Kumail Nanjiani has broken out in a huge way over the past several years, garnering an Oscar nomination for his The Big Sick screenplay and even joining the Marvel Cinematic Universe with Eternals. Now he has a taste for playing more villains, but may be stopped by the force of Hollywood.
Kumail Nanjiani starred in Hulu’s Welcome to Chippendales, based on the book “Deadly Dance: The Chippendales Murders.” In Welcome to Chippendales, Kumail Nanjiani plays Somen “Steve” Banerjee, the founder of male striptease enterprise Chippendales, launched in 1979. Banerjee would end up pleading guilty to racketeering, attempted arson and murder for hire, including that of producer Nick De Noia (played by Murray Bartlett in Welcome to Chippendales). It was in his cell that Banerjee hanged himself in 1994.
Kumail Nanjiani is proud of his work and glad he gets to play such a hell. “I’ve never gotten to play an arc like this…By far the most layered, complex, complicated person I’ve ever played.”
One important note is that Banerjee was Indian. While Kumail Nanjiani was born in Pakistan, he doesn’t think he–or anyone non-white–could have landed the role had Banerjee been a fictional character. (He also more than likely would have had a different surname.) “I think that Hollywood now–even though they’re trying to be more diverse–is still weird,” Kumail Nanjiani said in a recent Esquire profile. The insinuation is that the industry may not be too afraid to cast a non-white actor in a villainous role, lest it face immediate backlash. “And that’s just as limiting as anything else…I want to play more bad guys.”
Kumail Nanjiani cited a prime example: his fellow MCU star Sebastian Stan. “He does these big Marvel movies, and then he’ll play a psychopath. I was told that’s going to be hard because people don’t want to cast non-white people as bad guys.”
Welcome to Chippendales has been getting strong ratings for the most part, with our own Alex Maidy giving it an 8/10.
What do you think about Kumail Nanjiani’s comments? Is Hollywood now limiting non-white performers in a different way? What impact could this have on the industry? Let us know your thoughts below.
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