Will Will Parry be cast as a non-white?

[harles_dan]

Are we ready for a non-white protagonist in a children’s ‘book-to-film’? Imagine Harry Potter being a young Black, Arab or Asian British boy...

Will is described as having straight black eyebrows, dark hair, a strong, jutting jaw, and often a passionate ferocity in his eyes. Will's description does not specify skin colour, which gives the casting director the opportunity to cast Will as a non-white.

Also, Will's dæmon Kirjava's name is Finnish for "multi-coloured" – is Pullman hinting that Will could be a non-white British boy...

Lets recap on Will's situation: he commits a terrible crime (kills a man) and has to live with the guilt; grows up without a father and goes on a quest to find him; suffered emotional abuse and neglect as a result of his mother having mental health problems and therefore had to take on adult responsibilities as a child; his biggest fear is being taken into care by social services; in his own world he is ignored by society; he comes to own a knife that gives him great power; he finds himself in many fearful situations throughout the story which requires him to fight.

From my own experience working with young disaffected and marginalised males in Northwest London, there are similarities in the issues that face both Will and children at risk of social exclusion.

Although it is socio-economic factors and not colour skin that impact on the risk of a young person becoming marginalised from society, for many reasons, there is correlation between ethnicity and socio-economics.

Last August an independent government report looking at the social and academic underachievement of Black boys in the UK highlighted a lack of positive role models, since British Black boys too often only see rap artists (who seem to have bad habit of glamorising crime) or sportsmen as successful Black adults.

We can all agree that Will’s qualities, that include being responsible, sensible, morally conscious and assertive will be admired by children who watch the film. If it is the case that children find it easier to identify with film characters who resemble themselves, and also, that the UK has an identifiable problem within the youth of a particular ethnic grouping, should Will’s ethnic background be considered when casting?

[latency]

Interesting idea, but we DO know that John Parry is white, because he's described as european by a man from Lyra's world, if he wasn't white-british then he'd be described as otherwise by someone from Lyra's world, where England is less diverse than ours.

I personally think this is a red herring... yes Pullman doesn't specify skin colour, but it's pretty well assumed I'd say...

[easyaslying]

yes Pullman doesn't specify skin colour, but it's pretty well assumed I'd say...

Yes, in the book it's pretty clear that he's white. That doesn't mean that they have to cast him as white in the movie, though, since movies often change these kinds of details. It's pretty clear that Lee's white, too, from all the physical descriptions of him, but Pullman said at one point that he could imagine Samuel L. Jackson playing the role in the movie.

I'd like to think that they'd give the role to the boy who seemed the most "right" in auditions/screen tests, regardless of race. If they did cast a non-white actor, though, you'd have the on-screen portrayal of an interracial romance, something Hollywood is still oddly squeamish about. Then again, if you're killing God in your film anyway...who's going to make a fuss about an interracial couple? They're going to have bigger issues than race to deal with if they stay true to the books...

[latency]

Yea... I was thinking about the interracial side of it as well...
You're right about it being a drop in the bucket with the rest of the controversy, but then I don't really believe in interracial relationships.
I'm fairly conservative about love and relationships, it's not that I don't think people of different race can love each other, or I think it's wrong, I just don't find members of other races attractive in that way, so it would seriously dampen the story's power for me...

[daftbrain]

I don't see how your personal preferences of women would affect the story's power. Why would the romance between Lyra and Will be any less powerful had they been of different races? Like you said, there isn't anything at all wrong with interracial relationships. It really should not be an issue at all.

[latency]

Well it impacts my ability to empathize with them... That of course, is my opinion though...

[DarthAsriel]

Who's the boy who did the voice for Pan? I always figured it would be a clever bit of casting to have him play Will-- unless, of course, he was obviously too old-- and eventually have Dakota provide the voice for Will's Dæmon.

[Phit]

That would be...very strange. Freddie Highmore voiced Pan, and I was quite happy with that as the thinking went "Not only was he really very excellent in that role, now he won't be cast as Will being that he's become one of two or three 'obvious choice' young British males."

The BBC Radio 4 Will was a young black boy. I can't recall his voice at all but I do know he never had the worst dialog.

It's the difference in medium, to be sure, but there was only slight immediate wonder at the second-round casting at the National Theatre as Lord Asriel was black. Doesn't really work genetically speaking, but most people are willing to overlook genetics for acting.

So, I'd say the same route here: overlook whatever...whatever and if they do open casting again, keep to the "right for character" guideline. All the time it's taken for the movies and despite what I thought earlier, Wetiz's original choice for Will may have turned out quite well. Too old now, though. Still, they might not go the route this time of open casting.

Open casting for Lyra was pretty obvious if you looked at the track records of the folks involved. But now that you're introducing someone "new-but-experienced" to another lead actor it might not be the same decision.

As with the later additions to the Potter movies (I say this because we have the same child-actor casting director) any Will Parry they cast might be someone with some experience already. It does seem to go half-and-half for new v. slight experience casting, though on the Potter...kids? Can I still call them kids? Bunch.

[harles_dan]

When reading HDM of course, I – along with everyone else – created an image of Will being white. Why wouldn’t you?

There seems to be a pattern when looking at the ethnicity of children’s book-to-film male protagonists: Harry Potter, Frodo and Sam, Eragon, Klaus Baudelaire (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Peter Pevensie (Narnia), Charlie (the Chocolate factory one), Danny (the Champion of the World)… the list goes on… or just mainstream heroes: James Bond, Rocky Balboa, Indiana Jones, Jason Bourne, Neo, Ethan Hunt… or even human superheroes: Batman and Robin, Superman, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Wolverine…

Obviously, you have to be white to save a fantasy world from disaster.

Personally, when watching The Subtle Knife in the cinema, the colour of Will’s skin is irrelevant, but for a non-white British boy, seeing Will Parry cast as a Black, Arab or Asian boy would be a shocking and powerful experience. In multi-cultural Britain, isn't about time that we had a multi-cultural children’s hero?

[Kirramagic]

I think it'd be great if Will was cast as black ^^ but in the end I think it depends on the acting skill in the end. Performance is the most important thing in all great filming and theatrics.

[DarthAsriel]

The other thing I thought was this-- If Weitz does, hopefully, get to do the rest of the series, he'll need a bridge between the ending of TGC and the beginning of TSK-- a way to cut between Lyra's and Will's stories. If Highmore played Will, we'd have a very interesting edit-- Pan, with Highmore's voice, and then Will, as Highmore himself. It would make a very nice kind of jump cut, with the shared, subtle association helping to make the transition a little easier.

Again, this is all supposing anything else gets greenlit...

[faze]

Now you mention it, Will would work really well arabic.
Hadn't thought of it, but it fits now youn mention it.

[consciousparticles]

That'd be stupid as hell to have Freddie Highmore as Will. Whoever suggested that should have their head examined!

[Kirramagic]

I agree with that one.

[Faa]

When Lyra/Will go to our Oxford, they pretend to be brother and sister. Half-caste Will could be believable. But even Lyra, Lyra pants on fire could not make the lie believable if Will were Pure-blood ethnic.

On the other hand, if the Movie cuts out the brother/sister lie, then anything is possible.

[consciousparticles]

When reading HDM of course, I – along with everyone else – created an image of Will being white. Why wouldn’t you?

There seems to be a pattern when looking at the ethnicity of children’s book-to-film male protagonists: Harry Potter, Frodo and Sam, Eragon, Klaus Baudelaire (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Peter Pevensie (Narnia), Charlie (the Chocolate factory one), Danny (the Champion of the World)… the list goes on… or just mainstream heroes: James Bond, Rocky Balboa, Indiana Jones, Jason Bourne, Neo, Ethan Hunt… or even human superheroes: Batman and Robin, Superman, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Wolverine…

Obviously, you have to be white to save a fantasy world from disaster.

Personally, when watching The Subtle Knife in the cinema, the colour of Will’s skin is irrelevant, but for a non-white British boy, seeing Will Parry cast as a Black, Arab or Asian boy would be a shocking and powerful experience. In multi-cultural Britain, isn't about time that we had a multi-cultural children’s hero?

This needs to change. Not every character has to a white person. And though some of his movies are aweful, I think it's cool tha t Will Smith is changing th etrend for the better.

[faze]

There seems to be a pattern when looking at the ethnicity of children’s book-to-film male protagonists: Harry Potter, Frodo and Sam, Eragon, Klaus Baudelaire (A Series of Unfortunate Events), Peter Pevensie (Narnia), Charlie (the Chocolate factory one), Danny (the Champion of the World)… the list goes on… or just mainstream heroes: James Bond, Rocky Balboa, Indiana Jones, Jason Bourne, Neo, Ethan Hunt… or even human superheroes: Batman and Robin, Superman, Captain America, Captain Marvel, Wolverine…

Obviously, you have to be white to save a fantasy world from disaster.

Personally, when watching The Subtle Knife in the cinema, the colour of Will’s skin is irrelevant, but for a non-white British boy, seeing Will Parry cast as a Black, Arab or Asian boy would be a shocking and powerful experience. In multi-cultural Britain, isn't about time that we had a multi-cultural children’s hero?

Anybody heard of noughts and crosses?

[ArcT]

The Malorie Blackman series, I'm assuming, not the paper game

I wouldn't have a problem with Will being cast as an african or eastern guy, but I wouldn't view it as following the story, more following political correctness and avoiding a controversy that probably wouldn't happen.

[daftbrain]

Would that still be the case if during open auditions, the most talented young actor that fitted Will's personality perfectly happened to be of African descent? Many theatre companies use 'colour-blind' casting, where the best actor for the role is cast. And in film you also often find good black actors playing roles written for white actors. I know it's different to an actor having the wrong hair colour, but is it really all that much different. It would be different if the role were say, Ed Norton's character in American History X or if it made no historical sense but Will's race is certainly not that specific. PP could've stated that Will's race was something other than white when he first describes it and it wouldn't have made any difference to the actual story, in my opinion.

[ArcT]

Yes, it would still be the case, 'm afraid. My experience of the world says that's far too often what happens, so I'm inclined to, unless I see otherwise, believe it.

[daftbrain]

I said make the assumption that you knew that that that actor was the most talented and best suited for the role. Whenever you see a great black actor playing a role originally intended for a white actor, would you just view it as the film-makers being politically correct?

[ArcT]

Not necessarily; it would depend who the actor was and the situation, I suppose. However, we aren't talking about great black actors in roles that were penned for white actors, we're talking about open casting roles where the best actor, as with Lyra, isn't necessarily the most well-known.

[daftbrain]

I know, but aside from the popularity of the actor affecting the casting director's decision, in both cases the casting director was looking for the most talented actor for the role. If it so happened that the most talented actor by far in open auditions for Will was a young black actor, I don't think it's fair to say that the film-makers are being politically correct in choosing that actor.

[ArcT]

In which case, it's all fine and dandy - however, having had more than enough of political correctness and the way it's integrated into everything nowadays I'm finding myself in the position where I'd need some kind of confirmation that was the case.

[Rossabo]

I don't think race should matter. Hopefully they'll pick the best actor, regardless of race.

Yea... I was thinking about the interracial side of it as well...
You're right about it being a drop in the bucket with the rest of the controversy, but then I don't really believe in interracial relationships.
I'm fairly conservative about love and relationships, it's not that I don't think people of different race can love each other, or I think it's wrong, I just don't find members of other races attractive in that way, so it would seriously dampen the story's power for me...

What do you mean by "attractive in that way"?