Upon the recent height of the Black Lives Matter movement, there has never been a better time to start speaking out against racial injustices that have been swept under the rug for years.
So, Marvel‘s Falcon star, Anthony Mackie, has recently spoken out about what he thinks of the lack of diversity amongst Marvel films, saying: “It really bothered me”.
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As you’ve probably noticed, the Black Lives Matter movement has finally been getting the traction that it deserves.
More and more racial injustices in America have been bubbling to the surface, exposed, and called out. The world is calling for change.
And that includes Hollywood!
In the latest Variety segment, “Actors on Actors”, Falcon star Anthony Mackie (speaking to Daveed Diggs) spoke out, criticizing the lack of diversity in Marvel’s body of work.
Anthony has been a member of the Marvel universe since 2014, and is now admitting that he has noticed the lack of cultural diversity on sets, and hopes to see that change.
“When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier comes out, I’m the lead,” he said .
“When *Snowpiercer* came out, you’re the lead.”
“We have the power and the ability to ask those questions,” he added , explaining that in all seven Marvel films he’s been in, the entire cast and crew, excluding him, was white.
“It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white,” he said.
He revealed that there had only been one black producer, and it was Nate Moore, who produced Black Panther in 2018.
He explained that he found hiring an all-black cast and crew for *Black Panther* was actually more insulting, because it proved that they would only hire black people for a “black movie”.
“When you do Black Panther, you have a Black director, Black producer, you have a Black costume designer, you have a Black stunt choreographer,” he said .
“And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else,” he went on.
“Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”
He went on to say that instead of not hiring black people in white films, or white people in black films, they should simply hire whoever is the best fit for the role — race excluded from the equation altogether.
You’d think that would already be the strategy for casting directors or employers in general. But unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.
“Hire the best person for the job,” he said, which, again, should be the way everyone does it.
“Even if it means we’re going to get the best two women, we’re going to get the best two men. Fine.”
“I’m cool with those numbers for the next 10 years,” he continued.
“It starts to build a new generation of people who can put something on their résumé to get them other jobs. If we’ve got to divvy out as a percentage, divvy it out.”
“And that’s something as leading men that we can go in and push for.”
“As a young Black actor, your career is only as good as your team’s level of understanding you,” he said .
“I’ve been in the game 20 years now. And I’ve seen a lot of actors come. I’ve seen a lot of actors go,” he said.
“And the one thing that I feel like my team has done is keep my projects interesting and catered to my sensibilities.”
“My ultimate goal is to be Dick Wolf of New Orleans”.
“I want to create a cop show in New Orleans, where I get to be the fat police sergeant. I work one day a week,” he said .
“I come out of my office and I go, ‘Get in my office.’ And then I go back and you never see me again.”
“Until then, I am the best hype man of all time. I put Flavor Flav to shame .”
“If you want to get the music thing going and you need a hype man, I’m here,” he concluded.
Let us know what you think of Anthony Mackie’s latest remarks about the lack of diversity in the Marvel universe in the comments below!
