Samuel L. Jackson has criticized the casting of black British actors in films about racism in America, citing recent horror hit “Get Out” and “Selma” as key examples.
“There are a lot of black British actors in these movies,” Jackson said in an interview with the New York radio station Hot 97 . “I tend to wonder what that movie [‘Get Out’] would have been with an American brother who really understands that.”
The movie’s lead actor, Daniel Kaluuya, was born in London; in “Get Out,” he plays an African-American. “Get Out” director Jordan Peele told the Observer that he didn’t initially want to cast a British actor in the lead “because this movie was so much about representation of the African-American experience,” but after a Skype call with Kaluuya, he knew he was the right choice.