Casting Will Smith’s love interest in “Hitch”? was not a simple black or white decision.
Eva Mendes was given the role opposite Smith because the moviemakers were worried about the public’s reaction if the part was given to a white or an African American actress, according to Smith. The actor is saying that it was feared that a black couple would have put off worldwide audiences whereas a white/African American combo would have offended viewers in the U.S.
“There’s sort of an accepted myth that if you have two black actors, a male and a female, in the lead of a romantic comedy, that people around the world don’t want to see it,”? Smith told the British paper, the Birmingham Post while promoting the flick overseas. “We spend $50-something million making this movie and the studio would think that was tough on their investment. So the idea of a black actor and a white actress comes up … that’ll work around the world, but it’s a problem in the U.S.”?
Eva Mendes … who is of Cuban descent … was seen as a solution because apparently, the black/Latina combination is not considered taboo.
Oy. Via Foreign Dispatches.
Well, it only gives me one less reason to see the movie. They spend this much time on the love interest’s race, and I don’t see any chance that this will be one of those rare, nonformulaic, non-jaw-droppingly awful romantic comedies.
Teh sigh
Huzzah! Thanks for taking my suggestion (if that is what motivated you).
That amuses me, though I know it’s wrong. Hispanic/Latino people are “used” to bridge all sorts of racial gaps. In my high school, there was a lot of white-Hispanic tension and the whole black thing was sort of outside it. One of my best girlfriends was the only black kid in high school and she was always accused of siding with whites or Hispanics all the time. She was really nerdy and probably physically incapable of siding with anyone even if she wanted to. But still, the non-binary nature of Texas racism makes shit complicated.
I feel a blog post coming on.
It was actually a charming movie — nothing earthshattering, but for a formulaic romantic comedy, nice.
And I walked out of it explaining to my husband why Smith’s love interest had to be a Latina (although I hadn’t factored in the world market) — the studios don’t think they can sell a movie about a black couple to white audiences, so if they’re going for the white audience, the love interest can’t be black. On the other hand, if she’s white, racists will be offended and won’t watch it. Latina is the only option (or, come to think of it, Asian or Native American).
Figgures. The only way to get latinos starring roles is to try to pacify racism.