Anthony Mackie says he wants to see more diversity on the production side of Marvel. Mackie discussed the lack of diverse directors, stunt persons, costume designers, and more with actor and musician Daveed Diggs for Variety.
When prompted by Diggs for his take on representation at the current moment, Mackie had this to say: “When The Falcon and the Winter Soldier comes out, I’m the lead. When Snowpiercer came out, you’re the lead. We have the power and the ability to ask those questions. It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white.”
“We’ve had one Black producer; his name was Nate Moore,” Mackie continued. “He produced Black Panther. But then when you do Black Panther, you have a Black director, Black producer, a Black costume designer, a Black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”
Mackie goes on to suggest that the best person for the position needs to be hired for the job, regardless of race: “My big push with Marvel is hire the best person for the job. Even if it means we’re going to get the best two women, we’re going to get the best two men. Fine. I’m cool with those numbers for the next 10 years. Because it starts to build a new generation of people who can put something on their résumé to get them other jobs. If we’ve got to divvy out as a percentage, divvy it out. And that’s something as leading men that we can go in and push for.”
Check out the full conversation below.
[Via]