In the Game of Thrones Season 8 premiere Sunday, there is a moment when Missandei looks over at Grey Worm as they enter Winterfell that struck a chord with me. It is a feeeling that I have experienced many times in my life. At a concert, a classroom, a restaurant or a newsroom -- and one realizes that you are the only person of color or the only Asian American in the room. You wonder to yourself: Here we go again. Represent, represent, represent! That realization is no fantasy. Ah yes, I can relate!
Jason Momoa is looking forward to hosting 'Saturday Night Live.'
DECEMBER WILL BE a huge month for Jason Momoa, the Hawaiian American. The biggest role in his career, that of Aquaman, will premiere Dec. 21 and he will host Saturday Night Live on Dec. 8.
Momoa is enjoying a hot period in his career right now. In addition to SNL and playing a super hero, his hit Netflix adventure series, Frontier, debuted recently for its third season. His role as Khal Drogo on Game of Thrones, HBO's megahit, is what launched his string of good fortune. As the series comes to an end in 2019, his portrayal as the leader of the Dothraki and the husband of Daenerys Targaryen, the once and future Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons, has put another spotlight on him.
Momoa, at 6'4" and with a physique and a glare that can kill, he is an imposing actor. He is not known for his comedic skills, but as Aquaman, he delivers one-liners like a pro, in contrast to the other deadly serious DC superheroes, ie. Batman and Superman.
He was practically giddy with glee when he learned he was going to host SNL as part of promoting the Aquaman premiere. His response to ET, says it all (tongue in cheek):
The only thing that would make the SNL occasion even more perfect? He would love turn his SNL sting into a family affair by being joined by his wife, actress Lisa Bonet , and stepdaughter, Zoe Kravitz. That hasn't been confirmed but, as an impish smile comes across his face, he says that's something he's working on.
Emilia Clarke's real coloring, left, and as the blonde-tressed Khaleesi.
EMILIA CLARKE, the actress who plays Daenerys Targaryen, Khaleesi, Mother of Dragons, in HBO's megahit Game of Thrones, is part South Asian. Who would've thought? The English rose has a "dark" past. Her racial heritage came to light in an interview as cover girl for Harper'sBazaar's December issue. “It's this epic story: My grandmother was colonial Indian, and it was a big old family secret because her mum had an affair with someone in India,” says the English rose Emilia Clarke. “She would wear makeup to make her skin look white.” Granny passed away when Clarke was 16, and the teenager took off for India with her boyfriend to scatter the ashes. “She loved India more than she loved England,” Clarke says. “F--k, yeah. I love that part of me—I’m like one-eighth Indian.” It's great that the actress revealed -- and is apparently proud of her racially mixed heritage. In truth, we're all a little mixed up. I know, there are some of you who will say, "But she doesn't look Indian," or "But, she has not experienced the discrimination that other Indians have faced." Small steps, folks. And if Clarke's admission will creak open the door for others to walk through, we'll be better off for it. And people have to realize, that Asians come in all shades and if people cheer her as she slays the White Walkers, they need to know that they are cheering for an actress who is one-eighth Indian. It makes it harder for them to swallow the racist lies perpetuated by the haters. I say: Welcome, Emilia! F--k, yeah! _________________________________________________________________________________
JASON MOMOA has used his physical attributes to advance his career in Hollywood and who could blame him. If you got it - I guess - flaunt it!
Momoa has it. He's got it. Whatever "it" is.
There's nothing wrong with having "it," but for those of us with average physical appearances, Momoa can be an imposing figure in his 6'4" frame. 234 lbs. of muscle and sinew, not to mention the fiery facial expressions of a Pacific Islander doing a haka to roles that take full advantage of his appearance.
Momoa's fierce physicality has been the actor's trademark: From a remake of Conan, to his coming-out role of Khal Diogo in TV's megahit Game of Thrones to his latest (and biggest) role as Aquaman, who makes his debut this month injust-released The Justice League followed by another Aquaman movie due out December next year, in which the King of the Seven Seas takes center stage. (More on this movie in another post.)
How did Momoa get that look? That "it?" Well, first he had the good genes from his native Hawaiian father and his mother, who is German, Irish, and Native American. After that, it was all hard work.
They key is using light weights so that you don't wear out your body. In Momoa's case, this routine is done two or three times a day, five days a week. If you want to gain that Jason Momoa physique, here is his typical workout when preparing for a film.
If only I could do one-quarter of this workout (courtesy of Muscle & Strength):
Here's an extra added treat. if you haven't seen it yet, in his audition for the barbarian Drogo, he did the haka usually performed by New Zealand's world champion All Black Rugby team at the start of their match to intimidate the opposing team.
Game of Throne producers ponder a news series for HBO.
NOW is not the time to give the rising white supremacist movement another outlet to air their racist views.
That's why we are joing the rising chorus against HBO's proposed Confedrate, a show they hope will take the place of Game of Thrones when the Westeros drama ends next season.
After Charlottesville where white nationalists tried to "save" a statue of Confederate Gen. Robert Lee and the violence that followed, the last thing the United States needs is a show that gives any validation to white supremacists beliefs, even if they're presented in a fictional world. The premise of Confederate is an alternative universe where the Confederate States of America wins the Civil War. America is divided into two countries, the Union which fought against slavery, and the South where slavery still exists and part of the norm. The show is being produced by the same team that brought us the wildly successful Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss. HBO wanted to keep the two in their stable so any project they proposed would probably have been given the green light. Not surprisingly, the concept was met with skepticism and cynicism from people of color. The originator of #OscarsSoWhite launched a campaign #NoConfederate to oppose the proposed show. In response to the backlash, HBO felt compelled to respond. Here’s the statement in full:
"We support everybody’s right to express an opinion but the suggestion of irresponsibility on our part is simply undeserved. HBO has a long history of championing intelligent storytelling and we will approach this project with the same level of thoughtfulness that has always defined our programming. We recognize the sensitivity of this project and will treat it with the respect that it deserves. Our creative partners should be given time to develop the series rather than face prejudgment."
By giving the OK to proceed with the project, HBO executives themselves have "prejudged" the show. The project will not air until GOT is finished so it would premiere sometime in 2019 so there is still time to get the network to reconsider.
In an effort to make it palatable to audiences of color and to present a world where slavery is acceptable, Benioff and Weiss will be working with two experienced African/American executive producers, Nichelle Tramble Spellman (The Good Wife) and Malcolm Spellman (Empire).
But considering the recent events in Charlottesville and Donald Trump's lame attempt to downgrade the seriousness of the growing menace of white superiority. Sometimes, businesses need to look at the bigger picture and consider their social responsibility over profits. I'm sure HBO's shareholders, if aware of the uproar, could sway executives' minds.
Any attempt to portray racism as normal, will only embolden the low-lifes who confuse fiction and reality, ie. those survivalists who are preparing for a zombie apocalypse or preparing for a war against the federal government or some imagined race war. Even contemplating the plausibility of slavery is enough to make the current cadre of white supremacists solidify their warped beliefs. From D.W. Griffith's silent Birth of a Nation, in which the KKK were portrayed as heroic figures, to Bette Davis Jezebel to the Academy Award-winning Gone With the Wind, Hollywood has a major hand in fostering this myth of Southern gentility and the "loving" relationship between slave and master. The worst thing about these classic movies is that as "cinema," they were actually really, really good. As historical portrayals, they were terrible. Unfortunately, they set the tone for a generation of films about the South that romanticized that era, which southerners embraced. Unlike the recent movies (after the 1965 Civil Rights Act) about the Civil War, (Roots, Glory, Ride With the Devil, Gettysburg, Lincoln, etc. and the modern Birth of A Nation) The earlier movies helped nurture this romantic image of the South. I always resented the portrayals of Southern gentlemen and sweet-talking Southern belles while the Union generals and soldiers were always the crude outsiders who didn't mind their manners.
In the 1915 'Birth of A Nation' the Klan were the good guys., even as they get set to lynch one of the runway slaves.
When HBO announced the Confederate project last week, criticism came in loud and strong.
The sci-fi site io9 posted: “It’s difficult not to be more than a bit skeptical about a show (dreamt up by two white men) built around the premise that the South won the Civil War and has modernized slavery.” The Daily Beast’sIra Madison III wrote, “all you really need to know is that (‘Confederate’) sounds stupid as hell.”
Social media was even less kind.
Actor David Harewood of the CW’s Supergirl tweeted, “Good luck finding black actors for this project.” NPR’s Linda Holmes tweeted, “This seems extraordinarily unwise.” “It goes without saying slavery is the worst thing that ever happened in American history. It’s our original sin as a nation. And history doesn’t disappear. That sin is still with us in many ways,” Weiss told New York magazine. “ ‘Confederate,’ in all of our minds, will be an alternative history show. It’s a science-fiction show. One of the strengths of science fiction is that it can show us how this history is still with us in a way no strictly realistic drama ever could, whether it were a historical drama or a contemporary drama. It’s an ugly and a painful history, but we all think this is a reason to talk about it, not a reason to run from it.”
Racism is not some distant chapter in history books. It is something that still lives with us today, ingrained in our institutions and our culture.
Prominent writer Ta-Nehisi Coates, said in a piece in The Atlantic earlier this month that "African Americans do not need science-fiction, or really any fiction, to tell them that that ‘history is still with us.’ It’s right outside our door. It’s in our politics. It’s on our network." EDITOR'S NOTE: Earlier versions of this post did not include material about Hollywood's influence in painting a false image of the Civil War.
Two Sand Snakes down. Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughs) left and Nymeria (jessica Henwick), were killed off in Game of Thrones. Only Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers), center, remains.
IT WAS the best of times. It was the worst of times. (How's that for originality?)
Two of the unpopular Sand Snakes in Game of Thrones met their brutal ends in the second episode of Season 7.
The trio of deadly daughters called the Sand Snakes, a.k.a. the bastard daughters of Oberyn Martell, never really caught on with the audience. Their bad-ass and sexy attitudes couldn't overcome the general nastiness and mean-spiritness of Nymeria (Jessica Henwick), Obara (Keisha Castle-Hughes), and Tyene (Rosabell Laurenti Sellers) .
Henwick, part Chinese, and Castle-Hughs, part-Maori, two of the beautiful, but unlikeable trio died in an epic battle on the high seas in the fictional world of Game of Thrones created by George R.R. Martin. With their deaths, that leaves only the widow of Oberyn Martell, Ellaria, played by Indira Varma, (whose mother is Indian) left to represent the Asian and Pacific Island actors in one of the most popular TV series in the world.
Henwick, explains to Entertainment Weekly why her truncated role was difficult:
"They had to introduce three characters all at once and differentiate them. When you’re limited to an introduction of two lines per character and there are four characters in the scene—during our introduction scene in Season 5—it’s hard to create a lasting impression. You kind of have to shove a character down the audience’s throat and Game of Thrones’ success is in its multifaceted characters. At the time it was definitely frustrating feeling like there’s so much potential here, and a lot of the stuff that we shot didn’t make the final cut. It was hard."
Indeed, in the books, the Sand Snakes numbered seven (Oberyn fooled around a lot) and each of their characters were fully rounded out.
“It’s always fun playing Obara. It’s always fun and terrifying because she’s a psycho,” said Castle-Hughes reacting to Obara’s Season 7 fate. “So the thing is that I always get to do stuff that you never in your wildest dreams imagine with spears and fighting alongside my sisters. So there’s always an adrenaline rush.”
Getting Henwick back on the set of GOT was a feat in itself because, her Sand Snake role got her noticed by Hollywood and helped land her in what may be her "breakout" role in Netflix's series Iron Fist after an unremarkable few minutes in Star Wars: Rogue One.
Jessica Henwick's popular character in 'Iron Fist' is a bad-ass martial artist.
She had to shoot her fight scenes in a couple of weekends and over the Christmas break in order to fit it into the actress' now-busy schedule.
Henwick agrees that she and her sister Obara meet rather “brutal” ends. The sisters end the episode draped or strung up on the prow of a ship.
Their "mother" Ellaria and surviving sister were taken captive and it looks pretty grim for them in the show known for killing off major characters.
Henwick acknowledges she owes her rising star to her time on GOT. “Overall, given the size of the character, I’ve been very happy with how it’s come out. It is what it is. There’s nothing I can say, really.”
It's sad to see the two actresses leave the show but they don't have time to moan their characters' demise.
Henwick will continue her Iron Fist character in the upcoming Defender series and Iron Fist got the approval for a second season and she has a thriller-type movie coming in 2018, Underwater, with Kristen Stewart.
Castle-Hugh's already has a project set to debut Aug. 1, Manhunt: Unabomber. The scripted miniseries is based on the true story of how the FBI caught terrorist Ted Kaczynski, who managed to send over a dozen bombs through the mail over two decades, killing three and injuring 23. Castle-Hughes plays FBI agent named Tabby who is based on several real women who worked in the San Francisco FBI office on the Unabomber case.
