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Harry Lennix - Movie
By Rych McCain International/Nationally Syndicated Entertainment Columnist
Photos Courtesy of Warner Bros Pictures
Harry Lennix
Takes Command In “Man Of
Steel!”
Photo
Courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures
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| Harry Lennix as Gen. Swanwick |
There have been many versions of the original superhero Superman made for the big screen. Whereas resent film versions did suffice in getting the story told, the Superman movie franchise as a whole has never really taken off box office wise like the other superheroes namely the main three men i.e., “Bat,” “Spider,” and “Iron.” However, this latest installment of the man from the planet Krypton has changed all of that.
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| Lawrence Fishburne as Perry White |
Lawrence Fishburne plays the Daily Planet Editor Perry White (a role that has been “White” (pardon the pun) forever.
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| Harry Lennix as Gen. Swanwick |
While Harry Lennix is Army General Swanwick who has command over the entire operation to quell the attacking aliens from space.
The placing of Black men in those power positions speaks volumes and gives a hats-off salute to the writers, producers, director and studio bosses for making it happen in an era where actors of color are still denied the simple right to make a living playing typically American roles that actually need no racial or color definition.
This begs the question that could the casting of these two Black men with powerful roles be some kind of a turning point for Hollywood? Lennix responds, “Well I hope so. I mean there is no way to know. Experience is the best teacher so we will have to see if this is something that can be done again. Very rarely at any level of production does two authority figures of color in a Hollywood endeavor ever really takes place. One of them is usually a criminal or wearing a dress or something like that but in this cast you have two real men who are playing important, significant parts in a major Hollywood film and I would love for it to become a precedent. I think it remains to be seen but it would be great if this is the start of something big.”
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| Henry Cavill as Cal-El, Clark Kent and Superman |
“Man Of Steel” will take a prominent place not only in Hollywood history but civil rights history as well, partly because the casting was brilliant regardless of race and historically note worthy because of race.
Who shares the credit for making this aspect happen? Lennix lights up, “The first contact that I had with anybody from the film was the director Zack Snyder. I got the vision that he wanted to work with the actors that he wanted to work with. I don’t think that he let race at all determine whether or not you could have one or two strong Black characters. He was just looking for the actors that he sought for those parts. From that extent I would say Zack Snyder but certainly the producers and studio allowed it. So I think at every level it should be something that should be applauded.”
How did Lennix feel when he knew he had the role? He explains, “Well this was one of those circumstances where the role was offered to me without any real knowledge of the script or what the process was. Zack called and said that he wanted to use me in the film. I was completely excited but it came out of the blue so it wasn’t something that I was waiting around to hear about as in the case of an audition. But none the less, it felt like a victory. I felt like something had been won. It was really something of a surprise even to me.”
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2013 Rych McCain Media/Syndication tm
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