Twilight has earned over $350 million to date without controversy, except for the threat of a legal action against Hot Topic for selling a Twilight-inspired perfume that smelled like a Nina Ricci scent. Aside from capturing the hearts of millions of fans around the world, the vampire romance film has also been praised and awarded with a Libby Award by the high-standard PETA. But the New Moon film, although hasn’t started shooting yet, is facing some controversial issues about ethnicity.
A few days before the casting for Twilight’s sequel, New Moon, has been confirmed, news broke that the Native American community is angry about how the Twilight franchise is casting some of the roles. An article entitled “Depiction of Indigenous Peoples in Twilight Outrage Native Americans” was published on Website Indigenous Portal and disputes casting non-Native Americans for the roles of Jacob Black (played by Taylor Lautner) and his friends from LA Push. The website claims that Indigenous actors are being passed over for more established names that are not of Native Americans descent.
However, Aikins/Cossey – the company handling local auditions in Vancouver, has announced casting calls for actors between 15 and 25 years old. The auditions will be held in three B.C. locations – Victoria (Feb 7 at Paul’s Motor Inn, 1900 Douglas St.) Vancouver (Feb 8 at Second Avenue Studios) and Kelowna (Feb 8 at Delta Grand Okanagan, 1310 Water St.). In the ad placed on Craiglist, “open casting for male and female First Nations/aboriginal actors” is listed. New Moon guarantees a number of speaking roles for aboriginal actors.
New Moon will start shooting in Vancouver this spring. It continues the story of Bella Swan (Kristen Stewart) and her teen vampire Romeo, Edward Cullen. When The Cullens leave town in fear of hurting Bella, she is sought by a Native American boy, Jacob, who turns out to be a werewolf. Members of Jacob’s first nation often turned into werewolves in the presence of vampires, ensuring plenty of supernatural fireworks when the Cullens return.
Now…if the Twilight franchise give in to the requests of the Native American community and replace Taylor Lautner for a Native American actor, wouldn’t you think the sequel would change completely? If Dakota Fanning will be cast as part of the Volturi vampires, will the Italians now request to replace her for an Italian actor, or the British actor Robert Pattinson for a Chicago-born actor? Should the roles be awarded to an actor from the same ethnicity/birth place based on the book or awarded to the best actor?
Tell us your thoughts!
dori 
Sylvia 
Ashton 
Kylee 
Maryann 
alyssa 