Samuel L. Jackson: Black British Actors Are Stealing All of Our Roles

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In an interview with the New York radio station Hot 97, Jackson suggested that Jordan Peele’s satirical horror film Get Out, which starred British actor Daniel Kaluuya as an African-American man falling victim to white liberal racism, could have benefited from having an American actor as its lead.

“There are a lot of black British actors in these movies,” Jackson said. “I tend to wonder what that movie [Get Out] would have been with an American brother who really feels that.

“Daniel grew up in a country where they’ve been interracial dating for a hundred years,” he said. “What would a brother from America have made of that role? Some things are universal, but [not everything].”

Jackson also pointed to Ava DuVernay’s historical drama Selma, which cast David Oyelowo in the role of Martin Luther King, as another example. “There are some brothers in America who could have been in that movie who would have had a different idea about how King thinks,” he said.

Asked why so many British black actors are cast in American roles, Jackson replied: “They’re cheaper than us, for one thing. They don’t cost as much. And they [casting agents and directors] think they’re better trained, because they’re classically trained.”

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