“Annihilation” is rolling into cinemas next week, and it’s juggling more than one hot topic of conversation. First, Netflix scooped up the international rights for the film, with Paramount hanging on to the rights in the U.S., Canada and China over concerns by producer David Ellison, the head of Skydance Productions, that the sci-fi pic was “too intellectual” and “too complicated” for Joe Popcorn. Though deal was done before Netflix snared “The Cloverfield Paradox,” there will be many wondering if the streaming giant is simply taking another troubled picture off the hands of the studio. Meanwhile, a whitewashing controversy has been brewing in the background, but it’s now coming to the surface.
Alex Garland‘s adaptation of the first book in Jeff VanderMeer’s trilogy has been called out by Media Action Network for Asian Americans (MANAA) for casting Natalie Portman in the lead role of Lena. The issue is that in the second book of VanderMeer’s series, it’s noted that Lena is from Asian heritage. However, Garland has previously pointed out that he only read “Annihilation” in galley form (meaning a pre-publication edit), and didn’t read the followups. That said, he owns up to the casting and any unintended consequences that might’ve come from changing the ethnicities of certain characters.
“This is an awkward problem for me, because I think whitewashing is a serious and real issue, and I fully support the groups drawing attention to it. But the characters in the novel I read and adapted were not given names or ethnicities. I cast the film reacting only to the actors I met in the casting process, or actors I had worked with before. There was no studio pressure to cast white. The casting choices were entirely mine,” he told Deadline in a statement. “As a middle-aged white man, I can believe I might at times be guilty of unconscious racism, in the way that potentially we all are. But there was nothing cynical or conspiratorial about the way I cast this movie.”
Speaking with Yahoo, Portman also shared her thoughts on the issue, admitting, “that does sound problematic, but I’m hearing it here first.“ However, she went on to champion more diversity in cinema.
“We need more representation of Asians on film, of Hispanics on film, of blacks on film, women and particularly women of color, Native Americans — I mean, we just don’t have enough representation,” Portman explained. “And also these categories like ‘white’ and ‘nonwhite’ — they’re imagined classifications but have real-life consequences. … And I hope that begins to change, because I think everyone is becoming more conscious of it, which hopefully will make change.”
“Annihilation” opens on February 23rd.