ScarJo In Lynsey Addario Biopic | Warner Bros.

[Blitzkrieg]

Ridley Scott Moving Forward With ‘Gladiator 2’; Peter Craig To Write Script For Paramount

He has several feature projects percolating, including the Scarlett Johansson-starrer drama about photojournalist Lyndsey Addario.

Mohammed bin Salman Wanted to Fund a Film About a Heroic Journalist. Scarlett Johansson Said No.

LYNSEY ADDARIO IS ONE of the world’s great photojournalists, having covered many of the globe’s war zones, from Libya to Palestine. Addario is known for her bravery, and her work has taken her to dangerous places. She was sexually assaulted by pro-Libyan government forces, and forced to remove her clothes and subjected to physical search by the Israeli military.

It’s not surprising that Warner Bros. is currently producing a film based on her memoir, “It’s What I Do.” Ridley Scott, of “Alien” fame, is tapped to direct, and Scarlett Johansson will star.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

So... what non-white race is this character?

 

[Schlosser85]

Italian-American. Yep. Dead-ringer for Scarlett Johansson (sarcasm).

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Seriously?

 

[Aximili86]

Too blonde. I'm callin' Jesse Jackson.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

Yeah I love ScarJo but even without the glaring Italian-American issue, she literally looks NOTHING like Lynsey.

 

[Aximili86]

Does it seriously matter? Jamie Foxx doesn't look a damn thing like Ray Charles either, it worked. Joaquin and Cash.

Mmmmmmmovie magic, baby. Says Austin Powers.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

This was the original plan

Steven Spielberg to direct Jennifer Lawrence in war photographer biopic

Various players pitched for the chance to tell Addario’s story, including George Clooney and Argo producer Grant Heslov; Working Title, with Reese Witherspoon attached to star; Darren Aronofsky with Natalie Portman; and Wolf of Wall Street actor Margot Robbie.

In the end it was the blue-chip combo of Steven Spielberg and Jennifer Lawrence who secured Warner Bros the deal. American Sniper producer Andrew Lazar is also attached.

 

[Schlosser85]

I like they were all blond except Natalie Portman. To play an Italian-American woman with dark hair and a pretty tan complexion.

 

[Aximili86]

Hair dye's a thing.

Seriously, is this where we are now? Any actor playing someone in a biopic has to be nigh-identical upon casting, pre-makeup job, and of the same heritage?

Guess Malek's out as Mercury then.

 

[Schlosser85]

I realize being willfully obtuse is kind of your thing, but Rami Malek looks a lot more ethnically appropriate for Freddie Mercury than Scarlett Johansson does for Lynsey Addario and that really doesn’t even merit an explanation.

 

[PhasedPlasma101]

Yeah, well DiCaprio looks nothing like Jordan Belfort, Howard Hughes or J.Edgar Hoover but alas. It's like people forget that Hollywood has their absolute favorites who always are targeted.

Scarlett isn't even a very good actress but it's not surprising

 

[DarthSkywalker]

Honestly, I don't really care all that much this time around, and I am a fan of Scarlett. But at some point this stuff starts getting really, really funny. Like girl, get out of your own way.

Imagine if Emma Stone didn't get the hint after Aloha. Didn't make fun of herself over it and then just kept on taking such roles. That is the territory we are getting with Scarlett, and it's just...

 

[Aximili86]

Rami Malek's not of Indian background, he's Egyptian. Don't be racist, etc.

He also wore fake teeth & from what I understand some minor prosthetic stuff. How is it any different? You dye Scarlett's hair, you do some movie-magic with the makeup/prosthetic crew, she's going to be able to get in the ballpark to the same degree as Malek. It's fine.

Pretty sure half the biopics made, even over the last relatively-recent 20-30 years, you could quibble with on these grounds with casting. Oh no, a Jewish-Danish white American woman playing an Italian white-American. You might as well be finding a problem with Foxx if his ancestors happened to be from a different part of the African continent to Charles' ancestors. Because nobody had a problem with them not looking all that much alike physically, you close that gap in the makeup process. It's fine.

It's part of the thing, acting, inhabiting someone elses' life and using Hollywood people's skills to help you get that. Johansson not looking that much like Addario now, upon initial casting, doesn't mean jack. Wait until the makeup team gets a hold of her.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

Rami Malek's not of Indian background, he's Egyptian. Don't be racist, etc.

He also wore fake teeth & from what I understand some minor prosthetic stuff. How is it any different? You dye Scarlett's hair, you do some movie-magic with the makeup/prosthetic crew, she's going to be able to get in the ballpark to the same degree as Malek. It's fine.

Pretty sure half the biopics made, even over the last relatively-recent 20-30 years, you could quibble with on these grounds with casting. Oh no, a Jewish-Danish white American woman playing an Italian white-American. You might as well be finding a problem with Foxx if his ancestors happened to be from a different part of the African continent to Charles' ancestors. Because nobody had a problem with them not looking all that much alike physically, you close that gap in the makeup process. It's fine.

It's part of the thing, acting, inhabiting someone elses' life and using Hollywood people's skills to help you get that. Johansson not looking that much like Addario now, upon initial casting, doesn't mean jack. Wait until the makeup team gets a hold of her.

For me the issue is, why not hire an Italian-American actress to play the role? If you have to change her hair colour, eye colour and put make up on to make her fair skin appear darker... maybe she's not appropriate to play the role.

I don't think someone has to look identical to play someone, but I do think a similar ethnic background is the bare minimum.

It would be like if they did a Sylvester Stallone biopic and cast Chris Hemsworth... just, no.

 

[Aximili86]

Why not hire an Indian-British guy to portray Mercury? Someone with buck teeth and a closer physical build pre-preparation for the role?

Because it's not necessary, or at least it's not required. And the Stallone/Hemsworth thing's a ridiculous comparison, the latter's like a foot taller than the other one, the type of thing you can't really correct, at least not without some major effects-heavy budget & wizardry. Johansson also looks closer to Addario than those two do, and the discrepancies are the type of stuff the hair & makeup department can square.

What it comes down to at the end of the day though, is, "movie star". They know she's going to put more butts in seats than just about any actress out there, that's a positive for their project. Her commanding star power and being potentially right for the role aren't mutually exclusive things, someone can be both.

Again, if they cast these biopics with doppleganger status being the prime priority, they're not going to turn out so well. Pretty sure you could have found an actor of Scottish descent who looks way closer to Johnny Cash than Joaquin ****in' Phoenix does too, but that's neither here nor there. He's close enough for what's required, it's in the ballpark and he's got the chops for what they want to portray.

 

[Jonwo]

Ridley Scott is a good choice for It's What I Do. With Spielberg busy with many other projects like West Side Story and Blackhawk, this was always likely to go to another director, I wonder if he's still producing it.

 

[DarthSkywalker]

For me the issue is, why not hire an Italian-American actress to play the role? If you have to change her hair colour, eye colour and put make up on to make her fair skin appear darker... maybe she's not appropriate to play the role.

I don't think someone has to look identical to play someone, but I do think a similar ethnic background is the bare minimum.

It would be like if they did a Sylvester Stallone biopic and cast Chris Hemsworth... just, no.

I want to see this so badly now.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

What it comes down to at the end of the day though, is, "movie star". They know she's going to put more butts in seats than just about any actress out there, that's a positive for their project. Her commanding star power and being potentially right for the role aren't mutually exclusive things, someone can be both.

And this right here is the problem. It's all about money.

Again I'm not saying someone has to be identical, but at least with Freddie Mercury, they didn't go with some white British guy (which I also wouldn't have supported)

I think people want a bit of authenticity and there's nothing wrong with that but this is an argument that will always be polarizing. You're entitled to your opinion and it is no less valid than mine

 

[Aximili86]

Why wouldn't it be about money? The ol' "it's showbusiness, not show charity" chestnut. When all is said and done, someone's funding this, they want to at least make back what they outlay. Scarlett near guarantees that. There just may be big-name Italian-American actresses out there of around the right age for the timeframe the script's set in, and wielding the same audience sway that Scarlett does, but none are coming to mind.

The Italian-American thing probably won't even matter, I don't know how much that actually factors into her story. Even if it does, Scarlett wouldn't be the first non-Italian person playing an Italian. So long as it's not some crude caricature, which it won't be, it'll work.

As for Mercury, they might as well have just gone with some "white British guy" using the standards you're setting, no? It's the same thing as casting an Egyptian guy as an Indian guy, if we're seeing such things as a problem socially. Malek was awesome in the role. He's also a different ethnicity to what Freddy was. It doesn't matter an iota. Dye Johansson's hair, let the makeup people do their thing, there's nothing saying she's not going to pass for genetically-Italian. She doesn't now, but half of these actors playing real people don't look a thing like the people they're portraying before the makeup crew gets their hands on them.

 

[InvisibleWoman]

Why wouldn't it be about money? The ol' "it's showbusiness, not show charity" chestnut. When all is said and done, someone's funding this, they want to at least make back what they outlay. Scarlett near guarantees that. There just may be big-name Italian-American actresses out there of around the right age for the timeframe the script's set in, and wielding the same audience sway that Scarlett does, but none are coming to mind.

The Italian-American thing probably won't even matter, I don't know how much that actually factors into her story. Even if it does, Scarlett wouldn't be the first non-Italian person playing an Italian. So long as it's not some crude caricature, which it won't be, it'll work.

As for Mercury, they might as well have just gone with some "white British guy" using the standards you're setting, no? It's the same thing as casting an Egyptian guy as an Indian guy, if we're seeing such things as a problem socially. Malek was awesome in the role. He's also a different ethnicity to what Freddy was. It doesn't matter an iota. Dye Johansson's hair, let the makeup people do their thing, there's nothing saying she's not going to pass for genetically-Italian. She doesn't now, but half of these actors playing real people don't look a thing like the people they're portraying before the makeup crew gets their hands on them.

I think what I was trying to say is that white privilege is still rampant in Hollywood and casting people with ethnic backgrounds/minorities for ethnic/minority roles should always be the first option. It shouldn't be "go for the blonde haired, white girl who brings in the dollar, it's okay we can put some spray tan on her to make her look more Italian".

However that's how it is. Unfortunately.

 

[Blitzkrieg]

The casting of ScarJo doesn't bother me in the slightest. I just hope she plays the part well. Also, Lynsey's story just screams awards. This may very well be ScarJo's Oscar vehicle.

I can only think of Linda Cardellini if I had to speculate as who could play the role of Addario. She's the only Italian-American actress I know of and that's only because of the La Llorona outrage.

 

[Aximili86]

Cardellini's cool, and I'm sure she'd work. Nobody would go see it though, that's the cold reality.

Invisible, where does white privilege come into this though? They didn't cast a white guy as Mercury, and they've cast a white woman as a white woman here. *Shrugs*