Director chooses a white actor to play the lead role of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Color blind casting is a big deal in Hollywood. The purpose of of color blind casting is to improve diversity in front of the screen and not limit the roles to a certain gender, race or ethnicity. But, what happens when casting directors choose white actors to play Martin Luther King, Jr?
When critically acclaimed playwright, Katori Hall, wrote The Mountaintop – the 2009 play set in Memphis’ Lorraine motel on the night before Martin Luther King Jr’s assassination, she was probably not expecting for the actor to play MLK to be a white.
Apparently, the director of the upcoming stage play The Mountaintop has chosen to go in a different direction and decided to cast a white man to play Martin Luther King Jr. saying, “true exploration of King’s wish that we all be judged by the content of our character and not the color of our skin.”
Well that did not settle well with Hall. She wrote, in a blog post for The Root, her frustrations.
Imagine my surprise when, on Oct. 4, 2015, at midnight in London, I received an email from a colleague sending me a link to Kent State University’s amateur production of the play. The actor playing King stood there, hands outstretched, his skin far from chocolate but a creamy buff. At first glance I was like, “Unh-uh, maybe he light-skinned. Don’t punish the brother for being able to pass.” But further Googling told me otherwise.
Director Michael Oatman had indeed double-cast the role of King with a black actor and a white actor for a six-performance run at the university’s Department of Pan-African Studies African Community Theater. Kent State had broken a world record; it was the first Mountaintop production to make King white.
According to Hall, neither Oatman, who is the director of the production, nor Kent State contacted her before deciding to cast a white actor for the lead role of Martin Luther King. A would later call the decision “disrespectful.” Hall only learned about the decision after the play finished.
Since then, Hall has updated the licensing agreement of The Mountaintop by saying that the role of Martin Luther King, Jr must be played by a black actor.
Recent Hollywood news:
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Jamie Foxx to Play Martin Luther King Jr in New Oliver Stone Feature Film
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Judge Joe Brown is Headed to Jail for 5 Days
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‘When Harlem Saved a King’ Stage Play Casting Call in NYC
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