Actor Katy Sullivan Makes the Most Thoughtful Case Yet for Casting Authenticity

Over the weekend, The Rock’s latest action flick, Skyscraper, took home a mildly disappointing $25 million in its opener. Even as the Rock rethinks his “be in everything” strategy, Paralympian Katy Sullivan wrote a piece for Deadline asking the Rock to reconsider his acting choices for an entirely different reason.

In Hollywood today there is a debate raging over recent casting decisions labeled as inauthentic. Scarlett Johannson became the latest center of controversy when she dropped out of a role that would have seen her play a transgender man when the transgender community expressed their outrage over the casting decision.

This week, it’s the Rock’s turn as actor and Paralympian Kay Sullivan published an editorial on Deadline in which she called on the Rock — who plays an amputee in his latest film — to turn down any roles in the future which could be performed more authentically by someone else. There are some who would argue that these claims undermine the very art of acting. The argument goes, “If actors aren’t pretending to be someone else, then what are they doing?”

Sullivan’s argument gets more to the heart of the issue by calling on Hollywood’s A-listers to think about the parts they accept from not just an artistic perspective, but from a social perspective, as well.

It’s another facet to a complicated debate that certainly deserves time in the spotlight.