Dame Maureen Lipman slams Dame Helen Mirren's Golda casting
Dame Maureen Lipman doesn't think Dame Helen Mirren should have been cast in 'Golda'.
The 75-year-old star fears Jewish actresses were overlooked for the role of former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir - who died in 1978 aged 80 - and is uncomfortable with the 'Queen' actress leading the film, although she acknowledged she will likely deliver a "marvellous" performance.
She told the Jewish Chronicle newspaper: “The Jewishness of the character is so integral.
“I’m sure she will be marvellous, but it would never be allowed for Ben Kingsley to play Nelson Mandela. You just couldn't even go there.”
Maureen has joined a number of high-profile Jewish stars who feel Jews are being treated less sympathetically than other groups.
She added: “Perhaps you need to have some sort of panel of people who say this is not acceptable, this is acceptable.”
Comic Sarah Silverman has insisted representation needs to "finally matter" for Jewish women.
She said: “Right now, representation f***ing matters. It has to also finally matter for Jews as well. Especially Jewish women.”
However, playwright Patrick Marber insisted "lived experience" should not be a vital part of making casting decisions.
He told the publication: ‘Lived experience’ is sort of a denial of what creativity is and denies the actor the fundamental challenge and right to become someone else - to impersonate another human being from another time, from another culture, from another religion, another sexuality and other gender.
“I really want us Jews to fight our corner, but to not be exclusive and excluding. I want us Jews to be liberal-minded and generous.
“I think a gentile can play a Jew and a Jew can play a gentile. I don’t like it when someone plays a Jew and gets it wrong. [But] I don’t like quotas. I don’t like laws. I think we should be better than that, we Jews.”
