Rumor: Giancarlo Esposito as Prof. X

[babyblob]

The More I think about it the more I agree with Derek Metaltron. Mr. Sinister would be a great get for Esposito.

[HollowSage]

^ Thank you. Much appreciated.

[Ulysian_Thracs]

The original question was precisely 'is getting an actor as terrific as Giancarlo Esposito (or Lance Reddick, who has been a favorite of mine all the way back since Fringe) worth the controversy changing the race of an established high profile character worth?' I understand my position is not very popular in these parts (or other echo chambers that are social media), but I come down very hard on the 'no' side. Entertainment companies are fighting a battle right now between the creative divisions and the business divisions. For a long time, the creative divisions were in firm control. But read the papers (financial and trades) and you will see the business side is pushing back hard because Boards and stockholders are very angry to see their investments losing money because they are in the news fighting with imbeciles.

So, my personal opinion is that while I really can't see anyone but Patrick Stewart playing Xavier, I think Esposito would knock it out of the park. I would go see that movie. But as everyone concedes at least some other people wouldn't. The debate is how many people wouldn't, and whether or not that shortfall will doom the potential franchise. First, your comps are different because they don't involve a race change of a primary character. Second, many of your comps did have problems at home or abroad, and remember that China has become as big a market for feature films as America, or even more so.

So, as someone who wants to see an X-Men franchise succeed, I think courting controversy with this casting is counterproductive and self-defeating. It would be like casting Esposito as Darth Vader in Mandalorian rather than Moff Gideon, when you clearly don't have to because you can give the guy any role and he's going to be superb.

Unfortunately, buzz words and fear mongering work. Facts are easily ignored for a large number of people (although still a minority in the grand scheme.) So the grift keeps grifting.

The common misconception is that stock prices are correlations of a company's worth. They are not. They are merely what people THINK a company is worth and are willing to pay for it. And as you note, many people are stupid. I don't think you would argue that stupidity affects stock prices, would you?

And there is no denying the bad publicity has hurt entertainment companies across the board. Look at Netflix, which just fired its chief content officer and told all the woke content creators that they make entertainment for everyone and if they don't like Chappelle they should find somewhere else to work. You don't have to like it, but there is a reason Chappelle is still doing stand up and Joe Rogan makes $100M for his podcast. A significant portion of the potential audience doesn't want progressive politics in their entertainment. Ignore that at your peril, because I see the pendulum swinging the other way during the coming recession, where companies are so desperate for revenue they avoid all wokeness.

That’s the problem with a lot of these guys, they get all their information from ill-informed youtubers.

Or investment advisors like Charles Payne, who has done a damn good job for me. He called the Coivd Crash and made a lot of people a ton of money! Cathy Wood is another favorite. Though ARK is in the toilet at the moment, I think her focus on the future is spot on. Get quality tech companies now when they are this low and watch them bounce back in a few years.

I don’t know anything about your personal situation but a quick google search tells me that Disney’s stock is on the rise and is recommended as a strong buy with analysts predicting growth that outpaces the rest of the entertainment industry for 2022. So hold on to that stock.

Oh, I've been buying hand over fist since it halved. :c) I love corrections! It's like a sale at Macy's to me. Have you seen Berkshire and GS YTD? Anyone think those are a risk long term?

Most of these posters are right; the pushback is stupid and likely short term. But that doesn't change the fact that all businesses exist to make money at the end of the day, and IMO doing things that hurt the bottom line are self-defeating.

[HollowSage]

Most of these posters are right; the pushback is stupid and likely short term. But that doesn't change the fact that all businesses exist to make money at the end of the day, and IMO doing things that hurt the bottom line are self-defeating.

I would argue diversity helps the bottom line in spite of the push back.

Let’s say you have an audience that is mostly white males. Now you want to grow that audience as well as revenue so you have to appeal to other groups beyond white males. Obviously this may alienate some of your traditional audience but that has to be weighed against the potential for growth by bringing in groups that have been underserved.

Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Shang Chi, Ms.Marvel and even the Eternals are attempts by Marvel to grow the fan base beyond what it has traditionally been. This also potentially grows revenue. The only question is are they losing more fans than they are bringing in.

I think they are gaining. Especially when you consider that a lot of haters and complainers still go see the movies. Hard to complain about something you haven’t seen. Not impossible but it makes it easy for others to dismiss your criticism if you haven’t experienced the thing you’re complaining about.

[Derek Metaltron]

What bugs me at the moment within Disney is the constant attempts to frame Bob Chapek as the villain, despite the fact most of the issues Disney has faced in the past few years leading to loss of stock stem from decisions made under Iger's watch. I know some will disagree but Chapek made the right call to give a neutral and middle minded message in the wake of the Florida Bill before he was forced to pivot by the minority left leaning groups at Disney, which in turn meant he was now the perfect scapegoat - he's hated by the right for having Disney stand against the Bill (which has led to laws for land repeals and some loss of sponsors) and hated by the left regardless for not doing it quickly enough. And he'd be a prime target for removal as a result, though that has appeared to have failed.

Chapek certainly isn't perfect, but maybe we give him a chance to actually make his mark for himself before he's shown the door?

[Ulysian_Thracs]

I would argue diversity helps the bottom line in spite of the push back.

Let’s say you have an audience that is mostly white males. Now you want to grow that audience as well as revenue so you have to appeal to other groups beyond white males. Obviously this may alienate some of your traditional audience but that has to be weighed against the potential for growth by bringing in groups that have been underserved.

Black Panther, Captain Marvel, Shang Chi, Ms.Marvel and even the Eternals are attempts by Marvel to grow the fan base beyond what it has traditionally been. This also potentially grows revenue. The only question is are they losing more fans than they are bringing in.

I think they are gaining. Especially when you consider that a lot of haters and complainers still go see the movies. Hard to complain about something you haven’t seen. Not impossible but it makes it easy for others to dismiss your criticism if you haven’t experienced the thing you’re complaining about.

First, ALWAYS BET ON STUPIDITY! I am sure the majority of haters do not go to see it (or watch it at all when it comes out) and pretend they know what they're talking about anyway.

But I agree it is a good thing to try to increase the fan base and I want to see more representation. But I don't want representation that is just tokenism and has nothing to do with the plot. Give me a Blade or a Black Adam (which looks awesome!) that incorporates the unique perspectives of people who lived different lives than me so I can experience something new. I don't think you can do that with Xavier because he has 60 years of baggage which makes anyone playing the character will be doing the same thing for the same reasons.

The movies you cite are different (besides Eternals, which really isn't a good example of anything) because the race/ethnicity/gender was intrinsic to the story. They began as other than white, and come on, you can't tell Black Panther with a white person as the lead. But making Xavier a different race doesn't actually change the story. He is still going to be the same character, so why bother? It just hurts ticket sales, since I think there is more pushback than audience growth. (Buzz Lightyear being the latest example.)

What bugs me at the moment within Disney is the constant attempts to frame Bob Chapek as the villain, despite the fact most of the issues Disney has faced in the past few years leading to loss of stock stem from decisions made under Iger's watch. I know some will disagree but Chapek made the right call to give a neutral and middle minded message in the wake of the Florida Bill before he was forced to pivot by the minority left leaning groups at Disney, which in turn meant he was now the perfect scapegoat - he's hated by the right for having Disney stand against the Bill (which has led to laws for land repeals and some loss of sponsors) and hated by the left regardless for not doing it quickly enough. And he'd be a prime target for removal as a result, though that has appeared to have failed.

Chapek certainly isn't perfect, but maybe we give him a chance to actually make his mark for himself before he's shown the door?

The problem as I see it is you will never please some people no matter how much you do, and you're going to take flak no matter what you do. So, as a publicly traded company you have to do cost/benefit analysis and pick your battles. I agree 100% Disney stepped on their crank by getting in the middle of the Florida law. They really alienated a big segment of their audience over something that really didn't concern them.

And the Buzz Lightyear lesbian kiss was another mistake IMO because a 30 second montage that had little actual story benefit just wasn't a hill to fight and die on. It just didn't matter for the cost, which was sinking what was supposed to be Pixar's big summer blockbuster.

And to bring it back to the OP, changing Xavier's race just doesn't add enough (or potentially anything) to the story to counteract the controversy that will hurt sales. This kind of stuff is different than making a character a certain race for story purposes, such as creating Miles Morales or Black Adam who lean into the different perspective of being a different race and improving the story for that change. Esposito as Xavier is really just a meatball down the center of the plate for the people who are looking to pick this fight, and IMO isn't worth it.

[KNIGHT OF THE LAKE]

Giancarlo's greatest strength as an actor is that he can play extremely cool, calculated, and still give off heaps of menace without changing his body temperature. I don't know why you would play that much against his strengths like that when Professor X, yes needs to be extremely intelligent and shrewd, but also needs to give off a warm, nurturing, paternal feeling.

[HollowSage]

Giancarlo's greatest strength as an actor is that he can play extremely cool, calculated, and still give off heaps of menace without changing his body temperature. I don't know why you would play that much against his strengths like that when Professor X, yes needs to be extremely intelligent and shrewd, but also needs to give off a warm, nurturing, paternal feeling.

He can do both and many actors get tired of playing the same type of character and like to switch it up. If he’s willing to do it I think Marvel would love to have him because Patrick Stewart is a very hard act to follow. Esposito is one of the few who would be up to that task.

[BishopsJuice91]

So James McAvoy didn’t deliver as the prof? I’d rather they just bring him back honestly…

[BishopsJuice91]

The More I think about it the more I agree with Derek Metaltron. Mr. Sinister would be a great get for Esposito.

CD6E7DB2-8B2A-4F1B-9CBB-AEAD73812A56.jpg
This is the only actor that should be considered for Mr. Sinister…

[Minerboh]

CD6E7DB2-8B2A-4F1B-9CBB-AEAD73812A56.jpg
This is the only actor that should be considered for Mr. Sinister…

Agreed but I would also consider Esposito. His performance in Breaking Bad reminds me of the character.

[KurtW95]

I think Giancarlo is a great actor and probably a great guy too, but raceswapping characters is always cheap and should never happen in any direction. Comics are a visual medium and the actors playing the characters from said comics should looks like they jumped off the pages.

[Factor]

I’m not against raceswapping some characters, but I think it would be MUCH better to actually include POC characters in big roles.
The X-men are one of the few Marvel properties that actually has a lot of characters to choose from. They just need to be elevated to the same status as the most famous ones. And the MCU is great at making success stories out of obscure characters.

[hyped78]

I don’t think GetWokeGoBroke is a fact at all. Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Shang Chi were all successful and the one that struggled, Eternals, just wasn’t a great movie regardless of the diverse cast. I see a lot of complaints online but I don’t think they represent half the target audience. Not even close. They are just a very loud minority.

Why were Black Panther, Captain Marvel and Shang Chi "woke"? Were we supposed to have a white Black Panther or a male Captain Marvel? No, it wouldn't have made any sense.

If anything, Black Panther, Shang Chi etc. show that "raceswapping" is mostly pointless.

[hyped78]

And to bring it back to the OP, changing Xavier's race just doesn't add enough (or potentially anything) to the story to counteract the controversy that will hurt sales. This kind of stuff is different than making a character a certain race for story purposes, such as creating Miles Morales or Black Adam who lean into the different perspective of being a different race and improving the story for that change. Esposito as Xavier is really just a meatball down the center of the plate for the people who are looking to pick this fight, and IMO isn't worth it.

100% agree with this