[Richard Turpin]

Here's another movie I won't be paying to watch at the cinema/and/or buy on 4k Blu-Ray (saving me approx £40 ($50));

'Mary Queen of Scots'

I saw the trailer for this one some time ago and immediately spat out my tea at the girl-power and historically inaccurate (lying) diversity in the cast;



I recognised Adrian Lester from being on British tv a while ago, so I was curious to see exactly which black man he was meant to be playing in an English Tudor court. For weeks now, he's been the only name on IMDB who didn't have a role assigned to him! I guess, they just waited till the last minute, but now it's been announced that he'll be playing 'Lord Thomas Randolph', ambassador to Mary Queen of Scots.

Well, it's no surprise that Lord Randolph wasn't black. Not that they care;


https://www.vulture.com/2018/12/mary-que...urate.html

Quote:

The film, which is written by Beau Willimon (“House of Cards”) and based on a book by John Guy, stars Saoirse Ronan in the titular role as Mary Stuart and Margot Robbie as her cousin, Queen Elizabeth I. It also showcases a number of actors of color in prominent roles in both Mary’s and Elizabeth’s courts, including decorated Shakespearean actor Adrian Lester, who is black; he portrays Elizabeth’s ambassador to the Scottish court, Lord Thomas Randolph.

Rourke told TheWrap that colorblind casting a period drama was important to her, because of the many years black and other people of color were left out of such portrayals and films.

“I was really clear, I would not direct an all-white period drama,” Rourke said. “Adrian, who plays, Lord Randolph, grew up 40 miles from the birthplace of William Shakespeare; he is one of our eminent Shakespearean actors. I needed to cast an ambassador who could move between the two courts and help this make sense. I don’t understand why you wouldn’t cast him.”

There were people of color in England during that time. According to the U.K. national archives, Elizabeth would have employed black servants and musicians, and even had a black chambermaid, though seeing a person of color as high up as Lord Randolph would have been improbable. Rourke said, however, that she didn’t see any reason that these actors couldn’t play these prominent roles in “Mary Queen of Scots.”

The almost comically white Bess of Hardwick's family may be surprised to find that their famous ancestor was actually Chinese!

Bess of Hardwick (Actual);




The new cultural marxist version as played by Gemma Chan (WB by the way);





Honestly, at this point is even worth attaching any historical value at all to these movies?! At what point does it just become fantasy?

EDIT: For fuck's sake! This just gets worse when you read the reviews for the fucking film. Hilariously predictable 'review' from the New York Times;

Quote:

History has generally treated Mary as a villain, and “Mary Queen of Scots” seeks both to revise this judgment and to examine its sources in misogyny, nationalism and bigotry.

Wow. That's all the bad words, right there.

The same rag finds the movie to be 'enjoyably anachronistic'. Yeah, I bet you do. The rag goes on to describe 'Mary’s declarations of tolerance — for foreigners, sexual nonconformists and freethinkers'

The writer of this 'review', A.O.Scott ('yes', no need to google by the way) was ready for my posting on rvf it seems;

Quote:

No doubt the usual pedantic fact-checking (he means me) will follow the release of “Mary Queen of Scots.” I have neither the expertise (no, you don't) nor the temperament for such an exercise, and I admire the audacity and intelligence of the performers and the filmmakers in pursuing a vigorous and provocative historical fiction, even one that doesn’t entirely work.