Anthony Mackie is gearing up to don the mantle of Captain America soon, as the lead of his own MCU movie. Before that, he’s got video game adaptation Twisted Metal coming out. He’s also working on a biopic of Claudette Colvin, who refused to give up her seat on a bus a year before Rosa Parks. Mackie feels strongly about providing roles for young Black talent because “Harry Potter had no Black friends.”
In a new interview with Inverse, Mackie explains that in 1955, Colvin, then a 15-year-old Black girl, refused to give up her seat on a segregated bus. The case went to the Supreme Court, but Civil Rights leaders downplayed the story because Colvin was pregnant and unmarried.
“I had heard the story. but it kicked it back in my face in a way to where every now and then I have these moments of like ‘Remember where you come from. Don’t get caught up in the Hollywood shit.’” The result is Spark, an upcoming biopic set to be Mackie’s directorial debut. Colvin is currently 83 years old, and Mackie wants to make sure she sees it.
Mackie sees Spark as a chance to help address the ongoing shortage of roles deserving of young Black talent. “Harry Potter had no fucking Black friends. Frodo walked across the entire universe and never met a Black dude. I want to see Frodo in the hood, which if I ever do Saturday Night Live is going to be a skit I’m going to do.”
In the stage play Harry Potter and the Cursed Child (first staged in 2016), Hermione has been portrayed by Black actress Noma Dumezweni and the cast of Rings of Power – the Lord of the Rings TV series – has been far more diverse than in Peter Jackson’s movies. If the Harry Potter TV series does come to pass, let’s hope it follows suit with its casting. Fantasy movies and fantasy series are generally getting better at this, with the Percy Jackson TV series being another example that has done well in this area.
Check out our guide to the Harry Potter cast and the best Harry Potter characters.