West Wing’s creator has entered into a dispute over identity politics, while simultaneously defending the decision to cast a Spanish actor playing a Cuban role in the new movie Being the Ricardos.
Aaron Sorkin (screenwriter of blockbusters Hollywood blockbusters The Social Network (2010) & Steve Jobs (2015)) criticized the tendency for actors to be limited in roles that reflect who they are – such as homosexual actors only portraying gay characters.
In an interview, Mr Sorkin (60) said that it was heartbreaking to watch members of the art community being re-segregated.
Javier Bardem from Gran Canaria (Spain), is the Oscar-winning actor who plays Cuban-born Desi Arnaz. The film will be available to stream online on Amazon Prime Video starting Tuesday 21 December.
Mr Sorkin continued: ‘Spanish and Cuban are not actable. If I was directing you in a scene and said: ‘It’s cold, you can’t feel your face’. That’s actable. If I were to say: “Be Cuban”. That is not actable.’
Screenwriter Aaron Sorkin, who penned West Wing and the screenplay for the new film Meeting the Ricardos, waded into the culture wars in an interview with the Sunday Times Culture magazine in defence of his decision to cast a Spanish actor as a Cuban character
Javier Bardem, from Gran Canaria, Spain (left) plays the Cuban-born 1950s sitcom star Desi Arnaz (right) in new film Meet the Ricardos, a biographical picture about the turbulent romance between the two leading actors in the long-running American sitcom I Love Lucy (1951-57)
Javier Bardem and Nicole Kidman star in Meeting the Ricardos. Javier Bardem plays Lucille Bal in the biopic on the romantic relationship that blossomed in the iconic American sitcom I Love Lucy.
Throwback: Despite their divorce, in which she called their marriage ‘a nightmare,’ Lucy and Desi remained publicly amicable for the rest of his life; they are pictured while married
He said: ‘Nouns aren’t actable. Gay and straight aren’t actable. You can act being attracted to someone, but can’t act gay or straight.
“So, this idea that gay actors only should portray gay characters? Desi should only be played by a Cuban actor. Honestly, I think it’s the mother of all empty gestures and a bad idea.’
The biographical drama, “Meeting the Ricardos”, also stars Nicole Kidman and is about the romance between the leading actors of I Love Lucy (an American sitcom that ran from 1951 to 1957).
Sorkin contrasted his decision to cast a Spanish actor as a Cuban with the ‘demeaning’ practice of blackface, saying the latter makes ‘ridiculous cartoon caricatures out of people’.
‘Having an actor who was born in Spain playing a character who was born in Cuba was not demeaning’, he said.
The award-winning screenwriter continued: ‘We know that Mickey Rooney with the silly piece in Breakfast at Tiffany’s and that makeup, doing silly Japanese speak, we know that’s demeaning. It’s not true, I thought.
Desi Arnaz was the real Desi, who married Lucille in a turbulent union that resulted in her divorce. This photo was taken during I Love Lucy’s 1954 run.
Javier Bardem also spoke out on the matter, saying that it was unfair for him to be targeted since actors from English speaking countries often play roles in other English-speaking parts without facing any resistance.
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He continued: ‘What I mean is, if we want to open the can of worms, let’s open it for everyone. The role came to me, and one thing that I know for sure is that I’m going to give everything that I have.’