Film: BLACK BAG (2025)
Writer: David Koepp (does that name sound like co-op or cop?)
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Starring: Rege-Jean Page (Col. James Stokes), Dr. Zoe Vaughan (Naomie Harris), Michael Fassbender (George Woodhouse), Cate Blanchette (Kathryn St. Jean) and more
You Guys,
I can catch a fake or a work-around when there is a fake or a work-around.
Like, duh!
Duh!
Okay, so in the middle of the movie Black Bag, there is this scene where Kathryn St. Jean (played by Cate Blanchette) goes to a Pret a Manger in Zurich, Switzerland or some place like that. And she has a little slip of paper and she gets her coffee and slips her white paper into the sugar tin.
And then there is a guy who is at the coffee shop, who knows he is meant to discreetly go to the sugar tin and pick up the slip of paper that looks like a sugar packet but is really some secret information.
And then Kathryn St. Jean (who is St. Jean? I gotta up this saint) sits on a bench outside talking to this sugar-tin-slip-of-paper guy while they stare ahead and pretend they’re not actually talking.
Now, Steven S. and David K., it is so obvious that this dude on the bench is not a professional actor. He’s like, somebody’s brother or friend or something. What happened that day? Did the real actor-guy get sick? Did the real actor-guy become a dad overnight and he had to be at the hospital with his new baby, and he couldn’t play this part on the park bench, and you had to throw some other dude in there last minute? Because the skinny gray-haired guy with glasses on the bench outside the coffee shop is not believable as worthy to sit across from the Titan Actress Cate Blanchette. This dude just remembered his lines and said his lines, but it’s so obvious that he is not an “extra” who belongs in this film! A film so otherwise meticulously crafted.
Like, come on!
(Cate Blanchette is really, really talented, obvi.)
So, while I love your movie Black Bag and all—like, a super super lot!—you need to know that I can see something weird happened in that scene and on that day. The rest of the film is so painstaking and thoughtful and thorough, but this was a little glimpse that took me out of Movieland and into Movie-Making-Land.
Capiche?
So I want to know why. Just for kicks. Why could you not wait another day to get the right guy on the bench outside the coffee shop for your scene?
Was there some kind of rush to get that coffee-shop-scene done because of…I don’t know…money?
Usually, it’s money. Usually there’s a budget and things have a deadline, and you just try something because you’re feeling the pressure of efficiency and even, sometimes, politics, but I don’t know if politics played a role in this particular situation. Perhaps it did, though, and perhaps it does.
Like, for instance, how much did Basic-Dude-on-the-Bench get paid to sit on the bench and repeat those lines? He collected a paycheck for his work, right?
I’m wondering because it looks like you put him in a Big-Time Movie with Great Actors, just because he’s a brother or someone’s-sister’s-cousin who happens to be available, and not because he deserved that role or that paycheck. If you keep slipping up like this, Stevie S. and Davie K., I think it can hurt your reputation. I think it can uncover an uncomfortable truth that movie-making may be a lot more about “who you know” than “who is the right fit for a gig.”
Mm?
Let me share something obvious, which you probably already know. Acting classes are full of really talented people who are not white. (There are some bad white actors in there, too.)
But like, people who are not white? They actually bring a lot of powerful energy to their craft. Call up some acting classes. Look at the numbers. Do a little informal investigating.
So, next time you need a guy to sit on a bench and repeat 5 lines, maybe you can go to a local acting teacher or something, and ask the teacher if they have any good non-white actors for a small paying role in a film. Can you, just, wiggle the purse strings of your production budget a l’il longer for the sake of your art?
And Too, for the sake of justice and thoroughness and integrity?
Cause ya see, Stevie S. and Davie K., what happens now, is that instead of talking about your film, Black Bag, which I enjoyed watching, I’m wondering about this mysterious event in one little scene of the film where the producers got sloppy.
Which led me to thinking about other parts of the film and this “who-you-know” factor, and how it impacts storylines and casting.
Like, when a story is being created on the page, is it required that a particular character be black or white or Asian or Latino or yadda yadda yadda?
Or is there room for malleability in the casting decisions because people are people, and can play a range of human roles?
Might we see non-white actors as central figures in more films, and inspect a little more closely who the “bad guys” are in the characters we cast?
Ya know?
Like, might we do an evaluation in our internal operating systems—our consciences—and consider who we put where and why, and maybe reconfigure the way we operate when we recognize that sometimes implicit bias impacts our decisions—even when we’re not aware! Even when we think we’re “the good guys” and we’re just doin’ our thang.
It’s food for thought.
Regardless, Cate Blanchette is lovely in this film, Black Bag. A real woman. Feminine.
I just think we need to pay attention to who is holding the guns.
And why.
Cheer-io,
Ms. Wonderful
Saturday’s Vinyl Playlist (and a poem from Langston Hughes)
(I sure hope poetry doesn’t get cancelled!)
