Well, let’s cue up the controversy machine. Tiger Lily, the Native American princess of Neverland, is going to be played by someone not of Native American descent (nor from Neverland). We’re being a bit cheeky, but we’re sure this news is going to raise a few culturally-concerned eyebrows.
Rooney Mara has nabbed the part of Tiger Lily in Joe Wright‘s forthcoming “Pan.” The 3D movie already has Hugh Jackman as Blackbeard, Garett Hedlund as Captain Hook, and features a Black List script by Jason Fuchs (“Ice Age: Continental Drift“) that is a a prequel to J.M. Barrie’s novel. It follows an orphan who is taken to the magical world of Neverland, where he becomes a hero to the natives and leads a revolt against the evil pirates.
While The Wrap stresses that Wright is planning a “very international and multi-racial” movie, this casting sorta flies in the face of that whole idea. But hey, there’s still more to come as the movie gears up to hit theaters on July 17, 2015.
A white woman playing a tribal princess… Yup sounds like the Classic white-washing of Hollywood. 3/4 of the lost boys will be white with a token African-American boy and one racial ambiguous boy.
Screw you KEVIN JAGERNAUTH, you're no better than the racists who cast Mara.
Also I just want to put this out there… Why did nobody care when Johnny Depp played a Native American? It was pretty awful.
They also auditioned Lupita nyong'o and Adèle Exarchopoulos for Tiger Lily so im guessing she was not written as Native American in this adaption. From what I've read it sounds like this adaptation will not follow the same character profiles from the original story. Tiger lily may not be a native american princess, Peter pan might not be a light skinned Caucasian boy with brown hair. I'm hoping they cast someone from a different race as peter or any of the other major rolls, it would be refreshing to see.
Is this a cartoon movie? If so, who cares what the actor's race is?
Isn't the whole concept of acting being something you are not? Playing someone else? I'm pretty sure Hugh Jackman isn't a real pirate, either – Outrageous!
I love Rooney Mara! She's a great actress and she's very low-key, unlike one totally unbearable young actress who always manages to annoy the living s–t out of me *cough* Jennifer Lawrence *cough*. I don't care what color Tiger Lily is in the movie, just like I didn't care when a young, talented African-American actress got cast in the lead role in the Annie remake.
I will definitely be seeing this film if Miss Mara is a part of the cast.
Can't imagine the same level of controversy rising over the newly African-American Annie. Interpretation is nothing new, the expectation of controversy promotes controversy.
Jesus. Everyone shut the hell up and quit trying to drum up controversy. We are living in an age of walking on a million different eggshells. Just worry about the movie being good or not.
And to the inevitable backlash of my unpopular opinion: suck it. Hard.
What a shame! They couldnât have bothered to try to find a Native American/First Nations actress?
If it's so international and multi racial, why have non of the other actors that have been announced been non white? Fricking hollywood. They have to understand that times are changing. this movie will bomb, just like the others.
Yep. No way this could possibly go wrong.
Is Tiger Lily supposed to be Native American in the new version? Has anyone read the script?