Zoë Kravitz has reminded us why she's one of the smartest young actresses around. Having previously called out Hollywood for the BS reason she didn’t land a part in The Dark Knight (she was too ‘urban’ FYI), she’s talking about how the film industry still always makes skin colour an issue.
In an interview with the Guardian, the 26-year-old pointed out how female roles are always white-unless-stated-otherwise, saying: 'You will read a script, and a character description will say: “Jane, 26, beautiful and outgoing,” and you’re just supposed to assume that person’s Caucasian. And then it will say: “Sarah, 27, African-American, funky.” That has always been shocking to me, the idea that unless I’m being told someone’s ethnicity, I’m supposed to assume that everyone else in the story is white”.
This is all amid current Oscar diversity controversy where the winners skin colour is gossiped about more than their actual acting/directing/screenwriting talent. #OscarsSoWhite may not have been trending this year but that doesn’t mean that roles for women who aren't white are suddenly easy to come by, and even if they were, their race is still being pointed out, as Zoë points out.
That was until recently, when the actress struck gold with her newest role in Big Little Lies, where she plays second-wife and step-mum Bonnie. Zoë went on to praise the director, Jean-Marc Vallée, for not once mentioning her race. Apparently, he told her “you feel very Bonnie” without producing an African-American character description, for the first time in the actress’ career.
This article originally appeared on The Debrief.