Let me clear from the start: this story is not about Leonardo DiCaprio thinking he could or should play a 13th century Persion poet and scholar. This is not a story about a studio approaching Leonardo DiCaprio, a white American, to play one of the most famous and beloved figures in Islamic literature. This story is about the screenwriter working on the script for a bio-pic of Jalaluddin al-Rumi and the screenwriter’s dream-cast is LEO. For Rumi.
An Oscar-winning screenwriter has agreed to work on a biopic about the 13th-century poet Jalaluddin al-Rumi. David Franzoni, who wrote the script for the 2000 blockbuster Gladiator, and Stephen Joel Brown, a producer on the Rumi film, said they wanted to challenge the stereotypical portrayal of Muslim characters in western cinema by charting the life of the great Sufi scholar.
“He’s like a Shakespeare,” Franzoni said. “He’s a character who has enormous talent and worth to his society and his people, and obviously resonates today. Those people are always worth exploring.”
Producers hope to begin shooting the film next year. Franzoni and Brown were in Istanbul last week to meet with Rumi experts and visited the mystic’s mausoleum in Konya. Rumi’s spiritual and mystical epics, the Masnavi and the Divan, are widely considered among the best poetry ever written and have been translated into numerous languages. The Sufi teacher, who fled in his youth from his birthplace in present-day Afghanistan during the Mongol invasion, travelled through Baghdad, Mecca and Damascus with his family as a refugee before settling in Konya, in modern-day Turkey, where he died in old age.
Franzoni and Brown said they would like Leonardo DiCaprio to play Rumi, and Robert Downey Jr to star as Shams of Tabriz, though they said it was too early to begin casting. “This is the level of casting that we’re talking about,” said Brown, chief executive of Y Productions, who was also a producer on other hit films such as Se7en, The Fugitive and the Devil’s Advocate. The movie will be co-produced by Y Productions and Es Film.
This is such a giant pile of NOPE. I can see how Rumi’s life story would be cinematic and fascinating to portray on the big screen. But I don’t think American producers and American screenwriters should be the people to do it. And that’s because they default to the same old bulls—t whitewashing that we’ve seen a million times before. Leonardo DiCaprio?!? ARE YOU JOKING? Robert Downey Jr. as Shams of Tabriz? And Kate Upton as Rumi’s Hot Wife, I’m sure. Tilda Swinton can play an imam! And if Leo’s not available, they’ll get Benedict Cumberbatch.
Photos courtesy of Fame/Flynet.
JFC This cannot be real, tell me this came from the Onion in an article date “before these a-holes saw the public react to Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone and Christian Bale as Moses
That’s a f*cking insult to people in that culture and perfectly capable actors with an actual Middle eastern Background
“’before these a-holes saw the public react to Zoe Saldana as Nina Simone and Christian Bale as Moses'”
And the travesty that was “Gods of Egypt,”
And the “Ghost in the Shell” mess,
And Swinton’s RIDICULOUS “Not Asian, but Asian” justification,
And, ohhhh, I don’t know, THE ENTIRE OSCAR SEASON!!
Hollywood never learns, so yes I think its real.
These people live in a bubble that almost never gets breached. They don’t actually have to ever deal with, you know, reality. And so it continues…
“…actors with an actual Middle eastern Background”
Afghanistan is not in the Middle East.
Gotta love whitewashing. There’s something deeply infuriating when white people want to use your culture but erase everything about it. See Nina Simone
And Rooney Mara in Pan
UGH. This is so GROSS.
And Olga Kurylenko playing a Bolivian (?!) in her Bond movie…
Sounds like an Onion story.
Hell no! I dig Leo and all just not for this character portrayal.
For better or for worst the first few names that came to mind were:
Oscar Issac
Cliff Curtis
Oded Fehr
Ben Kingsley
Rami Malek
God, Rami Malek would be perfect. Have you heard him reciting Prince lyrics as a phone sex operator? I want the full audio/video.
Oscar Issac and Cliff Curtis are not middle eastern. Oded Fehr is jewish and and ben Kingsley is of Gujarati Indian descent.
Rumi was born in either present day Afghanistan or Tajikistan, which are central Asian, not middle eastern.
You are correct @Sam That was my bad.
The only one of those four with recent ancestry that’s even anywhere near the place Rumi was born, is Ben Kingsley. Nope to all!
Oscar Isaac is a LATINO!
Pej Vahdet
I would say DiCaprio should, AT BEST, throw some coins in the pot as an executive producer and walk away, but isn’t his production company the one that has the rights to Japanese anime classic “Akira” and was trying to whitewash/Americanize it years ago?
It does.
Am I the only one who doesn’t get Leo anyway? He seems the same in every role. Every film I have seen with him there was at least one of the other actors there acting him out of the water.
No, you aren’t alone- there are many of us. Leo sure doesn’t make me want to pay for a film, but he isn’t irritating enough to me turn the channel asap. I do find his personal life very funny (the clubbing, the partying with Biebs, the festivalizing with teens, etc.) and, as long as he is honest with the youngsters he parades about (& as long as they are legal), it is pretty harmless. It’s nice he tries to do stuff for the environment, so while I don’t care about him on screen, he can club all he wants. NO to white-washing this (but I would be more interested with Benedict than Leo is they insist on doing that)- it DOES seem like a joke, but, in the era of Drumpf, somebody clueless might be feeling they can “make Hollywood great again”- ugh.
Please don’t.
The thing that is curious to me is a lot of these whitewashed films don’t actually do well critically or financially (examples: all the recent Egyptian movies). So why be so inflexible with picking the same white actors for everythin? Is there some legit reason I’m missing?
white actors get nominated for the big awards, which means acclaim/pr?
that sounds horrible, but it wouldn’t surprise me if that is happening 🙁
Money. Funding for a film is easier and quicker to get when a big name is attached.
I get this reasoning, but I mean, the middle east doesn’t have money? Come on.
Because the producers don’t want or don’t find to finance the movies with some middle-eastern actors in lead
Recently I watched a French action movie with a casting full of French casting from immigration and the lead was white .The director explained that he didn’t find the finance without the white lead .
After all Cleopatra will be Angelina Jolie if the movie is made
Cleopatra was Greek and a descendant of the Macedonian dynasty of the Ptolemei, she was white…but she looked nothing like Jolie…
you suggest kate upton for a oscar bait movie? lol
I’m just going to pretend that the rest of the article doesn’t exist :/
When I saw “Sufi” in the title I was sure it had to have another meaning that I don’t know of. Then when I opened the link, I am still (positively) surprised that we are indeed talking about the soufism, that courant of Islam.
I totally understand why the scénariste and producer are aiming for such high profiles actors. Because nobody will ever hear of the film let alone go see it ! So they need big names to véhicule Al Rumi’s story. We are going to see Irak Syria and Mecca in the 13th century. It is so wildly different from what we know from these cities now because of wars.
I am Arab so I would have gone watch the film anyway. Especially that soufism is part of our culture. But for a normal eastern person, how would they be interested in such story and places if you don’t have big Hollywood names to carry the film?
In a better world when people are not narrow minded and are open to learn about the world, they would cast middle easterns as actors. But for now, I am already happy we are going to portray Al-Rumi story in a Hollywood film.
If you’re so worried about the “star power” of these kinds of historical films, you can easily remedy this by having some “big name” SUPPORTING cast while casting someone of middle eastern descent for the lead.
Don’t settle for less! I would be horrified if Hollywood whitewashed a historical asian poet in a movie.
Please: Alexander Siddig. This guy was born to play the role of a poet. Although he might be too old now- for this particular movie. Maybe the older version … Sigh…
In any case, if there was ever a case of Hollywood being obtuse beyond all measure, Leo and gang is it. Geez.
Love him- that would be great & I think he is not so busy in Dorne any more 🙂 Although I hear he is now on Peaky Blinders (I have so much catching up to do! If they are looking for younger, the guy who played his brother on GoT was HOT, but maybe too much swagger? I guess without knowing how they are writing Rumi, it’s hard to guess.
YES to Alexander Siddig!
Also, Nelofer Pazira would be an amazing choice to play rumi’s wife since she is actually of afghan descent and is a stellar actor. She was phenomenal in Kandahar and the film won several awards.
http://www.sbs.com.au/movies/sites/sbs.com.au.film/files/kandahar_704_0.jpg
He was my immediate thought too
Wow, no. That lead picture to this story is everything. I loved Sherman Alexie’s comments on ‘The Revenant’. And, please get someone Middle Eastern to play Rumi, please. When Rumi was talking about heavenly bodies, he was not picking his dates out of the VS catalog.
No, just no.
They should cast someone less known like Rami Malek, not a moviestar with a persona that’ll take you out of the story. It doesn’t need famous actors, if the film is good enough it will do well anyway. Ppl want to see something different.
I do not know if they can get anyone who is both big enough star and from a accurate backround for a film like this so controversy would be inevitable. But somehow I do not think this will actually happen, I know the screenwriter is well known but often scripted are just advertised by trying to attach big names to them in press but nobody cares.
But I do not know really who should get the parts if this happens. If we care just about looks and not correct backround I think Oscar Isaac and Pedro Pascal could be big enough stars for excample. But I do not know anyone from actually from Middle-East who is big enough star to carry a film.
And that is probably the problem.
Certain actors can carry a whole load of a movie on their own which is why they are cast very often. Think Meryl Streep. Or De Niro. Their names alone guarantee that the audience will listen to the trailers or even seek out trailers and interviews on youtube. (me included).
I think a better solution might be to create more media for lesser-known actors and actresses and movies. Give them a chance to present their art. If necessary do require all big broadcasters to present movies which cover topics of minorites or which have lots of POC actors and actresses in their cast. I mean that all big broadcasters would give air time to a movie like the Thor but few would give air time to lesser known movies.
I think Rami Malek may be a Coptic Christian, in which case he may not be interested in this role given some of the religious tension in his native Egypt… (fellow Arab here, just thought I would chime in)
I’m getting so so SO tired of this. Tired and angry. It shouldn’t have to be such a struggle to see people who look like me in movies. You want to challenge the stereotypes surrounding muslims? I don’t think casting DiCaprio and RDJ is going to be challenging ANYTHING- same old white guys, same old Hollywood. I’m trying not to be too bitter and spiteful about this because it’s Ramadan but this constant whitewashing is really disheartening. They embrace Rumi as a genius, and are excited about telling his story, but they can’t embrace his ethnicity? Disgusting
Seriously, me too.
God, just the thought of it has me somewhere between laughter and disbelief. And RDJ as Shams? I thought that was a joke, not real. It can only be a joke, right?!
Totally ridiculous. It’s frustrating because the reasoning for whitewashing is often ‘we had to get a big name, someone audiences know!!!!’, but actors of colour are barely given a chance to get their foot in the door. I mean, if you’re going to continually pass over non-white actors for roles that are specifically non-white, of course you won’t be able to find many big-name actors of colour! You’re giving their roles to well-established white actors instead! They create the problem and then act as though their hands are tied when it comes to the solution.
Are lots of American producers White and ridiculous? Yes. Including these two jokers.
But it’s important not to erase POCs and truly fair Whites from the term “American.” Julie Dash, Cary Fukunaga, Justin Lin, Ava DuVernay, etc. are American too.
Also, light-washing is alive and well in film making all over the world! Look at casting in films from Mexico, Brazil, India, Korea, on and on. You’d think there was not a dark-skinned person in the country and that everyone’s nose is pixie and straight. 1998 Michele-level lies!
Rumi was a Persian poet, not afghan! Leos aging like a Persian man, getting fat and balding a little. Maybe that’s why the screenwriter wants him to play rumi
Saying he’s not afghan is denying Rumi’s heritage since he was born in an area which is now known as Balkh, Afghanistan.
…and saying he’s aging like a Persian man is pretty derogatory.
Leo D better know better than to take part in this if asked. Ditto RDJ. It would be a huge mistake.
Well I’m a Persian lady married to a Persian man, so I know a little about history, Jess. I suggest you pick up a history book that isn’t white washed and understands the difference between Iran and Afghanistan for one. Rumi lived in the Persian empire, parts of what are now known as Iran.
I don’t think Jess was denying that Rumi was Persian, but was rather criticizing your denial of Rumi being Afghan. The Persian Empire, like the Roman Empire, was a superpower that ruled many peoples across vast territories. In modern Afghanistan, one of the two official languages is a form of Persian.
Everyone tries to claim Rumi because Rumi is great. There’s no need to be so exclusive. Rumi certainly wasn’t.
@ Sam
Problem is that by claiming an artist for your country only you can deny another country the very same artist. And there is a definitive streak of devaluing the “other” and to deny their cultural achievements.
Usually everybody thinks that his own country is the greatest. There are people of a certain nationality in particular who have a lot of trouble to admit that not everything is better in their own country. *distinctivedisapprovingglancedirectedtotheWest*