Hobbit Racism? Actor Naz Humpreys Too Brown To Be A Hobbit

by NowPublic Staff | November 29, 2010 at 01:36 pm

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Hobbit Facebook Racism Wars: Actor Naz Humpreys Told "Too Brown" To Play Hobbit

Facebook groups have emerged surrounding a casting controversy for the move The Hobbit, based on the book by English writer and scholar, J.R. Tolkien.

Naz Humpreys, a British actor says she was was told she was "too brown" to play a Hobbit.

She travelled from Auckland to Hamilton last Tuesday to an extras audition for The Hobbit. "The casting manager basically said they weren't having anybody who wasn't pale-skinned."

A Waikato Times video of the auditions shows a film company representative telling the crowd: "We are looking for light-skinned people. I'm not trying to be – whatever. It's just the brief. You've got to look like a hobbit."

Now, Facebook groups on either side of the alleged Hobbit Racism controversy have emerged.

One Facebook group says the Hobbit Color Controversy has nothing to with racism but casting for roles that happen to be ethnically specific.

Rod Nicolette The Hobbit along with the rest of the Lord of the Rings was Tolkien trying to create a mythology for the Brits. Why in the world would there be darker skinned people in that mythos? It's not racism. To use people with darker skin or any OTHER changes like tall hobbits or tiny elves is nothing more than revisionism.

Actor Naz Humpreys, who is of Pakistani descent, has her own Facebook campaign underway, Say No To Hobbit Racism but curiously that page was taken down - perhaps Facebook administrators agree, the Shire should reflect the original conception Tolkien envisaged.

Still, when it comes to race and casting, Hollywood has some bizarre ideas about what's appropriate: From Robert Downey, Jr. in black face for Tropic Thunder to Angelina Jolie as Marianne Pearl to Mena Suvari in cornrows to Johnny Depp as Tonto in the new Lone Ranger. But you'd think a modern interpretation of a made-up story — one that generates millions of dollars, world-wide — would have no problem with modern (i.e. diverse) ideas about casting.