THE DIVERSE CAST OF ‘SPIDER-MAN’ was the only way the film would work
Anew sensibility is tingling in“Spider-Man: Home coming .” Present throughout the second big-screen reboot of the beloved Marvel comics super hero, which opened to rave reviews and an estimated $117 million domestic box office, is a change audiences have
For director Jon Watts itwasano-brainer.The Colorado native and NY U grad lived in New York City for years, knew the textures of the city and its people, and knew that he couldn’ t put aNewYorkon-screenthat didn’ t look like, well, New York.
“Peter Parker is from Queens, one of the most diverse places in the world ,” Watts said. As development on the script began, that sentiment was baked into the DNA of his vision for the film. He says his Marvel and Sony boss es were receptive fromthestart.
“Homecoming” offers the most realistic ally diverse world yet ina franchise that has been slow to give minoritiesand women the same degree of complexity and significance to play as the white men who get to drive and dominate these stories.
For his initial pitch to Marvel and Sony, Watts createda“look book” to serve asa visual blue print for what the world of“Spider Man: Home coming” should look like, pulling New York Times photographs of real Queenshigh-schoolersto en vision the multicultural mi lieu Peter Parker would live in as a millennial superhero of today.
“A big part of it was what I thought the cast should look like ,” he said .“These are what the nerdy kids would be like, these are the cool kids, and because I was pulling from real life, it was this very diverse group. And that was my pitch from the verybeginning.”
Hethoughtabout Brooklyn Technical High School or Stuyvesant High School in Lowerof New York City’ s nine specialized public schools focused on science, technology, engineering and mathematics programming for gifted students.
Those schools became the models for Midtown High, where Peter is often one of the only white kids we see. And yet diversity isn’ t a plot point in“SpiderMan: Home coming ,” where S pi de y’ s nerdy gamer best friend, Ned Leeds, is played byscene-stealing new comer Jacob Bat al on, an Asian American actor, and his rival, Flash Thompson, is played with rich-jerk perfectionby Tony Revo lori, of Guatemalan descent.
Actress Laura Harrier,bi racial, plays Liz, the driven senior captain of the academic dec athlon team whom Peter has ac rush on; Disney star Zen day a, also bi racial, bring san Ally Sheedy-in-”TheBreakfast Club” energy to the dry, nonconformist Michelle. In die film fans will also spot16-year-oldGhanaian “Beasts of No Nation” star Abraham At ta hon the Midtownacademic dec athlon squad.
“It’ s like a magnet school where all kinds of kids go, they just have to be really smart and test toge tin ,” said Watts .“We thought if we made it that kind of school, then you were going to have a really interesting mix of people .” Diversity“is not part of the story ,” he says, becausein the on-screen world of“Spider-Man: Home coming”— just like in the real one—it is, simply, normal.
“Jon had a specific idea of what he wanted to do: He wanted it to resemble a realistic high school ,” said Sarah F inn, the casting director of studio blockbusters such as “Godzilla ,”“Kong: Skull Island” and“The Jungle Book” who’ s been in charge of casting the Marvel universe ever since“IronMan.”
They cast a wide net to find young talent from all over the world even before the script was done and specific roles had been written.“I thought about how
they cast‘ Freaks and Geeks’ and how they just brought in a bunch of kids, and if someone wasn’ t exactly the way they imagined for the role, they could adapt the role to that kid,” said Watts. “I wanted to apply the same kindofattitude.”
Hawaiian-bornBatalon, who is of Filipino descent, had no credit son his resume when he put himself on tape. He landed the role of Peter’s best friend, Ned, who in the film keeps the comic book surname Leeds, after an audition process that saw young performers of all backgrounds try out for different parts.
Revo lori was coming off of memorable turns in Wes Anderson’ s“Grand Budapest Hotel” and the Sun dance darling“Dope” when he auditioned for “Spider-Man.”
“I saw white kids auditioning for Ned and Flash and Liz and Michelle, so it wasn’ t about ,‘ Let’ s cast this diverse ,’” he said .“It was more about ,‘ Let’ s let diverse people and people of color have the opportunity .’”
As Hollywood executives and film makers open their casting processes to answer the calls for greater inclusivenesson-screen, Revo lori notes it’ s crucial that actors of color not merely be brought into fulfill a token diversity slot on an audition sheet but be given actual consideration to play roles outside of traditional lines.
“I don’ t want to have it any different ,” said Re volori.“I want to be treated as equals—notasaspecial item that we need to add .”
FinncreditsLin-Manuel Miranda’sTony-winning musical“Hamilton” for paving the way for new perspective son casting by selecting performers of color to play Alexander Hamilton, George Washington andother—Caucasian— Founding Fathers.
“I do think it opened the door .( both) the casting of that show and the audience embracing it ,” said F inn, who also casts from the televisionand theater worlds and says she’ s constantly going through pile so fD VDs on the look out for new talent.
Among the familiar faces in the ensemble audiences may also recognize—especiallyfrom their work on television—areGarcelle Be au va is, Hannibal Bur ess, Kenneth Choi, Donald Gl over, Se len is Ley va,Michael Man do and Boke em Woodbine.
Many of the younger cast members in“Home coming” were hired off the strength of the smaller independent films they were first given shot sat, proof that inclusivenesson the small-budget in die level can have a significantly i mp actful ripple throughout the eco sphere. “I watch them all ,” F inn said .“It helps if they have something to point to .”
While under represented groups have enjoyed more recent victories on the small screen, change has been slow moving when it comes to Hollywood’ s studio output.
Darnell Hunt, whole ads research on UCLA’ s annual Hollywood Diversity Report, says efforts to make inclusion a natural part of “Spider-Man: Home coming”are increasingly the right move not just socially but also financially.
“One of the things we’ re finding in our study is that diversity sells. It makes economic sense, because right now people of color are nearly 40 percent of the population and that figure is only increasing, by about a half-percent a year ,” said Hunt, also director of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies and chair of Sociology at UCLA.
But as significant as it is to see face so fall ethnicitiespresented on-screen in “Spider-Man: Home coming ,” it’ s still Peter Parker’ s story, and both the hero and villa in, played by Michael K eaton, remain white men.
An online campaign to seeaSpider-Manofcolor in Sony’ s 2012 reboot“The Amazing Spider-Man” failed, although it did later land“Atlanta” star G lover a small role in“Home coming .”
“It’ s not enough just to have the best friend of the protagonist be a person of color ora woman ;( audiences)actually want to see the protagonist bea woman or a person of color ,” said Hunt, whose team issues its next Hollywood Diversity Report in February, tracking inclusivenessin films released in 2016.“It’ s all about ,‘ Whose stories are we telling ?’ This appears to be a step in the right direction.”
And Marvel will take even bigger steps soon. “Black Panther ,” starring Chadwick Bose man as the film division’ s first leading superhero of color, promises a true a watershed moment for representation when it open sin February with a predominantly black cast on-screenand“Creed” director Ryan Co ogler, the M CU’ sf ir st African American helm er, behind thecamera.
F inn is casting the MCU’ s foreseeable future—and says she read sand listens to everything online, including critiques of how far Hollywood needs togo.
“There’ s a lot more work to do ,” admitted F inn .“We still need to see Latino leads, Asian leads, women, women over a certain age, people with disabilities .. It does matter, and I hope this is just the beginning.