Dakota Fanning has responded to allegations of whitewashing after it was revealed she plays a white Muslim refugee in a new film.
In Sweetness in the Belly, the actor plays a child refugee who is raised as a Muslim after being abandoned in Ethiopia by her parents.
The first image and clip from the film, an adaption of Camilla Gibb’s 2005 novel of the same name, was met with consternation on social media when it was released on Wednesday.
Many Twitter users questioned why Fanning would be cast in the role they said should have gone to a woman of colour or someone who has experience of being a refugee.
Fanning responded to the criticism on an Instagram story.
“Just to clarify. In the new film I’m part of, Sweetness in the Belly, I do not play an Ethiopian woman. I play a British woman abandoned by her parents at seven years old in Africa and raised Muslim.
“My character, Lilly, journeys to Ethiopia and is caught up in the breakout of civil war. She is subsequently sent ‘home’ to England, a place she is from but has never known.”
She continued: ”This film was partly made in Ethiopia, is directed by an Ethiopian man (Zeresenay Berhane Mehari) and features many Ethiopian women. It was a great privilege to be part of telling this story.”
Sweetness in the Belly also stars Bafta-winning actress Wunmi Mosaku, The Big Bang Theory’s Kunal Nayyar, Aquaman actor Yahya Abdul-Mateen II, who’ll next be seen in HBO’s Watchmen.
The film will premiere later this month at the Toronto Film Festival.
Additional reporting by Agencies
