There were a lot of people making a fuss about how all the people of color on the show die and that casting/writing sucked because it was being stereotypical and/or racist.
But what I'd like to know is how much of the script is casting given when they're going through auditions? And also, how much influence do the writers have on casting beyond saying, "We need such-and-such body type/mannerisms/abilities for this character"? And how do the writers decide who lives and dies anyway? I mean, according to Kripke, neither Gordon nor Henricksen were originally supposed to be recurring characters, so the writers didn't even know precisely where their particular arcs were going when they first were cast. And let's face it, by the end of "Hunted" everyone knew that Gordon *had* to die - he was simply too dangerous for the boys to let him live beyond one or two more episodes.
The race issue came up at one point last season, and I mentioned then that I honestly couldn't think of a white actor who would have been able to pull off the spectacular scary-ness of Gordon without coming off as right-out smarmy (really, can you think of a white guy who has Sterling K. Brown's absolute intensity and the capability to pull off that role without being slimy? Because I sure can't). I also argued that perhaps it wasn't so much a lack of racial diversity in the show, but a lack of characters who survive more than a few episodes (if even more than one). Because as you said, very few of the good guys survive - the boys (obviously) and Bobby are the only ones who are still around from S1.
I never called the death of Henrickson because I honestly didn't see it coming. I was hoping for a more prolonged chase and didn't expect him to find out the truth for a while (of course, I was also hoping for a Gordon-Henrickson match-up in that chase, which was sadly dashed with "Fresh Blood").
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timeasmymeasure
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Date: 2008-02-23 06:36 am (UTC)But what I'd like to know is how much of the script is casting given when they're going through auditions? And also, how much influence do the writers have on casting beyond saying, "We need such-and-such body type/mannerisms/abilities for this character"? And how do the writers decide who lives and dies anyway? I mean, according to Kripke, neither Gordon nor Henricksen were originally supposed to be recurring characters, so the writers didn't even know precisely where their particular arcs were going when they first were cast. And let's face it, by the end of "Hunted" everyone knew that Gordon *had* to die - he was simply too dangerous for the boys to let him live beyond one or two more episodes.
The race issue came up at one point last season, and I mentioned then that I honestly couldn't think of a white actor who would have been able to pull off the spectacular scary-ness of Gordon without coming off as right-out smarmy (really, can you think of a white guy who has Sterling K. Brown's absolute intensity and the capability to pull off that role without being slimy? Because I sure can't). I also argued that perhaps it wasn't so much a lack of racial diversity in the show, but a lack of characters who survive more than a few episodes (if even more than one). Because as you said, very few of the good guys survive - the boys (obviously) and Bobby are the only ones who are still around from S1.
I never called the death of Henrickson because I honestly didn't see it coming. I was hoping for a more prolonged chase and didn't expect him to find out the truth for a while (of course, I was also hoping for a Gordon-Henrickson match-up in that chase, which was sadly dashed with "Fresh Blood").