Hugh Laurie stumped by diversity questions at Toronto film fest
An audience member asked director Armando Iannucci why he employed colourblind casting
There’s a question that still bugs Hugh Laurie after the world premiere of ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’.
Following the screening at the 2019 Toronto International Film Festival, an audience member asked director Armando Iannucci why he employed colourblind casting in the playful adaptation of Charles Dickens’ classic tale. Hugh Laurie shot back, “Can I ask why you’ve asked that?”
“It just seemed to me an odd thing to raise at the end of the film,” he clarified to The Los Angeles Times the following day. “I could sort of understand it, maybe understand it, before the film because people are trying to grasp what will it sound like, what it will look like and feel like. ... But I would say 90 seconds into the film, you are just in it!”
“I just thought that was odd because, to me, it was just not a thing. And I don’t think it should be a thing.”