So while we
have readers still fiercely defending Woody Allen, and the comments he made regarding why there aren’t more black
actors in his films (HERE), let’s hear from a black actor who says that, just
because she’s won an Oscar, it doesn’t mean that her life has changed, adding that it’s still an
everyday struggle.
I’m referring to Octavia
Spencer, who, in an interview in published today on the Daily Beast (HERE) said that, while things have
been good, it’s not like producers have been breaking down her door with great offers.
She states: “Well, the roles I’m being offered in
film are too small to sink your teeth into, and I thought it was time to be
able to live with a character at inception and travel with her to fruition, and
allow myself to evolve as an actress. I don’t get that opportunity in movies,
where they ask me, “Will you play the distraught mom of this boy?” I say,
“Sure, but I’ve played it before.” I wanted to play against-type, and while
people will say, “She’s playing a no-nonsense nurse,” there’s so much more to
her than that.”
Not that’s she’s bitter,
but realistic. She adds: “There are so few roles out there. And
even if it is a film that could be led by a black actress, how many times is
that film going to get funded? Let’s just be real. But it’s not just black
people. It’s Asians, it’s Hispanic people if you’re not Salma Hayek. It’s hard.
It’s hard to get films funded. It’s a business thing, and you have to change
the mindset of people around here.”
And this is the main
reason why Spencer – as Viola Davis also said a few week ago in a piece I wrote
(HERE) – admits that television seems to currently be the best venue for black actresses
and other actors of color. She states: “In order for you to be known worldwide
if you’re not getting the introduction through films, you need to be in
television. I don’t have a problem with the medium—film or television—because
I’m an actor. I act. So if I’m able to get a part that helps me stretch myself
and evolve as an actress? Wonderful. And if I get to be a part of something
that will expand myself to a worldwide audience? Hell yeah. Sign me up!”
She agrees that television,
such as her new show "Red Band Society" for Fox, premiering on Sept. 17, is where
the real new opportunities for back actresses are, with a few exceptions: “I’m barely 44, but that’s still the
pasture, I guess. Hollywood is strange in and of itself. People dress up and
pretend to be other people, and you can either make millions of dollars, or no
money. It’s odd. But what I love about it is thank God for television, because
you wouldn’t have the diversity. Now, we’re seeing it a little more in
blockbuster movies. Thor had a multicultural cast. So did Winter Soldier. The
Amazing Spider-Man 2. To me, that’s what it should be. It baffles me that
everything is so homogenized, because the world isn’t, and yet we continue to
support things that are so incredibly milquetoast.”
So do you agree with
Spencer and Davis that television is the new medium for black actresses?
