Jump to content

B&B Casting News


Recommended Posts

  • Members

Not surprised, but this is the same soap that turned Steffie & Phoebe from identical to fraternal twins.

I even recall when MacKenzie Mauzy was playing the role of Phoebe, and at one point they showed a family photo, and they photoshopped in a second MacKenzie Mauzy as Steffie. Then however many months/years later, JMW debuts and the two look nothing alike.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Replies 55
  • Created
  • Last Reply
  • Members

I don't think casting directors make a distinction between mixed race people with some black ancestry and black people that can't claim that distinction. That's unsurprising because many of those mixed race people don't nor do many black people.

I definitely think there is some sort of in unconcious bias at play with the casting on Bell soaps. Look at who is onscreen right now. Aren't the majority of the actors of mixed race.

He did. I remember him having one with Adrienne Frantz. But it wasn't much to talk about. More of an implied scene with them in bed. But that is all that I recall.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I think black casting directors and producers would be more sensitive to this. The soaps love to play fast and loose with black and biracial actors and characters. It particularly bothers me when a brown or dark-skinned actor is replaced with a light-skinned model-type, e.g., Akili Prince to Dondre Whitfield, Alimi Ballard to Jason Olive, Monti Sharp to Terrell Tilford. It's like they want the whitest looking black actors they can get. Reminds me of on IMDb when some poster wrote re: Jesse Williams from Grey's Anatomy, "He's the hottest black guy ever!" Obviously, this was written by a non-black person, and I love that another poster called them out, i.e., a light-skinned, blue-eyed, clearly part white, biracial guy gets the title of hottest BLACK man? Okay.

I'm very fair-skinned while my brother (who is not biracial) is brown-skinned. We have the same family, we're like-souls, et cetera, but the idea that we could replace one or the other in the same role is just disingenuous, a markedly different walk through life,

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members
I do think dark skinned black people and lighter skinned black people have unique/different experiences. However, where it really matters it's very much the same. I doubt fair skinned folks think of themselves any less black than dark skinned folks. And that is what I was referring to when I said most people don't make the distinction. Probably cause many fair skinned black people aren't bi-racial.

But I agree with you 100%. I don't like the lightening up of roles either. I'd never recast in that manner. Even as someone who is darker than both her parents, I understand the nuances of skin tone and facoal features. I'd never have cast this guy as Zende just cause of the actor that played him as a child. Also I agree that a black casting director would do a better job.

European standards of beauty in Hollywood, I'd assume.
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

That's probably a question better suited to the execs at the Bell soaps because I cannot really fathom their process. I'd agree that European standards of beauty figure into it and the notion that the closer to European standards the more they think it is 'palatable' to a general audience (although daytime seems to be remiss in noting how large their AA audience is). Also stereotypes about Black sexuality and darker skinned men/women.

Those are pretty much unconscious reasons.

On the face of it, I think the Bell casting directors appear to feel more at ease casting lighter and bi-racial actors. The statistics for the last couple of decades illustrate this fact.

Remember these are all L.A./CA based soaps that are left on the networks. The NYC based soaps (now all cancelled) seemed to have a wider spectrum of AA actors perhaps because of the diversity of the actors coming from NYC theater and locally produced shows like Law and Order, local indie films and student (NYU & Columbia U) films.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

Some might and some might be extremely biased. I grew up around girls who thought "light" skin and "good" hair made a guy cute. Throw in non-brown eyes to make the ultimate gorgeous guy.

I had a friend in high school who told me she didn't like black guys but she thought this one black guy was okay because she liked his green eyes. I had a moment and I was disappointed in her but I just accepted that she had issues.

I used to hear people say "mixed" babies will be so cute. I've seen some cute and some ugly. What is funny to me is that people expect children's skin tone to be this perfect blend of their parents' and they cannot believe that a child can be darker than his/her parents (especially if the parents are b/w). So these twins who have the same parents and turn out to be two different skin tones, get classified by the public as being different races from each other and this makes sense.

I guess I don't get this. GH is LA based and even though I have not watched it in several years, when I did they were varied in their casting when it comes to skin tone.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

I was talking specifically about Bell soaps but I made mention that all the remaining shows were based in L.A. now. I tried watching GH a few years ago and it really only held my interest for about a year. I remember seeing Sean Blakemore sporadically, mostly pushing a broom or a mop. I thought it was disappointing since the character was said to be quite educated. I am familiar with some of the AA characters in the 1990s but I'm talking about the last 3 years or so. When I compare GH to AMC in terms of quality of storylines, there is a marked difference. Then again, it would be tough to find an Angie and Jesse on any of the current daytime dramas, not just GH.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

We all know colorism exists in any ethnicity that has a wide variation in skin tone. For example, any Asian culture. So this is nothing new. However, I don't think that is what he meant when he said an AA casting director would treat this a little differently. I think he meant features more so than skin tone. Casting a biracial looking person to play a West African AIDS orphan who we saw as a child and he didn't appear to be bi-racial at the time is a bit off. If they do flashbacks of Zende as a child using stock footage, most of the black audience will wonder if he put a "kit" in his hair. I am just saying...

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • Members

LOL at a "kit" in his hair, reminds me of those ads for Duke in Jet magazine, but yes, this is essentially what I was getting at. Not that black people are immune to colorism (as if!), but I think a black casting director in his or her right mind wouldn't think of Debbie Morgan and Darnell Williams, see Jason Olive's headshot and say, "Bingo!" Not that it's genetically impossible, just improbable, and imho, superficial, transparent, and insulting casting. It's the show saying to us, "We chose not to hire any of the hundreds of talented, attractive brown/dark-skinned black actors who might better resemble the character's onscreen parents or previous portrayers in lieu of hiring a more Eurocentric actor more appealing to our tastes to recreate the role." I'm sure this type of myopia never dawns on many a non-black casting director or executive producer. At any rate, for me, it's an f-you.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

  • Recently Browsing   0 members

    • No registered users viewing this page.



×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

By using this site, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy