The Deliverance director Lee Daniels spoke out after audiences accused the filmmaker of white-washing his latest movie in making actress Glenn Close potentially play the role of a Black woman.
Inspired by actual events, Daniel's latest Netflix horror movie centers on an Indiana family who discovers a demonic presence amongst them.
The film is inspired by the Ammons Haunting case in which a real-life African American family was supposedly haunted in the early 2010s.
Is Glenn Close Black in The Deliverance?
Fans are wondering if actress Glenn Close was meant to play a Black character in Lee Daniel's new Netflix movie, The Deliverance, which has caused the director to speak out about the veteran star's role in the film.
The new supernatural thriller is based on real-life events, so most of its characters are directly inspired by real people.
Given the story's connection to the African-American community and focus on Black characters, some have wondered if Close's character in the film was, in fact, Black in real life.
According to director Lee Daniels (who fans may know from his work on the hit TV series Empire), the answer is no. Daniels told IndieWire, "She’s based on white women" that happens to "live in a Black world:"
"The character is based on a character that so many people in the Black community know. She’s based on white women that just live in a Black world, that have Black kids, that have immersed themselves into Black culture, and are loved by Black people. I don’t think a lot of white people will understand her, a lot of straight white men won’t understand her, but I think the gays just sort of get it. African Americans, who I made the film for, because we never see this character, we have never seen this person onscreen before, will get it."
Daniels said that they specifically sought to make Close's character "dress [and look] like the women [they] know:"
"We specifically went out to make her dress like the women I know, the women I grew up with that only dated Black men, that were of the culture. Hoops, cutoff jeans, stuff that didn’t fit her at all."
Because of misinformation surrounding the movie and Close's role in it, the veteran actress (who will next be seen in Rian Johnson's Knives Out 3) has faced a lot of vitriol from audience members.
The confusion largely stems from who exactly inspired Close's Alberta Jackson. In the film, she portrays the mother of the primary haunting victim, Ebony Jackson (played by Andra Day).
While the mother of the Ammons Haunting case family was Black in real life, Daniels' latest film does not seem to be a direct adaptation of those events.
Instead, it is inspired by that specific case, featuring all original characters who find their essence in real people associated with the happenings and personalities/archetypes from Daniels' everyday life.
Close's character seems to be an example of the latter, being someone that Daniels has seen repeatedly living within the Black community rather than a specific real person.
The Deliverance is streaming on Netflix.
