Seth Rogen is currently producing a film called Good Boys which is slated to hit theaters next year. The movie is based around a group of kids who skip school to get a toy fixed, and must complete the task before their parents come home. One of the boys is played by 11-year-old Keith L. Williams, whose stand-in has been placed at the center of a racial scandal. TMZ obtained pictures of Williams' stand-in wearing blackface, an afro wig, and a fat suit, in order to perform scenes.
In case you were not aware, stand-ins are used on set in almost every production. For example, if there is a scene where the actor's back is facing the camera while in dialogue with someone else, there's a good chance the actor with their back to the camera is actually a stand-in. When you're a movie star like Robert Downey Jr. or Dwayne Johnson, you have little time for scenes where your million dollar face isn't being used. Using stand-ins for scenes like that are regular. Painting your stand-in with blackface is not.
While sources connected to the production say that it is not uncommon for movies to use makeup to help a stand-in match their counterpart's skin tone, this may have taken it too far. The stand-in actor is a light-skinned Black boy, but why not just get a darker Black stand-in actor? At least one person on set was distraught by the sight of a child in blackface, and filed a complaint with the production company.
