Seriously, Maureen Lipman? Seriously?

There's a film under development about the late Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, and Helen Mirren is playing Meir. 

I love Helen Mirren - I'd watch her in anything. And I'm sure she'll do an excellent job portraying this fascinating figure. 

But some folks aren't exactly ecstatic. 

One of the not-so-glad is British actress - and Helen Mirren's fellow Dame - Maureen Lipman. 

In comments reported by the Jewish Chronicle, Lipman said she “disagreed” with Mirren’s casting. She added: “I’m sure [Mirren] will be marvellous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn’t even go there.” (Source: The Guardian)

Oy! 

And that analogy? Nelson Mandela's Black-ness is essential to his being. So you wouldn't want a white man playing him. Or even someone like Ben Kingsley, who had a British (white) mother and an Indian father. 

Morgan Freeman has played Mandela. As has Idris Elba. Excellent choices.

Sure, Jewishness was central to Golda Meir's being. But what does it mean to be a Jewish actress? Lauren Bacall was Jewish. Not that I know her full catalog, but I don't recall her playing anyone who was identifiable as Jewish. Other Jewish actresses: Goldie Hawn. Natalie Portman. Scarlett Johansson. Bette Midler. Gil Gadot. Are they the only ones who can play Golda Meir? 

I'm reminded of the wonderful Levy's Jewish Rye Bread ad campaign of the 1960's and 1970's. (I saw these ads on the subway when I lived (regrettably briefly) in NYC in the early 1970's.) They represented diversity and inclusiveness before we knew the words. Needless to say, my favorite was the Irish cop.

So my thinking here is: You don't have to be Jewish to play Golda Meir.

For Dame Maureen Lipman - an actress I was not familiar with but, I understand, is quite well-known in England where she's played, among other roles, an Anglican vicar - I sense a bit of sour grapes. Maybe she thought she should have been tapped for the role.

Lipman isn't the only one bringing up the topic of who should play someone Jewish. There've been complaints about, e.g., a non-Jewish (Rachel Brosnahan) actress playing The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, a character who's Jewish. And Sarah Silverman - who, I note, share's a birthday with me and Bette Midler - went to the mat when non-Jew Kathryn Hahn was cast as Joan Rivers in a project that's now on hold.

These are seen as instances of "Jewface," a play on Blackface, in which a non-Jew plays a Jew too broadly, playing on Jewish stereotypes.

If that's the case, criticize the performance, not the actor. Or criticize the character - it may all be in the way the character is written or directed.

A skilled actor should be able to play anyone and anything. 

I understand that people are (justifiably) concerned with representation. But if you have to be Jewish to play a Jew, does it mean that a Jew can only play a Jew? That Catholics can only play Catholics? That a gay actor can't play someone straight?

I realize this isn't always symmetrical. For example, a lot of roles will be closed to an actor who's wheelchair bound. They can't play a runner, or a Navy Seal. So why not give them a shot when the role calls for someone in a wheelchair? 

But sheesh.

No like it.

Any more than I like the criticism of writers who use their creative powers and imagination to write stories about characters that have nothing to do with their lived experience. If the writer doesn't get it right, criticize away. But not their right to write whatever they want. I'm not talking about someone pretending they're someone they're not, palming something off as autobiographical when it's squarely a lie. I'm talking about a writer being able to make up a character in their mind and put it down on paper.

And unless a role calls for a specific, central physical aspect - such as Black skin or the ability to ski jump - I don't see why an actor/actress can't play anyone. 

Because you don't have to be Jewish to like Levy's Jewish Rye.

Just like, as is obviously the case when it comes to Maureen Lipman, you don't have to be Irish to have your parents stick you with the name Maureen.