Hollywood: Why are Black U.K. Actors Portraying Iconic Historical American Figures
When Black American Actors are Being Overlooked?
I had always assumed that I wouldn’t be that person who made a big deal out of racial equality but this isn’t about race, it’s about American exceptionalism. Let me explain. Are you familiar with the actor, Daniel Kaluuya? You may remember him from the Jordan Peele movie, Get Out, He also was in the film, Judas & The Black Messiah. In that, he portrayed activist and deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party, Fred Hampton. What about the actress, Cynthia Erivo? In two of her film works, she portrayed Harriet Tubman and Aretha Franklin. Chiwetel Ejiofor portrayed Huey Lucas, the brother of gangster Frank Lucas, in the film, American Gangster. David Oyelowo has been acting for a while now. You may recall him portraying Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. in the film, Selma. He also will be portraying the legendary lawman, Bass Reeves, who was the race-swapped inspiration to the old TV series, The Lone Ranger. which premiered first as a radio show in 1933 in Detroit, Michigan, and later as a TV series on NBC that ran from 1949 to 1957
What makes these actors unique is that all of them are from the United Kingdom. I do not know what they did to earn the role or what politics was used to secure the part, either way, they got the role. The only question that I have is, wasn’t there any black American actor or actress in this entire country that could be found to play these parts? I originally had asked that question first after Cynthia Erivo was cast to play Harriet Tubman. She’s British. Why was she portraying this iconic American figure? The American actress, the late Cecily Tyson portrayed her so effectively that she became the benchmark and set the standard for those who would follow and mirror her performance. Erivo’s casting did not go as smoothly as she had wished because of a controversy she made at the expense of American blacks. Needless to say, many questioned why no actress from descendants from American slavery had been cast? I refused to watch her rendition of Harriet Tubman.
And that brings us back to Mr. David Oyelowo. He’s portraying Bass Reeves in an upcoming film. Aside from him being British, he’s also a producer on the production of this film. He took it upon himself to cast himself as Bass Reeves. Number one, he’s too old for the part or he just looks too old and number two, he doesn’t look black American. They should have cast younger. I don’t think they have it in their budget to de-age Oyelowo as they did to Luke Skywalker in The Mandalorian as it would look strange and for him to do an American accent is just disingenuous to the role. There is something inheritably unique about being a black American. Underneath those layers of skin, you will find angst mixed in with bravado, heart, and bravery that battles the fear and anxiety and solation wrapped around truth and misunderstanding where we fight to be a part of something greater than the history that taught us that there are no handouts to what you want.
If I were casting this role, I would have selected an American actor, Clifton Duncan.
He’s a working actor and doesn’t get the recognition he deserves and maybe that is because he doesn’t check all of the boxes necessary to play in the social milieu. I’m starting to see more and more of how these British actors are portraying Americans, regardless of the skin tone, that they are becoming caricatures of a prototype (long haul trucker with a southern accent, New York woman with a thick New Jersey accent). As the networks and studios keep cranking out content, you’ll find the American-based content involving actors is lined with foreign actors.
I have no problem with that as long as it’s fictional. When it comes to foreign actors playing American roles, you may be surprised that the following actors are not American and yet they get the lion’s share of these roles: Delroy Lindo, a U.K, has been playing American for a very long time; Damien Lewis has been playing American for such a long time that whenever he speaks in his natural accent, you’d think he was putting on an act. Karl Urban, the lead actor in The Boys TV series on Amazon, is not American but from New Zealand. Archie Panjabi is not from New York as she portrayed in The Good Wife but is from the U.K. Alfred Molina, Doc Ock from Spiderman is from London as is Andrew Garfield. Lennie James, the guy from The Walking Dead is a Londoner and it goes on and on and on.
The same can’t be said about black American actors playing foreign parts in whatever foreign country happens up an acting role unless the part is an American part. I do not know if black American actors are aware of this or have not connected two and two together? But when it comes specifically to black foreigners taking on historic iconic American roles, the black American actors have been losing out and I don’t know why? White American actors have no problem playing foreign parts. Meryl Streep infamously portrayed the U.K. Prime Minister, Margaret Thatcher which she won an Oscar in 2012 for her efforts. When she was cast for the part, many in England raised the question of why wasn’t a British actress cast for the role instead of an American?
Jennifer Hudson did portray Aretha Franklin that came after the Cynthia Erivo performance. I saw it as a hollow consolation prize as Aretha Franklin did sign off on her portraying her but the script was not so stellar and it felt more like an afterthought from the first Aretha film.
America has a wealth of historic black American figures. The U.K. not so much. You can understand why black actors from the U.K. clamor for these roles of iconic figures. Crispus Attucks fought in the American Revolutionary war and was the first person killed in the Boston Massacre. Madame C.J. Walker pioneered hair care for black women and became an entrepreneur in the process. Frederick Douglas escaped slavery to become a statesman, abolitionist, and writer. George Washington Carver was an agricultural scientist who discovered and created more uses for the peanut.
I’m not familiar with the contributions of blacks in the U.K. I do not know if there was anyone who may have fought for a cause and created something or guided a movement in the making of the U.K. At least with America, we have the recorded and told history as well as the untold stories of so many who walked this land in those monumental moments. You can not just act American, you have to eat, sleep, breathe, and be American. Maybe I should write a script on the life of George Washington Carver and have Clifton Duncan play the part. Who knows or maybe Crispus Attucks?
