Anne Boleyn

I think they’ve had a lucky escape. The vast majority of reviews are very scathing - why would anyone want it on their CV? Jodie Turner-Smith’s performance has been praised, and I agree with that - I think she and some of the other actors deserved a lot better.

The wardrobe department did a great job with the women’s costumes as well - I don’t know how authentic they were, but the colours were amazing, and they really excelled in making Anne stand out as the central character.

But oh, that script....

lemongrove

Whatdayisit

Come on Chestnut we know who Jesus certainly didn't look like.
Anyway tonight is the night.

No, actually we have no idea what he looked like.

Come on give it a guess, it wouldn’t be rocket science would it?

A. Jesus was almost certainly from European extraction.

B. Jesus was almost certainly from Asian extraction.

C. Jesus was almost certainly from Arab/Jewish extraction.

D. Jesus was almost certain from African/ Jewish extraction.

So I would go for C and D.

Given your objection to the young lady currently acting in the Anne Boleyn roll perhaps you have a comment about those actors having played Jesus?

Daisend1

There must be many black actors who could have fulfilled other roles in this production.Why stop at the main character?

That makes more sense.

Given your objection to the young lady currently acting in the Anne Boleyn roll perhaps you have a comment about those actors having played Jesus?
As said before, these were mostly decades ago, and mostly American productions. If you want to discuss the rights and wrongs of American casting of movies over the last 60 years then that's another thread. As for Jesus, he was the Son of God, and we don't know what God looks like. Maybe he was white, so how can we know what Jesus looked like ?

As the Greeks colonised the nearest coastal town, where Jesus uncle lived and traded, I would add E) jewish/Greek-European to your suggestions and that would be my vote!

Chestnut

^Given your objection to the young lady currently acting in the Anne Boleyn roll perhaps you have a comment about those actors having played Jesus?^
As said before, these were mostly decades ago, and mostly American productions. If you want to discuss the rights and wrongs of American casting of movies over the last 60 years then that's another thread. As for Jesus, he was the Son of God, and we don't know what God looks like. Maybe he was white, so how can we know what Jesus looked like ?

Dear oh dear.

So a mother and father who were of Arab extract? Must give you a clue?

Whitewavemark2

lemongrove

Whatdayisit

Come on Chestnut we know who Jesus certainly didn't look like.
Anyway tonight is the night.

No, actually we have no idea what he looked like.

Come on give it a guess, it wouldn’t be rocket science would it?

A. Jesus was almost certainly from European extraction.

B. Jesus was almost certainly from Asian extraction.

C. Jesus was almost certainly from Arab/Jewish extraction.

D. Jesus was almost certain from African/ Jewish extraction.

So I would go for C and D.

Given your objection to the young lady currently acting in the Anne Boleyn roll perhaps you have a comment about those actors having played Jesus?

Perhaps you realise that Jesus was made in the image of man, so yes all those could be him.

Lin52

Whitewavemark2

lemongrove

Whatdayisit

Come on Chestnut we know who Jesus certainly didn't look like.
Anyway tonight is the night.

No, actually we have no idea what he looked like.

Come on give it a guess, it wouldn’t be rocket science would it?

A. Jesus was almost certainly from European extraction.

B. Jesus was almost certainly from Asian extraction.

C. Jesus was almost certainly from Arab/Jewish extraction.

D. Jesus was almost certain from African/ Jewish extraction.

So I would go for C and D.

Given your objection to the young lady currently acting in the Anne Boleyn roll perhaps you have a comment about those actors having played Jesus?

Perhaps you realise that Jesus was made in the image of man, so yes all those could be him.

Oh yes that would be it then?????

The Kell theory has been known and talked about amongst Academics for a while, there is also a huge following of Boleyn on You tube, run by an expert and author of books on the Tudor period. It doesn’t take the playing of her by Smith to define her, and tell us differently. Apparently it is historically inaccurate too. Still a bit of fantasy is all too quickly counted as fact. Not many will check them, just believe it.

Lin52 Perhaps you realise that Jesus was made in the image of man, so yes all those could be him.
Absolutely! And man was made in the image of God. Back to square one. We don't know what God looked like. Maybe Robert Powell was a good likeness ?

I wonder whether a black actress was ever considered for the role of Queen Elizabeth II.

Greta

I wonder whether a black actress was ever considered for the role of Queen Elizabeth II.

To play that role requires the heavy use of white make-up as that is what the women wore. Probably not considered pc!

I always wondered about the very fair haired, blue eyed Jesus complete with pulsating heart that hung in the hallway of my close friend's very Irish. Catholic parents house whenever I went round there, which was quite often when I was a child. My parents had told me that Aryan image of Jesus often depicted in religious art was completely false, maybe because my dad's family were dark, swarthy and southern European. I imagine Jewish men living in Palestine 2000 years ago to be very dark and quite Arabic in appearance, quite like the Jewish Sabres who don't have that fairish diluted look that some of the Jews that emanate from European communities and emigrated to Israel have.

Sometimes I am prone to think that Jews have been so vilified over the centuries in almost every European community, it seemed as if that Jewishness was deliberately being airbrushed away in artistic representations of Jesus. Most paintings of him, as far as I am aware were painted by Europeans and that is how they represented him, as a European, not an Arab, as that was the ideal and far more palatable but it wasn't the truth!

oops sabres Sabras

Much art in the Coptic orthodoxy has Jesus as black.

Of course black makes sense in the Christian religion as the first homo Sapiens originated in the African continent, and apparently man was made in the image of god ergo God is black.

Terribull - your last post was spot on. I have been joking around about what Jesus looked like, but we all know he was Jewish and unlikely to be blonde with blue eyes. He certainly has been depicted over the decades with a northern European appearance in books, paintings and movies. This was to appeal to the people (or audience) for whom they were intended. Movie makers want a big audience and maximum profit, so they will cast people who they feel will achieve that. They also need someone with superb acting skills and great screen presence, and maybe the person chosen fitted that bill.

Chestnut

Terribull - your last post was spot on. I have been joking around about what Jesus looked like, but we all know he was Jewish and unlikely to be blonde with blue eyes. He certainly has been depicted over the decades with a northern European appearance in books, paintings and movies. This was to appeal to the people (or audience) for whom they were intended. Movie makers want a big audience and maximum profit, so they will cast people who they feel will achieve that. They also need someone with superb acting skills and great screen presence, and maybe the person chosen fitted that bill.

Just like the Anne Boleyn actress?

Wasn't the best of write-ups about the drama was it ?
I watched a brain and heart operation---far more entertaining.

I think this excerpt from "An Education" personified that uncomfortable feelings Christians sometimes have with Jesus' Jewishness. Not verbatim, but it went something like this.

Head teacher played by Emma Thompson to pupil played by Carey Mulligan.

"Whatever would Our Lord think, you are going out with a Jewish man"

reply "Our Lord was a Jewish man"

Head teacher looked stunned as if she'd been smacked around the face with a wet kipper! but that scene summed up that subliminal uneasy discomfort that I think has been around for centuries the disconnect between blaming the Jews for everything and our saviour Jesus being a Jew hence trying to eliminate what surely would have been his ethnicity, as you also say Chestnut in all forms of art.

Just my theory anyway!

Whitewavemark2

Chestnut

Terribull - your last post was spot on. I have been joking around about what Jesus looked like, but we all know he was Jewish and unlikely to be blonde with blue eyes. He certainly has been depicted over the decades with a northern European appearance in books, paintings and movies. This was to appeal to the people (or audience) for whom they were intended. Movie makers want a big audience and maximum profit, so they will cast people who they feel will achieve that. They also need someone with superb acting skills and great screen presence, and maybe the person chosen fitted that bill.

Just like the Anne Boleyn actress?

It's highly likely 'the Anne Boleyn actress' (her name is Jodie Turner-Smith by the way) was chosen because she was black. She is a very beautiful American actress and model, so the question you should be asking is whether she was chosen not only for being black, but for her beauty. Are there no English actresses, black or white, not quite so beautiful, who could play this part equally well?

Can Scottish actresses apply?

Or is the rule very strict indeed?

Are we not supposed to say actor now. Well I have to say I was a bit disappointed with the programme last night. Nothing to do with Anne/Jodie, just that it came across as a bit clunky. I thought it was going to be dynamic and no idea what else but it didn't light my fire. I don't think we'll be bothering tonight. Shame really.

Chestnut

Whitewavemark2

Chestnut

Terribull - your last post was spot on. I have been joking around about what Jesus looked like, but we all know he was Jewish and unlikely to be blonde with blue eyes. He certainly has been depicted over the decades with a northern European appearance in books, paintings and movies. This was to appeal to the people (or audience) for whom they were intended. Movie makers want a big audience and maximum profit, so they will cast people who they feel will achieve that. They also need someone with superb acting skills and great screen presence, and maybe the person chosen fitted that bill.

Just like the Anne Boleyn actress?

It's highly likely 'the Anne Boleyn actress' (her name is Jodie Turner-Smith by the way) was chosen because she was black. She is a very beautiful American actress and model, so the question you should be asking is whether she was chosen not only for being black, but for her beauty. Are there no English actresses, black or white, not quite so beautiful, who could play this part equally well?

No I was asking about her acting ability. “Superb acting skills, great screen presence”