Coen Brothers Downplay Diversity In Their Filmmaking We’ve already heard what George Clooney had to say about the #OscarsSoWhite controversy…but the director duo that has brought the actor many of his most successful roles seems to have a different outlook. When one writer asked the directors of films like “Oh Brother Where Art Thou?” and “No Country For Old Men” why it was their own films never seemed to feature Black faces…the duo basically scoffed at the question. Via TheDailyBeast : I asked the Coens to respond to criticisms that there aren’t more minority characters in the film. In other words, why is #HailCaesarSoWhite? “Why would there be?” countered Joel Coen. “I don’t understand the question. No—I understand that you’re asking the question, I don’t understand where the question comes from. “Not why people want more diversity—why they would single out a particular movie and say, ‘Why aren’t there black or Chinese or Martians in this movie? What’s going on?’ That’s the question I don’t understand. The person who asks that question has to come in the room and explain it to me.” As filmmakers, is it important or not important to consciously factor in concerns like diversity, I asked. “Not in the least!” Ethan answered. “It’s important to tell the story you’re telling in the right way, which might involve black people or people of whatever heritage or ethnicity—or it might not.” The Cohens very very rarely feature people of color in their films at all — much less in prominent roles. However they think singling out individual films “It’s an absolute, absurd misunderstanding of how things get made to single out any particular story and say, ‘Why aren’t there this, that, or the other thing?’” added Joel. “It’s a fundamental misunderstanding of how stories are written. So you have to start there and say, ‘You don’t know what you’re talking about.’” He continued: “You don’t sit down and write a story and say, ‘I’m going to write a story that involves four black people, three Jews, and a dog,’—right? That’s not how stories get written. If you don’t understand that, you don’t understand anything about how stories get written and you don’t realize that the question you’re asking is idiotic. “It’s not an illegitimate thing to say there should be more diversity in an industry,” concluded Joel. “But that’s not what that question is about. That question is about something else.” These two clearly don’t see diversity as their responsibility or concern…. WENN
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Oscar-Winning Directors The Coen Brothers Say They See No Need For Diversity In Their Movies – Compare Black People To Martians And Dogs??
