Oliver Stone Missed One Important Detail
From the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette:
‘WTC’ casting error draws flak from African-Americans
Wednesday, August 16, 2006By L.A. Johnson, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
A hero of another color in Oliver Stone’s “World Trade Center” has some people again balking at the whitewashing of a black character in a Hollywood film. This time it’s the character of Marine Sgt. Thomas, one of two former Marines who help rescue New York Port Authority Officers Will Jimeno and John McLoughlin from beneath 20 feet of twisted metal, broken concrete and sparking debris in the aftermath of the Sept. 11 attacks.
In the film, white actor William Mapother — who’s Tom Cruise’s cousin and who played Ethan Rom in the first season of “Lost” and Quecreek miner John “Flathead” Phillippi in ABC’s “The Pennsylvania Miners’ Story” — plays Sgt. Thomas.
Last week, the real Sgt. Thomas — a black, former Marine named Jason Thomas of Columbus, Ohio — came forward and told his story.
“Someone needed help. It didn’t matter who,” Thomas told the Associated Press. “I didn’t even have a plan. But I have all this training as a Marine, and all I could think was, ‘My city is in need.’ ”
So, instead of heading to class at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice at City University of New York that fateful morning, he headed toward the devastation. At ground zero, he ran into another ex-Marine and Connecticut accountant, Staff Sgt. David Karnes, and the two decided to search for survivors. Eventually they found Jimeno and McLoughlin.
Karnes, who couldn’t reach Manhattan’s 911 from his cell phone at ground zero, called his sister in Munhall, Joy Karnes. She helped relay information to New York emergency services that helped them pinpoint the trapped men’s location.
This is so disappointing to me because I’ve heard World Trade Center is a fantastic film. I’ve also heard the Marine Sgt. Thomas character has some of the best lines in the movie like, “You are our mission” and “They’re gonna need some good men to avenge this.” As pointed out in the article,
Black men so rarely are portrayed or presented as heroes in popular culture and the media that when the opportunity to do so arises, they should be.
I still plan to see the movie but this is a real missed opportunity by the filmmakers to show that patriotism and courage come in all colors.
Posted by Falcon
August 22nd, 2006 at 5:33 am
Even though they didn’t know Sgt. Thomas the people he helped rescue surely told them he was black. This is an outrage, but what do you expect when Hollywood makes up a storyline?
I also thought The Color Purple should have received the Best Picture award the year it was out, but the non-biased liberal limousine types in Hollywood disagreed with me.
I agree with you, Falcon, and I share your hurt over this. I’ll see the movie when it comes out on DVD.
August 22nd, 2006 at 7:21 am
Next time you see a movie, ask yourself if a character had to be played by a white actor. The answer is almost always “no,” with the major exception being biographies.
August 22nd, 2006 at 9:48 am
Davidm, most big-name Hollywood celebrities are white. Always have been, always will be. They’re the ones who usually bring in the big bucks. So, many decisions are driven by money and what Hollywood execs think America wants.
But, you’re right, it ’s all too easy in Tinseltown to overlook very good actors, who happen to be black, for great roles.
August 22nd, 2006 at 9:52 am
I don’t understand how an ‘omission’ like this happened. Surely the research would have revealed the details of his identity – and in so many cases if actors are portraying real people, they meet those people. For example, Jim Lovell is a family friend, when Tom Hanks was to portray him in Apollo 13 the two men met and Tom Hanks did some research into the character.
Why not here?
I am extremely disappointed – on a broad scale because bravery comes in all colors, but also on the personal scale. That brave young man earned the right to be accurately depicted.
In an age when young people admire actors and singers – wouldn’t it be nice if they had a role model who actually saved lives?
Thanks for this post, Falcon, I hope people in the ’sphere get the word out.
August 22nd, 2006 at 7:59 pm
Thanks for making us aware of this, Falcon. The fact that Hollywood missed this “little detail” is disappointing. Don’t you wonder how many other details they get wrong? And most people are so “trusting” of what they see in the movies. How many will do the research to ever know the truth about Sgt. Thomas? It’s a real shame.
August 24th, 2006 at 10:00 am
Hollywood, and other Liberals Projectionists
A commenter to our previous post, Falcon, had this to say about Thomas Sowell and the state of things in general:I just listened to Thomas Sowell talk about his article on the Laura Ingraham Show. You’re right, he’s simply brilliant….