In the first clip of the adaptation of Camilla Gibbs’s 2005 novel of the same name, we see Fanning playing a white Muslim woman orphaned in Ethiopia, reported Deadline.
Gibbs’s book tells the story of Lilly, a British orphan who travels to Ethiopia after being raised in Morocco and is eventually forced to flee Ethiopia for England amid political unrest in the Seventies.
PHOTO: INDEPENDENTIn London, she embraces the Muslim immigrant community, attempting to reunite people with their scattered families. However, her mission isn’t purely selfless: a passionate lost love affair is revealed between her and an idealistic doctor.
However, many weren't all too impressed with the Once Upon A Time in Hollywood actor's casting as a Muslim or 'a white Ethiopian.'
The 25-year-old starlet was called out for cultural misappropriation. The makers of the film were also criticised for casting a prominent white actor to play a Muslim.
Is today the day that celebs are losing their minds? Scarlett Johansson is defending Woody Allen and Dakota Fanning is playing a White Ethiopian. Am I missing anybody else from this tweet? pic.twitter.com/VhtiCuPzYZ
— Blind Wanda (@BlindWanda) September 4, 2019
so many talented Muslim actors out there and you cast... Dakota Fanning???????????????????? and to play an ETHIOPIAN?????????????? I BEG YOUR PARDON??????????????? https://t.co/XAgs6y2G98
— Muhammad Butt (@muhammadbutt) September 4, 2019
"white Ethiopian Muslim"
— Scott Greer 6’2” IQ 187 (@ScottMGreer) September 4, 2019
white women are at it againhttps://t.co/chuEN7HWWr
Dakota Fanning is a what https://t.co/RTZcWS9Y0F
— philip lewis (@Phil_Lewis_) September 4, 2019
So Dakota Fanning is playing a white-skinned Ethiopian Muslim in a new movie, and the Russo Bros are making an "authentic" Arab movie with zero Arab people on board.
— Yes Kamala Harris is Thee Vice President 💙 (@justice_healing) September 4, 2019
How's your Wednesday? #NoOrientalism
https://twitter.com/overdramatique/status/1169325032495038466
This is so coincidental - just yesterday I was saying, you know who would best represent the contemporary refugee experience in Africa? Dakota Fanning. https://t.co/asMJowvdhb
— Hend Amry (@LibyaLiberty) September 4, 2019
Dakota Fanning getting ready for her next role as a Muslim Ethiopian.
— ameeraconrad.bsky.social (@ameeraconrad) September 4, 2019
https://t.co/7F344By9mY
https://twitter.com/tweetrajouhari/status/1169373440739930112
Fanning on Wednesday took to Instagram and responded to criticism.
“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 a Muslim," the Twilight star wrote.
PHOTO: INDEPENDENT“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.”
However, some commented that the film is only justifying the book.
All the outrage for Dakota Fanning playing a white Ethiopian in the film version of Sweetness in the Belly is nonsense. She hasn’t taken a role from a black actor. The character is white in the book. It really wouldn’t take much research to find this out before raging about it🙄
— Maïa Dunphy (@MaiaDunphy) September 4, 2019
https://twitter.com/TheFelixKay/status/1169403134772310016
Sweetness in the Belly also stars Bafta winning actor Wunmi Mosaku, The Big Bang Theory's Kunal Nayyar and 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.
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