To fill a movie industry race quota that's the norm these days? Considering it's a European folk tale taking place anywhere between 1400-1600s, the black was was out of the question in a ROYAL SETTING.
That big black man made me and my friends laugh when we watched it (yup, one of the EU states here).
Though yes it's still better than the 1997 movie with a black Cinderella. :)))))
Considering in the scene where Ella's mother sings her to sleep, Ella cuddles up with a teddy bear, I'd say the setting would have to be after the invention of the teddy bear in 1903. So, since Ella is around ten years older when she meets the prince, I would say the movie places itself right around the time the Titanic sank. Now, the constumes beg to differ. They're from various time periods.
The simple answer: it's a fairy tale. It doesn't take place in any specific time period or place. It takes place Once Upon A Time.
Lizzie
To love another person is to see the face of God! - Les Miserables
Posts like yours and some of the other racist threads I've seen on here, not to mention the controversy surrounding the inclusion of black people in films like Hobbit, or Heimdall in Thor, show exactly why we need more black people in these kinds of movies. It should be a non-issue and no-one should even blink, and yet idiots like you continuously and predictably do so. You need to get used to the fact there's nothing wrong with a black person playing these kinds of parts.
shareSince Nonso Anozie is a ridiculously talented Shakespeare actor who has done King Lear and Othello, you'd have to be thick in the head if you didn't want him in your film. And since the costumes in this movie are from a load of different time periods - the majority of clothes being 19th century, but some of the ballgowns being 1930s styles - it's clearly not meant to be matched to any particular time. For one Zaragoza was only recognised as an independent kingdom before the 12th century.
It's not a European folk tale; it just happens to be based on a European version of it. There are Cinderella stories in cultures throughout the world, and most of them are older than the one that comes to us from France. In China, Korea, prehistoric America (i.e, where very few people are white). In fact, one of the earliest known versions of Cinderella is about a Greek slave taken captive to live in Egypt. So if they ever made a movie of THAT version, there would be a whole lot more people than just the prince's best friend who were black.
And "That big black man," as you describe him, is a well known actor who has starred in Othello, Atonement, King Lear, The Grey, Game of Thrones, Ender's Game, and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He's not just some nobody Kenneth Branagh just picked up off the street for diversity's sake.
And for the record, even though this was based loosely on the French version of the tale, that doesn't mean it takes place in France, or during the years you claim (especially since that particular version wasn't even written until 1697). This tale takes place in some made up country Once Upon a Time. Details about what was done in Country X during Year Y don't apply to fairy tales.
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Of course, had the main cast been nothing but honkies, there would have been complaints as well, so welcome to Can't Win City, bro.
My people skills are fine. It's my tolerance of morons that needs work.
I'm very relieved to see some educated, thoughtful responses to this. There is hope for humanity yet!
shareIt's true. Jewlyweird has a bizarre, unrealistic quota, and how dare you point it out to the sheeple.
I posted over here http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1661199/board/nest/252750819 about what would happen if they made a movie with about slavery in the USA and had a white slave and a black slave owner. Of the whopping 3 replies that I got, one person couldn't even figure out what my post had to do with this Cinderella, and the other one predictably called me a racist, then a third joke reply.
11... 92... 12...share