Richard Dreyfuss

I don't think I ever knew what his views were specifically. I assume Richard Dreyfuss was a liberal or at least a Democrat. I think I saw him attacked in the Jewish press long ago for criticizing Israel. Now I see that he once called for George Bush, Jr, to be impeached. His mother was a Communist, and good for her, but I don't think he ever was.

Dreyfuss gave a long interview on Firing Line about the teaching of civics in schools, but he began railing against the Motion Picture Academy's minimal new diversity requirements for Best Picture nominees. He went on to defend blackface and expressed rage that he might never get to play a "Black man".

Dreyfuss invoked Laurence Olivier playing Othello:

“He played a Black man brilliantly. Am I being told that I will never have a chance to play a Black man? Is someone else being told that if they’re not Jewish, they shouldn’t play [in] ‘The Merchant of Venice’? Are we crazy? This is so patronizing. It’s so thoughtless and treating people like children.”

I don't get the impression that he was picturing a non-white actor playing Shylock.  I haven't seen that version of Othello, but Laurence Olivier looked terrible. He once said that Mickey Rooney was America's finest actor. It may have been after he saw Breakfast at Tiffany's.

Certain elements in society are supporting Dreyfuss. Most of what I've seen about it reported uncritically on what he said, so I doubt he's now horrified that he blurted this stuff out on TV.

 

Acting is like other art forms. Sometimes you have to make your own gigs.  If his dream is to play a Black man, he needs to make the movie himself. No one will stop him, although his family and friends would plead with him not to do it.