A Jewish director defended his decision to cast Anthony Hopkins as a Holocaust survivor amid criticism that it is inappropriate for actors to play characters of a different race or ethnicity.
James Gray, a Palme d’Or nominee, said he took “huge offence” at those who believed Jewish roles should go only go to Jewish actors.
His latest film, Armageddon Time, is a semi-autobiographical work based on his Jewish-American upbringing in New York City. It depicts Hopkins, a double Oscar winner who has publicly spoken about his agnosticism, as Aaron Rabinowitz, the main character’s grandfather and a Jew from Ukraine who escaped the Holocaust.
In an interview with the New York Times, Gray was told that some of the actors playing Jewish characters, particularly Hopkins,
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