Pakistani-American movie star Kumail Nanjiani has said he can’t get roles playing villains because Hollywood is too “woke” to cast non-white actors as “bad guys.”
Nanjiani is an actor, comedian, and screenwriter.
He is best known for his role as Dinesh in the HBO comedy “Silicon Valley” (2014–2019) and for co-writing and starring in “The Big Sick” (2017).
He has a new show out called “Welcome to Chippendales.”
It tells the crazy but true crime story of Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the Indian-American entrepreneur who started the Chippendales before taking a dark turn.
The show is based on the book “Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders” by K. Scot Macdonald and Patrick Montesdeoca.
Nanjiani said, “I’ve never gotten to play an arc like this.
“By far the most layered, complex, complicated person I’ve ever played.”
But he said he only got the role of a criminal because it was based on a true story and he blames “woke” Hollywood for not casting more non-white actors as villains.
He said the role of Banerjee would have gone to a white actor if it was not based on a true story.
He said, “I think that Hollywood now — even though they’re trying to be more diverse — is still weird.”
Nanjiani claimed that “good intentions can sometimes lead to misguided solutions: If the bad guy is a brown guy, what message is that sending?”
He said he wants to play more villains but has been told he is dreaming if he thinks woke Hollywood will cast non-white people as the bad guy.
“And that’s just as limiting as anything else,” Nanjiani said.
“I want to play more bad guys.”
He said he wants a career like Sebastian Stan, Winter Soldier from the Marvel Cinematic Universe, who played a cannibal after the big-budget blockbuster.
“He does these big Marvel movies, and then he’ll play a psychopath,” Nanjiani said.
“I was told that’s going to be hard because people don’t want to cast non-white people as bad guys.”
Kumail Nanjiani Was Told Hollywood Doesn’t Want Non-White Actors As Villains: https://t.co/SiwjrQ7WBL pic.twitter.com/Gpmk3TXNsm
— ScreenGeek (@RealScreenGeek) January 11, 2023
