Editor’s Pick
MAY 15, 2012 1:12PM
Why's Rihanna in Battleship instead of a minority *actress*?
I am not the first person to bring this up. Heck, Samuel L. Jackson went on a mini-tirade about this a decade ago, regards to male actors. But in a day-and-age where meaty roles for black actresses are incredibly scarce, especially in big-budget studio films, it has to be a little grating for the many underemployed African American actresses to see one of the bigger female-minority roles in a major summer tent-pole this year going to not a trained thespian, but a media-friendly musician of thus-far unknown acting capabilities. Rihanna (full name: Robyn Rihanna Fenty) may indeed have the chops to convincingly play battle-ready Petty Officer Raikes who helps Taylor Kitsch fend off an alien invasion in Peter Berg's Battleship. But one has to ask why a popular musician with absolutely no acting experience whatsoever got the prime gig ahead of any number of African American actresses who have struggled with the glass ceiling that exists in the industry.
For a list of actresses that could have used the exposure, just check out the roster for any Tyler Perry film. Pundits and critics may scowl, but Perry is the only writer/director who consistently writes meaty dramatic and/or comedic roles for African American actresses, so it's no wonder that the best of them often find themselves on his call-sheet. The likes of Sanna Lathan, Zoe Kravitz, Naturi Naughton, Tika Sumpter, Tessa Thompson, Meagan Good, Monique Coleman, or (my personal pick) Keke Palmer all could have filled the bill. And that's not counting the likes of Thandie Newton, Kerry Washington, or Sharon Leal who have the chops to rise above the seemingly silly source material but would arguably struggle to convincingly play a 20-year old Navy officer. But even Perry has stumbled in this sense from time to time, casting Janet Jackson in three of his projects (she was the weakest actress in both Why Did I Get Married? films as well as the weak link in For Colored Girls), and he is allegedly casting tabloid/reality starlet Kim Kardashian in a small role in The Marriage Counselor. This isn't even a case like Will Smith, who toiled in several low-profile projects (Six Degrees of Separation, Where the Day Takes You) that honed his acting abilities while spending six years on a popular sitcom before being cast in a starring role in Michael Bay's Bad Boys. This is a well-regarded musician (I don't follow music, but people who do assure me she's the real thing) who has been given a plum role in a major action franchise either because someone at Universal thought her popularity could put butts in the seats or because those involved in casting didn't actually know of any other black actresses who might fill the role.
This isn't a problem that only affects actresses of color, but when roles for this specific demographic are so scarce, it only sticks out more when a major opportunity is given not to a trained actress but to a media-friendly musician who seems to be doing just fine in her 'day job'. In fact, when you look at a list of minority actresses who are considered 'stars' or achieved cross-over mainstream success, a weirdly large number of them (Queen Latifah, Jennifer Hudson, Janet Jackson, Beyonce Knowles, Whitney Houston, Jennifer Lopez, etc) either started out as musicians or are primarily known for their musical careers. It's hard enough for any working actor to break out among the thousands of struggling wanna-be stars in Hollywood, harder still for actors who aren't of the white/male demographic. But for females who aren't Caucasian, it seems that it's easier to achieve mainstream movie stardom by winning a Grammy or two before you even try to win an Oscar. For the record, Rihanna is not to blame for this industry-wide pattern, and anyone in her shoes would be foolish to turn down such an opportunity. But I cannot help but wonder if the reason she got the gig is because director Peter Berg (who I'm generally a fan of) couldn't think of any actual black actresses who met the physical criteria for the role and didn't bother to actually look for any. A starring role in a likely worldwide smash like Battleship is the opportunity of a lifetime for any fledgling actress, especially one from a racial minority. It's a shame the role didn't actually go to an actress.
Scott Mendelson
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mad_typist
Siobhan Curious
ikilledhiswife
Kind of Blue
bigguns
David Sirota
Salon.com
Comments
No, I don't have to ask, because the answer is obvious. Rihanna is much better known to potential viewers than all the actresses who appeared in Tyler Perry films whose names you listed.
It's the nature of commercial filmmaking. You could just as easily point out any major movie, and ask why the lead roles are being played by established stars getting $20 million a pop instead of Joe Nobody who is the greatest actor in the world that no one knows about.
Talent has nothing to do with it. As Clint Eatwood says in Unforgiven, "Deserve's got nuthin' to do with it."
dennishopperbook.com
while you're write about Tyler Perry employing real actresses, his success with melodramatic plays is an affront to playwrights like me who struggle to get scripts for legitimate theatre produced. I know his plays are popular, but they'll be forgotten as will his movies in a hundred years. Guess life's just not fair.
I mean were can the movie go? It's another end of the world, civilization on the brink, yada, yada, yada film. Rihanna? Why not any big name will do. Besides she can use the footage in her next video.
re rihanna, her videos have been seen by millions of people, and its a quasi acting, very similar. how about the one she starred in with justin timberlake? another musician who is now doing quite well at the box office, thank you very much. there is a long list of musicians who went into movies with some success. there is probably also a long list of those who didnt-- agree it is a difficult transition. [madonna is possibly on both lists haha]. now that would make an interesting blog.
The movie opened here a few weeks ago, and was decent for what it was. I did like that Rihanna's role didn't involve any T&A - she was treated just like the other men in the movie, and dressed like them, too (unlike many other action movie heroines, whose clothes often seem a lot tighter or lower-cut than their male counterparts'). I thought that was refreshing. But the role itself really didn't require any kind of "acting". There were a few quips exchanged, but it certainly wasn't particularly interesting, and doesn't seem like it would be challenging or stimulating for a real actress to play.
Then again, of course, a job's a job; as a wildly successful musician, Rihanna isn't hurting financially, but many actresses could have really used the role. Thanks for making me think about something in a new way. Bonus points for making me use the verb "think" when talking about "Battleship". :-)
This film isn't The Color Purple. It isn't even Friday the 13th Part 42 - Jason Carves Up Harlem. It's a crappy film based on an even crappier kid's game. And the only reason there are women in the film is the same reason women were always cast in childish adventure films; they give the implication that the men in the film are not gay. Without the women, there would only be the men talking to other men and fighting other men. Women of any color in these films are simply a beard for what is really going on.
For all that, he's no superman. I suspect that, for Rihanna, this was a role that others you complain about not having opportunity would have turned down flat anyway. My question would not have done this path. My question would have been:
What is it about black people that requires our film producers to find the whitest black chicks they can for any serious or major role, irrespective of their chops? I mean, seriously, are there only slightly coffee with cream colored, hazel eyed nearly black women out there? When was the last time you saw a really black woman in a role that wasn't a comedy? Or a TV Series?
And, for balance in point of view, how many football and baseball up and comers struck out or failed to put one through the goal posts in their movie "careers" when they stopped playing sports? Dave Bosworth and Dick Butkus come to mind as does John Matusak (one of the few who "made" it with such deep roles as "Chunk's New Friend" in Goonies.)
We have really black male actors, but hardly any really black women in the first place. This would be my concern; that somehow we're still making African American actors kowtow to a white man's idea of how they should look to have more mass appeal. Subtly bigoted, but hey, you gotta start somewhere, right?
I think I might have taken on a different movie or sets of movies to make my point.
--r--
for the discussion it should generate