Saturday, June 1, 2013

Casting Lord of the Rings, the gender swap and POC version

A week or two ago, I posted Annis' "PicSpammy Casting the Lord of the Rings, the genderswap version" on my Facebook page, after someone I follow on Twitter posted it with the comment that seeing all the women cast in men's roles and vice versa really re-emphasizes how few women roles there are in Tolkien's book and Jackson's movie.

It's true. It does. And it is both interesting and frustrating to note Annis' choices. Because all of the women and men she chose for her gender-swapping version are, like the movie and book, very white. I commented on that in my Facebook posting, and writer-editor Kay Holt soon responded: "Might be fun to put together an all-POC version of this. (Keep the gender-swap, though. It's 100% better this way.)"

So, I did. Here goes — in the same order as Annis' PicSpammy, and retaining its strange omission of Bilbo, my gender-swapped, POC version:

Now, I expect you all to comment (what's the fun of this otherwise?) and signal boost it if you like it. 

Updated to correct the PicSpammy/Annis conflation I fell into originally. 





16 comments:

  1. This is fantastic! Whenever I see things like this I'm sad that they're not canon. But then I'm encouraged to share stories that do feature women and people of color until castings like this aren't exceptional.

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    1. Maybe if we encourage people of color to become casting agents? (I don't know how that whole Hollywood movie thing works ...). The other thing that became clear to me in pouring through all the photos to cast Saruman (I knew without having to look that Maya Angelou was going to be Gandalf) is that there are a decent number of 70+ working men actors, but few 70+ women actors (and then mostly white). *Sigh*

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  2. Thank you so much for doing this! It looks great - I totally want to see this movie. Or three of them. Maybe more!

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    1. Oh, you're quite welcome! It was lots of fun, although a bit obsession-inducing. I spent one whole commute into work (an hour I usually devote to writing) thinking about who could play Boromir - my most difficult casting choice for some reason.

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  3. *fans self* This is unbelievably perfect.

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  4. This entire recast is magnificent, start to finish. Oh, the money I would pay to see this version made real! Hell, I'd pay to see a reel of key scenes from this version.

    Maya Angelou as Gandalf knocks me right out. Can you just--?! I'm never going to watch it again without imagining her Gandalf in parallel. And I *like* Ian McKellen in the role! So now my brain will forever occupy two thinkspaces where That Great Wizard is concerned. I'm pretty grateful for that.

    Rachel Ticotin makes me identify with Gimli in ways I never did before. Really amplifies the character for me. What a heart...

    Sonia Braga as Denethor? Yes, definitely. Woah.

    All that, and I second the *fans self*.

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    1. Glad you liked it!

      Yeah, Maya Angelou is the perfect Gandalf. I dithered about other choices, but never her. And I like Ian McKellen, too, but. My God, Angelou's voice, her bearing, the wisdom of both body and spirit she absolutely embodies....

      I really like Rachel Ticotin, and she restores some of Gimli's dignity, which Jackson's take (or maybe Rhys-Davies' portrayal) sucked out of the character. Don't know why she's so underutilized as an actor - she's always been spot-on in every film I've seen her in. But it really speaks to how terrible we are at wanting to cast women who age naturally, and how few roles there are for them. Maybe you should try to sell some movie folks on turning some of the pieces in Winter Well into films?

      And Sonia Braga - well, what can I say? Tall, dark, gorgeous. But mostly so self-possessed - which is what makes her so damn sexy.

      :D

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  5. Oh! Oh! OH! Michelle Yeoh would be MAGNIFICENT as Theoden. And Angela Bassett would COMPLETELY redeem the role of Aragorn from Jackson's grungy young white man pop-ridiculous fanon version.

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  7. I would be perfectly content with a one-woman show with Shohreh Agadashloo playing all the roles (she's one of my favorite actresses today).

    Danai Gurira is not allowed to be recast; as the supreme slayer, she MUST fight zombies forever

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    1. She's fantastic, but not so sure Shohreh would do the hobbits justice.

      And Danai is one of the best things about Walking Dead, but did you ever see The Visitor? She was terrific in that too - and not even remotely a zombie killer. ;)

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  8. I did see The Visitor - loved it (and loved her sidewalk boutique) - but I still like her with a machete after zombies LOL (although she *was* much much prettier in The Visitor).

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  9. Very cool! I would absolutely pay to see that movie. I also like that you chose many actors that aren't so well known.

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  10. Michelle Yeoh looks a bit young for Theoden. But other than that I like your choices.

    Have you ever read "There and Back Again: By Max Merriwell" by Pat Murphy? It's a gender switched Sci-Fi version of "The Hobbit".

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