Deadline reports tonight that actor Charles Dutton (Alien 3, Crocodile Dundee II) has been cast in the role of Captain Cross in the Powers pilot for FX. The adaptation of the long-running comic by Brian Michael Bendis and Michael Avon Oeming is aiming for a slot this Fall.
You may recall our own Ron Richards envisioned Law & Order: SVU star Christopher Meloni in the role. They went a different way.
Now, who’s our new Captain Cross going to be bossing around? Only time will tell.
Roc!
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Probably the first time in a long time I’ve seen Crocodile Dundee written on an actors resume (other than Paul Hogan)
I look forward to hearing from those people who complained about Heimdall being played by a black man to complaint about this too.
I really liked ROC back in the day.
What I want to see
Is the black character played by the white actor.
Why not- debate?
I agree with @ericmci. And I AM a black guy
just saying – What I want is more original characters of all types rather than
repurposing established characters.
I mean sometime it’s a cool elseworld’s take and it works.
But it’s important not to short cut the issue.
– I think.
Whoa! No disrespect, but I though Dutton died years ago. Glad I’m wrong.
Wow, with a mega superstar like that this show will be HUGE!
That should work.
@ericmci If there’s an intrinsic aspect of the character’s personality that is defined by his whiteness (besides physically) then it probably does. If not, then it doesn’t matter at all and you should cast the best actor for the job.
So important to go for the right actor every time.
I remember the argument the other way when D B Sweeny was cast as Spawn’s best friend, people were really annoyed about that, about them ‘whitening’ the comic cast for the movie, they were looked on more kindly than the ‘racists’ who thought Heimdal should be white, but that’s how it is.
Little did we know at the time that Spawn had bigger problems, bigger even than D B Sweeny…
It is an interesting argument, race is seen as such a big part of one’s existence, personality, social experience, etc. that surely it changes a character. I’m sure this ‘colour-blind’ casting will continue for smaller roles, but only in this direction, white to black, (no network is going to risk the wrath of going the other way).
I doubt we’ll see it in major characters, though, perhaps because most of these iconic characters are over 50 years old, and the circumstances of their origins and major character traits are tied to that era.
The media always throws out the “Will Smith for” whichever character story, in some odd attempt to make movie companies seem racist. But whom could he really play out of the parts he’s supposedly been up for? Jame Bond? Now, whilst I am totally in favour of a Will-Smith-Super-Spy movie, 007 is such a dinosaur of a character that his callousness and chauvanism, two traits that totally make him work, would be read completely differently in a black character, stereotypical faux images that black actors have been working against since before Blaxploitation, would mean that those traits would be modified or removed making a character that is suitable for Will Smith to play, but is no longer James Bond.
How about Captain America? Well, this is the opposite, Mr Smith’s agent would be only too pleased for his client to play the embodiment of the American Way, but here its the period that works against him, any Cap origin movie would have to happen during WWII, and now the whole movie is about a black man being Cap, too huge an issue at that time to realistically ignore. Again, the changes necessary to make this work stops it being a Captain America film.
Although, I’d have liked to have seen Beyonce as Wonder Woman… although that might not be totally for unselfish reasons… In that case I don’t know whether it would have been odder to see a black Wonder Woman, or Beyonce with black hair…
I hope Marvel get their act together and bring more of their black characters to the screen, they should, perhaps remember that it was Blade that started this new wave of superhero flicks. I’d love to see a Cloak and Dagger TV show, and a Black Panther movie would be ace. I understand that thes are ‘in development’ as well as a Luke Cage movie, which could also be excellent (personally I’d prefer a 70s set yellow blouse Power Man movie, but I’m getting old, I guess).
I assume that the current delay is due to waiting for The Avengers to hit and settle, its a huge outlay for Marvel/Disney and the reaction is bound to colour where they go next. I hope that they are working on these projects, because of the one true reason every fanboy wants a comic book movie to be made – it’d be cool.
@Captyn too much
A good actor had been cast. End of story.
I am not talking about race as identity I am talking about studios offering to retcon the race of supporting characters as a consolation prize.
And yes that is something I think we should all be thinking about- nice on the surface but only b/c it generates a little buzz and at the end of the day noone cares if kingpin is black white or purple. Or if one of the Norse gods is Asian.
Just saying- maybe it’s a step in the right direction but maybe it isn’t so “color blind” as it seems.
But it is not creating a new black Indiana Jones or Latino Superman naturally.
And elijah- if it really were the end of the story by simple casting a good actor how about we nominate Gerard Butler to play Luke Cage?
@ericmci It’s not just about casting a good actor. Like what was previously mentioned, unless a character is tied by their race or ethnic background, than it doesn’t really matter who you cast. Casting Luke Cage as a white guy would be absurd(and offensive) because Luke Cage is a character whose background and culture is a big aspect of him. However, a character like say, I don’t know most white superheroes, could easily be a different ethnicity.
The reason why people get riled up when characters that aren’t white are played by white people in adaptations is because white characters are a MAJORITY of characters in most things. It also takes a job away from a minority actor/actress who doesn’t have as many job options as their white cohorts.
I do agree with your point that it unfortunately is very much like a consolation prize to make a relatively minor character a minority(we will never see a black Batman adaptation for example). I would like to see original characters that are minorities make in to the A-list. Say what you will about Bendis, but he made Luke Cage an A-lister with a very unique personality.
The only reason I pose the Luke Cage casting question IS to highlight what is being done with the consolatin casting.
We hear it’s just about casting a good actor- and I don’t think that’s the entirety of motivation here.
But that being said- further debate
Why is ok to substitute say- SPider-Man’s cultural heritage white as it may be with and african american for example-
Why is say Peter Parker’s heritage as a english/irish working class american family less valuable than a minority character.
And yeah I completely agree that taking away a minority character’s part with a caucasin actor is robbing that character and an actor of job(in movies)
Bottom line here?
Stay true to the character. If the character was created with a certain ehtinicity that is that character.
Don’t throw a race a bone by changing it, create new strong interesting roles that make sense period.
Anything else is murky and maybe insincere at best.
(of course there are always exceptions)
Man, I forgot all about Roc.
Of course this is all part of my master plan for Mexican Daredevil, where his dad is a Luchador who takes a dive.
Loved him in Rudy, I think he will do a great job here too.
@ericmci
You can’t compair a leading character like Spider-man or Luke Cage to a supporting character like Captin Cross. There’s nothing about the personality of Captin Cross is directly connected to his race so it really doesn’t matter weather he’s black, white or asian. Charls S Dutton fits every other aspect of the character description.
Plus none of us know what the casting process for this show is like. For all we know it came down to a white actor who wasn’t as good in his audition vs Charls S Dutton who nail the audition but was black. And after Idris Elba completely killed it with his performace as Heimdall in Thor why are we still even having conversations like this? As long as the cast the best actor avaible then no one should have a problem.
I think part of the reason we still have this conversation is because “cast the best actor available” is a one way street. People like to say that when an actor of color is cast as a white character, but if a white actor is cast as a character of color…? That said, stories are still very often written with only white characters, so casting black/asian/latino actors in those roles is a good thing, whereas casting white folks in roles written for black/asian/latino actors is just continuing an unfortunate tradition.
They cast john ralston as ming the merciless in the flash gordon show that came out a few years back, a role that’s traditionally been asian. that’s probably not a good example though, in name only and all that.