This is, without hyperbole, one of the most overpoweringly STUPID things Ive ever read thats been published by a legitimate publication. First of all, blacking up is not the same thing as cripping up. To even think that those things are in the same Universe belittles the cultural indignity that came from blackface in the first place. Secondly, it would simply be impossible for an actor with ALS to portray someone like Stephen Hawking BEFORE he was diagnosed. ALS is a PROGRESSIVE disease with numerous stages. Theres no reversal so you wouldnt be able to tell a story like that. Thirdly; For many disabled people in the audience, this is watching another person fake their identity. - Isnt that what ACTING is all about!? Im a fat guy, but I didnt get upset at Timothy Spall wearing a fat-suit to portray the Fattest Man in Britain in the TV movie of the same name in 2009, because hes a terrific actor who played the part well (including ditching the fat-suit at the end to show the weight-loss). Fourthly, you tout The Theory of Everything as your big recent example, but you spend quite a bit of time talking about how Hollywood is a business and that they cast big-name actors to make money. Eddie Redmayne is NOT a big-name actor and he does not sell tickets in the same way Johnny Depp and/or Will Smith used to. Finally, there is a massive difference between Christian Bale playing the non-white Moses in Exodus: Gods and Kings (in which the controversy was justly deserved) and Eddie Redmaybe or Daniel Day Lewis having the skill and the commitment to portray the full, long-term effects of a disability on screen. Frances Ryan (on Twitter at @frances__ryan if you want to tell her how incredibly misinformed she is), this is incredibly stupid and you are incredibly stupid for thinking this. I wish I had a better word for this, but there really isnt one. This is stupid. Very very stupid.
Posted on: Tue, 13 Jan 2015 16:44:02 +0000
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