Rampling, 69, is up for the best actress prize for her role in the British drama 45 Years, from director Andrew Haigh, where she will compete against Room’s Brie Larson, Carol’s Cate Blanchett, Joy’s Jennifer Lawrence and Brooklyn’s Saoirse Ronan. Asked for her take on the current furore over all-white lists of nominees on French Radio network Europe 1 on Friday morning, the British actor did not mince her words. “It is racist to whites,” she said.
“One can never really know, but perhaps the black actors did not deserve to make the final list,” added Rampling. Asked if the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences should introduce quotas, a proposal which no current advocate of increased diversity has mooted, she responded: “Why classify people? These days everyone is more or less accepted … People will always say: ‘Him, he’s less handsome’; ‘Him, he’s too black’; ‘He is too white’ … someone will always be saying ‘You are too’ [this or that] … But do we have to take from this that there should be lots of minorities everywhere?”
Editor's notes: Sorry but I find uber-liberal Hollywood "a racist institution in this day and time," to be a ridiculous proposition. We all need to stop thinking as if we were members of an ethnicity, because, in the end, that consideration will get you nothing that is meaningful. I am not successful in my trade because of my skin color. And if you are, you do not deserve your success.
Look at Jamie Foxx or Will Smith. They are not where they are because they are black. They are great actors because each has chosen to do what is necessary to be great . . . . period. But more than this, if the Hollywood Elite is racist, that needs to be dealt with apart from requirements to honor a certain number of [black] actors, regardless of their individual successes as actors. I hasten to add that this last concern appears to have been addressed. I have heard some in the black community voice the same concern.
Is bias a serious problem against black actors . . . . in Hollywood? They point to the last two years, but two years out of decades does little to accurately define a problem. Is there a problem? Well, there is something wrong, but if we do not properly define the problem, we will not see meaningful solution. Again, I find it difficult to believe that liberal Hollywood is prejudice.
In the end, however, it is a black-0in-Hollywood issue. Looking forward as to how this is solved . . . . could be an example of how to solve other race-based issues.
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