In: Hating Margeaux Watson; Five Minutes Ago: Hating Diablo Cody; Out: Hating Jessica Shaw

Perhaps the editors of [Entertainment Weekly] have been too busy working on their not-well-received re-design. How else to explain the "Writers Gone Wild!" antics going on in last week's issue: the ever inane "The Shaw Report" declaring that "H" is in, "W" is five minutes ago, and "V" is out (your guess is as good as mine); the increasingly useless Diablo Cody inexplicably schilling for Universal's Land Of The Lost, without mentioning or even better communicating why we should care about what Diablo Cody has to say about a movie that's still a year away from release, on which she didn't work; but it is Margeaux Watson who has gone wildest, [railing against Hollywood for casting Charlize Theron as Will Smith's love interest in Hancock](http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20211795,00.html), floating absurd notions such as "imagine how refreshing Hancock would have been if Theron's heroine had been played by a black actress." Having imagined it, it doesn't seem at all refreshing – seeing Will Smith act opposite his first Caucasian love interest, on the other hand, is quite refreshing. Everyone I spoke to had already figured out well before its release that [Hancock](http://www.nypress.com/21/27/news&columns/feature.cfm)'s big twist – spoiler alert! – involved Theron also being a superhero; it seems like casting a black actress would have made the remainder of the twist (that they are married) obvious as well. See? They tweaked that portion of the superhero formula, too! Because who casts white actresses as the love interest for black men in big summer films? Aren't they clever? Not really. But refreshing? Definitely.

Implying that the motivation for employing Ms. Theron has nothing to do with her talent or appropriateness for the role but everything to do with bigger box office returns, Watson continues: "Will Smith's last seven films have opened at no. 1, and Charlize Theron didn't star in any of those." No, she didn't, though she did star opposite Smith (albeit not as his romantic interest) in his second lowest-grossing movie, The Legend Of Bagger Vance. Hardly a no-brainer re-pairing for boffo box office receipts, now is it? In fact, Theron has exactly one blockbuster under her belt, The Italian Job. The idea that any one would cast her to goose the grosses of a Mr. Fourth of July picture is silly. Perhaps they cast her because they felt the Oscar-winning actress would bring more to the project than, say, one of the stars of TV's Girlfriends.

Watson:"Why is it that once an actor like Smith reaches A-list status, Hollywood never seems to pair him with a black actress in a potential blockbuster? From Denzel Washington to Dwayne 'The Rock' Johnson, leading African-American actors have been increasingly matched with non-black love interests. The sci-fi comedy Meet Dave (out now) finds Eddie Murphy romancing Elizabeth Banks, while Smith is paired with Latina actress Rosario Dawson in his next film."

Since Denzel Washington made major cultural waves playing opposite Sarita Choudhury in 1991's steamy Mississippi Masala and even bigger waves with his neutered relationship opposite Julia Roberts in 1993's The Pelican Brief, he has predominantly starred opposite African-American actresses: 12 of his last 14 movies featured love interests portrayed by black actresses and one of the remaining two featured Sanaa Lathan as the third lead, though not in a romantic capacity. Murphy's recent foray into romantically starring opposite a woman who isn't black is his first – and it should be noted that Gabrielle Union co-stars in a smaller role. (Full disclosure: I once worked on a film starring Eddie Murphy, who insisted his love-interest be played by a non-Caucasian actress; the role went to Rosario Dawson, who is not strictly Latina as Watson mistakenly states, but whose mixed heritage includes Puerto Rican, Native American, and African American ancestry.) Out of Smith's 14 major live-action films, he has had 15 on-screen romantic partners: in addition to Dawson, there have been nine African-Americans, three Latinas, one white male and white female if we stretch to include his dubious flirtation with Linda Fiorentino in Men In Black. So what, exactly, is Watson blathering on about? Yes, Washington and Murphy have cast the net wider in terms of co-stars: this should be applauded, not vilified.

After all, is that not what Watson argued (along with co-writer Jennifer Armstrong) in [an article bemoaning the lack of people of color on network television] which was printed just weeks before her recent "commentary"? Shows like Grey's Anatomy and Ugly Betty were rightly praised for their diversity and their color-blind approach to casting. Yet here is Watson, seemingly calling for the exact opposite. How, exactly, is more segregation and less diversity going to help matters? Nia Long doesn't need to do another Ice Cube fam-com, she needs to be cast opposite Clint Eastwood in Million Dollar Baby.

She also states actresses like Long, Lathan and Union aren't given big chances to star opposite black actors in big movies – Long (who starred opposite Smith in his second film) has appeared with Martin Lawrence in the Big Momma's House franchise as well as Ice Cube in a pair of family comedies, Lathan headed up the first Alien vs. Predator all on her own, and Union was the love-interest for Smith in Bad Boys II.

Strangely, Watson doesn't put the onus on big movie stars themselves, who one imagines have some input into whom their romantic co-stars will be – if Eddie Murphy had the power almost a decade ago, surely Will Smith wields it now. But they are not taken to task – Hollywood is. Not mentioning that Halle Berry has spent virtually her entire film career acting opposite Caucasian men—neither to point out that it certainly hasn't hurt her career, nor to call for Hollywood to cast her immediately opposite a Taye Diggs or a Mekhi Phifer—is either convenience on Ms. Watson's part, or plain sexism.

Watson is on point about one thing: the lack of roles for African-American women in film is a sad state of affairs. In addition to the actresses Watson declares should be bigger stars, I would add Regina King, Jennifer Beals and Nicole Ari Parker to the list - for starters. All of these women deserve better careers and roles than the ones they've been dealt, not to mention the biggest should-have-been, Angela Bassett. The way to accomplish that is not necessarily having black actresses act opposite the Smiths and Washingtons of the world. Queen Latifah became a bona-fide star after (non-sexually) starring opposite Steve Martin in Bringing Down The House, Beyonce Knowles honed her chops opposite Mike Myers and Steve Martin, Nia Long had her most interesting role since Love Jones by starring opposite Jude Law in Alfie, and Halle Berry shattered Hollywood's glass ceiling by winning an Oscar starring opposite Billy Bob Thornton. I say we need more diversity in movies and television, not less.

Besides the blatant sexist slant to the piece, it also seems a bit racist, despite her defensive denial: "I don't even have anything against interracial couples on screen – in fact, that's a nice sign of progress. My beef is that Hollywood opts for these couples again and again. Black actresses are getting the shaft, and reality as I know it is not getting portrayed on the big screen."

The movie about an interracial, immortal, superhero couple didn't portray reality as Margeaux Watson knows it? Imagine that.