With its casting call, the 'Wicked' movie has to cast a wheelchair user as Nessarose
Alex Brightman and Jenny Fellner (Photo: Joan Marcus)
Last week, the casting team behind the upcoming Wicked movie put out a casting call for the role of Nessarose. In addition to other character descriptions such as age range and openness to any ethnicity, the casting notice also encouraged performers who are wheelchair users to submit for the role as well. The notice is listed below.
Having a performer who is a wheelchair user, ambulatory or non-ambulatory, cast in the role would answer the call to action that’s been circulating for years with this role. The casting representation of people with disabilities has made some improvements but is far from where it should be. A casting like this would be a fantastic step forward.
Which means it has to happen.
With the Telsey Office including the encouragement for wheelchair user performers to submit for the role, they’ve now put themselves in a position where they cannot go back and cast a non-wheelchair user in the role. Doing so would cause a justified uproar.
And for all the people that might say, “the role should go to the best person for it”. I agree with half that statement. The correct statement is “the role should go to the best wheelchair-using performer for the role.
Yes, I absolutely equate this to a casting call that makes it a point to strongly encourage people from all ethnicities to submit for roles, only to result in an all-white cast. It makes me wonder, why even include that strong encouragement on the casting notice in the first place if you weren’t going to follow through.
Now could the casting team have adjusted the casting notice to say they were only looking for wheelchair-using performers for the role? The answer is yes. I’ve seen plenty of casting notices that specify things like this. And to be honest, I wish the casting team at Wicked did this. It would have shown that they were 100% committed to casting this role authentically, rather than leaving the door open for a non-disabled person to be cast.
Also, I’m sure there are folks out there that will say, “But does Nessarose……(avoiding certain spoilers) in the show?”
To that, I can only say, please don’t be that dumb or heartless. This is the 21st century. Film production design and effects are at an all-time pinnacle. Let’s just leave it at that.
So I am really glad the production and casting team at Wicked are being inclusive with their casting notices for what should be a blockbuster film adaptation. They just really need to follow through on it.