Anne Boleyn

He is also depicted with blue eyes, when statistically speaking he most probably had brown

Lets not forget Jesus - the golden haired boy in our church books was darker skinned than we depict him.

Isn’t there a difference between a part where colour or race is not an issue in the plot, such as Anne Boleyn in yet another Tudor drama, and a part where it is, such as Othello, or the Prince of Morocco in The Merchant of Venice, whose first line is “Mislike me not for my complexion”, and whose failure to pick the right casket is marked by Portia’s aside: “Let all of his complexion choose me so.” [So she’s racist as well as anti-semitic.]

Those and other offending lines could be cut with no great loss, but that would not work for Othello. As one of the great actors of his generation, Olivier had every right to play the part, but I am not sure how he could have acted black, Gagajo, without the appropriate make-up. As it is, his original stage performance was criticised, and mocked in some quarters, for going over the top with his “black” accent; how far would he have gone without blacking up?

Having seen the trailers on Channel 5, I'm really looking forward to watching this series.

The actress Jodie Turner-Smith is absolutely stunning and it will be good to see what she brings to this role.

Riverwalk

Ilovecheese

There are people on Twitter blaming the BBC for rewriting history. So eager to criticise the BBC that they havn't noticed it is a Channel five programme

Typical!

All the 'disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' types who never see the inside of a theatre, and have closed minds.

Riverwalk Please explain. What does the inside of a theatre have to do with this thread?

Lin52

jaylucy

I guess that the casting director chose the actress for her ability rather than bothering about the colour of her skin.
Well I hope it's that, rather than trying to prove a point.

Not sure what she will bring to the role, not really interested . Ann Boleyn was a white English Queen, first to be executed by Henry. Her claim to fame. Well played by many accomplished actors in the past. Won’t be watching.

I wonder what colour her hair was? Because obviously, if she was a brunette, we wouldn't want anybody with red hair playing her.

Wouldn't be worth watching

PS - Anne Boleyn

I watched Othello with Sir John Olivier with my students today. Did I approve of him blacking up? No. Most definitely not. BUT he is a supremely good actor and we talked about the racism behind blacking up, how it is no longer acceptable and how it was ironic it occured in a film that is about racism.

jaylucy

I guess that the casting director chose the actress for her ability rather than bothering about the colour of her skin.
Well I hope it's that, rather than trying to prove a point.

Not sure what she will bring to the role, not really interested . Ann Boleyn was a white English Queen, first to be executed by Henry. Her claim to fame. Well played by many accomplished actors in the past. Won’t be watching.

Good point, Lucca.

“ If Benedict Cumberbatch announced he was playing Martin Luther-King there would be hell to pay.”

Anne Boleyn’s claim to fame had nothing to with her skin colour therefore it matters not that the role is taken by a black actor. However MLK ‘s claim to fame has everything to do with his being black therefore he couldn’t logically be played by a white actor.

Ilovecheese

There are people on Twitter blaming the BBC for rewriting history. So eager to criticise the BBC that they havn't noticed it is a Channel five programme

Hilarious !

Of course we all know Anne Boleyn was white, the lady chosen to represent her just happens to be black - what's the issue here?

There is certainly a racial element to the OP, whether or not she meant it to be racist.

Saying that if Benedict Cumberbatch payed MLK there would be 'hell to pay' makes the point that white actors can't play black characters without comment, and that seems to suggest that there is more sensitivity given to black people than to white. This is not the case, of course, as (as was pointed out upthread) there are far more roles for white actors than for black, particularly if people are going to object if roles are not matched to people of the same colour as the original, whether in real life or in the book of the film - black James Bond, anyone?

The linking of the casting of Anne as black with graffiti and damage to statues of slavers, which I assume was what was meant by 'removing anything from British history that they don't agree with' is another racial element of the post. This was something that was said by a number of small C conservatives, as well as by out and out racists when the statue of Edward Colston was removed, and is, IMO disingenuous. As has been said, nobody can change history. What we can change is our attitude to events and people from the past, as our understanding of events evolves in line with modern sensibilities, which is what happened with the slavers. Yes, they could afford to be benefactors to a number of cities, but their money was made on the backs of the people they bought and sold and ill-treated. We need to see both sides of this, and if that means that we do not see the need to honour them with statues, then what is wrong with that? If, in a hundred years the feeling has changed, new ones can always be commissioned. None of it will 'change history'.

I am looking forward to the Ch5 series, but until it has been aired, we can't know why a black actor was cast, never mind whether the series is true to what current historians believe to be what really happened. Even that is highly debatable, as all that we can go on is what was written down and has survived for hundreds of years. Where Anne is concerned, the only portraits of her that survive were painted after her death, as Henry destroyed all images of her after her execution, and other than her death speech, there is very little that we know to be in her own words, so her image has always depended on what (largely male) historians have written about her. It would have been a brave man in the Tudor court who would have recorded anything good about her, and a significant number of rumours about her were started by Nicolas Sander, who was a Catholic supporter of Bloody Mary - a motive for discrediting the woman whom he blamed for the schism between the Church of England and Rome.

Subsequent historians have built on these myths and painted a picture of Anne as, variously, a witch, an adulteress, a schemer and a generally Bad Lot. If modern historians are trying to get a fuller picture, or to see her through more feminist eyes, then why not? Surely it is better to put all the information together as it is gathered, and not to insist that what used to be 'known' is all we need to know.

Sorry for the long post, but as you may have gathered, Anne is a particular interest of mine?

Sarnia I mentioned above about a French Canadian actress playing Anne in a film back in the 60s or 70s. Does that bother you, did you comment on that? If not what is the issue? Is it skin colour or something else?

Well that is two of us Sarnia. I found your statement offensive, racially.

Why include the comment about graffiti if it had no link? You made the two comments in the same post, ergo, you have linked them.

The main problem is that we do not know how history really happened.

It has been manipulated and retouched so many times.

GagaJo

Sarnia

GagaJo

When I saw that advertised, I KNEW there would be complaints on Gransnet.

It isn't real. It's an adaptation. Give over with the racism.

Do not call me a racist. I find that highly offensive. I just happen to like authenticity in historical drama. That's my opinion and I am entitled to it, in the same way you are entitled to yours. No way is that racist.

Your statement was racist. WHY would you link a black actress to graffiti? It's aligned with the DM linking Meghan Markel's mother's neighbourhood JUST because she's black.

Your need for authenticity is an excuse for asking for TV / film to remain predominantly white.

In my post I said I was fed up with PEOPLE thinking it is ok to graffiti, damage and remove items from our history they do not agree with. There was no link made between these people and Jodie Turner-Smith so I am puzzled where you see that. Neither do I want film and TV to be predominantly white. I just mentioned, that for me, I prefer historical drama to be portrayed as it was. Others have different opinions and that's fine. What isn't fine, however, is for you to suggest, for the second time, that you consider me a racist. To repeat myself I do not make racist statements and for you to keep saying I do is offensive to me.

Actually it has been great advertising for them. I mean we are all talking about it and it sounds as if it is big on twitter so it will probably get a big audience, the interested, the ones who want to be positive and the ones who want to be outraged.

Ilovecheese

There are people on Twitter blaming the BBC for rewriting history. So eager to criticise the BBC that they havn't noticed it is a Channel five programme

Typical!

All the 'disgusted of Tunbridge Wells' types who never see the inside of a theatre, and have closed minds.

I think she looks stunning.

Which is very shallow of me but that's about all I take from this.

Ilovecheese

There are people on Twitter blaming the BBC for rewriting history. So eager to criticise the BBC that they havn't noticed it is a Channel five programme

???

I've heard that Henry V111 had a jousting accident which led to him falling off his horse casing a possible brain injury. Up until this point his behaviour had been normal, but afterwards his character changed and we all know the story after that. I've also read that Anne was very devout and all the charges against her were trumped up. We're never going to know the truth anyway. Sorry I digress, I don't mind a black Anne at all as it's only a TV show.

I don't remember any fuss when a French Canadian actress (Geneviève Bujold) played Anne Boleyn in Anne of a Thousand Days. She even won a award for it, how authentic was that?

*the DM linking Meghan Markel's mother's neighbourhood to 'the hood'

So how far does authenticity have to go? Does the actress have to be English, does her father have to be an earl, does she have to have been educated in France, can she be older than Anne or younger, does she have to have an older sister or is it just the colour of her skin that has to be "authentic" for people to be happy?