Eddie Red-maybe

[birdsofshore]

So, what do we think about Eddie Redmayne apparently being confirmed in the role of Newt Scamander in the Fantastic Beasts film?



If you're not sure who he is, he's a British actor who recently won a lot of awards for his role as Stephen Hawking in The Theory of Everything.

Personally, I think I'm fairly happy about it.

[Poll #2011357][Poll #2011357]

Is there a different actor you hoped would star in the film? Let me know all of your thoughts in the comments, please!

Comments

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Sigh. I don't know anything about him aside from general musings about him as a Cumberbatch-esque sort of figure - award-winning, feted, celebrated, attractive in a mildly quirky sort of way, and incredibly privileged (as in, same Eton class as Prince William and on to Cambridge type privileged). I don't doubt that he's smart or a good actor or that he'll be fine in the role, so my disappointment isn't really down to him. But in JKR's Pottermore writing about the Quidditch World Cup she described Rolf Scamander as "swarthy," leading to much hopeful speculation on tumblr that Rolf's swarthiness might suggest that Newt, too, was dark-skinned and that FBAWTFT might be a story in the HP verse with a leading man of color at its center. Which would've made sense and been absolutely fascinating in a story set in NYC in the 1920s. Eddie Redmayne is...well, obviously not going to fit that bill, and is sort of the epitome of not fitting that bill. In a movie that's just about bound to do well at the box office, and in a franchise that's had considerable star-making power, and with a script-writer/canon creator who already described member of this family as "swarthy" it's a bit of a bummer to see them ignore the chance to confer all the opportunities being part of this movie would bring on someone like Eddie Redmayne, instead of using it as a chance to help establish an up-and-coming non-white actor. That's got far more to do with my politics than with Eddie Redmayne who, I'm sure, will be fine. But the choice itself has me disappointed.

[birdsofshore]

Gosh, yes, he's awfully white and awfully posh. It would indeed have been awesome to have a POC in the leading role. I hadn't picked that up about Rolf... is it me, or is 'swarthy' a fairly icky way to describe somebody who's black? I would have probably assumed she meant he was tanned and leathery from being out in the sun all day doing his zoology thing.

Anyway, I'm sorry you're disappointed, and I can quite see why.

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Definitely agree that swarthy is a non-ideal descriptor (to say the least) but do understand why people have grabbed on. Outside of tumblr speculation I tend to associate it more with Mediterranean people than black people, but also would've been happy/intrigued to see an actor who complicates whiteness, particularly in a time and place where there was a massive, massive amount of immigration happening. But...nope. And therefore: sigh.

[birdsofshore]

Oh, I do like that phrase, 'complicates whiteness'. Let's hope the rest of the cast might bring something more complicated to the table.

[nevrafire.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure if I'm remember correctly, but wasn't Rita Skeeter the one 'writing' the reports that mentioned Rolf?

because if so, it makes perfect 'character' sense for Rita Skeeter, Horrible Cow that she is, to use an offensive word to describe someone who is not white.

[snowgall]

I think this is a great point. It would have been awesome to have a POC main character in an HP film. This is true even though, as birds said, 'swarthy' is not really a positive descriptor, and not one I would use for a black person.

This is off topic, but I always think of 'swarthy' as the perfect description of all the men on my mother's side of the family. They're 'white', but 'ethnic' looking. My cousins and uncles all have dark olive skin and heavy 5-o'clock shadows by noon (think 'Brad Garrett' from Everybody Loves Raymond and you'll be pretty close). My grandpa looked almost *exactly* like Fred Flintstone. So mom's side of the family is very definitely on the dark end of 'white'. My dad is from scots-Irish stock, however, and I inherited my lily-white skin from him. So not swarthy. But one of my sisters takes after my mom and has darker skin and hair than me. Genetics is weird.

[birdsofshore]

Gosh, this is not really a proper reply to your comment, but I love that Fred Flintstone look where a man really has a distinct dark patch on their jaw like a cartoon!

*gets lost in thoughts of stubble kink*

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Yeah, totally agree about the descriptor and its connotations. I would've assumed Mediterranean before black from "swarthy," but would've been still been more okay with that, and would find that more interesting in the context - 1920s NYC, loads of immigration happening - than a posh white British guy. And could've seen it as a really interesting way to go, even, because, as you rightly point out, "white" is a much more complicated category than white or not white, and in that time and place "swarthy" didn't really count as white. So many interesting things to explore! Or, in this case...not.

[nevrafire.livejournal.com]

I've heard a rumor that they're going to Cast Newt's wife.
So if Newt is Not the POC one, she's bound to be. :)

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

Hopefully! If only I had that much faith in major studio casting. I think it's totally possible, since Newt is Rolf's grandfather, that they would attribute any non-whiteness or complicated whiteness to a parent who's never seen on screen and/or his other set of grandparents or, even more likely, to ignore it altogether (or if asked, say that he was just tan). But that would be nice!!

[nevrafire.livejournal.com]

I personally have faith that we will get Porpentina And her being POC (Or Someone in the Scamander family being POC)

because A. JKR described part of the scamander lineage as such- and if she was able to reinforce that Blaise Zabini be cast as Black and Not white-italian as the fandom believed him to be- surely she can vouch for POC-scamander-related member

2. The Whole 'Fantastic Beasts' Movie trilogy? Wouldn't have happened At All, without JKR blessing. JKR allowed WB to develop it into movies on the conditions that A. She wrote the script & is made Executive producer (so she has a Stronger influence on movie/Casting that she did in the previous HP movies)

so I'm not worried at all.

[dicta-contrion.livejournal.com]

I certainly hope you're right! I just am also remembering that time Lavender Brown was played by a black actress for the first five HP movies and then was replaced with a white actress once she became a love interest for Ron and got a proper speaking role. (see here) Presumably JKR knew all along that Lavender was white, but either wasn't actually very involved in casting or didn't see any problem with that turn of events, which was a weird one. I suppose if I felt like JKR was really aware of representation and determined to stand by it, I'd share your optimism. But, sadly, not that convinced. So, fingers crossed, but limited optimism on my part.