Casting DiCaprio as Rumi: Hollywood Has Learned Nothing from #OscarsSoWhite

What better way to kick things off than by touching on a controversial topic?

I’m aware that words like “diversity” and “representation” get thrown around very liberally and sometimes incorrectly. I know that it can be annoying when it seems like someone just wants to pick a piece of media apart instead of just enjoying it. Believe me, I get it. I’m also aware that this controversy is just the latest in a long string of bad decisions indicating that Hollywood refuse to acknowledge that it has a problem.

For those who aren’t aware, Gladiator screenwriter David Franzoni is working on a script for a movie about Jalal al-Din Rumi, who is one of the most well renowned poets in Persian history. The controversy? He wants Leonardo DiCaprio to play Rumi.

Honestly, I’m less angry and more tired.

Some background: I am an American of Persian descent. My mom is from Iran and my dad is from India – although his family is also Persian. However, I’m considered a terrible Persian. I don’t speak Farsi, I don’t like Persian food, I’ve never been to Iran, and I’m not as well versed in its history and culture.
That having been said, my heritage is a part of who I am and I am proud of that fact. I also know that the great poet Rumi is a very important figure in Iranian and Afghani history – he was born in what is now considered Afghanistan – so having a lavish Hollywood production about the man is a really big deal.

 

What makes it an even bigger deal is that this would be an amazing opportunity for Middle Eastern actors to star in a prestigious biopic that wants to humanize them. Most Middle Eastern and Muslim actors are stuck with stereotypical roles that paint them as either out-of-touch foreigners with a hilarious accent, perpetrators of mass murder, objects of sexual objectification (usually women), or victims of religious fundamentalism (again, usually women). Even worse, sometimes they don’t even get to play these roles. Instead, they go to white or ambiguously brown actors.

Sure, we can expect that kind of thing from Old Hollywood where Othello was played by white actors in blackface and everyone was more or less cool with it, but we’ve seen this in so many recent movies including 300, Not Without My Daughter, and Prince of Persia. Both Rodrigo Santoro and Alfred Molina play villainous, irredeemable characters who are too cartoony to be taken seriously. Meanwhile, Prince of Persia has actors like Gemma Arterton, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ben Kingsley, and Alfred Molina (again) as well as an assortment of other non-Iranian actors. And Ben Kingsley being half Indian doesn’t count.

Even in movies that want to show Iranians in a sympathetic light, we still get non-Iranian actors playing these roles. Jon Stewart’s Rosewater is about journalist Maziar Bahari being imprisoned and interrogated in an Iranian prison. Bahari is played by Mexican actor Gael García Bernal. The leads of September in Shiraz are Adrian Brody and Salma Hayak. At least Salma Hayak is half Lebanese, which is more than I can say for Adrian Brody (unless his character isn't Persian, but I see no indication that this is the case). And there's Ben Kingsley in House of Sand and Fog. And before you say it, no, casting Shohreh Aghdashloo or any other Persian actor in your movie does not make the rest of the casting okay.

And although this isn’t about Persians in particular, let’s not forget the many times that Jesus Christ, a Jewish Palestinian, has been played by non-Middle Eastern and non-black (since it’s interpreted by some that Jesus might have been African, which is not at all far fetched) actors including Willem Dafoe, Diogo Morgado, Jim Caviezel, Jeffrey Hunter, Ted Neeley, Max von Sydow, Cliff Curtis, and Rodrigo Santoro (again, in the upcoming Ben-Hur retelling).

Yes, The Stoning of Soraya M and A Girl Walks Home Alone at Night had all-Persian casts, but those are the exceptions.

Some will say that Leonardo DiCaprio is a good actor, so he should be allowed to play Rumi anyway. Leonardo DiCaprio is a fantastic actor. He gives one of my favorite performances of all time in What’s Eating Gilbert Grape? where he plays a mentally disabled, possibly autistic, child. Like everyone else, I was happy to see him finally win an Oscar. I’m not denying that he’s talented because he is.

But he isn’t Persian. He’s not even Middle Eastern. And neither is Robert Downey Jr., who the screenwriter wants in the role of Shams of Tabriz.

Also, DiCaprio and Downey Jr. didn’t audition for anything. It’s not like there was a casting call and they were picked because they were the best. They’re being considered because they’re celebrities. And some might say that there are no celebrities of Middle Eastern descent to choose from. You realize no one just becomes a celebrity, right? Don’t you think racism and a lack of opportunity have made it difficult for Middle Eastern actors to become famous? They can’t audition for star-making roles if there aren’t any and when the few that exist just go to white or ambiguously brown actors. Don’t you think this would be a fantastic opportunity to create a Middle Eastern-American celebrity? Remember, Hollywood, “If you build it, [they] will come.”

And, again, casting Shohreh Aghdashloo or other Iranian actors in supporting roles will not make your whitewashing okay. But you should still do it anyway.

I’m aware that none of this is set in stone, which is why I urge Hollywood to learn from its mistakes. They keep casting white actors in roles meant for people of color and giving half-baked apologies ever time. After Exodus: Gods and Kings casted white actors as Egyptians, we were angry. After the disaster that was Gods of Egypt, with white actors playing Egyptians once again, we were told that this wouldn’t happen again. The same thing happened after Doctor Strange was cast. Some would argue that the remake of Ghost in the Shell with Scarlett Johansson as Motoko Kusanagi is part of the conversation, too (personally, I disagree, but that’s another topic for another day and everyone has a right to their own opinion).

Hollywood, apologies don’t mean anything if you continue to make the same mistakes.

I’m not a belligerent person. I don’t like engaging in fights. I’d rather write about things that I love like power metal, Gothic romance, Disney, Tom Waits, Nutcracker movies, and Crimson Peak. I’m usually a “can’t we all just get along” kind of person. But after hearing about this, I had to get my feelings out.

And this isn’t all I have to say about the subject, but it’s all I have time for. Just know that this is only the tip of the iceberg.