Angelina Jolie sparks casting controversy

updated 6:06 p.m. ET Aug. 2, 2006

Aug. 2 - Mariane Pearl might be delighted to have actress Angelina Jolie depict her in an upcoming movie, but some of you are outraged.

Pearl is the tan, biracial widow of slain Wall Street Journal reporter Daniel Pearl, whose memoir, “A Mighty Heart: The Brave Life and Death of My Husband Danny Pearl,” will be adapted into a motion picture by Brad Pitt's production company.

The film, simply called “A Mighty Heart,” will tell of Pearl's experience after her husband was abducted by Islamic extremists in Pakistan in early 2002. A month later, his captors released a video depicting his murder. Pearl, who is reportedly of Afro Cuban/Dutch heritage, was pregnant with their son Adam at the time.

Since the news came out a few weeks ago, message boards across the Internet have been on fire, expressing harsh criticism about Jolie playing the role of Pearl. On BET.com's own boards, user chantejoy calls the very idea a "new generation of Hollywood in blackface."

“With talent such as Halle Berry, Thandie Newton and Jennifer Beals available — just to mention a few — what is Hollywood's excuse for casting a white woman this time?” she asks. “Anyone who has seen a photo of Mariane Pearl can tell she is a woman of color.”

MORE FROM RACE & ETHNICITY

Race & ethnicity Section Front

Bodies dug up, cut up at black cemetery Pool club denies turning away minority kids The Grio: Politics behind Obama's Ghana visit ‘Mississippi Burning’ town gets black mayor New book spotlights black America in Obama era LAPD: No cops fired over May Day melee Race & ethnicity Section Front   Add Race & ethnicity headlines to your news reader: