With the recent Academy Award nomination for Kristen Stewart’s performance in Spencer, Pablo Larraín is two for two in Best Actress nominations. In Spencer, Kristen Stewart delves into what-could-have-been for tragic public figure Princess Diana. Larrain’s previous film, Jackie, saw Natalie Portman disappear into the role of First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy.
These two impressive films have had critics and film fans alike, wondering which female historical figure Larraín should explore next. While I am neither a screenplay writer nor casting director, it is fun to give a handful of suggestions. So, here are five possible figures and dream casting for these roles. Pablo, if you’re listening…
Tessa Thompson as Lorraine Hansberry
Who was Lorraine Hansberry?
Lorraine Hansberry was the prolific writer of the play A Raisin in the Sun. The play was semi-autobiographical as Hansberry’s father purchased a home in the Washington Park Subdivision in South Chicago, enraging the white neighbors in the area. The United States Supreme Court heard her father’s court case Hansberry vs. Lee and ruled that the restrictive covenant that barred African American people from purchasing or renting property in the subdivision was constitutional. (This was later overruled a decade later with Shelley versus Kramer).
This event, and her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement, inspired Hansberry to write A Raisin in the Sun. Performed on Broadway in 1959, the play would go on to be named that year’s best play by the New York Dramatic Critics’ Circle. Tragically, Hansberry died at age 34 from pancreatic cancer.
Why Thompson?
Meanwhile, Tessa Thompson would perfectly exude the many dimensions of Hansberry and give great depths to the woman behind, what is largely considered one of the best plays ever written. If the film centered on Hansberry as A Raisin in the Sun premiered on Broadway, I can envision Thompson capturing the mixture of pride and dread Hansberry must have felt at that time. We have already witnessed Thompson’s greatness with her work in Passing – though apparently the Academy never watched the film – so it is no doubt Thompson could embody the many facets of Hansberry for a feature film.
Elle Fanning as Rita Schwerner
Who is Rita Schwerner?
Rita Schwerner (now Rita Schwerner Bender) met her husband Mickey at a Civil Rights March. In the summer of 1964, Mickey along with Andrew Goodman and James Earl Chaney went missing outside of Meridian, Mississippi, while the Civil Rights workers were organizing voter registration for Black Mississippians. What ensued was a months-long search for the two white and one Black missing workers.
Schwerner, at 22, was expected by the media to be distraught and “weak.” Instead, she would plainly address the media noting that her husband was likely killed by the KKK and took every opportunity to discuss the racial voter suppression Mickey, Goodman, and Chaney were working to dismantle.
Why Fanning?
Over the past decade, we have witnessed Elle Fanning move into more mature work such as The Beguiled and The Great. Fanning has showcased her transition from child actor to adult actor seamlessly. Fanning would be able to capture the stoicism of Schwerner while giving clues to the depths beneath it. If the film focuses on that summer, we would see the steadiness of Schwerner amongst the tumultuous search for the missing Civil Rights workers. Fanning knows how to hold quiet moments and express inner turmoil which would be needed for this story.
Jenny Slate as Gilda Radner
Who was Gilda Radner?
Gilda Radner was one of the founding cast members of NBC’s Saturday Night Live. Radner has inspired many future SNL cast members and guests such as Tina Fey, Amy Poehler, Melissa McCarthy, and Emma Stone (to name a few). Around the time Radner was exiting SNL in 1980, she performed her one woman show Gilda Radner Live on Broadway. The show highlighted not just her most famous characters from SNL, but musical numbers that showcased her love of performing.
She was in the Toronto production of Godspell with Victor Garber and Andrea Martin after all. After SNL, Radner was sadly never able to achieve star success on the big screen. In 1986, Radner was first diagnosed with ovarian cancer. She was in remission for a year before returning in 1989 when Radner ultimately died of the disease.
Why Slate?
Jenny Slate, an influential comedienne in her own right, would embody what everyone loved so much about Gilda: her heart and humor in spite of everything. The film could center on Radner discovering her cancer has returned and her reflection at the time – her autobiography was also published in 1989. Slate would have no issue embodying the sweetness and sadness of Radner. Just look at her work in Obvious Child and her stand-up special Jenny Slate: Stage Fright and you can find many similarities between Slate and Radner.
Zendaya as Diane Nash
Who is Diane Nash?
Throughout the 1960s, Nash was a civil rights leader and activist. She was one of the co-founders of Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and she ran some of the most successful campaigns during the Civil Rights Movement. Her first successful campaign was the sit-in at lunch counters in Nashville, TN. Nash would also work on the Freedom Riders campaign which aimed to desegregate interstate travel. Both campaigns were efforts to desegregate those public spaces.
Her most notable work was as co-initiator of the Alabama Voting Rights Project. This initiative later turned into the Selma Voting Rights Movement (which was detailed in the 2010 film Selma). This movement influenced the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While an instrumental figure in the Civil Rights Movement, there have been no projects dedicated solely to Nash.
Why Zendaya?
At this point in time, why not Zendaya? Since transitioning from the Disney Channel, Zendaya has worked in a plethora of projects from musicals (The Greatest Showman) to blockbusters (Marvel’s latest Spiderman trilogy) to gritty television (Euphoria – which garnered her a Primetime Emmy Award). It would be nice to see Zendaya expand her filmography with a biopic about a largely underappreciated woman who was instrumental throughout the Civil Rights Movement. If you have seen her work on Euphoria, you know that she can balance so many emotions and tones at the same time.
Rachel McAdams as Betty Fox
Who was Betty Fox?
Betty Fox was a Canadian cancer research activist who started the Terry Fox Foundation in honor of her son Terry Fox who died of osteogenic sarcoma. Fox was there for her son during his leg amputation which was done in an effort to save his life. In 1980, three years after his diagnosis, Terry embarked on a cross-country run starting in Newfoundland and ending in British Columbia. His cancer spread to his lungs, forcing him to stop in Thunder Bay, Ontario.
Terry would pass in 1981 and Fox would quickly turn his son’s loss into advocacy, starting the Terry Fox Foundation and began touring the country to raise awareness and share the story of Terry’s Marathon for Hope. Fox was one of the flag-bearers at the 2010 Vancouver Winter Olympics. Fox passed away in 2011.
Why McAdams?
There isn’t much Rachel McAdams can’t do. We have seen her in comedies (Wedding Crashers, Mean Girls) and rom-coms (About Time, Morning Glory), we’ve seen her in dramas (Disobedience, The Notebook, Spotlight), and she’s even dabbled in blockbuster films (Doctor Strange), so we know she has the range to play both a grieving mother and staunch activist.
Fox’s ability to go so quickly into sharing her son’s story would be an interesting look at grief and moving forward. McAdams will have no issue with the stoicism Fox showed publicly and the likely heartbreak she endured privately. Plus, it would be neat to see a Canadian figure portrayed by an Academy Award nominated Canadian actress.
There are so many stories that can be told, and it is hopefully that we continue to share the stories of the many people missing from history books. So, what do you think of our picks? And who do you want to see Larraín cover next?