An actor up for an extra role as a creature in Peter Jackson's two-part prequel to his Academy Award-winning franchise 'The Lord of the Rings,' called 'The Hobbit' was purportedly canned by an independent casting agent who said the Pakistani woman was too dark.
Briton Naz Humphreys attended a three-hour long casting session for the $500 million movie in the New Zealand city of Hamilton, only to be discriminated against.
"It's 2010 and I still can't believe I'm being discriminated against because I have brown skin," Humphreys told the Waikato Times newspaper. "The casting manager basically said they weren't having anybody who wasn't pale-skinned."
In 'The Lord of the Rings,' Tolkien described three races of Hobbits inhabiting the Middle Earth fantasy world which is the setting for the movies, including harfoots, who "were browner of skin" than the others.
A representative for Jackson's Wingnut Films dismissed the allegations of discrimination, saying, "No such instructions were given, the crew member in question took it upon themselves to do that and it's not something we instructed or condoned." The film company's spokesman said anyone who met the height and age criteria was free to audition, regardless of skin color.
Yet, advertisements in the local newspaper, The Bay of Plenty Times, for 'The Hobbit' extras read that actors who wished to play the pint-sized creatures "should have light skin tones" and video footage has surfaced of the casting agent stating "we are looking for light-skinned people...it's just the brief. You've got to look like a hobbit," at the audition.
That crew member has reportedly been fired from the production and Humphreys has since started a Facebook group called "Hire hobbits of all [colors]! Say no to hobbit racism!" but admits she's not hopeful that any people of color will be hired in the action film.
"I would love to be an extra," she said. "But it just seemed like a shame because obviously hobbits are not brown or black or any other [color]."
"They all look kind of homogenised beige and all derived from the Caucasian gene pool," she added.
This is not the first time 'The Hobbit' has been in the headlines.
The film's director Guillermo del Toro quit earlier this year and Jackson will now helm 3D filming next February. Though a union dispute threatened to move the production from New Zealand last month, government officials stepped in with generous tax breaks and things are back on track with 'The Office' star Martin Freeman set to star as Bilbo Baggins.