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Jeffrey Wright has made a reputation for himself as an exceptionally talented actor, not only when he is in front of a camera, but when he is behind a microphone. From voicing The Watcher in Marvel’sWhat If? to playing the role of James Gordan inThe Batman,Bernard Lowe inWestworld,and most recently, his work in the critically acclaimed,American Fiction,there is no character too difficult for him.
On top of this, it would seem that the actor also creates some very strict boundaries for the roles he takes up, wanting to do justice, not only to the character that he is playing but to the story of the film itself.
The perfect example of this would be his 1999 film,Ride with the Devil, where he refused to censor a word that his character is supposed to say. The matter became so serious that the actor walked away from the studio and any other person had to step in.
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Jeffrey Wright Refused To Censor One Word
Jeffrey Wrightrecently gave an interview withEntertainment Weeklyalongside the entire cast ofAmerican Fiction. Here, he mentioned an experience he had while working on his film,Ride with the Devil, where he played a former slave, who was fighting on the side of the Confederacy. When a movie is released, there are a lot of different versions of it, which are set for specific regions or specific contexts. The censorship of a movie is quite a common practice in Hollywood.
“In this scene in which he has this, kind of the apex of his awakening and his need to emancipate himself, he says, ‘Being that man’s friend was no more than being his n*****. And I will never again be anyone’s n*****,’”Wright recalled. “And it’s such a self-empowering statement and understanding of the word.”
When this movie was going through censorship, and the actor was dubbing a version of this movie which was supposed to be played in airplanes, he ended up butting heads with the studio. There was a scene in the movie where his character says the N-word and the production was going through a process of censoring this. They wanted to, instead, change it to a different word. Wright did not agree with this sentiment.
Also Read:“A sense of humor that we haven’t always seen”: Jeffrey Wright’s The Watcher Returns With New Qualities To Vin Diesel’s MCU Series
Someone Else Had To Step In And Say The Word
Jeffrey Wright refused to cut this word out of the film, regardless of what version of it, it was, because he believed that this was a very important and empowering statement for his character. When he was told that he had to censor it, the actor refused and walked out of the studio. One would assume that the studio would eventually agree to the condition put forth by the actor. This, however, was not the case.
“‘Nah. That’s not happening,’ and I headed out the door and to my car.”he went on,“And they found some other actor to come in and do that one word, apparently, so that the airplane folk would be comfy in the darkness of their own ignorance around the language of race,”
Instead of trying to persuade the actor, they found another actor, who would come in and simply dub over that one word. Wright voiced that he did not agree with this, stating that it was quite odd that the ‘airplane folk’ wanted to stay comfortable in their ignorance about race and all that has transpired.
Ananya Godboley
Senior Writer
Articles Published :2219
Ananya Godboley is a Senior Entertainment Writer at FandomWire, majorly focusing on TV shows, with over 2,000 articles published. She has been an entertainment journalist for the past two years. Currently pursuing an undergraduate degree in psychology from K.R. Mangalam University, Ananya also likes to fangirl as a full-time job. She covers news and analyses on anything from Rick and Morty to Hannibal and even Arcane. In between these lines, she also enjoys superheroes and Taylor Swift.A philosophy enthusiast, Ananya enjoys digging deeper into the media she consumes, trying to understand the root of her favorite characters' behavior.
