British actress Thandie Newton has been cast to play an Igbo woman in the film adaptation of Ngozi Adichie’s award-winning novel Half Of A Yellow Sun, the story of the Nigerian-Biafran War.
According to Clutch Magazine Newton is set to play one of the main roles along side fellow British actor Chiwetel Ejiofor. But the casting of Newton who is mixed race (mother is from Zimbabwe and father is English) has caused major upset and an online petition has been set up demanding that an Igbo actress is cast in the role.
Read below.
Half of a Yellow Sun is a novel written by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie. The novel chronicles the lives of several characters during the course of the Biafran War that took place in Nigeria from 1967 to 1970. Tribal conflicts between the Hausa and the Igbo initiated this Nigerian Civil War, which led to the genocide and starvation of over 3 million people. The main characters in this book are Igbo. Igbo people are one of the largest ethnic groups in Nigeria, and they were also the main victims of this horrifying war. Upon hearing that Half of a Yellow Sun, a wonderfully written book, would be adapted for the big screen, I like other Igbos were extremely excited. However, I am disturbed by the casting of Thandie Newton as an Igbo woman.
Igbo people, like any other people range in physical characteristics as well as complexion. However, the majority of Igbos are dark brown in complexion. Igbo people do not look like the bi-racial Thandie Newton. Thandie Newton is an accomplished and talented actress in her own right. However, she is not Igbo, she is not Nigerian, and she does not physically resemble Igbo women in the slightest.
Another typical Hollywood move. I doubt those studio executives thought that deeply about the casting of this particular role. They just went with the first “acceptable” actress of colour that came to mind.
Your thoughts please….
Categories: UK News
MAD NEWS UK 
Humm,
Just a bit confused, Chiwetel Ejiofor is not really dark himself and he’s Igbo ( who is even tipped to play Barack Obama and no one is arguing he’s not mixed!)
Even I see where the author of article is coming from in my eyes Thandie looks like a Black woman and still African, which in both case she is?!
Also as far as her being cast to play ( someone love interest? or a Black woman in a positive light, since I haven’t read the book I am just guessing) it would killed hollywood producers to cast a dark skinned Black woman in that type of role.
Isnt Thandie the one who said black women must stop complaining about not getting roles in hollywood. mmm
Looks like Hollywood is still lazy with its research
When the film was announced I was hoping they would cast any actress but Thandie Newton for reasons @sofrolushes points out.
However she’s Hollywood’s go to Brown actress at the moment so I’m not surprised
@nubiahbella I get what you mean but African people don’t look the same not even all Nigerians look the same. Thandie doesn’t look igbo but lemme forget about that for a sec she still doesnt fit the description of anyone in the book. And you hit the nail on the head with the last paragraph.
Fuck sake man. Anyone actress but this chick. I hate this broad. Iove seeing black actresses on TV and hollywood but I don’t even consider this chick black, I just don’t watch any films with her in. It seems the only acceptable female black faces in hollywood are Thandie Newton and Zoe Saldana, who are both light skin and look kinda similar oh and slowly Paula Patton another light skin woman. I’m Nigerian and told I’m light for a Nigerian all the time even though I’m nowhere near as light as someone mixed raced. There are alot of Nigerians who are light skin to the point of looking mixed raced and of course there are mixed raced Nigerians as there are white people living there but the majority aren’t light skin so when casting why don’t you go with the majority not the minority. KMT
whats with the constant miscasting!!!!
Never read the book, so have no idea. Apart from the few stories from my parents about the war. Would be cool if Newton is replaced with Genevive Nnaji though.
@ sacks, actually everytime my fellow Nigerians look at me they think every other tribe except Igbo. Even though both my parents are from Anambra, all my given names are Igbo & my surname is the main character of Things Fall Apart. All because I’m not a “yellow paw paw”, actually that’s the common misconception among Nigerians in Nigeria.
Anyhoo, Sophie Okonedo is of Nigerian, Polish & Russian descent, she played a Tutsi Rwandan. I don’t recall a petition. Too be honest I’m not too bothered, it’s Hollywood. All I want is them to get the accent and/or the language right, if I hear another generic colonial African accent, I might make a petition.
The following views are MY views and do not necessarily reflect the views of staff at http://www.Madnews.biz and neither do they endorse them.
Why are Nigerian women always against Zimbabwean women? We have hordes of Nigerian men galloping to Zimbabwe in search of Zimbabwean women and quite frankly, i’m sick and tired of it! Why don’t you demonic women do something worthwhile with your lives rather than put down Zimbabwean girls all the time EVERY time?!
I’m from Zimbabwe and i WILL ALWAYS support Thandie over any other non Zimbabwean actress..especially Nigerian. She’s mighty fine and delicious to look at. Just look at those eyes, them white teeth,the shiny smooth skin,that hair, that Colgate smile.. argh, what a gorgeous thang! Praise the Lord. I’ll watch the movie simply because of her.
Now, we are all aware that Igbo women who have the usual Igbo traits (loud mouthed,bad vocabulary, forever angry,disgusting command of any language,the endless stupid facial expressions,pompous for nothing,manly features,muscular buttocks,bad mannerisms) cannot come close to this Zimbabwean beauty. Thandie is Champions League material! It’s FACT!
You’re guaranteed that Thandie won’t start a line with, “My bruda abeg” AND, most importantly, can properly pronounce her words too!
Nigerian women cannot say, “Excuse me”. It comes out as “es-coos me”.
They can’t say, “Ask”. They say, “Aks”.
Lexus comes out as “Lexzus”.
Sir is “Sar”.
Can is “Cun”.
Go comes out as “Gooh”.
It’s stupid stupid stupid i tell you. You would never be able to understand half the crap she’ll say on the big screen. The last thing a director wants to do is confuse the hell out of the paying audience. We, the paying audience, are the people that matter not some angry overweight birds in Lagos! After all, they wouldn’t even go to the cinema to watch the movie considering the thriving counterfeit DVD industry that’s rampant in Nigeria. Why cast someone nobody won’t find attractive,interesting nor understand?
I don’t hate or dislike Nigerian women. It’s just that they have to be realistic about this issue.
Thandie would completely look out of place and crap if placed in one of them Nigerian juju/voodoo movies. This, ladies and gentlemen, is the territory of the Igbo woman. Confine yourselves to the annuls of juju/ voodoo movies. Los Angeles is not for you.
Igbo in Hollywood, NO! HELL to the NO!
Igbo in Nollywood, yes.
Thank you very much for taking time in reading my piece.
Greetings from Zimbabwe.
Thanks Gary for that brilliant comedic piece, I wasn’t able to finish ’cause I was laughing so much I didn’t bother finishing it.
Err I am igbo, both my parents grew up in the Biafran war and my skin is as light as thandie newton, I have hazel eyes and I am commonly mistaken for being mixed race. I understand that I may not be in the majority but a number of igbo’s actually do physically resemble Tandie.
Tho she is not a popular choice and I personally would have like to seen this role go to an actual igbo born woman I think its kinda wrong to base your argument on the ‘fact’ that light complexioned igbo women don’t exist when we do! Someone like sophie okendo would have been great but ah well!
@Adaobi That’s cool but like I said she doesn’t fit the description of any of the female leads in the book. She’s clearly been miscast I can only guess why
@Gary Get help.
So, let me get this straight.
When Forest Whitaker took on the role as Idi Amin in The Last King Of Scotland did anyone here truly expect a Ugandan actor to play the part?
What about Don Cheadle in Hotel Rwanda? Maybe the directors ought to have checked out the local Rwandan talent before they got Don?
What about Blood Diamond? Surely, they could have got a white Zimbabwean to play the part. No?
So what’s so special about playing an Igbo woman? Only an Igbo is supposed to play the role of an Igbo simply because Thandie doesn’t have the “Igbo looks”?? That’s pure sewage!
The reasons why Hollywood did NOT choose an Igbo woman to play the part is because NOBODY WOULD UNDERSTAND HER ACCENT on the big screen! End of!
You can moo, mew, cluck all the crap you want but Hollywood directors more often than not KNOW WHAT THEY ARE DOING!!! They look for actors WHO WILL REEL IN THE PAYING AUDIENCE!
@Sacks. I should “get help” so i can end up reasoning and understanding the world just like you??? Besides, where should i “get help” from and if i were to “get help”, will YOU help me pay???
Don’t display your stupidity for all registered users on madnews to witness. Idiot!
I’m prepared to defend the points i made in my earlier comments. Pick any one and i’ll defend it.
@ Gary
I stopped reading your first post at the second paragraph. You referred to Nigerian women as “demonic” and also stated Nigerian women are always against women from Zimbabwe. Not sure where you’ve got that ridiculous idea from but its certainly not from this post or the comments underneath. Honestly I think your comments are inflammatory and offensive and you are the one who has shown themselves to be an idiot.
The point in your second post about an Igbo accent is laughable. Igbo accents are difficult to understand but Zimbabwean accents aren’t ? LMAO Even if that was true I’m pretty sure a trained actress will be able to
make themselves understood.
I don’t know what experience you’ve had with Nigerians in the past but I suggest you work on your prejudice attitude. It’s irrational.
Thank you and goodnight
And to clarify an earlier point when I say Thandie doesn’t fit the physical description of either of the female leads I’m not just talking about the fact she isn’t Igbo or has light skin (no spoilers). The author goes to great lengths to describe them and it’s the basis for a lot of their characters traits. Expecting fans of the book not to get upset is akin to expecting Harry Potter fans to be happy to have him recast as an overweight, blond 40 yr old.
Sometimes i wonder how many Africans get to watch these movies that are made about them. How many Ugandans in Uganda watched Last King of Scotland, how many Rwandese watched Hotel Rwanda and so many others. Surely they are made for Western viewing from a western lens. No? 🙂
Upto this day for some reason i don’t really know, i cannot bring myself to watch Last King of Scotland. And don’t get me wrong, i like these black actors and actresses and i think they are great but, i don’t know, really don’t.. just can’t watch it and enjoy it and appreciate it that much.
Reading the above comments saddens me because as usual we are pinpointing the differences amongst us. I’m not familiar with the book but as a few people have said above, no one had a problem with Sophie Okenedo playing a Rwandan woman, and I’m sure no-one would have a problem if a black actor played Barack Obama… I do however get people’s point, it seems that sometimes mixed race people are mixed race and sometimes they are black – they and society get the option of choosing ‘what they are’ depending on the circumstance. I say, so long as it’s a good film, does it matter?
But they would not get a dark black actor though to play Obama. Hollywood would not dare make that mistake. Especially when it is someone like Obama. They would get a shade, height and close look that fits Mr. O and i am very convinced about that(and they will not be looking for a half Kenyan either). Just look at what they did with Mohammad Ali, they picked Will Smith. Close shade to Mohammad Ali. Look who was picked to play Mandela in Invictus, a close look alike and shade to Mandela.(maybe not come to think of it), and who was picked to play Winnie Mandela (Jennifer Hudson) totally different person(i wonder how that movie turned out). There is something about choosing such people that disconnects the movie experience for me and does not bring it home for me. Maybe i fuss alot. But the thing is, there is talent in those respective countries if they wanted to tap into it. But they cannot, since it is not marketable. Africans don’t really get to have a say in these things, their voice can’t be heard anyway because they are Africans. But then again, very few get to watch these movies, they go over our heads most of the time. These movies are made for Western viewing.
Now i keep in mind that they chose Meryl Streep to play Thatcher. 🙂
I’ve never read so much rubbish in my entire life. You sound like a white ignorant BNP member. I’m confused what is so good about Zimbabwe for you to be even talking like this. I swear the country is falling apart. It’s fuckery like this which makes white people laugh at black people. What you’re saying about Igbo women is what people from out of Africa think of Africans full stop. Zimbabwe included, talking about Vodoo when there was a post on here about women in Zimbabwe raping men for reglious purposes. Boy you need to grow up.
How many Asian movies and french, german movies have i watched on subtitles? That option is there too if the accent is the problem. Jackie Chan has been in hollywood for donkeys and no one expects him to change his accent. He is doing just fine and raking in the dollars.
As many of the sensible commentators have already said, its simply about accurate casting. Absolutely a dark skinned woman should have been cast for the role. Don’t make it any more controversial than that.
Sacks. Your reply doesn’t warrant a response.
Zimbabweans pronounce their words far much clearer than any Nigerian would. Why? Because we don’t have tongue twisters in our languages. Anyway, i don’t want to dwell on this issue because i’m not going to back down and you most likely won’t.
You then ended your first piece of sewage by saying “goodnight” despite posting the comment at 02:05am.
Chico Rei. The women (two of them are married to Nigerians) who were caught raping men in Zimbabwe worked for a Nigerian couple. They(the women) sold the semen to the Nigerian couple who in turn sold it to their fellow Nigerians living in South Africa. Only the devil- and most probably YOU- knows the final destination of the semen.
You then mentioned something along the lines of “fuckery that makes white people laugh at us”. Chico, i do not give a flying fuckery what white people think about us or whether they’re laughing at us. I’M FROM ZIMBABWE and there, a white man’s opinion DOES NOT COUNT!!! Unlike you, i’m NOT programmed to please white people! THEY HAVE BEEN LAUGHING AT YOU AND YOUR KIND SINCE THE DAY THEY ENSLAVED YOUR ANCESTORS!! What makes you think that they’ll respect you today? Don’t be silly,okay. So bloody naive. You’re black and YOU WILL REMAIN JUST THAT in their eyes.
Like I said before, pure comedy. Nice to see the Munya effect.
Gary you’re a fool because your points aren’t valid and are just generalisations. I know alot of Zimbabweans and I know for a fact they don’t pronouce English better than Nigerians but who cares if they do. What the hell are you talking about. The cast of the only way is Essex don’t speak good English it’s still on T.V.
Oh the women are married to Nigerian men aren’t they’re still Zimbabwean women raping their own men, whats up there don’t the women have their own minds? Bruv your country is fucked up, even more than Nigeria.
If you don’t give a fuck what white people think of you why are you talking about how good people’s English is, you’ve got a colonised mind and you don’t even know it, what’s wrong with someone speaking with an African or Nigerian accent it’s a way of not forgetting where they come from, it’s the same with Scots and Irish living in England for years they rarely lose their accent because they are proud to be Scottish/Irish.
Thandie isn’t going to start a line with an accent or any of the stupid sayings you put because she grew up in the UK when people ask her where she’s from she doesn’t even say Zimbabwe she says England, just like women born in the UK or the US with Igbo parents aren’t gonna speak in Igbo accents. Thandie wasn’t even born in Zimbabwe she was born in the UK and I bet she wouldn’t date a black guy from Zimbabwe because she wouldn’t be able to understand your accent or thought you were below her.
It would be good if the woman playing the role was an Igbo woman as it makes it more realistic, but this is hollywood so I didn’t expect it to be honest I think people would just like to have a woman who is of Igbo descent or a woman who is not so light.
Your comment is comical, when you;re talking about not wanting to please white people, when you are talking exactly how they trained you to talk and think, you’re talking in a way that is dividing Africa. Nigerians act like that, South Africans act like that. It’s a divide and rule mentality, which is why Africa is so messed up. You’re pleasing white people everytime you sterotype Igbo women, because it carries the notion that all African women are loud and rude which they aren’t people are damn individuals you have loud and rude people in every race, though I did have one female friend from Zimbabwe who is in fact from loud and very rude because of her should I judge every women from Zimbabwe as the same?
I judge everyone as an indiviual not oh he’s from this country he must be like this or not. That’s the reason why you’re a fool and need to grow up
There is more to this issue than skin color and race. This is also about white hegemony and phenotype genocide.
Igbo women come in a range of colors, yes. But Igbo women also have a certain subset of features, aside from skin color, specific to their ethnic group.
I appreciate this petition because, the way things are socially engineered, due to the wide phenotype range that exists among blacks in the Western world, or blacks of European admixture/descent (non-sub-Saharan lineages), there has evolved a people indifferent to specific ethnic differences in looks among indigenous African people. This contributed to the fact that there continues a genocide of traits specific to our sub-Saharan African ancestors via the social perpetuation of what/who is to be desired aesthetically, namely, how they measure along the rule of white-ness or European-ness.
The issue of certain physical traits specific to our indigenous unmixed sub-Saharan ancestors start being bred out of a population of SSA descent is a recurring one. This has happened several times among African descended populations, based on the influences that deemed sub-Saharan African features undesirable and unacceptable.
This was applied in Puerto Rico where most of the population bred lighter, and were happy to see a mass exodus of afro-Puerto Ricans during the mid-1900s. This is currently happening in the Dominican Republic in regards to hair texture – any hair texture close in proximity to the hair textures of indigenous un-mixed sub-Saharan peoples is shunned, regarded as ‘dirty’.
This happens, globally, within the black race when people express that they wish to date non-Sub-Saharan descend people, or mixed people, because they desire a posterity with features that are less SSA – lighter skin color, ‘softer’ features, features more averaged between SSA and Nordic Caucasian bloodlines, silkier hair with looser curls, etc…
There’s also the ideal, spanning across the entire aesthetic spectrum of the black race, that having European/Caucasian ancestry is more acceptable (desirable) than not having this ancestry. This can be seen in the minority, but prominent elite, European descended and identified mixed race population of Angola. While many individuals from this small ethnic group have physical traits close in proximity to the non-mixed sub-Saharan descended counterparts (brown/dark skin color, wide noses, curly and tightly coiled hair, etc…) it’s the fact that they have European ancestry/identity that makes them elite over the rest of the indigenous population. The same ideal was applied historically when African-American slaves repatriated to African, namely Liberia and Sierra Leone – the Americo-Liberians and Krio. The white Europeans used the close proximity of physical traits between the Africans of Westernized lineage/admixture and the indigenous un-mixed Africans as a way to penetrate the indigenous people, as they were not able to successfully do prior, by putting the new breed blacks in positions of authority over the non-colonized/non-penetrated blacks. The close proximity in phenotypes allowed for more social influence between the two groups, and the white colonialists used this to their advantage.
We’ve, collectively, become passive in this continued genocide – the driving factors being commerce, industry and the all mighty dollar. Thus, people become blind to it in the name of socAial acceptance and mobility. The media is a major tool applied in conveying the social messages that influence the masses into these practices. Sure, a non-Igbo woman could play the role. But why does she have to be half white? Why is it that anytime Hollywood makes a movie about Africans they can’t be more authentic in their casting? What is wrong with the way non-mixed indigenous sub-Saharan African look that they can’t cast them to portray these parts? There are plenty of well trained, seasoned and talented un-mixed sub-Saharan Africans to choose from both in Black Hollywood, Nollywood, Gollywood, the Black Hollywood of South Africa…even in the Haitian movie industry. So, even among blacks WITH admixture, with European ancestry, and/or with Westernized lineages, why can’t someone with broader features that are closer in proximity to what actually Igbo people look like play this role? Hell, Australia’s movie and film industry has several season, trained and talent Aboriginal actors as well.
This genocide of SSA people has not ended. We need to start speaking out. People need to wake-up
I agree with you totally Anon, everything you said was on point, the problem is black people are so whitewashed that we always think white is right and black is wrong. Which is perputed by the media. To be honest I think black people are slowly being wiped out in the UK by using the same methods they used in Brazil all those years ago.
What’s funny to me is I’m a black man who was brought up by a white family in a white neighbourhood yet never in my life have I wanted to be white.
It’s really funny to me when I see so many black people wanting to be white lightening their skin wanting straight hair, a straight nose, really what is so good about all these features? White people have straight noses that are in some cases so big that they want nose jobs, skin that is so pale that they want to tan it which then leads to skin cancer and hair that is so weak that they constantly have to gel it to keep it in place.
When I see black people trying to look white it reminds me of a lion trying to be a hyena LMAO.
This is why I love this site, unmuzzled, unedited debates.
@misssteele I wouldn’t have a problem with a black man playing Barack Obama as long as they cast a man who vaguely looks like him.
I get your point but I don’t think Sophie but I don’t think this is issue is about Thandie being mixed race only, she’s just been miscast.
If Charlize Theron who is south African and an academy award winner was cast as the main character in the film would that be ok?
Yeah Gary, a little over the top but I agree with some points you have made. It does make you wonder if Igbos are saying that only Igbos can play Igbos.
As a Black Brit I welcome that the book will be made into a movie. Am I too bothered as to who will be playing the female lead? We know she has to be black but does the part have to be played by an Igbo, Hausa or Zulu. Was I worried when the African American actor Forrest Whittaker played idi Amin, or whenever David Oyelowo plays a West Indian/Black Brit or when Antonio Okonma played the Jamaican girl Darlene Cake in Bad Girls? Of course not because it is all acting. And good acting of the highest!! In the same way Meeryl Streep plays Margaret Thatcher to perfection then I would expect a ‘black’ actor to do exactly the same, whether the character is African or not. I agree that since Ngozi did not make the female character ‘light-skinned’ then Hollywood should not use a light skinned woman just to make the movie palatable to audiences. A beautiful actress like Viola Davis could have been given the part.
You can easily tell a woman from a man and gary, you are a woman that bitch. The way you talk of Zimbabwean women, you’ll think zimbabwean are angels brought onto earth, but those of us that’ve seen Zim women, we know they are far from it. As far as it can get therefore that lie that Nigerian men are seeking Zim women for marraige is what it is a BIG FAT LIE. LMFAO. Your average zim has nothing on your average Igbo women fact!!. Even Thandie when compared to biracial Igbo cannot boost nor come close to their beauty Google it: Ashley Madueke, Nneka O, Annie Illozeh, Megalyn Echikunwoke, etc and etc and you here talking shit. She’s not even in par with full blooded Igbo like Vanessa O, her sister, Tracy Obonna, Munachi abii, Genevive Nnaji, Bianca Onoh, Sophie Chikere, Nkechi Ozorochi and her sister Nkiru, Oluchi, Adaora Akubilo, Stephanie Okereke, etc, etc. Girl Move!!!
Secondly: you talk of Nollywood, at least nollywood made an impact to the world. Well known and recognized. What happen to Zim movies? LMFAO. Those with nothing are always the first to nit-pick those ahead of them. Girl you nation is more fucked up than Nigeria and you bothering yourself on what Nigerians do. That is funny beyond comparison.