Sign up to The Irish Times Archive (1859 - 2008)My Account »
Sat 02 Feb 2010Dumas film in race row as French star plays man in the black mask
THE RELEASE of a new film about one of France’s best-loved novelists has been mired in controversy over the decision to cast the blonde, blue-eyed and pale-skinned Gérard Depardieu as Alexandre Dumas, the mixed-race author of The Three Musketeers.
Depardieu darkened his skin and wore curly hair to play the lead role in L’Autre Dumas( The Other Dumas), but critics have accused the film-makers of writing out the 19th-century author’s ethnicity, and say a mixed-race actor should have been cast instead.
Choose a Subscription type - required
