Why not use Real Mexican Actors as Mexican Actors

Luis Caffesse said:
That's true - in fact, lately we've seen deluge of non-americans playing american roles:

House (TV) lead actor is british.
Prison Break (TV) both main actors are not americans.
Batman Returns - half of that cast was made up of nonamericans playing american roles.
Mel Gibson has played numerous American roles, as has Russel Crowe.
the list goes on....
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Without A Trace: aren't LaPaglia & Montgomery both from Oz? (Checked. Yep)

Oh, and Mel Gibson is Australian the same way the BeeGees were. Just whisked away there for a while. He was born in the 'States. Peekskill, for Pete's sake.
 
Blaine said:
If the performance is good enough, this can be true. But you have to respect Crowe, Kidman and Poppy Montgomery among others that use dialogue coaches to get that "American" accent right.
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Of course, a solid performance with a good accent is even better. The performance is what really matters, though. Most audiences will forgive a bad accent, not a bad performance.
 
A bad accent is bad news. You're better ff not trying if you can't do. There was this guy Kevin once, who really dug Robin Hood...
 
The reality is that there aren't that many 'mexican' roles to play in the grand scheme. If we were in Mexico making films about Mexico starring Mexicans then we see a more abundant Mexican infleunce and representation. However, we are in America, watching films predominantly about white (With anglo ancestry) people.

I don't mnean to sound insensitive; but oh well.

Mexicans played by Anglos, Aussies playing English, English playing American, who cares ?
 
I think that the fact that there are so few good ethnic roles is why this is such a tough pill for some people to swallow. Ultimately, it's all fantasy and you use what works. But If I were a good Mexican actor, and a hispanic role went to Hank Azaria because he does a funny bit with an accent...I have to admit, it would bug me.
 
Benicio definitely had a shitty ****ed up accent in Traffic. And so did his sidekick. That dude is a straight out pocho. The movie was great, but I found their crappy Spanish accents very distracting. I used to get real pist off at Hollywood movies when non-Mexicans played Mexicans. Today, I just get mildly irritated. But it's definitely an issue among Mexicans. The shittiest part though, is that Mexican/Chicano filmmakers in the US often don't hire Mexicans even when their movies are about Mexicans!! Luis Valdez hired Lou Diomand Phillips to play Ritchie Valenz in La Bamba; Gregory Nava hired Jennifer Lopez to play Selena, Robert Rodriguez hired Antonio Banderas for Desperado--no mames! This **** does matter. It matters to the performance and to the Mexican audience. Scorcese and Coppola have made quite a few films about Italians, and the actors they hire are Italian. Why? Because they add a cultural authenticy to the characters and the performance that many accomplished non-Italian actors could never pull off.
 
vjbrennan said:
I think that the fact that there are so few good ethnic roles is why this is such a tough pill for some people to swallow. Ultimately, it's all fantasy and you use what works. But If I were a good Mexican actor, and a hispanic role went to Hank Azaria because he does a funny bit with an accent...I have to admit, it would bug me.
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On that note...If some white guy pulled his eyes back with tape and talked with a funny Chinese accent...that would bug me. Umm...there should be SOME Boundaries on certain types of casting.

 
I understand the point that you are trying to make but sometimes the people that play the roles in movies aren't always what they are playing.
Why dont mexican parts don't go to mexicans? I don't know.
How come the cartoon character aladdin isn't modeled after arab features ? His face is actually from tom cruise. And why do the rest of the arabs in aladdin wear turbins and their faces are dark and gloomy ?
Or how come none of the main stars in Memoirs of Geshia are japanese ?
Or how come Jason Scott Lee plays Mowgli in the jungle book when Mowgli is in India and Jason Scott Lee is of Hawaiin and Chinese decent ? The truth is this happens to all cultures and races of people in movies and it's not something that is singled out in any particular culture or race.
 
Well, what about pretty much the ENTIRE CAREER of Ben Kingsley?

And the atrocious Russian accents?

And the lack of a decent Quechua accent from anyone but Cyndi Lauper?

It's not just the accents, and the ethnicities, fellas... why cant' they get people who know anything about computers to consult on "geeky" dialogue? Why can't they use decent pianists for hand-shots (or even use actors who can play a piano for pianist roles)? Why can't anyone get microgravity issues correct in sci-fi movies?

I guess it would take the fun away.

Anyway, why is Gael Garcia Bernal playing Che?
 
Sean Michael said:
Consider Cold Mountain, the American Civil War plight of two Southerners --Aussie Nicole Kidman and Brit Jude Law--in North Carolina (shot in Romania). :grin:
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Actually Kidman is like Gibson, born here (Hawaii), moved to DC for 3 years then to Sydney where her parents were from.
Date of birth (location)
20 June 1967
Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
 
SilverWolf said:
I understand the point that you are trying to make but sometimes the people that play the roles in movies aren't always what they are playing.
Why dont mexican parts don't go to mexicans? I don't know.
How come the cartoon character aladdin isn't modeled after arab features ? His face is actually from tom cruise. And why do the rest of the arabs in aladdin wear turbins and their faces are dark and gloomy ?
Or how come none of the main stars in Memoirs of Geshia are japanese ?
Or how come Jason Scott Lee plays Mowgli in the jungle book when Mowgli is in India and Jason Scott Lee is of Hawaiin and Chinese decent ? The truth is this happens to all cultures and races of people in movies and it's not something that is singled out in any particular culture or race.
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Hey Silverwolf,
the only reason I brought up Mexican is becuase that is what I am and it bothers me when this happens. I was under the assumption that there might me some union regulations or something stopping the movie companies from hiring anyone not a member of some group. The other thing is when they do hire Mexican, it seems they get the really ugly ones (not saying Im handsome than the rest) Anyways, you know how it is.

thanks for your response.
 
yeah so a mexican can play indian also ? right? because of the mixed blood indian and spanish and possibly french soooo....you could play more roles? couldn't you?
 
i don't know about you but i like it when EDDY MURPHY plays an old jewish man and i like BILLY CRISTOL playing an old black man. thats entertainment!
 
kimko said:
and i like BILLY CRISTOL playing an old black man. thats entertainment!
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He and Christopher Guest were great in that SNL skit about the Negro Leagues baseball players. Cooking smelts in the stands. :grin: :grin: :grin:
 
I think Danny Trejo can play an Indian. Both American (Lou Diamond Philips Brother) and from India, and also I think he could be like a terrorist Character (a guy with a bomb). As long as he doesn't show his tatoo on his chest.

I have gotten some good feedback from everyone. I think someone should go to Mexico and see the "Americans" in some of the Mexican Comedies. Now there you can hear the accents. I think they make me laugh becuase of the way they sound versus what they say. I think they just get the lightest skinned Mexican you can find and have them fake spanish with a funny american accent.

oh well,

I guess you have to use what you can get sometimes.
 
i worked with Trejo on a set called trojan or something like that. and he had a great story about him and bobby deniro on HEAT. how bobby d. saw his death scene like so...then bobby asked him what he thought and Danny said this is bobby d. mind you so i said yeah sure thing mr.deniro
 
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