costs of America’s dependence on foreign oil, he struggled to find a young actor of Pakistani descent to play a suicide bomber… “I had found a couple of terrific young actors who simply weren’t allowed by their families to take the part,” Gaghan said. “One young man’s family said he would be cut out of the family” if he accepted the role. He held casting sessions in Los Angeles, New York, Paris, Damascus, Bahrain, Dubai and Karachi without success before he finally found Mazhar Munir in London.[link]
I haven’t watched ‘Syriana’ yet, and personally, have absolutely no desire to watch ‘United 93’- just watching the trailer makes me queasy. I can only imagine the conflict that these actors feel, especially when it comes to starring in a film about the events around 9/11, a day that impacted so many people in so many ways around the world.
[T]he actors say they are thankful to be rid of the clichéd Middle Eastern villains of the late 1980s and early 1990s (in films such as “Delta Force,” “Navy Seals,” “Iron Eagle”), who were far more likely to be bearded, wear kaffiyehs and shout Arabic insults than resemble a real person. It was precisely those clichéd depictions that made Abdalla so nervous about trying out for “United 93.”“The reputation of representing Arabs by Hollywood is a stereotype, and it’s an incredibly hurtful stereotype,” says Abdalla, who was born in Scotland to Egyptian parents… “The idea was to put all of those people on the plane and try as best as we can to tell that story,” Abdalla said of his meeting with the filmmaker. “[United 93] wasn’t to be a film about stereotypes.”
[link]
#1 Mutineer Crush
Though playing a terrorist these days tremors actors with trepidation, the role of playing an Iraqi terrorist ex-Republican Guard soldier Lost on an island was one that Naveen Andrews picked. It has served him well as it has now landed him as one of the World’s Most Beautiful People in 2006.
“I feel a sense of responsibility to the Iraqi community and to the Arab world,” Andrews told us…. “I was concerned that the way Sayid was going to be perceived would not be negative or peripheral in any way. The audience is reaching out to the so-called enemy in a way that the government and the media won’t allow them to do.”[link]
If I thought airport security was too constraining for me, I can’t imagine what it must be like for these actors when they go through security. “I’m sorry, officer. But I’m really not a terrorist, I just play one on T.V.”
Wasn’t there a news story lately about actors who played terrorists being detained at a British airport?
Meanwhile Appu is still alive.
I wonder what Indian have got to do in order to get rid of stereotypes, and have western media make an attempt to go beyond superficial.
Regards
Indian and Arab actors in the west will always have a tough time to find roles other than the stereotypical trash that panders to mainstream society’s prejudices and misconceptions. Although of course there will always be exceptions (Parminder Nagra?)
But it must be tough to be a sensitive and creative individual who wants to be an actor and explore the complexity of human life through the roles written by great literary artists and work with great directors and to have been inspired by Olivier or Brando or Streep, and instead having to spend your entire working life in (metaphorical) black face!
really interesting post, I’ve never really thought about what its like to digest and perform these roles for brown skinned actors.
nitpick (because I just watched the entire first season of Lost in four days): Naveen Andrews plays a former member of the Iraqi Republican Guard in Lost, which, while brutal, doesn’t qualify as a terrorist outfit. Given the current legal arguments going on between non-combatants and soldiers, I think the distinction has to be made.
if you’re brown, stick around.
“without struggle, there is no progress” – F.D. although the quote was meant for civil rights, it can apply to the media too..
I wouldn’t use ‘the West’ there. There are many roles for desi actors in the UK; bobby, detective, chief of police, surgeons, doctors, teachers, drug dealers, lawyers, accountants, market vendors and postmen. Just from the shows I can think of right now. I’ll write more later.
I wouldn’t say that Sayid registers as a “Terrorist” on lost. He’s an ex-Republican Guard soldier, and not at all religious, so he actually registers as something more like “former enemy.” They have had him torture bad people on the show a couple of times, which bothers me — it’s totally playing on racial stereotypes.
Syriana is well worth seeing — more complex than any other film about terrorism and oil I’ve ever seen. A little nutty in some ways, but you have to respect the ambition to have an action movie where four different languages are spoken, phonetically correctly.
Bong Breaker,
Along with the examples you’ve listed, don’t forget “Second Generation” and the Om Puri/Indira Varma gangster-themed episode from “The Canterbury Tales”, which both had desi characters in very non-stereotypical roles indeed.
Amen to that! Inshallah that might even happen sometime in my (or even better, in Woody Allen’s) lifetime.
Syriana is a great movie — if you keep in touch with oil-geopolitics, that is. Otherwise, it might seem way too intricate in the plot. Mazhar Munir is definitely worth watching, though.
Hear! Hear! Definitely worth watching right now since gas prices are causing so much havoc. Interestingly enough, I found Munir’s character very touching. He ended up being a fanatic and while I understand and accept that what he did was wrong, I couldn’t help telling myself that circumstances are what screw people to such lows. His father’s character was particularly poignant.
This is a tough one. Gregory Itzin the guy who plays the rotten Prez on 24 says that he gets so much hate from the average person all the time and has to keep reiterating that he isn’t a bad guy in person. I can only imagine what these guys will go thru over a period of time if they get stereotyped into these roles.
I’m not so convinced that playing a clean cut Arab terrorist is any better.
Huh? The terrorists who carried out 9/11 were Muslims. What does it matter what they look like. That stereotype is enough. Unfortunately this was fact not fiction.
He plays an ex Iraqi Republican guard member not a terrorist. Hated but not necessarily the obvious. At the end of the day I realize it’s a livelihood for these guys but it’s like being stuck between a rock and a hard place.
He’s of Pakistani descent? My brother and I were convinced he was Arab, just from his pronunciation of the words in the movie. The SM picture of him is VERY hot though. Yum.
I forgot to add the televised version of Meera Syal’s novel “Life is Not All Ha Ha Hee Hee.” If any of you guys in the US can maange to find the DVD of this, I’d strongly recommend you check it out. Great stuff, a little racy at times, and the ladies here in particular will enjoy it.
Re: Naveen Andrews on “Lost”
Apart from the torture sequences, he’s portrayed as one of the most decent and brave characters on the show. I thought it was an interesting twist.
hey taz this was a pretty solid post.
good eshtuff yo!
in other news, naveen andrews continues to pimp hoes on the islands of hawaii. dalal bhai naveen.
Amardeep,
I gotta disagree about having Naveen Andrews’ character on Lost do the torturing and that being racially stereotypical. I would argue that they have him do it because they know he’s done it before and knows what to do. Just as the writers have had Ana LucÃa get involved in security issues, it’s because she’s a cop by profession. And I think the portrayals of both of them as being bothered by their actions shows that they’re not just some generic violent brown people, but rather complex, conflicted humans.
I would agree. He is portrayed as sensitive and intelligent and on the “inside” rather then the outside. And it’s a very complex character with a past as are all the other characters.
Ok, ok, Lost fans, it’s fixed…geez….
Merely looking out for you guys- seeing as how most of the mutineers out there find him to be a delicious.
RCK- yes, one of the actors did get prevented from coming to watch the film here; it’s in the LA Times piece.
Re: Naveen Andrews #1 Mutineer Crush.
Ahem Taz, I thought we already had a Crush #1 for the mutiny. What do we want with Hollywood celeb types when we’ve got local talent?
speaking of non-stereotypical roles, has anyone seen this new credit card commercial which shows a ‘behind-the-scenes’ view of some fake action movie? anyways, regardless of the credit card or the director who was plugging the card, one of the “heroes” of the fake film was a Sikh (i think waris ahluwalia, not certain). He just used his regular american joe accent and didn’t do anything outwardly ‘indian.’ Nothing different about his appearance besides the obvious dhari and pagrdi.. With all the complaining of typecasting desi actors/actresses, you have to admit there are small moves toward casting us in everyman roles..
Just one thing though – Naveen Andrews is very good at his gig, but I mean, really, he does not look Iraqi. Iraqi’s are so fair skinned almost Mediterranean Italian/Greek looking. I have never seen a South Indian looking Iraqi. Isnt this another problem? That all brown people are the same? He doesnt look slightly Iraqi. It reminds me of how that Chinese actor played Mowgli in the Disney live action version of The Jungle Book – because, China/India – they’re the same, right?
.
Not only that, but the fact is since “True Lies” (which I’m surprised wasn’t mentioned) the portayal of Arabic terrorists all but disappeared for a while. After “True Lies” in particular, the Arab-American community finally said “enough is enough”. Afterwards, most terrorists were either homegrown (“The Rock”, “Arlington Road”}, of the Russian/Baltic variety (“The Peacemaker”, “Air Force One”, “15 Minutes”), or British… because they have those terrific, bad-ass accents, y’know? Compare those titles to “Munich,” “Syriana,” “Paradise Now”, and “United 93” (which, by many accounts, is supposed to be excellent), and these films don’t even belong in the same multiplex. No, it doesn’t help the cause of anti-typecasting any, but at least these roles are an advance from a decade ago.
“Paradise Now” is a Palestinian film written and directed by Palestinians. I’d expect in that case, the actors didn’t need much convincing from their casting agents that roles weren’t stereotypical.
another guy
Waris Ahluwalia was great in The Life Aquatic – just a regular deep sea diving cameraman and buddy of Bill Murray sardarji, no big deal. Waris is doing good work.
yo, taz, nice one.
beatrice,
yes indeed. the experience of african american actors, screenwriters and directors in hollywood suggests that the old stereotypes die hard in the minds of movie industry executives… and in their estimation of what the general public wants to see. very few black artists have been financed to perform non-demeaning roles, and hollywood rarely portrays african-american life (or indeed, multiracial american life) is ways that are subtle and honest as opposed to reductionist or programmatic.
even now, 20+ years after “she’s gotta have it” (a shoestring independent film) broke to the general public the idea that black folks have relationships that are textured, complex and wry, and that black sex is no more or less beautiful and exciting than white sex, and — shit — 35 years after “sweet sweetback’s badass song,” black actors still get offered hoodlum, pimp, or vixen/ho roles rather than ones that are affirming of black life — or even, to lower the bar a little, that are illustrative of american life as it actually happens.
and after all these years, only a select few actors have been consecrated as legit and acceptable embodiments of actual black life — the denzel washingtons of this world. if you think about it you’ll see the list is incredibly brief. if you’re a young actor coming up, you’ve no choice but to let yourself get pimped in the hope the faustian bargain pays off, or to go indie and claw your way up.
the biggest wedge in this so far has been the (recent) rise of buppie romantic comedies like “brown sugar” and “love jones” which have helped break
hottiesactors like omar epps, mekhi phifer, sanaa lathan. the idea has been that there is enough black purchasing power to support one or two such films each year in major release.the situation is even worse for latinos. let’s see how browns do.
peace
Beatrice,
Ever been to Iraq? Know any arabs? Many are in fact quite dark skinned.
Lots of folks here in the states have the notion that iraqis (or arabs in general) are very fair skinned, sometimes having caucasian features.
Not so. You’ll find a lot of dark skinned iraqis to be honest. The more mediterranean ones are closer to jordan, lebanon and syria. And even there you’ll find a few darkies.
He doesn’t look like the typical arab, but his character really brings it out in him– very nicely at that.
The true test will be if they ever make Sayid say the word “pepsi” or “sprite.” If he pronounces it “bebsi” or “sbrite,” you know that dude’s got his character DOWN.
This was directed by Wes Anderson, who also made “The Royal Tenenbaums”. That film featured Kumar Pallana in a role that skirts towards the stereotypical (as a housekeeper), then manages to avoid it altogether. Sorry to be a grouch, but I’d appreciate the ad more if it weren’t such a Truffaut rip off. (Oh, okay. Maybe it’s an “homage”.)
Aizaz
I have not had the honor of visiting Iraq but I do have Arab friends. But even then, he doesnt look like a darker skinned Arab. He looks identifiably South Indian. Well if his acting is good, it does not matter.
Sidhartha
Yes all that you say is depressing indeed – although it seems in the UK they have a better representation of desis generally than in America.
Wow – now that’s what I call movie buff passion 😉
Hey another guy,
It does seem to be happening. I’m thinking of an ad that was running earlier this year for Ebay (that “It” campaign) where there was an image for about 10 seconds during the ad of a desi guy running to a camera on a tripod to hit the timer for a family portrait, and you could see the family matriarch and his wife and kid(s?) posed and waiting, plus there was a T-mobile ad about teenagers being yelled at by their parents who have just received the family cellular bill in the mail, and each of the angry parents calls out to the kids using the offspring’s first, middle and last names, and in that group there was a WASPy family, a desi family, an Irish family and a hippie family, among others.
I think both of these ads portray desis as one of the various elements of the fabric of “America”. If there were anything negative to say about those 2 ads, I guess you could complain that they both hew closely to model minority image, because in both cases, the families look quite affluent, but hey, I still think it’s progress in terms of visibility.
Speaking of which, everyone should rent ‘Raising Victor Vargas’.
True. Good analysis.
But will the sistas forgive you for leaving Taye Diggs out of that reckoning…
Or Mos Def, for that matter…
An article written a couple of years ago related to this subject:
yumm… taye diggs. mos def. drool… he didn’t leave them out, technically, since both of these guys star in the movie Brown Sugar, a movie I’ve watched too often for my own good.
PMG vs. Naveen to fight for the position of the #1 Mutineer crush. hmmm…
Quick! Which movie?
I watched “Syriana” and I think it was great. The attention to detail about people speaking in their languages is amazing. The portrayal of Mazhar’s character in the movie is touching/disturbing.
thank you taz. i was so blinded by the hotness that i left some folks out. all those brothers are fine. i’m a sanaa guy, personally, and annoyed that all the other fine black women are still getting pushed into ridiculous “deliver us from eva” type roles.
and you will have noticed, of course, that dark-skin black women are still a taboo, whereas deep chocolate brothers have been in vogue, among certain circles, since wesley snipes (whatever happened to him anyway?). but the women have to be caramel or lighter… or half-white like halle berry.
I will say something intelligent later but right now thanks Taz for putting up a picture of that Syriana guy!
well, you sees what you want to see. you do know there are black arabs, dontcha. moot point.
hark – what’s that i hear churning. it’ll probaly pop up as post #193, let’s just cut to the chase.
“oh. these stereotypes are everywhere. i get told all the time. you are Indian! but you dont look indian. and you have no accent. these people are so ignorant. but then i’m the only indian i know who luges in Bunghole AL, has a one eyed pom with a spiked collard, and my gf is a tranny, so i guess i dont fit in their little minds. please click on my link at darkndisturbed.blogspot.com and leave me a hi-five.”, and so it goes.
Dhaavak, you’re funneee…
God, what is with you people? Always objectifying men like that. It makes me sick you sexist sows. The first thing you can do is pass judgment on a man’s looks. I’d never do that. NEVER! And even you Sid…you public menace.
Jai, also grease monkeys – mechanics. Basically anything is the bottom line, hurrah! Um…we’ve also had plenty of desi terrorists too. Hakchally, Radio 4 are just starting a documentary series on Akram Khan, the kathak dancer. That’s not very relevant though is it?
Lastly, I would to like to counter Jai’s endorsement to Life Isn’t All… I dislike Meera Syaal and the nonsensical cud she brings up. But make up your own minds 😉
speaking of objectification … it’s probably the sign of the times that the hawttest woman – maybe it’s just the refined elegance she possesses – i’ve seen in recent times is this hostess on pakistani TV (thanks for the link saheli)… yea, i’m an old greybeard. bring on the nautchgirls.
naveen andrews might look south indian, but he doesn’t not look arab in my opinion because arabs are pretty diverse. the main diff (in my exp.) between arabs and real browns is that an arab with skin as dark as a brown will usually have curlier hair and a high chance of noticeable african admixture. arabs with straight hair like brown people tend to be the whiter ones (e.g., syrians, lebanese). some arab groups, like egyptians, look really distinctive.
anyway, my point is that arabs are really diverse. but hell, so are brown ppl. it isn’t necessarily caving into “all brown people look alike” to acknowledge this flexibility and diversity in casting decisions and not always hold to “true blood” casting.
This might have held water 20 years ago. I see some of the most probing, nuanced roles going to black Americans on network/cable TV. And rightly so. And actually in some ways the pendulum has shifted back – the noble black educating the ignorant white is a stock character. A black colleague of mine was complaining to me about the stereotypes of African Americans on network tv. I told him we must be watching different shows. Every other judge on Law&Order seems to be a black woman…I was half-joking. Everyone of those cop shows/hospital dramas have black people starring as fleshed-out human beings (except ironically on UPN and the WB). It’s gonna be a minute before south asians attain the same level of humanity, in the media anyway. And I fear Opal Mehta set us back at least a generation!
Hey BB, if this were a thread relating to a post with similar depth of content but pertaining to actresses, most of the comments would be pertaining to their looks and rumored sex lives. Instead, you all are having some sort of semiserious discussion about the actual point of the post!
I’m with Razib – you try your best as a casting director but you’re not that fussed about genetics, just looks. Shit like Jason Scott Lee as Mowgli f*cks me right off, but even though casting ethnic Chinese actors as Tibetan in Seven Years in Tibet is an ironic quandry, the pool of Tibetan actors in Hollywood is probably limited. Should you not cast a Sioux as Navajo? Etc etc. I’m fine with Naveen in Lost, I’ve seen a few episodes and he seems like a good choice. I’ve seen desi girls play latinas and personally I’ve been cast as white, Indian and Arab in various second-rate productions.
I get ticked off with desi actors not speaking up about obvious and ignorant inaccuracies. But if I was a jobbing actor in LA only landing parts as cab driver 3 and doctor in background 4 on TV, then a part in a big budget Hollywood thriller came along with a big cheque, as long as I “make scary” and chant Allah hu Akbar as I murder people…I’ll be honest, I’d have to think long and hard. I’d probably take it. Who knows? It’s tough being an actor.
I thought BB was being sarcastic and referring to the previous comment thread on the Sweet 16 thread where the conversation immediately went to the objectification of women. Right?
Yeah, he totally was. I just took the opportunity to point out the difference.