DEAR EVAN HANSEN Film In The Works — Page 2

Hot Pants said: "barcelona20 said: "What happened to diversity?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Kaitlyn-Dever-In-Talks-For-Film-Adaptation-Of-DEAR-EVAN-HANSEN-20200611"

You do realize that the role was originated by a white actress, right?

I sure do, but what does that have to do with anything?

barcelona20 said: "Hot Pants said: "barcelona20 said: "What happened to diversity?

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Kaitlyn-Dever-In-Talks-For-Film-Adaptation-Of-DEAR-EVAN-HANSEN-20200611"

You do realize that the role was originated by a white actress, right?

I sure do, but what does that have to do with anything?"

I figured the connection was pretty obvious. Why would you bemoan the lack of diversity when the part was originally played by a white actress, with most of the following actresses playing Zoe being white? I can understand bringing up diversity if they cast a white actress as Alana, who’s always played by a person of color, but why is there the need to act like Zoe’s rumored actress in the movie being white is some problem?

The Murphy family is a modern white stereotype

gypsy101 said: "actors in their 20s play teenagers on tv and film, get over it people."

I agree.

Also ---- I think Ben Platt can look like a high school student if the other actors don't look too young when standing next to him. Yes, Ben will look 'old' if they cast Zoe, Jared, Connor, and Alana to 15 or 16 year old actors. However if the other actors are in their 20s, I think the film will be fine.

When I last saw Dear Evan Hansen last year, I loved Andrew Barth Feldman (who was 17 at the time) as Evan but when he stood next to Alex Boniello (who was 29 at the time and portrayed Connor Murphy) it just looked odd. Alex was clearly a lot older than Andrew from the looks department.

or have the Murphy family as an inter-racial family. I feel it's rare to see inter-racial marriages on film/tv/theatre.

I personally think this property will not work at all on film. The scrutiny it was given for portrayal of mental illnesses when it first came out will be 10x worse. But I suppose we'll find out. I just hope they don't try to shoehorn Emily Blunt in somehow (although... should they shoehorn Emily Blunt in this? God knows she can do vulnerable like nobody's business).

Valentina3 said: "I personally think this property will not work at all on film. The scrutiny it was given for portrayal of mental illnesses when it first came out will be 10x worse. But I suppose we'll find out. I just hope they don't try to shoehorn Emily Blunt in somehow(although... should they shoehorn Emily Blunt in this? God knows she can do vulnerable like nobody's business)."

I agree, that likewise with The Prom, once the story is laid bare and exposed to millions of non-theater going people, it will be ripped apart for its extreme shortcomings on its subject matter and the dangerous messages they preach. The extremely liberal audiences of broadway are much more forgiving to these wide swathes of stories than i expect many people to be.

There is absolutely no reason the Murphy family has to be any specific ethnicity. While I 100% agree POC need more visibility in media and would 100% be on board if Zoe was cast with a non-white actress, there's also nothing that says the role has to be played that way and that there's something wrong with a white actress playing it. This is not a case of whitewashing a role. This is a case of "this role can believably be played by any actress, regardless of race, and this is the actress we landed on".

Hot Pants said: "Broadway61004 said: "There is absolutely no reason the Murphy family has to be any specific ethnicity. While I 100% agree POC need more visibility in media and would 100% be on board if Zoe was cast with a non-white actress, there's also nothing that says the role has to be played that way and that there's something wrong with a white actress playing it. This is not a case of whitewashing a role. This is a case of "this role can believably be played by any actress, regardless of race, and this is the actress we landed on"."

I’m just gonna let this end the argument, cause things are only gonna get worse if I respond again."

Come onnn, respond!

Perfectly stated, both Broadway61004 and Queen Alice.

QueenAlice said: "On the Broadway for Black Lives Matter forum last night, one of the panelists, Amber Iman essentially said 'white allies who endlessly focus their energies onhow traditionally white casting can be diversifiedare completely missing the point.'

Why don't we instead hope the people behind the filmadd some POC to the production team and see what naturally extends from that from that rather than just hope the film adds a little token diversity to its cast list?"

Exactly. During one of the panels on the forum last night I also heard "diversity is NOT equality". This was a really eye opening moment for me. BIPOC actors of color don't want to be shoe horned into shows/movies/etc as a signal of diversity. As Queen Alice said, let's focus on a top down approach of producers, managers, agents, and production teams of color to try to create more equality in what we see on stage.

Why don't we instead hope the people behind the film add some POC to the production team and see what naturally extends from that from that rather than just hope the film adds a little token diversity to its cast list?

A huge emphatic YES for this idea.