Oh, cool, Sia's committed to making everything about this Music casting even worse
Aux Features Music
Trebling—possibly quadrupling?—down on her commitment to making the controversy surrounding her casting choices for her upcoming film Music even more upsetting (and just generally worse), Sia gave an interview this week once again asserting, not just her right, but the moral good of her casting neurotypical performer Maddie Ziegler as an autistic person in the movie. This is per IndieWire, which reports on an interview the musician and first-time film director gave to Australia’s 10 News First, stating that “There is no way I could have used someone” of the character’s “level of functioning to play” the part that Ziegler plays, due to needing an accomplished dancer to play the version that exists in the character’s fantasy world. (Dear Sia: You’re aware neuroatypical people can still dance, right? Your pals, The A.V. Club.)
Anyway, Sia went on to say that she’s not sure why people are mad at her anyway, because Music—which will be accompanied by a whole new album of songs—isn’t “a documentary.” Speaking on co-stars Kate Hudson and Leslie Odom Jr., Sia asserted, as though this was the same thing, “Kate isn’t a drug dealer and Leslie Odom Jr. [who plays Ebo] isn’t from Ghana.” (Dear Sia, sorry to write you again so soon. Wanted to ask, though: Have you considered cutting your bangs? It might help you to stop missing the point so much. – AVC)
As previously reported, Sia has not handled criticism from the neuroatypical community of her decision to cast Ziegler especially well, firing back in November with assertions that her film was being unfairly judged, that people saying they volunteered to try out for the part were probably just “bad actors,” and just generally asking the heavens why everyone’s being so mean when she’s just trying to make her movie, huh? The interview this week really dials into the central fuck-up here, though: From what we can tell, Sia decided—based, reportedly, on working with the neuroatypical person the role was originally based on—that working with any neuroatypical person would be stressful and unworkable for her film. And when people pointed out that that almost certainly wasn’t true, she did the “Don’t do this on the internet, please” thing of not listening to criticism, and instead getting more and more defensive and pissed-off. It’s a bad formula, pretty much always, and it’s made increasingly bad things happen here.
Anyway. Music (the film) is due out in February, while Music (the album) is expected to start rolling out in January.
277 Comments
I’ve really never understood the problem with actors playing roles of characters when they don’t have every trait of the character, and this article spends so much time wallowing in unearned snark that it doesn’t even make an attempt to make a case for why it’s bad, just assuming everyone will agree. C’est la vie, I guess.
Because there is no problem. William Hughes is a talentless douche.
The crux of the argument is that of representation. Let’s say you have a trans character: there are hundreds, if not thousands, of wonderful trans actors who very rarely get roles because there aren’t many trans characters, and having one of those rare trans roles be played by, like, Jared Leto denies them yet another opportunity.
So explain why the Leslie Odom comparison is bad? Plenty of actors in Ghana.
Hundreds if not thousands of wonderful trans actors?
Keep thinking it through, you’re almost there…
Maybe couple dozen?
Do you think there aren’t that many trans actors? Because there definitely are. Do you think they aren’t wonderful? If so, what’s your evidence to support that?
Hundreds of thousands even. Lol. And if you don’t cast one of these magically people he’s just conjured out of thin air, it’s amounts to human rights abuse apparently.
Yes, but Jared Leto, being a Method Actor, spent over a year pretending to turn in to a car (“Letobot”) for that role.
Name them.
The point is that a lot of them are unknown because of a lack of opportunity. But as for bigger names, there’s Hunter Schaeffer.
Did she audition for that part?
Way to Move the Goalposts!
Nobody here is your mom so go do your own homework.
You think that there are “thousands” of trans actors out there that can actually act? What world do you live in? Do you know how hard it is to even find a half decent actor at all? Then you’re narrowing it down to fractions of a percentage of available actors. There are very, very few trans people in the world, less that try to act, and even less that can actually act. Casting is way less simple than you think.
You have unimpeachable statistics to back up these claims of course
I see you have an “admirer” of sorts – this precognitions fella appears to be desperate for attention.
Yeah, apparently he thinks becoming obsessed with a random person on the internet is a totally normal thing to do
Ah yes probe a negative. Those statistics? You’re a fucking piece of trash.
So my sense of scale was off, sue me. My point is that when it comes to representation, they could’ve at least looked.
If talent were that rare anybody who was any good would be guaranteed multiple leading roles and a mansion in Beverly Hills. There’s a shit ton of talented folks who just never make it.
Talent is rare AND there is a wild oversaturation of talented people attempting to find success in these fields. It’s what happens when you have a country of 300 million on a planet of 10 billion and everyone wants to be famous.
Care to cite your sources or did you just pull this out of your ass?
It is not hard at all.What are you having trouble casting? Maybe I can help.
Are you kidding? For every successful actor, there are a 100 actors just as talented who aren’t successful.
Bullshit. There are hundreds of capable actors out there who never get their break. That is exactly the same complaint that’s been used in defense of racist casting for forever. “There simply weren’t any good black actors for the part, so we went with a white guy again.” But it’s very hard for actors outside the mainstream mold to get agents or get on the radar of casting agents because of discrimination. Pose managed to cast an entire series with excellent LGBTQ actors of color, which should have been impossible by your standards. It’s not the rarity thats the problem, it’s the bigotry.
Yeah, but African Americans are like 30% of the population. There’s plenty of them. Trans people are like .5% of the population. They’re somewhat harder to find.
I get that, but I’d rather live in a world where a good trans/neurodiverse (etc.) actor can get a role as a non-trans/neurodiverse (etc.) character because they’re good at acting and are respected for their craft instead of being pigeon-holed – and vice versa. I know we’re a LONG way away from that and still obsessed with a desire to slap a label on someone and then expect them to conform to the popular image of that label instead of just letting them be whatever, but… Dreams.
Counterpoint:Acting!
There’s also probably a few thousand really shitty trans actors.
Oh god, not this again. Mean Jared Leto took the bread out of a trans person’s mouth.
Shit, there are barely fifty ‘wonderful’ actors period. Nevermind thousands of wonderful trans actors.
Trans actors are never cast in non-trans roles, which is why ensuring their representation in trans roles is so important.Autistic actors are cast all the time in non-autistic roles. It just might not always be apparent, and there are very, very famous autistic actors who you might not realize are autistic.
Your argument doesn’t take into account that celebrity recognition adds value to a film’s marketing. You can’t always replace a known actor with an equally talented stranger.
No one owes you or any actors anything. Nothings being taken away from them because they never had it in the first place. Starring in Hollywood movies isn’t a human right.
Unearned snark is William Hughes’ bread and butter, and basically the extent of his toolbox. Wonder if he really believes that all AVC readers think like he does or if he’s just trying to scare off the ones who don’t. Or if he does anything with intention at all.
Don’t give him the credit of an original voice. They all adopt the same exact obnoxious, prattling, fake hypermoral gossip girl affectation for stories like this. I wouldn’t be surprised if they had a style guide for it.
I used to be a daily AV Club reader—dating back to before the AV Club was even online. The quality of writing, the thoughtfulness, the humor—it was all second to none.At some point the AV Club traded the quality of writing for non sequiturs and typos, the thoughtfulness for paint-by-the-numbers, company-issued wokeness, and the humor for tired snark.Now, every few months I check in to see: “Is the AV Club still up its own ass with the same lame bullshit?” And, the answer is always “yes.”Someday, I will tell my grand-children about an ancient beast called “Nuance” back before she was stalked, slain, and driven to extinction by very stupid men like William Hughes.Until then: derp derp, motherfuckers!See you in a few months.
‘At some point’: that point was AVClub’s forced marriage to Gizmodo group. The good writers and fun commenters mostly left, replaced by clickbait and moral scolds.
My own theory is that Katie Rife as News Editor has forced this absurd mandate on them where a certain number of articles has to have some poorly done social justice angle, and they all lack the confidence to do it earnestly so they adopt this boring, smarmy way of communicating. It’s a defence mechanism against the fact they don’t really want to be doing it. I guarantee Hughes would rather be writing some onanistic ode to a video game or a Marvel movie instead of pretending Rowlings is the devil because she doesn’t think violent male-bodied sex offenders should be allowed in women’s prisons.
AH, the old “it’s called acting” argument. Look at it this way: when you’re picking out a Halloween costume, it’s fine to wear a doctor’s outfit, or a construction outfit. It’s fine to be Spongebob or Harry Potter. It is not, however, okay to dress up in blackface or an “Indian” costume, because people’s ethnic identities aren’t costumes and shouldn’t be trivialized as such.I’m a lawyer. I’m also autistic. I don’t expect most of the actors playing lawyers to be lawyers themselves, but having not been one until I went to law school, I know that it’s something that can be learned and imitated. I also know that while there are plenty of bad representations of lawyers in media (no, Legally Blonde is not accurate, for better or worse), most people are aware that they’re not especially realistic. The same cannot be said of autism. There is no amount of training that is going to get a neurotypical person to understand what it’s like to be autistic, any more than I (a pasty white cis-dude) could be taught what it’s like to be a Black trans woman. “Acting” as us isn’t mere imitation; it’s minstrelsy. And like minstrelsy, we autistics are still trying to undo the damage left by bad misrepresentation in popular media. (I am nothing whatsoever like Sheldon or Rain Man.) So no, speaking as one of the offendees in this particular situation, I don’t think the snark is remotely unearned. And that’s not even bringing up the parts about Sia being incredibly (and, frankly, cruelly) dismissive to actual autistic people who object to her effectively mocking us and using us as props, or her working with a hate group as supposed “experts.”
Whenever Black people in the industry [RIGHTFULLY] complain that there are few decent parts for them outside of what amounts to minstrelsy, white people come back with “well what about all the shows that show poor white people as ignorant yokels, etc?” And the answer is, “when there are so many varied complex parts for Black actors in media that a decision like casting John Boyega as ‘Finn’ elicits a yawn, you’ll have a point.” It’s about who gets to tell which people’s stories.
“It’s about who gets to tell which people’s stories.”On this we absolutely agree. The industry needs to do a much better job diversifying the creative voices it empowers and giving richer roles across the spectrum. “Whenever Black people in the industry [RIGHTFULLY] complain that there are few decent parts for them outside of what amounts to minstrelsy…”I do have hopes that things are getting slightly better in this regard, after a lot of attention has been directed to the dearth of black writers and directors in the industry. Anyway, last week I watched Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom at the drive-in and tonight I watched an advance screening of Sylvie’s Love, and both were tremendous showcases of black acting talent. So I hope the trend continues.
“It’s about who gets to tell which people’s stories.” Tom Hanks will agree to tell your story as long as your story is Tom Hanks getting to teach us all important lessons while he saves the world and mugs like Jesus Christ Almighty before he accepts his Oscar . . . for your story.
Are you equating black people with degraded mental capacity?
Are you equating autistic people with degraded mental capacity?
Are you implying that all autistic people are mentally disabled?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sealioning
Being autistic isn’t having a ‘degraded mental capacity’
Oh rest assured I was yawning when Disney announced they were repeating the demo grab Lucas attempted with Samuel L. JacksonAlso dude minstrelsy? For real? Shut up lmao the fuck are you on
Lol, no one asked you anything.
I posted this elsewhere but it’s worth providing context on why Autism Speaks is a terrible organization. Namely they released a video that compared autism to AIDS, one of their staff admitted to considering committing a murder-suicide with her autistic daughter, the husband of one their board members admitted to sometimes wishing his autistic son would drown in a pond, and partnered with an organization that tortures children with disabilities with electroshock therapy.
“It is not, however, okay to dress up in blackface or an “Indian” costume, because people’s ethnic identities aren’t costumes and shouldn’t be trivialized as such.”I didn’t mention ethnic identities. I agree that those are to be avoided due to their intentionally abusive history, and that’s long been pretty widely accepted. I was really speaking of other traits. It’s much more recently that the definition of forbidden traits has ballooned out (for example, Alec Baldwin getting criticized for being a sighted actor who played a sighted man who was later blinded in a film). And as a neuroatypical member of the LGBTQ community, I’ve never really found the complaints merited. Because yes, it is acting, and it can be done in ways that are not minstrelsy. I don’t object to a gay man playing a straight character or vice versa. The core of acting is to try to understand other roles, embody those character traits, and try to represent them. It can be done faithfully, it can be done honestly, and it can be done without mockery. I do think the point about representation is valid, but I’d rather see gay actors and trans actors and neuroatypical actors getting to play a fully diverse array of roles. And I completely recognize that the industry isn’t there, but my concern with that is that establishing a rule that only autistic actors can play autistic characters will simply reinforce for casting directors that autistic roles are the only roles they should be casting autistic actors in (which would be bad, and a disservice to their acting skills), just as trans characters should be able to play whatever they want.Anyway, I’m sure we won’t agree on this. That’s fine. I don’t know much about Sia but I agree with you that her comments seem unnecessarily hurtful (even setting aside the merits of her casting choices or lack thereof) and should be condemned. And if anyone wants to boycott the movie because of her comments, because of the casting, or frankly for any other reason, they’ve got my full support.
You presume the film is trivializing the portrayal.
How much of Breakfast at Tiffany’s would *you* need to see to determine Mickey Rooney’s character trivializes Japanese people? I’ve seen the trailer for this film. Same basic deal.
I saw the trailer too. It’s not very detailed. You’re making a terrible comparison. Also who gave you the right to diagnose what autism “looks like”?
No person could give me the right. On the other hand, the fact that I’m autistic, many of my friends are autistic, I’ve done a great of research on the subject, and I work professionally in the field and collaborate frequently with ASAN and other autism-focused groups (not to mention disability groups writ large) makes me substantially more qualified to say what it looks like than the average person. And if you don’t want to take my word for the offensiveness of the portrayal, maybe listen to ASAN. Or AWN. Or the UK’s National Autistic Society. Or literally almost anyone else who has expertise on the subject.
Why would I give a fuck what you or anyone else has to say about a film’s right to exist? Literally nobody could ever make that proclamation convincingly outside of a critic and even then I’m apt to ignore them.
Literally nobody could ever make that proclamation convincingly outside of a critic and even then I’m apt to ignore themWay to amp up the anti-intellectualism.
I’m happy to engage you intellectually once you start using your brain.“Someone with social clout related to this argument made a pathos argument, give it more weight and don’t think about it” is not an intellectual argument.
It’s the most unwatchable part of the film. Utterly disdainful. Embarrassing even.
The fact that you people keep consistently falling back on a sixty-year old film most people have never actually seen might indicate that this might be more nuanced discussion than ‘literally the same as the most famous case of yellowface in all of media’.
You people, huh?
So, you can tell by looking at the actress that she doesn’t have autism?Welcome to being utterly full of shit.
He was Japanese?
“Same basic deal” You are…. such an idiot. It’s unbelievable.
I think it’s fair to say that having Autism Speaks (an organization with no autistic people on its board) involved means we’re gonna end up with something stupid.
Well the writer/director is. Why would you think otherwise?
I’m on the spectrum myself and I think Sheldon’s a great character, even though (I like to think) I’m not an asshole like him. As far as the idea that only autistic people should play autistic people: do you think characters who suffer from mental illness should only be played by people with the same illness?
I wouldn’t take it quite that far, but to be honest, I can’t fully articulate a precise line to draw. Some mental illnesses, such as anxiety and depression (both of which I’ve dealt with in the past) are more problems of degree than of type – everyone has anxious or depressed moments, even if they’re of a lesser degree, so they can relate on that level. By contrast, there is research showing that autistic people simply function differently, and that we can communicate with each other better than with NTs, which makes it easier to say that NTs simply can’t truly understand us. Some other mental illnesses are tougher calls – schizophrenia, for instance, or MPD – and I don’t really have a good answer on those. I don’t think that lack of an answer necessarily undercuts the need for representation, though.
If understanding is the problem, then answer this: can an actor successfully play. say, a Holocaust survivor if they’ve never had a similar experience?
I do think there’s a relevant difference between experiences and identity. I don’t think someone need be Holocaust survivor to portray one, though I do think it would help to be Jewish (or Roma, etc). I think autism is more analagous to casting along racial lines – I wouldn’t cast a white guy as MLK or Mandela, for instance. I also think that, for representation purposes, it’s more acceptable to cast oppressed actors in roles from the oppressive group (like in Hamilton, to name maybe the most obvious example) than the other way around, though that’s at least partially a separate issue.
Am I the only person still pissed off that Eddie Murphy played 7 different fat people in the Klumps? Do you know how many fat Americans would have died for those roles? And he played the female parts? Wake up people. Cancel Hollywood.
So jews can only play jews….white people can’t play black…but the blacks can also play the whites because booooo wypipo? You know you’re falling down quite a rabbit hole of dumbfuckery here, right?Also I am not a sia fan so not trolling. You know that you’re on a hell of a slippery slope right?
I think being a Holocaust survivor is more removed from most people’s experience than being autistic is.
Obvious false equivalency is obvious.
False equivalency in which direction? I don’t see why it would be easier for most actors to imagine themselves as a Holocaust survivor than as an autistic person.
As was patiently explained to you, one is an identity and one is an experience. Maybe stick to defending JK Rowling, as you’re wasting you energy with false equivalencies here. Or maybe defending bad takes is just your default position.
I read the explanation, I just didn’t agree with it.
Well if you post that water isn’t wet and numerous people point out to you that water is, in fact, wet and you refuse to believe it, then this is really a “you” problem, and maybe you need to work on that. We can help with ignorance, we can’t help with deliberate obtuseness as cover for a closed mind.
I wasn’t disagreeing with the idea that identity and experience are different; I disagree with the idea that they’re different in a way that makes it so actors can play people with different experiences but not identities. Since you have such an open mind, I’d like to see you explain how it’s harder for the average actor to get inside the head of an autistic person than a Holocaust survivor.
Well, you’re being deliberately obtuse again. It’s not about whether its harder for the average actor to get into the head of an autistic person vs a Holocaust survivor. It’s about whether autistic people can be able to participate in (and profit from) their own stories. It’s about engaging with the community that Sia claims she is trying to portray. It’s about excluding autistic actors from the very stories that are (allegedly) about them. And yes, I think any story that centers on the Holocaust must absolutely engage with survivors, historians, and the affected and think about how to portray it sensitively, especially since Holocaust survivors have aged out of that portrayal, they can’t play the part but should be part of the process. Sia has apparently done fuck all to truly engage with the community and has simply doubled down on her idiocy when that community has attempted to communicate with her.
The comment of mine you originally responded to was about the issue of whether non-autistic people should be allowed to play autistic people, not about engaging with the autistic community, so I don’t know where you got the idea that’s what I was talking about. When I responded to Harpo’s original comment he got what I meant, so I don’t see how I’m the one being obtuse in this exchange.
I addressed that issue in my comment.“It’s about whether autistic people can be able to participate in (and profit from) their own stories. It’s about engaging with the community that Sia claims she is trying to portray. It’s about excluding autistic actors from the very stories that are (allegedly) about them.”But it is also very much about engaging with the community, which is what Sia is not doing, which is why she does not understand the issue. If she engaged with the community in a deeper and more meaningful way, they could discuss the ins and out of playing an autistic person and all the questions about portrayal of autism on screen and who should be doing it.
Does that mean an autistic person has to play the autistic character?
You’re JAQing off again.
Who the fuck are you to talk to Dino Ironbody like that?
I believe JAQing off is when someone uses questions to pretend not to be giving an opinion, and I think I’ve made it clear I think non-autistic people should be able to play autistic people. I’m not hiding that opinion under the guise of just asking questions.
That’s a life experience as opposed to an innate trait.
It’s a life experience that I think is more removed from most people’s experience than being autistic is.
I would say I strongly disagree with that unless you want to be more specific.
I’m wondering just how different you think autistic people are from others.
Their experience of the world is different. How different do you believe being black in America is from being white? Are you OK with white people portraying black people?
That’s why I picked being a Holocaust survivor, since I think that’s an experience that’s more different from most people’s than being autistic is from not being autistic.
And I strongly disagree. Most people have not been raped, murdered, in horrific accidents, or committed cannibalism, but that requires acting. It is as impossible for someone not autistic to understand what it is like to be autistic as it is for a white person to really understand what it is to be a black person (or brown, or native) in society.
Going back to an earlier question: do you think mentally ill characters should only be played by actors with the same illness?
It depends on how mentally ill they are. In some cases, it would be near impossible to shoot a movie with someone with severe problems.In Sia’s case, it appears she never even tried to find an autistic person who could dance.
Even if she could’ve done a better job of outreach to the autistic community, I don’t think that means only autistic actors can play autistic characters.
But she did not try. You are avoiding the point. Attitudes like yours glibly justify the white hetero male ableist norm. In this case, if there are autistic actors who can play the role why not use them? Why wouldn’t you seek someone from that community first?
I entered this whole discussion when I replied to Harpo’s assertion that only autistic actors should play autistic characters. All the stuff about her lack of outreach to the autistic community may have been part of the article, but it wasn’t what I was talking about. Also, I’m on the autism spectrum myself, so I’m not part of the “norm” in this instance. I can see why it would be a good idea to try out autistic actors for the role, but I don’t see any obligation to pick one of them for it.
We were wondering why you picked a Holocaust survivor . How bout a 9/11 survivor?
Why would that be better?
I don’t know.
and that we can communicate with each other better than with NTsWhat, do you speak in binary like that one Star Trek species?Get over yourself. Because what you’re saying here is that “neurotypicals” (eyeroll) can’t communicate as well as you do, which is pretty “ableist” in its own way.
They do. They think actors should only play their precise demographic without deviation. Soon it will expand so even having an popular actor play a poor person will be some sort of moral crime since they can never know what its really like to be poor. These people love rules and laws around what they think is moral. They are the type of people who internally propped up countries like East Germany for fifty years.
Good lord. Everyone is autistic these days. It’s the new ADHD, but less overmedicated. If you’re a lawyer then you’re on a “spectrum” of autism that is meaningless. You’re just like everyone else. Claiming fucking minstrelsy is about the most offensive thing I could imagine. You think you can lay claim to the wildly repressive history of minstrelsy and it’s effect on people of color? When you walk down the street nobody judges you, nobody side-eyes you, or crosses the street because you look autistic. You aren’t going to get pulled over because you look autistic. Spare me the offense of a fucking lawyer feeling put upon.
I was debating even dignifying your BS with a response, but to respond to a couple particularly offensive points:1) You think I’m not judged? You try walking down the street with a bunch of visible motor tics sometime and see how people respond. And I’m more able to mask than many.2) The notion of “if you can X then you’re not disabled” is so ableist it’s almost comical. Autism isn’t an intellectual disability, even if it frequently cooccurs with one. I can’t hear loud noises without being in physical pain. It took me well into my 20s to be able to have a normal conversation with most neurotypical people. Just because I’m not Rain Man doesn’t mean I’m not autistic. 3) You think there’s no history of offensive portrayals of developmental disabilities and a corresponding effect on disabled people? That’s just laughable. Do some research. And we *still* don’t have full rights in many cases.I’m not wasting any further time with you. Go educate yourself, because speaking out of ignorance isn’t doing you any favors. Or, as Mark Twain (allegedly) said, “better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to open one’s mouth and remove all doubt.”
I was debating even dignifying your BS with a response I debated about two seconds and then put in the smallest amount of effort to post an appropriate meme. Capeo is a horrible person and sincere kudos to you for making an attempt to educate them.
Boy, you sure “opened your mouth” on this one…
I’m autistic too and I think you’re being a fucking pussy.Let’s determine which one of us is more autistic and that person gets to be both right and morally superior.
Have you considered sparing the world your horse shit and killing yourself, dumb fuck?
You sound like someone who knows nothing about autism. Here’s some advice: actually learn some things before you start shitting out such stupid thoughts. Alternatively, shut yourself in a nice, cool basement where you won’t be bothering anyone.
How do you ‘look autistic’?
There are lots of successful people who have autism. If you want to cut off diagnosis at a level of severity that would inhibit success, then fine, but I know people on the spectrum who you might not realize at first.
Bravo, capeo.
…so why didn’t you become an actor, instead of a lawyer?
…because I didn’t want to?
Wow, you thought you had a point there, didn’t you, buddy?
Not really.I know I have a point there. But keep practicing those comebacks – you’ll get ‘em one day!
What about Danny Pudi?
What about moving the goalposts?
This was a great, truly informative result, and I appreciate you giving your perspective on it. As to the fact that a neurotypical actor couldn’t possibly truthfully imitate a neuroatypical experience – I agree – even if they could, why add that extra level of work? If you want to cast a hulking muscleman in a film, you call the Rock, you don’t put Zach Braff in a foam muscle suit and tell him to try and make it look realistic.
“If you want to cast a hulking muscleman in a film, you call the Rock”Or Mark Ruffalo
Zach Braff would love to put on a foam suit. He really would, he’s not that busy.
Thank you so fucking much for this take.
It’s like you don’t even understand that what you’re talking about amounts to pigeon-holing and that it means that austistic actors can ONLY play austistic because it’s apparently their defining characteristic.
The fact that you had to turn yourself inside/out to support a position that says nothing about art, but everything about performative outrage tells me that society has reached peak precocity (in the worst sense of the word). I’d bet you also believe in a ‘fair and just world’. Holy shit, just take your holier-than-thou pov to the bank and see what you can get for it. Kenneth Branagh, Irish born, plays a Russian oligarch in Tenet. Why TF didn’t they get a Russian to play that part?Or maybe you’re just itchy because this is mostly a woman’s project. You, Groucho and Chico can fuck right off with your elitist BS.
I don’t think you actually want to be educated on this matter at all, but just in case I’m wrong – disabled/trans/queer/non-white people have been very patiently educating people on this topic for a long time, and acting as though this is a difficult concept that needs to be explained and justified in every article is very silly. maybe do some reading on your own time?
“maybe do some reading on your own time?”I read this article on my own time.
yeah, and you felt it lacked information? I’d be more than happy to forward you some more reading on this topic if you were genuinely interested. I just didn’t get that impression based on your first comment.
I’m at work.
Wait, that’s a very intelligent and progressive statement. Are you sure you’re a Bad Janet?
Yeah, this is something a two second google could have easily educated them on.
They do that a lot to stuff, and then they still review the film and interview its actors and give it endless free publicity despite supposedly hating it. It’s bullshit. They just know there is ad revenue in any story that presents an opportunity to be hypothetically offended and then argue about nothing.
Standard clickbait writing: anger clicks are just as good as any other.
They’ve written about this before. It’s linked in the first sentence.
William has turned into a complete slug. He doesn’t even try and give a reasonable representation to what the other person is saying. Even if you don’t agree with them you can at least portray them honestly. Not Hughes.
Have you seen the trailer? It’s gross. I have autistic friends, and they do not spend literally every moment with their mouth hanging open in a dopey smile. It’s painfully obvious that no autistic people were consulted re: this.
Yeah, it’s Sia’s project. She can do whatever TF she wants with it. She isn’t obliged to cast someone according ever-changing public opinion. This just seems like another excuse to criticize a woman (the oldest human pastime).
I have the feeling Sia just really wanted to make a dance musical starring Maddie Ziegler so casting someone else was never an option. In which case Ziegler’s character and her story should have been reconsidered.
This is the crux of it, IMO. Someone on twitter shared a bunch of interviews where Sia is talking about Maddie, or vice versa, with the claim that the relationship (which started when she was a little kid) is unhealthy at best and downright abusive at worst. Everything else she’s doing is dancing around the point that Maddie is “her muse” (ugh) and the movie had to have HER and no one else play the lead. Maddie apparently didn’t even really want to do it.
It weirds me tf out that Sia uses this kid as her avatar when she’s been so outspoken about the damaging effects of fame and hypervisibilty, especially for women. On a deeper level, the fact that child actors are even allowed to be a thing anymore weirds me out. It’s so bizarre to me that we’ve outlawed child labour elsewhere but still routinely offer up children for exploitation (of labour, at best, and much darker shit at worst) in the entertainment industry.
You think that no movie or television show should ever have roles for minors, ever?
No, I don’t think so? I’m honestly not sure what the solution here might be, just that sometimes it’s really strange what we decide is acceptable. And it makes me uneasy to think about our role, as the general public, in this industry and what harm is perpetuated there for our consumption. I obviously love TV and movies, but sometimes I wonder what society would look like if this wasn’t the fulcrum of our culture.
YEAH!
ps, that’s not blackface. He’s just dirty. it’s his job.
Coal mining is CANCELED
And like, Maddie is a reality TV star. They’re usually the ones suffering most from overexposure at a young age, or does she think that means Maddie is better at handling it?I have to say though that child labor laws do apply to entertainment to a degree. Child actors have a set working hours and I think they need to have people responsible for their safety on set. This is why movies and TV shows routinely cast actors in their 20s as teens, since those laws don’t apply to them, and sometimes child characters get filmed from angles and distances to hide the fact they’re using body doubles when said actors are unavailable because it’s outside of their working hours.
For sure, I think there are more safe-guards in place nowadays for child actors, and hopefully more parents have realised that like, they shouldn’t let their 12 year old party with the 45 year old producer at his house. Casting adults as teens is interesting as well, because it kinda opens up an entirely different issue and has potential to cause harm in a different way (i.e. body image issues and sexualisation of teenagers). Like it protects child actors from the difficulties of working but has wider implications for the kids actually watching the content.
But yeah, I don’t get how Sia is able to justify using Maddie in the way she has. Maybe she felt she was being a good influence, which she probably was just because everyone else in the reality TV world is fucking batshit? Idk.
I really don’t know the details of that relationship but I can’t help but err on the side of caution and agree: it looks unsavory and flies in the face of a woman who purposefully covers it up with a ridiculous wig.
It weirds me tf out that Sia uses this kid as her avatar when she’s been so outspoken about the damaging effects of fame and hypervisibilty, especially for women.Louis CK used to do entire comedy bits about what a menace men are to women. The entertainment industry is full of hypocrites like that. There’s always some mental gymnastics they perform to justify why it’s different in this one specific case.
So, we just end all children actors or do you mean you want better labor laws? I’m genuinely confused by your hottest of takes.
Maddie apparently didn’t even really want to do it. “I didn’t even really want to do it,” Ziegler tells me as we step away from the curb. The taillights of the bus reflect on the wet road as two pools of red in the twilight. Apt, given the otherwise surprising lack of blood.As she gets back into the Suburan, Ziegler is already on the phone to her agent, anxiously seeking reassurance that she’ll still keep the money and fame that her former mentor has poured from every weird-ass music video straight into her bank account…
“I didn’t even really want to do it; but then Sia pulled an Uzi out of that giant bow thing on her head and said she’d shoot my dogs if I didn’t, so here we are. Didn’t people used to get Oscars for playing differentlyneurountypical . . . sorts?”
-Maddie
Sia’s definitely coming across as being a bit neurounty, that’s for sure.
It’s not ugh, Sia’s an attractive white woman so it’s cool, so everyone will tolerate it. See also: Asia Argento grooming that little boy so she could fuck him.
So the real bad person here is this Maddie. Fuck Maddie. Cancel her.
Yeah, I was listening to Louis Thereaux’s interview with her (which, side note, Sia sounded so . . . normal? As in quotidian Australian person instead of a person who thinks she’s a fairy, which is what I would have assumed) and yeah, her “connection” to Maddie, who was a child trapped in what frankly seems like an abusive situation, spoken as a true Dance Moms connoisseur, is fucking creepy.
Exactly this, it makes me so uncomfortable to see Sia insist on her own privacy and then have Maddie as her face everywhere, including doing a frankly uncomfortable music video with a (now) known abuser at the age of 12. I really hope Maddie is able to realize she doesn’t need to work with Sia to do what she loves /:
Sia still hasn’t decided if that Sith lord is her father or not.
Waaaa Sia owes me something waaaaa-You
Reading stuff like this, I wonder if ‘say nothing’ is a valid response in these cases. Like, people say stuff about something that they are unhappy with and then (in this case) Sia just…says nothing.I’d be curious about how that would pan out.
Can’t wait for all the commenters ready to make an ableist justification for casting a neurotypical actor.And for context Autism Speaks, the organization Sia is working with for this movie, is basically a hate group that has compared Autism to AIDS, one of their staff admitted to considering committing a mur, and partnered with an organization that tortures children.
Autism Speaks is everything you say it is, and Sia should have avoided autism altogether…but when you’re making a dance movie her choices were to have Ziegler play both the character and the character when she dances, have Ziegler play only the character when she dances (which would have led to a different but similar blow-up), or to have somebody who doesn’t dance like Ziegler. Considering Sia appears to see Ziegler as her inner soul child’s alter ego, which makes casting her about as forward-thinking as Tom Cullen in The Stand, that makes Sia a twit, but if you had a character who was blind but did a dream ballet you would have to cast a seeing actor, at least for the dream ballet character, which isn’t as amazing in Oklahoma as you might remember it (or Carousel). If the character wasn’t autistic, you would still cast a dancer for a dance role unless you wanted to be the typical Hollywood movie that casts Russell Crowe in a singing role.
By that logic, it’d be perfectly fine for a white actor to play a black character.
Oh being black is a skill now? Bad rejoinder. Actually I can’t quite figure out what your incoherent response means. ARE you suggesting that somebody might think a white person is more skillfully performatively black than a black person?
I’m simply saying that people on the spectrum have a unique experience that is next to impossible to for an NT actor to portray faithfully. Mainly because the autistic thinking processes, mannerisms, and triggers will vary wildly from one individual to the next and is very different from how NT’s function. To quote the Autism Self Advocacy Network:There is no one way to be autistic. Some autistic people can speak, and some autistic people need to communicate in other ways. Some autistic people also have intellectual disabilities, and some autistic people don’t. Some autistic people need a lot of help in their day-to-day lives, and some autistic people only need a little help. All of these people are autistic, because there is no right or wrong way to be autistic. All of us experience autism differently, but we all contribute to the world in meaningful ways. We all deserve understanding and acceptance.
My point was that to cast an NT actor to play an autistic role would be analogous to a white actor playing a black role because autism not just a disability with X, Y, and Z traits that apply to every single person. Being autistic isn’t a skill an NT can learn, it’s an identity and disability only those on the spectrum have any real experience with.
The very nature of autism is what makes this hard, though. As you say, no two people have the same experience. You have my daughter, who perseverates and stims but is working on a medical degree; and you have my neighbor, who is non-verbal, punches people, loves dancing, and will never be able to live on his own. To say that someone portraying either set of traits must themselves have those traits is fantasy. Then there’s the question of how much portraying one misrepresents the other. I don’t know the answer to any of this, other than awareness will always be important because people shouldn’t be learning what any disability is like from movies.
Which is why it’s important that autistic roles go to people who are actually on the spectrum. Right now, the general public’s view of people on the spectrum are either Dustin Hoffman’s character from Rain Man or Sheldon from BBT. The ones who don’t fit into either of these two binaries are basically nonexistent in terms of their presence in pop culture. If you have more people on the spectrum play autistic roles you help people learn about these varied experiences that would not only awareness but acceptance. And I’d argue the latter is far more important since people are aware autism exists but you still have ableist jackasses who defend this kind of bullshit casting and think autistic people can’t function on their own.
“we“
That’s absolute horseshit. Most neurotypical people don’t contribute anything to the world, they’re just locusts that consume. But if you’re on the spectrum you’re automatically a special unique snowflake that’s bursting with contribution?
Putting “by that logic” in front of your logical fallacy doesn’t negate your logical fallacy.
I think the takeaway from this point is very clear: Dream ballets suck and should be banned from movies and stage productions. Ballet stick to your lane!
(This is not sarcasm. I LOATHE the dream ballet in Oklahoma(!). Ruins the show for me.)
did you see “I’m Thinking About Ending Things”?
“but when you’re making a dance movie her choices were to have Ziegler
play both the character and the character when she dances, have Ziegler
play only the character when she dances, or to have somebody who doesn’t dance
like Ziegler.”
Or not have the character be autistic. There are so many other backstories as to why a character could be withdrawn and non-verbal with a rich inner life without taking on an identity that she clearly knows nothing about.
From what I understand, the character is based on one of Sia’s close friends. fwiw I think it was a bad idea too, because obvi people with disabilities exist only to make all of us love our brief spark of life, manic pixie disabled girl!
‘Abelist’ and ‘neurotypical’. Your post reads like satire.
Those are real words, yo. Well, maybe not “Abelist”, unless there’s a group dedicated to fighting Cainites.And the problems with Autism Speaks has been well-talked about by many, including those on the spectrum, for years.
I myself am severely prejudiced against farmers who offer up sheep to the Lord. I know that might not be very “PC”, but some things just aren’t right.
Don’t mind MikeD, only thing he does in these comments is practice boomer conservative complaints.
Maybe satire from a generation or two ago. But in 2020, it’s either that or dystopic sci-fi. (Come to think of it, I suppose there’s plenty of overlap between the genres, at least as far as authorial intent is concerned.)
Please tell me what terminology you’d prefer that would make you more comfortable?
I’m not sure I understand the request; did I seem to be arguing with you? I was not. If anything, I meant to suggest my direct addressee was a bit out of date. I really wasn’t that offended, though — particularly since satire runs the gamut of sympathies, and often benefits from deliberately obfuscating its own agenda (at least in the early going).Incidentally, I’ve been called “neuroatypical” myself (and other associated terms, by people with—and without—various advanced degrees), and I like the term just fine. “Ableist” is obviously a bit clunky, grammatically, but it gets the job done — and one possible benefit to its conscpicuously modern construction might be that it’s all the harder to ignore.
Hey fucko I’ve got an ASD, I think I have the slightest right to be concerned with how disabled people are treated by this and other industries. And hiring an organization that basically treats us as better off dead is not a good sign.
No you don’t. You don’t have a right to anything. You’re spending in foolishly broad platitudes and getting sanctimoniously indignant.
Real lovely class of folks we’re getting on this site nowadays.
You’re more than welcome to suggest words for those concepts that are more acceptable, you sealioning prick.
Quick question, can you go back to killing yourself by drinking lead paint and let people who don’t fuck their siblings continue having a grown-up discussion?
What words would you prefer disabled people use to describe discrimination against them that you’d find acceptable?
They’re just a low-rent troll with nothing to add. Ever.MikeD’s comment history sings a song of a person that just has a depressing confusion of how the world works, one of those people that can only process affirmations of how they think things should be.
Wow imagine being this sensitive about another person having the gall to write a comment and exist. He should have first considered how that would affect you, a person who doesn’t matter. You write like a 12 year old.
Hey MikeD. Have you considered killing yourself? It might help with your raging stupidity
Your post reads like a close-minded idiot wrote it. Oh wait…
Legit got into a two-day Twitter fight (yes, COVID has beat common sense into a quivering pulp) about using the term “latinx” as I have friends of that culture who prefer it in written (and some in conversational) use.
Tons of culture defenders trying to pile on about how “Spanish is already gender-specific” and how I was trying to be a “white savior” and how I should “go to Guatemala and try to use that shit.”
But none of them, and I suggest you might suffer from a similar issue, could recognize or even grasp the basic premise of the point: I’m going to respect how people want to be called. If you don’t like it, don’t use it. If you don’t want it used in describing you, I won’t do that. But the issue is respect for others.
Try it on for size and see how it feels before sizzling up a pan of spicy takes.
I suppose it might, to people who don’t know what words mean.
“ableist”Sorry you are so old and out of touch. Do you still want to say “colored”?
You’re objecting to using the appropriate terms for things?
No one needs to make an argument. It’s redundant. The whole point of acting is that if the actors are good, you can empathize despite them not actually experiencing the things they’re pretending to experience.
By that logic, you’d be ok with a white actor playing a black role. After all, if the actor’s good enough you can empathize with him regardless.
Are you fucking serious? Are you pretending to be stupid?
So would you be ok with a white actor playing a black character in movie if all that is require is this acting talent you keep saying that’s all that is required to play a character?
Dismiss my comment again and I will dismiss your original reply:So would you be ok with a white actor playing a black character in movie if all that is require is this acting talent you keep saying that’s all that is required to play a character?
Idris Elba played a Norse god. Check.
“By that logic”Film logic? The logic of empathy? The way humans learn, by imitating one another? Yeah, that logic. It doesn’t work on your shitty ass example for a very obvious reason, but it does work elsewhere.Fuck off.
…which is exactly why you want to be cautious about the way you depict those experiences and avoid depicting autistic people as spastic automatons who do one thing really well. See? Everyone is in agreement!
Yep! It’s only when people use a perfectly agreeable statement deceitfully, in order to pressure others to take a certain position that I have a problem.
You mean I can get autism via butt sex?
Are you a parody account? Because if you are, the joke is getting pretty old.
*And* she was warned that it is a hate group in, like, April.
No one cares what you think about anything or what you’re “waiting for”.You’re a joke and nothing you say matters to anyone.
As an aside, I’d like to take a minute just sitting right here to share my absolute loathing for the Sia Christmas song “Santa’s coming for us”. It’s being played relentlessly and I can’t take it anymore.Surely I can’t be the only one who thinks it sounds kinda creepy and predatory! Like Santa is Freddie Kruger or Jason Voorhees or some other movie villain about to come down the chimney specifically to deal with us! He’s coming for us! We’ve gotta hide! Before we get fed to his reindeer as minced meat! Chestnuts won’t be the only thing roasting on an open fire when Santa comes for us! (How is there not a horror movie franchise with an evil Santa going down chimneys slashing horny teens under the mistletoe …)
Maybe she’s from the future and thinking of this Santa?
Yeah… I liked her a lot better when she was singing about doing blow and being lonely in hotel rooms.
Sir, the Marianne Faithful thread is down the hall.
I’ve never been called Sir, but I think I like it…
Whomever is making you listen to this should be stopped. This is an apt description of an atrocity of a song. Just no.
It’s on TV here in the UK, used in ads for Christmasy amd non Chtistmasy products AND used during every ad break to promote … other shows coming up later. It plays in malls. It’s everywhere.Come back, Mariah’s All I Want, all is forgiven!!
I mean it’s based on a song in which he’s watching us sleeping and coming so maybe he’s always a creep, maybe it’s Maybelline, who knows?
Enjoy this Christmas Carol from the geniuses behind Adventcarolndar. There’s no escaping Christmas!
To be fair, it’s not like a mythical figure that can enter our houses at will and knows everything we’re doing is something that bears any real scrutiny.
I imagine she has no idea Tropic Thunder is a comedy.
What a crock. There was no ‘controversy’ over her original casting choices. There was just a few self-aggrandizing ax-grinders and you. She’s right on every count.
Just because you agree with her doesn’t mean her critics don’t exist
Mike has previously defended raping drunk women, so it’s not surprising his opinion on this topic is also shit.
“I personally agree with her” is not the same thing as there not being controversy.
Would you defend her if she was casting a black role with a white actor?
Yes, I love watching It’s Always Sunny and Tropic Thunder.
Maybe if it was Alison Brie.
Probably.
T(You know I am going to call that one a miss.) Still more believable than Nicole Kidman as the illiterate janitor, however.
T(You know I am going to call that one a miss.) Still more believable than Nicole Kidman as the illiterate janitor, however.
She’s wrong on every count. Kill yourself, MikeD.
If you want to avoid coming off as an old man waving his cane (as you always do), you might want to steer clear of phrases like “What a crock.”
neurotypical white man assures everyone that casting choice isn’t problematicas of press time, NT man is unsure why his word hasn’t settled the controversy definitively
I feel like this is one of those situations where she would have been way better off just saying nothing and letting it blow over.
That’s usually a smart move, but it’s a move people rarely avail themselves of.
AV CLUB: Sia still silent about her bigoted casting decision
That’s what I would do if I were her, but I admire her resolve. Interesting how people are willing to throw a woman of color under the bus for this. I bet a white man wouldn’t get this treatment.
Y’all are so sarcastic it’s almost totally obvious how much more talented you are and how it’s the fault of people like this that you aren’t famous yet.
Just say you think people with ASD can’t act or dance and be done with it.
So…the movie is based on a true to life story about a girl with autism who surmounted the odds to dance and Sia could’ve find an autistic actor who can dance??Got it.
The dance sequences in the movie are her fantasies, so no, that’s not it.
So. I had never even heard of Sia before this blew up a month or so ago. I’m a mid-40’s old that still tries to keep up with pop culture and music and all that good stuff, because there’s only so many times you can listen to Led Zep. I don’t get the appeal, and that header pic sums up how I’d like to not see her as well. It’s some narcissistic BS when you want to be on stage and be seen, but not let the fans see your face.
Sia: I want to make a movie about how non-neurotypical people are perfectly capable.Also Sia: This isn’t science fiction. Only my bestie Maddie Ziegler can play this part, as opposed to actual dancers on the spectrum. Why I’m not making a movie about how only Maddie Ziegler could play this role, because that premise makes a lot more sense than the ableist bullshit I’m peddling, is because I’m not an ally to the differently-abled.
I gotta go dance on the spectrum now
For reals, Dance On The Spectrum would be a much better title for this movie.
So the whole point of the movie is that people with a autism who have a certain “level of functioning” can still dance and do what they want, but Sia thinks it’s impossible to find an actual autistic dancers with the same “level of functioning”.I feel like Sia is missing the whole message of her own movie, guys.
I don’t think that’s what it’s about. My understanding is the dance scenes are symbolic of what she feels when she hears music.
Maybe, but the reason Sia gave is she didn’t get an autistic dancer because she wanted an “accomplished dancer” in the role, indirectly implying that autistic people can’t be accomplished dancers?
At the character’s level of functioning, she said. True, she could have found someone with autism who is an accomplished dancer, but would that be appropriate, since they’d still be playing someone outside their disability? Getting someone with autism is certainly better, but is it really good enough? Can Bill Gates relate to someone who is non-verbal enough to portray them, just because he’s also on the spectrum?
Anyway, what did she actually say? I honestly don’t know. This article links to an article which links to an article and I still haven’t found the actual interview.
I *think* the idea is that the character “dreams” herself a dancer but is in real life unable to do much movement.
Hey AV Club speaking of making things worse here you come to show Sia how it’s done.
Everything being said here is based on entirely on people having seen the film…..?
Sia is from my home town of Adelaide, so in the absence of an official statement, I would like to take responsibility for apologising to you all for releasing her to the world.
(Dear Sia: You’re aware neuroatypical people can still dance, right? Your pals, The A.V. Club.)This right here displays the same amount of bigoted ignorance that the article is trying to accuse Sia of having. There’s an entire spectrum of neurodiversity ranging from being good with numbers but bad with metaphors all the way up to wanting to murder people because they’re wearing the wrong colour jumper on a bad day and needing to avoid triggers like bright lights, loud noises and rooms full of strangers (like sound-stages). Just because one person is neuroatypical doesn’t mean they can represent – or even associate with – another neuroatypical character. There’s a million factors to consider and sure, I can learn a dance routine in my own home or a familiar environment and do it in front of friends, but doing it a thousand times in one day with all that stress and stimulus of a live set with music blaring and strangers watching and having seen four red cars in a row on my way to the studio and I couldn’t find my normal pair of socks for a Tuesday… Not so much. I’m really looking forward to what you think of them not casting a real psychopath for the American Psycho TV remake.
As an autistic person I’ve gotta say that I don’t get the uproar about this, like it’s Sia, who the fuck gives a darn about Sia in 2020? If it was someone of any importance then yeah sure.
Points for using”darn”. After using “fuck” to emphasize the darn.
The truth is that it’s money. Money, money, money. A name sells. Maddie Ziegler isn’t a huge name, but she’s probably got some cache. The trick is to get to the point where under represented people aren’t so under represented – who get parts in indies, small Hollywood film, TV – so they too can build up the name recognition. And to be honest, this film does feel like the sort of film where this choice could have been made. Though I don’t know what the budget, finances, expectations are – whether there was enough wiggle room to cast an unknown in the lead.
I don’t think it’s about money per se, though it probably would have been harder to finance this had Sia wanted to use an autistic actor. But Ziegler is a longstanding creative collaborator of hers, and I doubt very much she ever actually considered using anybody else.
Honestly, I don’t even think it’s that. Sia seems to think Maddie Ziegler is her soulmate (seriously, read some of the things she’s said about her; it’s almost an obsession). Sia seems to feel that she’s rescued Maddie from a bad situation (which I wouldn’t necessarily disagree with) but that also Maddie is, like, her spiritual other half.
I think it’s more that she’s obsessed with Maddie than anything else.
I like how you know for a fact that there’s a pool of autistic dancers out there going to auditions that’s just as wide and talented and varied as the pool of non-autistic dancers. You probably also know for a fact that it wouldn’t take any more time and energy and money to find the right specifically autistic dancer than it would be to just hold fucking auditions for dancers.
“Neurotypical”Where in the hell did this BS spring from?
Please avclub please give it a rest.Love,A decade+ long fan
Dustin Hoffman is cancelled and should return his Oscar, I guess. Leo Dicaprio nervously hopes no one remembers What’s Eating Gilbert Grape.
Honest question: what is people’s take on Claire Danes playing Temple Grandin? Is it different because she’s a specific person? Is it different because Grandin approved?
I ask this as a fan of Grandin and parent of an autistic adult.
“There is no way I could have used someone” of the character’s “level of
functioning to play” the part that Ziegler plays, due to needing an
accomplished dancer to play the version that exists in the character’s fantasy world.
Jesus Christ. This is twisting the knife.Like, how cruel can you be to set out to make what you think is an uplifting story aimed at neuro-diverse people but in promoting it come right out and tell them that you don’t think they could actually accomplish the thing your movie is about.
The point I get out of this is that Maddie Ziegler could simply be replaced by an equally competent autistic dancer. But that assumes that celebrity recognition has no value in selling a film. Those people need to explain why producers pay tens of millions for an actor who could be replaced with a competent one who’d work for a few thousand.
Lucille Bluth voice good for her!
Argument: “But there are thousands of ______ actors!”
Rebuttal: How many of those thousands are good actors? Actors who won’t tank the film with bad acting (See Hallmark movies)? Good actors are hard to come by let alone ones who fulfill the public’s desires.
Do you guys know that like 99% of the world doesn’t know or care about any of this?
I’m actually quite impressed with her refusal to be cowed by this kind of nonsense. Probably smart to go on the offense, as it’s impossible to appease the social media mob.
Eh. Who cares. She can take that bow and shove it, though.
So does pointing out that the trailer for this movie looks like hot garbage just trivialize the problematic casting? Cause this does… not look good. At all.
And why exactly was this written by a neurotypical person? Shouldn’t neuroatypicals have the right to write stories about themselves?
This is what happens when Survivor can’t make new seasons and Sia, a Survivor-superfan, has to find other things to occupy her time other than watching the show and randomly giving money to contestants she likes.Thanks, Covid!