British actress Cynthia Erivo has taken on the role of South African songstress Miriam Makeba in a musical drama set in the Apartheid era.
The casting of a non-South African woman has been met with backlash online, with criticism of why local talent had been overlooked.
CYNTHIA ERIVO CAST AS MIRIAM MAKEBA – SOUTH AFRICANS REACT
This week, news broke of Hollywood-produced South African musical drama, The Road Home.
The R300 million film will explore the true-life events of music and politics during the Apartheid era.
It will focus on the late jazz musician Hugh Masekela, who was exiled from South Africa, and went on to form the Graceland band alongside singer Miriam Makeba, who later became his wife.
Masekela will be played by South African thespian Thabo Rametsi, while British actress Cynthia Erivo will take on the role of Makeba.
The casting of Cynthia Erivo, of Wicked and Harriet fame, has been met with backlash online from South Africans. Many have questioned why a South African star was left out of the production.
Here’s what a few had to say…
@Blaq_Ston: “We are not angry enough. How, when there are so many talented actresses to play Mama Miriam?”
@Samkeli11414244: “Imagine how they would feel if someone from South Africa played Martin Luther King Jr or Malcolm X. They would boycott!”
@MbuziManyike: “They say the future is in Africa. But instead of using African talent, they use international talent to tell African stories on African soil”.
US STARS WHO TOOK ON SA ROLES
Cynthia Erivo is not the first international act to have been criticised for taking on a role about a South African.
Other high profile roles include: Jennifer Hudson and Terrence Howard as Winnie and Nelson Mandela in the 2011 biopic, Winnie Mandela.
Matt Damon and Morgan Freeman as Francois Pienaar and Nelson Mandela, respectively, in 2009’s Invictus.
Meryl Streep and Kelvin Kline in Cry Freedom (1987).
British actor Daniel Radcliffe in Escape from Pretoria (2020).