Much has been reported about Lee Daniels' upcoming film The Butler, here on Shadow and Act, but the recent casting announcement of Pernell Walker finally got me to print out the script and give it a read.
One can expect an epic quality, as the film will cover Cecil Gaines (Eugene Allen in real life – photo above) from mid-teens till his 90’s, intercutting his experience with Major Moments and characters in American History.
At the heart this is a father son drama as we experience the difficulty of two generations trying to understand each other. The script, while based on the life of Eugene Allen, could aptly be called a work of historical fiction inspired by Mr. Allen.
The script takes the major moments read about in the profile by the Washington Post (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/06/AR2008110603948.html) and obituaries, but changes a lot.
For example in the film, Cecil starts his work in the White House with Eisenhower, while the real life Eugune Allen started work at the white house during the Truman administration. As noted earlier by Vanessa in her review of the script, he had one son, Charlie, and in the film he has two; Charlie and Louis.
I could go on citing differences, but I think you get the picture; this is a fictionalized version for entertainment of the real Eugene Allen’s life.
While Vanessa has already shared her thoughts on the script (read HERE), I wanted to take a closer look at a few things – one of them being that, other than the casting of Oprah Winfrey as the title character's wife, Pernell Walker is only the second casting announcement for a black woman in this film, to my knowledge.
A quick perusal of the project's IMDB page (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1327773/fullcredits#cast) also reveals that Mariah Carey was part of the film's cast, but un-credited.
Several announcements have been made about white actresses in the film; Jane Fonda as Nancy Regan, Minka Kelly as Jackie Kennedy, Melissa Leo as Mamie Eisenhower, Vanessa Redgrave as Annabeth Westfall and an un-credited role for Nicole Kidman.
There are only two major roles in this film for black actresses; Gloria Gaines, the wife of Cecil Gaines (the title character) and Carol Hammie, whom Cecil’s son Louis meets while at University.
We first meet Gloria Gaines when she is 22 years old, and she ages to 90 throughout the progression of the film. Given this information, they will obviously have to have double-cast the role. She is initially described as a sturdy brown-skinned maid.
By the way, I am happy to report that this is not a dutiful wife role!
Gloria reads sassy but with vulnerabilities, and she has her own story arc which will need highly capable actresses to play her as a young woman, and later, much older. Given that Oprah has already been announced for this role, it begs the question (please don’t shoot me) how young can Oprah play, and what actress can fill the gap from 22 until that point, whatever it is?
So there's still a part here to be filled that has yet to be announced. Unless the plan is for Oprah to play the role from 22 to 90.
The other major role for black actresses is the character Carol. When we first meet her, she is 19 years old, and is described as sexy yet masculine.
While not stated I would guess she ages to no more than 29 for the duration of the film. It should also be noted that the masculine part of the description is of importance, due to a later scene in the script. She, like Louis, is eager for change, and is willing to fight for it.
I couldn’t help equating the role of Carol with the real life Kathleen Cleaver and Angela Davis. At one point in the script her hair is actually described as an Angel Davis Fro. I do not think, based on the description, that Mariah Carey has been cast in this particular role.
Pernell Walker’s role of Lorraine is as one of the White House maids who Cecil meets on his first day. The role is relatively minor but memorable; she has a couple of scenes and will likely be part of all the white house staff scenes.
There are a few more roles like this throughout the script, which is actually filled with *minor* roles. Many of them have been cast with big stars, but they amount to little more than cameos.
We have seen quite the list of black actors announced as being cast in the film in addition to Forest Whitaker: Cuba Gooding Jr., Terrence Howard, Lenny Kravitz, Jesse Williams, David Oyelowo, Colman Domingo, and most recently Stephen Rider.
Thus far we know that Forest Whitaker has been cast as Cecil Gaines, the title character, David Oyelowo as his eldest son Louis, and Colman Domingo as one of the Butlers at the White House. So with that long list of actors, it leaves one wondering who’s who?
Below, I have made a list of the speaking parts that are still awaiting casting announcements, based on the version of the script I read. It should be noted that since the character of Cecil ages from 15-90, that another young actor will likely be needed for that part. The son’s roles may be double casts as well.
Here's the list of what's still unknown in terms of casting:
Earl-Cecil’s father
Abraham-Young Cecil’s friend
Maynard-Mentor to Cecil
Charlie-Cecil’s youngest son
Elroy-Charlie’s friend
Freddie-Maitr ‘d at the white house
Carter-Whitehouse Butler
Holloway-Whitehouse Butler
James Lawson-Young activist in Nashville trained students in Non-violent (historical civil rights figure still alive today)
James Farmer-Civil Rights activist and Leader of the Congress of Racial equality; Freedom Rider
Martin Luther King
Eldridge Huggins-Leader of the black panthers
Keith Alans-Black Conservative running for office
Barack Obama
It should be noted these are my descriptions based on the version of the script I read and not an as described in any actual casting notice.
