Wow, ok so this might seem like another heavy topic for me to be tackling so close to my last heavy post. It was a bit long that last one and CHOCK full of great stuff if I do so myself. But, this post is less me being on a soap box and just wanting to point out a few of my hopes for the future of Hollywood, and maybe Americans, in general.
So about four or five years ago I started watching the SyFy network. It used to be the SciFi network by I guess the channel heads or whoever calls the shots wanted to be more “hip” and “with it” for the newer, younger generation. Stupid, I know but what do you expect from people who are so far removed from reality? All they have to go off of is focus groups and surveys. Bean counters run the world I say BEAN COUNTERS!! We’re all DOOMED!!…. But, I digress.
So, yes started watching SyFy and a show called, Warehouse 13. This led to me watching another show called, Sanctuary and, SGU Stargate Universe which was really bad, by the way. Anyway,
Anyway back to Warehouse 13. About halfway through the first season they introduced a character that was full of on-screen charisma and presence. This guy quietly said his lines but with such gravity it was like how most people feel when they hear Morgan Freeman talk. But this guy was brown (as in not black). The character’s name was regent Kosan or
About halfway through the first season they introduced a character that was full of on-screen charisma and presence. This guy quietly said his lines but with such gravity it was like how most people feel when they hear Morgan Freeman talk. But this guy was brown (as in not black). The character’s name was regent Kosan or Adwin Kosan though I don’t remember anyone calling him by his first name. This guy quickly became my favorite reappearing character, yes even over H.G. Wells although she had a pretty cool character arc as well.
His name is Faran Tahir. You may remember him from, Iron Man as Raza, the leader of the terrorists who kidnap Tony Stark early in the film.
On, Sanctuary, after the first season, the character of Ashley was replaced with Kate Freelander played by Indian actress, Agam Darshi. For me, the character was a little flat. I didn’t buy her “hard” street tough past that the show, for good or ill, tried to pass off on us. The character was written as a stereotypical white chick and she was given a horrendous wardrobe that looked like something out of Oliver. She looked a little dumpy like her clothes never really fit her.
Her character was written badly in my humble opinion. They had a very attractive ethnic woman and no real way to write her with any panache or sense of her ethnicity. Now in the “Kali” three parter they did address some of her westernization and in those episodes she was well written. It was because of those episodes I was torn for a long time on if I actually liked her character or not especially when the audience had to compare her to the woman who played Kali, Sahar Biniaz.
This woman exuded elegance and refinement easily and the writers took advantage of that in crafting the character of Kali. They also knew how to dress her, too. I know that Kate Freelander couldn’t be running around in sewers in a beautiful sari like this; however, it was painfully obvious that the clothing department knew what to do with Kali but not with Kate Freelander and as a result Agam Darshi suffered in a side by side comparison with Biniaz on screen.
Around this time, I began to refer to the SyFy channel as the unofficial ambassador to Bollywood. Here in just two shows around the same time period of one or two years I saw more ethnic actors carrying their own weight next to the likes of Kate Mulgrew, Anthony Michael Hall, and Amanda Tapping. It was a trend I had hoped would last for a while. Which it didn’t, until Sleepy Hollow and, Brooklyn Nine-Nine came along that is.
So, back to Faran Tahir. After I saw him on, Warehouse 13, he started popping up all over the place. He was in an episode of Burn Notice as a dying drug lord who for all his faults was a pretty decent dad as evil drug lords go. He was in Star Trek 2009 as the original commander of the USS Kelvin, who gives Kirk’s father command before he goes over to Nero’s ship.
But then he shows up as a main character, or at least a main secondary character in the movie, Escape Plan with Stallone and Schwarzenegger and not only does he hold his own amidst the likes of these two titans and Jim Caviezel, but at least for me he stole the show! He even got a noble death scene, sacrificing himself, so that at least somebody could get out of the prison and tell the world about it.
For some of you out there this might be the biggest endorsement I could give to this awesome actor. For others, you might really question my sanity, and for still others you won’t care and that’s fine too. I believe in this guy so much that if I was in control of casting a new Dune movie I would give him the role of Duke Atreides. I wouldn’t even need to audition him! That is how powerful I find his performances. That and if I had that kind of power I would love playing with the ethnicities of the characters (I think Frank Herbert would have been totally keen on that anyways). I loved Idris Elba as Heimdall in Thor even though Heimdall is said to be, “the whitest of the white” and I would love to see other such castings, you know, kind of the EXACT OPPOSITE of what J.J. Abrams did with Kahn in, Star Trek Into Darkness.
I promised I wouldn’t get on a soap box, so I’m stepping down now. I hope that we, as American movie audiences, can learn to appreciate the skills that ethnic actors bring to the table. Hell, Stephen Spielberg cast mostly Bollywood actors in Indian Jones and the Temple of Doom and people still look back on that movie with great memories and a fondness that will, in my humble opinion, withstand the test of time.
Where is the blending and mixing of cultures that we Americans used to be so proud of, the whole “melting pot” phenomenon? I think Hollywood is big enough for all cultures and all types of actors from across the world. Was Jake Gyllenhaal really the best actor to play, The Prince of Persia? Could Hollywood have not gone out there and found a Persian to play the role? Did they have to settle for white boy Donnie Darko?
I hope more Eastern actors are given the opportunity to portray meaningful roles in our movies. If we are to be part of a new global community then shouldn’t our art start reflecting that we are willing to reach out globally and put these people and at least in part some of their culture on screen, interacting with our own?
Scherrer Madness 