# Diversity Casting & the LOTR movies

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diversity-casting-the-lotr-movies/786482>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [May 12, 2017, 9:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diversity-casting-the-lotr-movies/786482 "2017-05-12T21:04:25Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 56

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**Author:** ![mhendo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mhendo/32/3159_2.png) [@mhendo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mhendo)\
**Post date:** [May 15, 2017, 11:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/diversity-casting-the-lotr-movies/786482/56 "2017-05-15T23:15:46Z")

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> [@ITR\_champion](#):
>
> I think the look of the movies matches what Tolkien had in mind, which is the important thing. I don’t think it was a bad thing, and would not look forward to a reboot that gave us a black Sam, Hispanic Pippin, Native American Gandalf, and wheelchair-bound Polynesian Legolas.

So you think that because Tolkein “had in mind” a largely white, European vision for LOTR, it would be inappropriate to mess with that in the name of ethnic diversity. I’d be interested to know, as a general matter of principle, when the intentions of an author are, and are not, important to you in the casting process.

For example, about 18 months ago was had a [thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=775782) about a Pennsylvania college that was forced to cancel the production of a play after the playwright objected to the fact that white actors were to be used in roles that the playwright had intended for people of color. In that thread, you were critical of the playwright’s decision, and you said:

> [@Pennsylvania college cancels play after author objects to white actors](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/pennsylvania-college-cancels-play-after-author-objects-to-white-actors/738138/9):
>
> There’s a name for anyone who think that anyone should be blocked from a job or role because of their race: racist.
> 
> Acting, by definition, consists of a person portraying a role. The role is always different from the actor. Should only Danish princes be allowed to play Hamlet? If Suh’s reasoning were taken to it’s logical conclusion, there wouldn’t be any more plays, period.

If you believe that this is true, why would you be at all concerned if LOTR had, indeed, been populated by a multi-ethnic cast?

Why is it “not a bad thing” for us to have an almost-all-white LOTR because that’s what Tolkein envisioned, but a bad thing for an actual living playwright to enforce a condition of multi-ethnic casting in the licensing of his own intellectual property?

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