Casting coach
Oct. 14th, 2009 05:01 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
trinityvixenSo far this season, Heroes has not been awful. I credit much of this to Robert Knepper and the uber-creepy inclusion of the Carnival. Everything is better with circus freaks. Everything. Of course, this will all change in another few episodes and I'll regret saying this, but I'm even enjoying parts of this season. (My reviews at Pink Raygun for this season are here, here, here, and here.) There are definitely still problems, much of which stem from the show's loyalty to characters and the actors playing them.
That might be about to change, however. If you still care about spoiler warnings, don't read what's under the cut.
There's a rumor going around that someone is being axed on Heroes. An actor is being let go. The stink of the rumor mill is that it's a dude who plays a major character. This is notable only because it's not being rumored about the character dying--obviously, that hasn't stopped several people from remaining on the show--but that the actor is leaving. (And, apparently, not without some hurt feelings.)
This show has been so bloated for so long, character-wise, that there are half-a-dozen male leads about whom this rumor could be. There are the marginalized characters--Hiro, Ando, Mohinder (who hasn't shown up so far this season at all)--and then there are the dead-end characters like Nathan, Hiro again, or Sylar. Although Matt Parkman is getting something like a plot thread for the first time ever, I don't think it has the legs to survive on its own for much longer, so it could be him, too.
If I had to pick someone that I would assume would be invulnerable to any firing, I would say it's Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet). After what happened to Mohinder last season, he's the only major character left that doesn't have a superpower. Losing him would sever all ties to normal people. (There are no major recurring characters at this point without abilities.) Jack Coleman is also the one who has most consistently stood behind and worked like a dog for this show. Cutting him would be a tremendous loss of talent, one which a show currently employing Ali Larter, Milo Ventimiglia, and an obviously-saving-his-talent-for-Star-Trek-sequels Zachary Quinto can ill afford.
Other than him, anyone is pretty much fair game, even Milo Ventimiglia, although I think Peter is far too crucial, now that Nathan is so thoroughly compromised, to spare. I could see them going for the easy fat-trimming and taking out Mohinder, who hasn't been useful ever, let alone recently. Hiro's supposedly dying, however, and without him, Ando doesn't have much of a character history built up to carry their part of the story on his own. So if Hiro goes, I'm going to assume we'll lose Ando, too.
Would they kill Hiro? I want to say no, but Hiro's contributions have been so slight since season one, I doubt anyone would miss him. He's also too powerful by half, and as has been the case with Sylar, this show has no idea how best to reign in someone who is so godlike in his ability.
What worries me in all this is which characters are most expendable. I was recounting issues I had this show outside of its awful narratives in the past two volumes, and one of the biggest ones I had was the abusive whiteness of this cast. It really hit me when I looked at the glossy photo/interview book about the series and I saw different make up of the season one cast versus the cast as it has been since volume three.
In season one, there were three black characters (and one kid of mixed race descent), three Asian characters (one Indian, two Japanese) and one latino character. Four survived on to volume two, joined by another black character and two Central American characters, one of whom died in that volume, the other was barely in volume three before leaving. All other characters of color added to the series have been around as guest stars or minor recurring characters. Most of the black characters have been either outright bad people or just dangerous ones, and they are all gone. Come volume five, the Indian character is all but gone; the Japanese characters are facing one death that will kill both characters' plot lines; and the kid is gone, along with his black cousin.
Every other addition to the cast has been white. And the white people from season one are still around. The show has bent over backwards to keep Adrian Pasdar and Ali Larter and Zachary Quinto around, despite all three having had their characters die at times. This is a whiter cast than ever.
And the three most vulnerable characters to cut are all non-white. I don't know what to think about this, honestly. Kill a slightly more interesting/important character, and you might ruin some of the momentum that's been going fairly well this volume. But killing any of the least interesting characters is going to bleach this show some more. What to do?
To my mind, you have to cut the weakest link, end of story, if you want your story to succeed. So it's nice and liberal guilt-y to consider sacrificing a better player for a one with a weaker story because that character is not white. But it's not a practical move from the point of telling the narrative. Then again, if the show hadn't made the lazy choice to side-line these non-white characters all along, they wouldn't have backed themselves into a corner as far as race goes.
This is something that the creator of Supernatural is--rightfully, I think--getting blasted for: if you hire non-white people and consistently turn them into villains and/or victims, you're going to get hammered for doing it every time, not just get raised eyebrows here or there. As I have said to some folks when discussing race in media, presence is not the same as progress. No one should be content with presence. I feel the same way about women in media--just having Starbuck be a girl is not enough. Under- or unfairly-represented minorities deserve to be different and still recognizably human and interesting in our media.
So with a show where that's not been the case, I don't know whether it's better to cut that non-white character or try to rescue him (oh, did I mention they're all hims?) with a better story. Starting over from scratch, with a sensitivity towards casting might be the only way to fix this mess. That, or start firebombing the studio.
That might be about to change, however. If you still care about spoiler warnings, don't read what's under the cut.
There's a rumor going around that someone is being axed on Heroes. An actor is being let go. The stink of the rumor mill is that it's a dude who plays a major character. This is notable only because it's not being rumored about the character dying--obviously, that hasn't stopped several people from remaining on the show--but that the actor is leaving. (And, apparently, not without some hurt feelings.)
This show has been so bloated for so long, character-wise, that there are half-a-dozen male leads about whom this rumor could be. There are the marginalized characters--Hiro, Ando, Mohinder (who hasn't shown up so far this season at all)--and then there are the dead-end characters like Nathan, Hiro again, or Sylar. Although Matt Parkman is getting something like a plot thread for the first time ever, I don't think it has the legs to survive on its own for much longer, so it could be him, too.
If I had to pick someone that I would assume would be invulnerable to any firing, I would say it's Jack Coleman (Mr. Bennet). After what happened to Mohinder last season, he's the only major character left that doesn't have a superpower. Losing him would sever all ties to normal people. (There are no major recurring characters at this point without abilities.) Jack Coleman is also the one who has most consistently stood behind and worked like a dog for this show. Cutting him would be a tremendous loss of talent, one which a show currently employing Ali Larter, Milo Ventimiglia, and an obviously-saving-his-talent-for-Star-Trek-sequels Zachary Quinto can ill afford.
Other than him, anyone is pretty much fair game, even Milo Ventimiglia, although I think Peter is far too crucial, now that Nathan is so thoroughly compromised, to spare. I could see them going for the easy fat-trimming and taking out Mohinder, who hasn't been useful ever, let alone recently. Hiro's supposedly dying, however, and without him, Ando doesn't have much of a character history built up to carry their part of the story on his own. So if Hiro goes, I'm going to assume we'll lose Ando, too.
Would they kill Hiro? I want to say no, but Hiro's contributions have been so slight since season one, I doubt anyone would miss him. He's also too powerful by half, and as has been the case with Sylar, this show has no idea how best to reign in someone who is so godlike in his ability.
What worries me in all this is which characters are most expendable. I was recounting issues I had this show outside of its awful narratives in the past two volumes, and one of the biggest ones I had was the abusive whiteness of this cast. It really hit me when I looked at the glossy photo/interview book about the series and I saw different make up of the season one cast versus the cast as it has been since volume three.
In season one, there were three black characters (and one kid of mixed race descent), three Asian characters (one Indian, two Japanese) and one latino character. Four survived on to volume two, joined by another black character and two Central American characters, one of whom died in that volume, the other was barely in volume three before leaving. All other characters of color added to the series have been around as guest stars or minor recurring characters. Most of the black characters have been either outright bad people or just dangerous ones, and they are all gone. Come volume five, the Indian character is all but gone; the Japanese characters are facing one death that will kill both characters' plot lines; and the kid is gone, along with his black cousin.
Every other addition to the cast has been white. And the white people from season one are still around. The show has bent over backwards to keep Adrian Pasdar and Ali Larter and Zachary Quinto around, despite all three having had their characters die at times. This is a whiter cast than ever.
And the three most vulnerable characters to cut are all non-white. I don't know what to think about this, honestly. Kill a slightly more interesting/important character, and you might ruin some of the momentum that's been going fairly well this volume. But killing any of the least interesting characters is going to bleach this show some more. What to do?
To my mind, you have to cut the weakest link, end of story, if you want your story to succeed. So it's nice and liberal guilt-y to consider sacrificing a better player for a one with a weaker story because that character is not white. But it's not a practical move from the point of telling the narrative. Then again, if the show hadn't made the lazy choice to side-line these non-white characters all along, they wouldn't have backed themselves into a corner as far as race goes.
This is something that the creator of Supernatural is--rightfully, I think--getting blasted for: if you hire non-white people and consistently turn them into villains and/or victims, you're going to get hammered for doing it every time, not just get raised eyebrows here or there. As I have said to some folks when discussing race in media, presence is not the same as progress. No one should be content with presence. I feel the same way about women in media--just having Starbuck be a girl is not enough. Under- or unfairly-represented minorities deserve to be different and still recognizably human and interesting in our media.
So with a show where that's not been the case, I don't know whether it's better to cut that non-white character or try to rescue him (oh, did I mention they're all hims?) with a better story. Starting over from scratch, with a sensitivity towards casting might be the only way to fix this mess. That, or start firebombing the studio.
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no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 01:19 pm (UTC)I really think Quinto needs to jump this ship. I've felt that for a long while, especially after the Star Trek film. Fucking Chris Pine is scheduled to star in blockbuster political action thrillers and Quinto is stuck on this show. He needs to move to the silver screen, permanently. So here's to hoping he dies.
I really liked what you said about race as well--and this is a problem for all network shows, I think. Lost's diverse cast has also taken a hit as the show goes on--although I don't know if they're doing as bad as Heroes. They still have the Hispanic and Asian characters from Season One (unfortunately they didn't make much of their black characters) and those characters are well rounded and important to the whole wonky Lost storyline. My faith in Heroes diversity is especially low seeing as most of the girls on that show are blonde. They can't get a girl with a different hair color? C'mon.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 03:38 pm (UTC)I understand that when Zachary Quinto first came on, it was his first big gig with such a high level of exposure (the show was huge, and by that point finding out who Sylar was was a Big. Deal.). So he really threw himself into the part. Several volumes later, he's just sloughed off a lot. He's still got the talent--as Star Trek proved--but I think he's bored and getting lazy. It does not help that the material being written for him is sub-par (if I wanted to be kind about it). The last episode was probably the worst bit I've seen from him in forever. His "traumatized" acting was, as I said in my review, right out of a high school production of Macbeth (with him trying to be Lady Macbeth, no less).
It's been long past where Sylar should leave, is what I'm saying. You'd think that would mean that Zachary Quinto was off the hook but instead they tied themselves in knots to keep him and Adrian Pasdar (whom they've never used as he deserves). Of the two of them, I fear more for Adrian Pasdar being let go, which is a shame for all the reasons you mention (let Quinto have a real career!) and then some (let Adrian Pasdar be awesome!).
ost's diverse cast has also taken a hit as the show goes on--although I don't know if they're doing as bad as Heroes. They still have the Hispanic and Asian characters from Season One (unfortunately they didn't make much of their black characters) and those characters are well rounded and important to the whole wonky Lost storyline.
You have Sayid, too, don't forget. LOST started out better because it used characters that were non-white and treated them as non-white. Not as "others," that racist assumption of un-know-ableness, but as people who are just decidedly not Western white people. There was a lot of drama to be wrung from the fact that Sayid was unfortunately on the wrong side of prejudice or that Jin couldn't speak English. (Notably, they didn't then try to make him seem stupid for not speaking it, like Heroes, lamentably, often did with Hiro.) You still have Jin, Sun, Sayid, and Hurley. Rose is who-knows-where. Mr. Ecco and Ana-Lucia, though...yeaaaah....
My faith in Heroes diversity is especially low seeing as most of the girls on that show are blonde. They can't get a girl with a different hair color? C'mon.
Angela Petrelli has dark hair! No, in all seriousness, there haven't even been side characters that have dark hair all that much. Mrs. Bennet, Elle, the bitch cheertator in two high schools now, Claire's biological mother, the deaf woman this season, the woman with the precog tattoos...the list goes on. It's a weakness of casting of in L.A., I suppose.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 04:49 pm (UTC)And I agree with what you said about Pasdar as well--it would be a shame if he was the character that got killed. Also, it would create a huge dent in their cast of pretty men.
I forgot to say that the Prison Break guy is pretty mesmerizing; I watched the first part of the first episode and was captivated by him, but once our regulars showed up I walked away.
no subject
Date: 2009-10-15 08:44 pm (UTC)And I had the same reaction you did. "Oh, this could be cool...no, wait, my bad, Peter just showed up and I'd like to leave, plz."