EDITOR’S NOTE: Here at TVWriter™ we know Herbie J Pilato as a demanding critic of pop culture. Time now to bear witness to another of his many sides:
Kindness Trumps Talent
by Herbie J Pilato
Years ago, I directed a musical for the Rochester Association of Performing Artists (a.k.a. RAPA), and spent weeks auditioning many actors, singers and dancers of all ages.
A diverse amount of extremely talented performers gave it their all during the auditions, but of course I could only narrow it down to a chosen few who would win the various lead and supporting roles.But it soon became clear who would round out the cast.I was impressed with the excessive talent of some, but more impressed with the extreme kindness of others. Some of those with the most talent, unfortunately, did not have the best personalities – nor the kindest of demeanors. And some of those with less talent – and in some cases, no talent at all, appeared to be less egotistical and potentially the easiest with whom to work.So, I was faced with a dilemma:
Hire the most talented who were also the most egostical and difficult personalities?
Or
I remain both astounded and annoyed by the continued lack of diversity in casting on film and television shows.
Ok, fine – Man of Steel was kind of a success. But no one cared about The Lone Ranger and they’ve stayed away in light-years from Pacific Rim.
For some reason, feature film remakes of classic television shows are produced as a joke; as if the original core material of these productions were unworthy from the get-go. But if that was true why would there be any attempt at all of a big-screen redo of a small-screen hit show?