You'd think that by now, Hollywood be over playing up racial stereotypes for laughs, especially when it comes to something as innocuous as an accent. As actor Kumail Nanjiani (best known for his work in The Big Sick or for his impressive transformation to prepare for The Eternals) has revealed that that is unfortunately not the case.
Getty Images | Matt Winkelmeyer
Kumail Nanjiani Opens Up About Being Asked To 'Play Up' His Accent For Major Movie
In a new interview, Kumail talks about being offered "stereotypical brown guy roles" for most of his career.
Instagram | @kumailn
“I have a Pakistani accent, but they would be like, ‘Could you make it funnier? Lean in a little bit.’ And at some point, I decided I just wasn’t going to do that,” Kumail said, explaining that he finally took a stand against it.
Kumail explained that it's not the accents that are the problem, but forcing them for comedy.
Instagram | @kumailn
"There are certain parts that require a thicker Pakistani or Indian accent, and that’s totally fine, but I just didn’t want the comedy to just be coming from someone exaggerating their accent," he revealed, and then explained that it's not just small movies that fall into this trap.
“So there was a really, really big movie, actually, that I auditioned for, and I was a taxi driver, and the director was like, ‘Hey, could you play up the accent a little bit?’"
"And I was like, ‘I’m sorry, I won’t.’ And then the guy felt really bad, and I was like, ‘No, it’s fine. I’m just not going to do it. If that’s what you want, I’m not your guy.’ And then that movie was hugely successful.”
“Still, I don’t regret it," Kumail laughed.
Instagram | @kumailn
While Kumail didn't reveal which movie it was for, he did tell a similar story on his podcast about his audition for Deadpool, which does feature a character named Dopinder with a heavy South Asian accent as a taxi driver, so some fans are concluding that this could be the film he's talking about.
It's awesome that Kumail is confident enough and secure enough to be able to reject these roles!
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