Famous Actors Who Have Infamously Played Characters Of A Different Race
Hollywood has often been accused of casting famous celebs to play characters of entirely different races. Here are the times when they cast a famous actor to play a role they never should have been cast for in the first place!
1. Anita Ekberg – Blood Alley
The famous actress portrayed Wei Ling, a Chinese villager in 1955’s Blood Alley. And over the top of that, her co-stars Paul Fix and Mike Mazurki also played the Chinese roles.
The film is about an American sailor who breaks out of a Chinese jail and dodges Communist agents on the road to Hong Kong.
2. Michael B. Jordan – Fantastic Four
Jordan portrayed the famous Human Torch aka Johnny Storm in Josh Trank’s Fantastic Four reboot. The role was originally played by Chris Evans in the movies and he did a pretty good job.
The character is described to have blond hair and blue eyes in the original comic books. The movie was not appreciated by fans at all. The plot of the film was four “youngsters” gain unique superpowers after they were teleported to an alternate universe. They have to unite and use their powers for the greater good.
3. Angelina Jolie – A Mighty Heart
A Mighty Heart saw Jolie in the lead role. The film was an adaptation of Mariane Pearl’s memoir. Pearl was a French woman who had a Dutch father and a Cuban mother.
The film’s plot is a pregnant Mariane’s husband Daniel Pearl, who is a Wall Street Journal reporter goes missing. He doesn’t return home after he visits a cafe for an interview. Mariane starts a search to look for him.
4. Jake Gyllenhaal – Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time
Gyllenhaal portrayed a Persian character in Prince of Persia: The Sands of Time. He regrets taking that role. In an interview, he went on to say, “I think I learned a lot from that movie in that I spend a lot of time trying to be very thoughtful about the roles that I pick and why I’m picking them,” he said. “And you’re bound to slip up and be like, ‘That wasn’t right for me,’ or ‘That didn’t fit perfectly.’ There have been several roles like that. And then several roles that do.”
The film revolves around Dastan, a young prince, who teams up with Princess Tamina to destroy the evil plans of his uncle Nizam. His uncle wants to control time with the help of a “special” dagger.
5. Robert Downey Jr. – Tropic Thunder
The movie Tropic Thunder witnesses Robert Downey Jr. in the role of a character who is black. RDJ has no regrets about doing this film. He was nominated for Best Supporting Actor at the Oscars, Screen Actors Guild Awards, and Golden Globes. He lost his awards to Heath Ledger for “The Dark Knight“.
The movie is based on a film crew who was shooting a big-budget war movie. They were forced to become the soldiers they are portraying when they are attacked by a gang of poppy-growing local drug dealers.
