Anthony Mackie opened up about his experiences working with Marvel Studios and says there needs to be more work on making the films more diverse.
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During an interview with fellow actor Daveed Diggs for Variety’s Actors on Actors issue, Anthony Mackie brought up the issue of Disney’s Marvel films lack of diversity among actors and behind the scenes staff. For seven Marvel films, Mackie has played as Falcon and will star in an upcoming Disney Plus series titled “Falcon and the Winter Soldier.” Diggs asked Mackie about the Black Lives Matter movement along with diversity in Hollywood.
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Mackie states Marvel Studios need to work on diversifying their staff and actors and not only do it when their lead superhero is Black. He says, “It really bothered me that I’ve done seven Marvel movies where every producer, every director, every stunt person, every costume designer, every PA, every single person has been white. We’ve had one Black producer; his name was Nate Moore.”
He continues, “He produced ‘Black Panther.’ But then when you do ‘Black Panther,’ you have a Black director, Black producer, a Black costume designer, a Black stunt choreographer. And I’m like, that’s more racist than anything else. Because if you only can hire the Black people for the Black movie, are you saying they’re not good enough when you have a mostly white cast?”
Mackie exclaims that he would like to see more changes among the industry and hopes Marvel will take the initiative to “hire the best person for the job.”
‘Even if it means we’re going to get the best two women, we’re going to get the best two men. Fine. I’m cool with those numbers for the next 10 years. Because it starts to build a new generation of people who can put something on their résumé to get them other jobs. If we’ve got to divvy out as a percentage, divvy it out. And that’s something as leading men that we can go in and push for.”