Are Leonardo DiCaprio and Robert Downey Jr white enough to star in a Hollywood biopic of medieval Muslim poet Jalaluddin al-Rumi?

I know, they can use the actor who played the main character in Prince of Persia.

They got a Persian guy for that, right?

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It’s like relay race, the stick is passed on. The EVIL GERMAN and the EVIL RUSSIAN are in dire need of a little rest.

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That reminds me. I need to go add something to the “Worst Films You’ve Seen” list, BRB.

They could at least find a comedy role for Omid Djalili.

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Well, more like “legitimized.”

They should also have a “responsibility” for non-racist casting, given their power in promulgating representations of types of people that have real effects on real people.

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Duane The Rock Johnson or GTFO

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I wouldn’t bother making that purist argument to the kind of guys who okay casting decisions with an eye to garnering maximal distribution for their film. Neither they nor their competitors are remotely decent.
What’s more to the point is that their products would be better, would appeal to more viewers worldwide, if they weren’t so formulaic. If the casting weren’t so stale and predictable. And so narrow.

We are all pretty poorly served by modern Hollywood.

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I am just guessing that nobody cares what “Al-Rumi” means? We must angrily denounce the filmmakers for failing to follow our stereotyped view of what a 13th century Bactrian must have looked like. Not that any significant percentage of those outraged could find his birthplace on a map, or care about it’s complicated history.

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Please do continuing educating us ignorant and unworthy knee-jerkers, for surely your obvious boundless knowledge and wisdom can only further our path to enlightenment.

/s

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I did not mean to be insulting. I have been reading comments on this subject, and it does seem that many of the commenters only got as far as noting that he has an Islamic sounding name before generating outrage. Which means that they are the ones constructing stereotypes. I don’t claim any sort of boundless knowledge or wisdom. I have some knowledge of human migration patterns, from university study. I think that people should thoroughly educate themselves on a subject before denouncing someone else for their portrayal of that subject in art, literature or film.

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Welcome to BB. Please go away.

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He said, not telling us (Rumi could be translated as Roman, and Al-Rumi might then be ‘The Roman’, but it’s not like his Persian parents named him ‘the Roman’ as some sort of sick joke).

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You just called us too ignorant to read a factoid on wikipedia and look up his birth place on a map. How long have you been here? Do you really think we’re all so dense just because we disagree with you? Or that not being able to find his home on a map means we’re not qualified to weigh in on racism in Hollywood, something we all consume? Are only 13th historians of that region of Asia qualified to make comments?

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I mean, if they actually cast persian people it would probably do fine, Iran’s censors might even allow it because they like looking back at that era.

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You noticed it, huh?

I had no words; the sheer amount of cognitive dissonance was too overwhelming.

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Yeah, I’m getting a bit bored of the whole " if you don’t know everything about the topic, you’re not worthy to comment" mindset. I mean, I read some Said, I know some orientalism when I see it.

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Perhaps the casting director was worried they couldn’t wrap filming before Drumpf deports all brown people except his gardener. /s

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(crying due to ring of truth)

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Al Jolson got the lead role in The Jazz Singer because he was one of the most famous vaudevillian entertainers of all time. But looking back it’s still difficult to justify the casting practices of the time.

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Yes. An image of Al Jolson in blackface is the perfect analog of casting a Hollywood megastar as Rumi.