AMERICAN HONEY written and directed by Andrea Arnold, with Sasha Lane, Shia LaBeouf and Riley Keough. An Elevation Pictures release. 163 minutes. Opens Friday (October 14). See showtimes.
American Honey’s breakout star, Sasha Lane, is having her Cinderella moment. Director Andrea Arnold discovered the Texas native on the fly on a Florida beach during spring break, and Lane’s now having a blast in designer gowns on red carpets. But talk about Cinderella with the half-Kiwi, half-African-American Lane and she’s probably not thinking about the one you are.
“The old Cinderella,” says the 21-year-old, referring to the 1997 TV version of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s musical, “with Moesha.”
She means R&B songstress Brandy, who starred in the television series Moesha and played Cinderella opposite Whitney Houston as the fairy godmother, Filipino-American actor Paolo Montalban as the prince and Whoopi Goldberg and Victor Garber as his parents. It was the kind of potpourri casting that defied both genetics and an industry hell-bent on snow-white casting. It clearly left an impression on Lane.
“You didn’t even think about it,” she says, referring to the cast’s diversity. “It felt like this could be life.”
Lane’s own casting in American Honey is remarkable for being unique but totally unnoticed. She’s got thick dreadlocks, a caramel complexion and an entirely white family. No one bothers explaining, nor do they need to, because the character simply works. Lane acknowledges that much of her own life and personality has gone into Star, to the point that she often talks about her character in the first person.
That Lane could simply slip into a racially ambivalent role is one of the things she and her co-star Riley Keough (Elvis Presley’s granddaughter) are proud of when it comes to American Honey. While Hollywood (and Canadian cinema) is struggling to represent gender and diversity, their movie just does, without blowing its own horn about it.
“When it gets to a place where it’s not even a fucking thing, like we don’t even think about it, it’s going to be really cool,” says Keough.
The Girlfriend Experience star has been vocal about the limited roles available to women and is frankly fed up that sexism, racism and homophobia are still a thing in 2016. She’s hoping that the ongoing conversations and efforts to cast more women and minorities are taken seriously.
“I hope it’s not just a fad,” says Keough. She shares my skepticism about Hollywood’s response to questions of representation, where the answer seems less about writing strong new characters for women and more about dusting off franchises written for men, like Ghostbusters and Ocean’s Eleven, for all-female casts.
“Is it sincere,” Keough asks, “or jumping on a bandwagon, shouting ‘feminism’ and ‘Black leads’?”
Lane has already noticed how the call for diversity can be turned into a gimmick. She’s been offered roles that simply don’t fit who she is, but producers figure by casting her they can sport the diversity agenda like a ribbon you get at a track meet.
“That is so disingenuous,” says Lane. “That is a white role. That is white culture and white values. It has nothing to do with me. [They] just decided to throw me in there because I fit into this diversity thing.”
Don’t miss our review of American Honey here.
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