Fear of a Black Prefect

January 30, 2004

Fear of a Black Prefect

Reaction on slashdot to the casting of Mos Def in "Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy":

A black Ford Prefect??? Are we ready for this? - BiggsTheCat
Mos Def is actually one of the few rappers who has a brain. - Shant3030

Can't we have ONE f***ing movie without a rapper?? Just make (for lack of a better word) music, you a**holes! Leave the acting to REAL actors! Especially when the movie in question is a screen adaptation of a beloved novel-- did they try to slip Ja Rule or another one of those generic, mush-mouth f***tards into LotR? NO! [ed. note: I guess he missed Bushwick Bill's cameo in the Prancing Pony scene]
- An Anonymous Coward

Mos Def actually came from the theater community before he was a rapper... I agree that the "stick a rapper in every movie" trend is getting old - imagine if that were popular during the '80s hair metal days. But Mos Def doesn't qualify. No punishing him just because his music career fared better than Nimoy's. - AvantLegion

Im not racist but what the hell?? [ed. note: anyone who says that is guaranteed to be racist] I thought the whole character was based on an english school boy? Is this another American plot to add in a token black (american) guy, but alas he wont get killed in this? As a proud and English Douglas Adams fan I think he would be turning in his grave. Hey dare I say it but even Hugh Grant would have been a much better choice or they could have chosen a talented English actor. - femmefatale27

If I remember the books properly, Ford is basically uber-cool, slick, a total bad motherf***er but kind of loopy and obnoxious at the same time. I can definitely see Mos Def in that part. - the_gnat

(thanks to Chr0me Kitten)

Posted by jsmooth995 at January 30, 2004 03:04 AM

Comments

Ah. gotta love that /. invective and racism. it's why I stopped using that site for something like three years.

What would really be interesting is to go back and see if any of those comments got modded up as "interesting" or "insightful".

Posted by: chr0me_kitten at January 30, 2004 10:03 AM

Nice bit of news. I'm not afraid to flex my nerdery - Hitchiker's Guide is great! Mos Def is great! This movie will be great!

Meanwhile, computer people are all ignorant closet cases!

Posted by: David at January 30, 2004 12:20 PM

Hey! I resent that comment. I think Mos Def will make a great Ford Prefect. I mean, c'mon! He's an *alien* ffs. Who cares what color he is?

Posted by: mallarme at January 30, 2004 02:56 PM

I'll be the first to say I was freaked out by the notion of Mos Def as Ford... But thinking about the character - someone who radiates a mellow-yet-slick additude, Mos Def has it.

Of course, I'll never, ever, be able to listen to him say, "Hey you, sass that hoopy Ford Prefect, there's a frood who really knows where his towel is."

Posted by: Morgan at January 30, 2004 10:43 PM

Figures. Should we really be surprised by some of the idiotic comments over there?

I, for one, welcome our realistic casting people to reign over our movie-watching selves with righteous choices on who should play who in what.

Posted by: djspicerack at January 31, 2004 01:52 PM

When I read something at /., I can never tell these days if the post is sincere or not. Too much trolling goes on there, and the trolls are good at getting a reaction from people.

Then again, they could be a bunch of racist fscks.

Mos grabs my vote for one cool Ford Prefect.

Posted by: Dast at January 31, 2004 03:02 PM

I THINK MOS DEF IS GREAT FOR THE PART SO ANYONE WHO IS SAYING THAT HE DOESN'T DESERVE THE PART STOP HATING LET HIM GET HIS MONEY. SHIT I KNOW IF THEY WERE GOING TO PAY ME TO PLAY SON AMERICAN SCHOOL BOY I'LL PLAY THAT PART.

Posted by: mayhem at February 1, 2004 12:47 AM

im late on it but, that fuck bitch who posted them racist ass comment is fuckin stupid, i dont know nuthin about the movie o book, but man i cant stand when someone brings race when its not white people cashin in . no one be sayin hey this white dude makin money he shouldnt be a black\hispanic\aisian should be playin dat part on dat movie n makin dat money, you understand wat im sayin, is always the other way round, and is always a white person hatin on the sucsses of others, cause u know if u gotta acknowledge dat u aint racist u straight red bleeding racism......

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Posted by: Sempo at September 27, 2004 06:51 PM

Posted by: home loan mutual washington at November 6, 2004 10:38 AM

oi...

Mos Def... Ford Prefect... ???

Ok I admit Ford Prefect is supposed to be one cool a$$ kinda dude. Hence Mos Def could be an interested adaptation of the character... But the only thing that seems "off" about this is.. I always imagined him as white with brown hair... Is it simply because I assumed so? or do the books describe him physically and I just can't recall exactly what was written... (It has been a few years since I last read them)

Just trying to imagine Ford Prefect from a different perspective...

Still feels odd... but heh...

I recall being annoyed when the original TV series portrayed Trillian as a blonde when she was most certainly supposed to be a brunnette. So am I any more of an ass for just wanting the characters to be what I imagained them to be when I read the books?

(That is why I am still wondering if there ever really WAS a detailed physical description of Ford Prefect?) Because honestly Mos Def can't be any worse than the guy they had in the TV show... He was definately not what I pictured either...

blargh...

As for the other casting choices... Martin Freeman and Sam Rockwell seem like decent choices. Especially Rockwell as Zaphod, that seems like it could be a good fit. And that Zooey chick IS at brunnette. (but she's not british!) So I shall just have to wait and see... And hope for the best...

And try not to panic * !!!

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