08 May
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Major Hollywood publications reported on the diverse new Netflix movie Absolute Dominion but only mentioned white actors

So, this is awkward: Major Hollywood publications like the Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Deadline reported on a new Netflix martial arts movie going into production called Absolute Dominion. The futuristic movie, set after the world has been ravaged by religious wars, comes from Palestinian-American filmmaker, kickboxing champion and general kick-ass personality Lexi Alexander and it stars popular Afro-German model Désiré Mia and Cameroonian-American singer and actor Andy Allo. Toronto’s Olunike Adeliyi is also among the very diverse cast in the movie that Alexander once described to NOW as her Bloodsport.

But when the big publications reported on her movie, they touted actor Alex Winter, comedian Patton Oswalt and Better Call Saul’s Julie Ann Emery as its stars. They effectively buried the leads.

“It’s actually a small miracle to make my new movie look like it’s about white people,” Alexander wrote on Twitter, before sharing headshots of a cast that appears to be 80 per cent BIPOC. Her sentiments were shared by the clearly embarrassed veteran Caucasian stars who somehow got all the attention for their supporting roles.

“[This] isn’t a movie about two middle-aged white men fighting each other,” Winter tweeted.

“I mean, it was funny, imagining readers TRYING to imagine [Alex Winter and I] doing apocalyptic martial arts,” Oswalt added, going on to hammer home the likeliness of a groin pull. The publications like Hollywood Reporter and Deadline added the actual leads to their announcements following the backlash from Alexander and her team. To be fair to those publications, a press release sent to media touting the entire cast didn’t immediately make clear who the leads were.

Publications boasting the most recognizable names is nothing new. Movie marketing teams do it all the time. But this time it struck a nerve since Alexander, The Punisher: War Zone director who has worked on quite a bit of television in Canada, has been a long-time advocate for equity and inclusion. She spoke to NOW in the past about the racism on Toronto television sets and the benefits of an inclusive set as she experienced it on the Jessica Alba and Gabrielle Union led series L.A.’s Finest. Her Absolute Dominion cast, which also includes The Parent ‘Hood star Reagan Gomez and popular non-binary author and performance artist Alok Vaid-Menon, is an extension of Alexander’s work ethic.

It’s not like the leads, Mia and Allo, aren’t popular. Both have significant followings, the former for his modelling and the latter as an actor and musician discovered and mentored by Prince. But they aren’t immediately recognizable to the movie world, which is largely accustomed to following and touting white celebrities, even when their roles are marginal.

A glaring, forehead-slap instance of this trend occurred just two years ago, when People Magazine shared the trailer to the sex work saga Zola, which starred Black actor Taylour Paige as the stripper with the witty Twitter fingers. The headline in People touted Riley Keough as the star. The Girlfriend Experience actor played the sex worker luring Zola into trouble. Distribution company A24 called People out with a crafty quote tweet, correcting their headline with red marker, pointing out that Taylour Paige literally plays the titular character.

In 2013, Italian marketing teams advertised 12 Years A Slave with posters blowing up the faces of Brad Pitt, who appears on screen for a few minutes, and Michael Fassbender, who has a larger but still supporting role. Meanwhile the lead who appears in almost every scene, Chiwetel Ejiofor, occupied a tiny fraction of the real estate on those posters. Ejiofor wasn’t even an unknown actor, having been in several popular movies like Children Of Men and Inside Man. The racism within the marketing of a movie about America’s racist foundations was glaring.

We rarely see instances like that anymore. But flubs like the Absolute Dominion headlines that diminish big moments for upcoming talent are still unacceptable. Just put yourself in the shoes of the film’s star Mia, who saw the announcement of his Cinderella moment handed off to white dudes, and had to wait until Deadline and Variety were pressured into adding his name to the movie’s announcements before he could share the article with a teary and emotional post about his childhood dreams coming true.

@justsayrad

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Radheyan Simonpillai

Radheyan’s first assignment for NOW was reviewing the Ice Cube heist comedy First Sunday. That was back in January 2008. Born in Sri Lanka and raised in Scarborough, Rad currently lives in Leslieville with his wife and two adorable kids.





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