Sometime in the Fall or early next year, Marvel will premiere The Falcon and The Winter Soldier on Disney+. Actor Anthony Mackie, who has played Sam Wilson aka The Falcon since 2015’s Captain America: Winter Soldier, spoke about Marvel Studios’ lack of diversity behind the camera.
While being interviewed on Variety‘s “Actors on Actors” by Snowpiercer‘s Daveed Diggs, Mackie said the studio is heading in the right direction, but still has a ways to go.
“When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier comes out, I’m the lead. When Snowpiercer comes out, you’re the lead. We have the power and the ability to ask those questions,” Mackie, who will eventually become the new Captain America, said. “It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white.”
Mackie then pointed out that hiring an almost all-Black crew on a movie with a Black lead is, in many ways, just as bad. Why? Because that diversity should be included behind the scenes regardless of the race (or gender) of the lead character.
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“But then when you do Black Panther, you have a Black director, Black producer, you have a Black costume designer, you have a Black stunt choreographer,” he noted. “And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”
Mackie concluded by saying Marvel Studios should ultimately “hire the best person for the job. Even if it means we’re going to get the best two women, we’re going to get the best two men.”
With the Czech Republic now open for business once again, Marvel will be able to complete production on The Falcon and the Winter Soldier in time for its planned August premiere in Disney+.
The Geek is a working screenwriter, director and screenwriting instructor.
