Color-Blind Casting

Ethnicity doesn't matter at all, does it?

The young man entered the establishment and hesitated at the door, waiting for his eyes to adjust to the dark of the room. 

"Excuse me," he said to the large, burly man standing nearby. "Do you work here?"

"I'm the bouncer," the big man replied. 

"I'm looking for George Hawkins." 

"He's behind the bar," the man said in his deep voice, then turned away to view the next person entering. 

The youth slowly made his way through the bustling crowd until he was at the bar. There were a few people assembled, not many. He looked up and down and saw the bartender gradually emerge from the darkness. He looked at the man, striving for some recognition of sorts. He looked the other way so as not to stare, seeing only a few more patrons mulling about. Two women to his right stared at him, then left the bar. All that remained at the bar now was a guy watching the two women as if he intended to follow them, and an elderly black man at the far end, sitting in the cover of virtually no light, just an outline from the light in the hallway to the restrooms behind him. 

The young man turned back to see the bartender now standing closer to him. The bartender had greying hair that he could see had once been fair blonde and his blue eyes were now surrounded by wrinkles from years gone by. 

"What'll ya have?" he asked the kid. 

"Are you George Hawkins?" 

The bartender looked at the young man. "Yea. Who are you?" George studied the youngster with suspicion, with his sporting bright blue eyes and obviously colored blonde hair. 

"Must be a movie fan, George," the elderly black man from the far corner called out with a laugh. 

The bartender smiled. "Is that what this is about?" he asked the kid. 

"It is you," the kid asked. 

"What do ya want, kid?"

"My-my name is Benjamin Williams and I'm an actor."

"Okay."

"I'm cast to appear in a new historical docudrama about the Hedgeville youths."

George relaxed his expression and leaned back.

I know you appeared in the theatrical version thirty years ago, . . . . "

"Hang on, kid."

"Ben."

"Hang on."

George ventured down to tend to some customers. Benjamin got the impression George was hoping he'd leave, but he went nowhere. Finally he came back. George ventured further down the bar to retrieve something from below. Benjamin followed him from the opposite side of the bar to stay close and hear him. 

"Okay, Hedgeville youth, what do you want to know?" 

"What research did you undertake to prepare for the part?"

"What research? I was told to have an attitude, so I did. I just yelled a lot."

"And made out with that little lady. Ha-ha!" the black man called up again. George cast him a look and smiled. 

Benjamin was finding this outside fellow to be annoying. He was wanting the discussion to be more one-on-one. 

"Did you ever meet with the actual Hedgeville kids?"

"Eventually. We read their statements to give us some idea. Saw news interviews with them."

"You never met the real Adam Ford?"

"No, I met him." George looked back at the black guy, then turned and looked at the patrons assembled the opposite end of the bar, and leaned forward. 

"You do know the Hedgeville youths was based on black teen-agers, don't you?"

"African-American teens. Yes, I knew that."

George leaned back again. "Didn't know if you were aware as that all happened really before you were born."

"There was controversy over your portrayal, wasn't there?" 

"Well, not so much that. The feeling was we weren't right to depict them and maybe that was correct."

"So that's why the movie failed."

George looked at Benjamin. 

"Yea. That was why."

Benjamin moved closer to the bar now. 

"We feel that maybe it just wasn't the right time to tell their story."

"It was too soon, ya mean?"

"Yea!" Benjamin all but lit up at being given this out. 

"And you think now is a better time?"

"The story has an important message on fighting back and standing against bullies."

George looked at Benjamin for a second, then asked, "are you going to be portraying Adam Ford?"

"Yes."

George laughed. 

"I know that may seem strange, but I feel I can bring a certain intensity to the role, from my own experiences in dealing with homophobia."

"You're own experiences. Right." George picked up a glass and began wiping it clean. "Well, good luck, kid."

"Benjamin, please."

"Okay." 

"But did you meet the real Adam Ford?" 

"I said I did." 

"Did he give you any pointers on how to portray him." 

George laughed. 

"Well, no. He wasn't pleased with my performance or the whole movie, as a matter of fact, making the kids white instead of black, . . . "

"We're going to include a black female in our cast."

George snickered a bit. 

"Oh, okay. That's good." 

"You don't seem to think we are taking this subject seriously."

"No, no. I'm sure you are, . . . . taking it . . . . very seriously."

"We especially feel it is important to convey that race is not important in the depictions of these characters."

"Characters," George mumbled. 

"The Hedgeville youth story is a compelling piece of history deserving to be told to today's generation, to hopefully comprehend that there are ways to fight back against the injustices in today's world."

"Okay, Ben. I believe you. I'm glad for you."

"I think you're a little bitter that your movie won't be the only version of what happened anymore."

"No, that's not it. My movie bombed, remember?"

"Well, we intend on making a testament to their struggle and their determination to emerge victorious."

George stood still for a moment, then approached the bar again. He summoned Benjamin over to him. 

"Benjamin, you do know all those kids were after was trying to stay alive and actually trying to get away from their abductors. They weren't wanting to fight anyone or anything. They just wanted to get away."

"Did Adam Ford tell you that?" Benjamin asked, trying to be clever. 

"It's what happened, Benjamin. The cousin of one of the girls told those guys where Adam and his friends were. A black guy betrayed them." 

"We've heard there are different versions of that." 

"Well, believe what you want to believe. You know, I was alive when the kidnappings happened. I wasn't very old, but I remember even what was basically said to have occurred and there was some trouble with that cousin."

"We've heard it speculated that the cousin actually helped them try to escape."

George stepped back again. "Well, I suppose if you've heard that must be true, I guess it is."

"So you're not jealous that there's going to be a new movie about the Hedgeville youth, a new interpretation with more facts?"

"No," George said laughing, "I'm not jealous. You enjoy making your movie as much as I did mine."

"It's not an enjoyment. It's an honor and privilege to tell this story. I feel like I am part of the Hedgeville youth now. Did you feel that way?"

George laughed quite a bit at that one. 

"No, Benjamin. I can't say I ever thought of it that way."

He looked at the youth a bit. So young. 

"And you have no problem with portraying an African-American kid?"

"Acting is my craft, and I feel I will be able to transcend skin color. We are all the same inside after all. I know physical appearances were more of an issue when your movie came out. You never really did manage any kind of other work after that, did you?"

George smiled. 

"No," he said. "Hedgeville youth kind of brought it all to an end. I was just disillusioned by the whole routine then. The criticism and such that I shouldn't have taken the job, when before the movie, I was being told it was my big break to stardom."

"We've watched your version several times, to see what all it conveyed. Very much a sign of its time, isn't it?"

"Well, are you going to tell your story back when it happened?"

"We feel that it will venture beyond generations, . . . "

"Generations, yea, . . . " George chimed in, "generations beyond yesterday and tomorrow, right?"

Benjamin looked at him. 

"I guess that's about all you are going to tell me."

"I guess that's about all I can tell you." 

"Then no need for me to stay here anymore. I'll come back if I have any more questions."

Benjamin reached in his pocket to pay for the beer he had. George took the payment. The young man waved to him and left. 

George leaned on the bar and stared at the door as Benjamin walked out. He wiped at the bar, served a couple more drinks, then moved some clean glasses around. He stopped and stared at the door again, thinking about Benjamin and his crusade. Slowly George made his way down to the end of the bar where the black man sat. 

"Another movie about those poor kids from Hedgeville. Another movie and acted with white kids."

"Again," the black man said. 

"Yea," George smiled as he agreed. "Again."

George took a deep breath, then looked at the fellow again. 

"So, . . . . what do you think about that?" 

The man smiled. "Nothing I can say about it. Absolutely nothing," and took a drink from his beer.