Quizzes & Puzzles3 mins ago
Bryan Cranston - Wheelchair Controversy
Should disabled character parts only be the preserve of disabled people?
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Surely the point of being an actor is that you take on difficult and challenging parts, isn't it?
If disabled characters should only be portrayed by disabled actors, then presumably the specific disability should only go to actors with that disability - so in this particular case paraplegia. How many paraplegic actors are there? An actor without an arm is disabled, does that make him more qualified than Bryan Cranston to play the role?
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Surely the point of being an actor is that you take on difficult and challenging parts, isn't it?
If disabled characters should only be portrayed by disabled actors, then presumably the specific disability should only go to actors with that disability - so in this particular case paraplegia. How many paraplegic actors are there? An actor without an arm is disabled, does that make him more qualified than Bryan Cranston to play the role?
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No.
But there is a distinction between, say, actors portraying serial killers and actors portraying disabled people. No-one wants to widen access to the jobs market for serial killers, but having greater scope for disabled actors to break through into top jobs can hardly be a bad thing.
As Cranston said, though, there are also financial reasons. He's a good actor, he's a high-profile actor, and anything with him in it is going to be more successful than if the role had been given to an unknown.
But there is a distinction between, say, actors portraying serial killers and actors portraying disabled people. No-one wants to widen access to the jobs market for serial killers, but having greater scope for disabled actors to break through into top jobs can hardly be a bad thing.
As Cranston said, though, there are also financial reasons. He's a good actor, he's a high-profile actor, and anything with him in it is going to be more successful than if the role had been given to an unknown.
It's preferable to get disabled actors to play disabled roles if you can find one that suits your purpose, because it adds a certain authenticity both to the role itself and in the Director / crew preparing for the role, but it's not fundamentally necessary. However roles for disabled actors are few and far between so on that basis I'd be somewhat loathe to give a role to an able actor if there was a suitable disabled actor, but what I think is more important tbh is that we cast disabled actors in more able bodied roles where it doesn't matter if they are able bodied or not. When I think about people locally with disabilities I encounter, we have a Downs Syndrome person works in the cake shop, one of the mechanics has a prosthetic leg he lost in a motorbike crash, the guy who runs the printers is in a wheelchair and I'm sure there are dozens more if I think about it, yet as an industry we rarely cast disabled actors unless it's a plot point for them to be disabled, and we need to start doing THAT much more to reflect normal society. x
kval // I think is more important tbh is that we cast disabled actors in more able bodied roles where it doesn't matter if they are able bodied or not. //
I think your first 'able bodied' is superfluous there. There should be more roles where the person's physical abilities are irrelevant, and therefore anyone can be cast.
I think your first 'able bodied' is superfluous there. There should be more roles where the person's physical abilities are irrelevant, and therefore anyone can be cast.
Thanks Ludwig, not enough coffee yet :)
Films and TV are roughly split into credible and incredible, in credible things clearly thing have to be, well, credible, so Luther, Emmerdale, most cop and hospital shows take place in our real world and should reflect society accordingly. doesn't matter who or what rocks up in Dr who, Star Trek, Alien or Harry Potter.
Films and TV are roughly split into credible and incredible, in credible things clearly thing have to be, well, credible, so Luther, Emmerdale, most cop and hospital shows take place in our real world and should reflect society accordingly. doesn't matter who or what rocks up in Dr who, Star Trek, Alien or Harry Potter.
// And films like My Left Foot. What a silly suggestion.//
and twelve monkeys
think of the training involved
and The Bride of Frankenstein - they'd be looking for her into the next century
yeah and who would be small enough to act in The Dolls House?
yeah and Uncle Vanya - finding a man who is an uncle is easy enough - I mean even Kevin Spacey is - but he is not called Vanya
yeah and having to build a theatre around a cherry orchard to perform Chekhov's play
and twelve monkeys
think of the training involved
and The Bride of Frankenstein - they'd be looking for her into the next century
yeah and who would be small enough to act in The Dolls House?
yeah and Uncle Vanya - finding a man who is an uncle is easy enough - I mean even Kevin Spacey is - but he is not called Vanya
yeah and having to build a theatre around a cherry orchard to perform Chekhov's play
If there is a paraplegic actor out there with the same high profile as Brian Cranston then I'm sure he would have been considered. Its a matter of funding the film and attracting Investors.
A quick google shows that there are quite a few films/TV programmes starring actors with real disabilities. ( Including Breaking Bad)
A quick google shows that there are quite a few films/TV programmes starring actors with real disabilities. ( Including Breaking Bad)
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