Speaking at the Sands film festival in Scotland, the movie’s casting director, Kharmel Cochrane, had a strong response to both critiques.
Per Deadline, the casting director said there is “no need” to be completely true to the original text, claiming: “It’s just a book”.
Kharmel shared: “There was one Instagram comment that said the casting director should be shot.
“But just wait till you see it, and then you can decide whether you want to shoot me or not. But you really don’t need to be accurate. It’s just a book. That is not based on real life. It’s all art.”
The casting director added: “There’s definitely going to be some English Lit fans that are not going to be happy. Wait until you see the set design, because that is even more shocking. And there may or may not be a dog collar in it”.
Some fans have responded poorly to the comment, with one sharing on X: “so they saw the whitewashing backlash and proceeded to ignore it.”
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