'Veronica Mars' Cast Talks Sexuality, Stereotypes On SXSW Red Carpet
This week, the SXSW Film Festival screened the world premiere of Veronica Mars, a film continuation of the TV series about a plucky young female detective which got cancelled after just three seasons.
The film follows the titular detective as she returns to her fictional hometown of Neptune, California to investigate a murder allegedly committed by her rich, bad-boy ex-boyfriend. In the TV show, Veronica; her private investigator father Keith; her basketball-playing, African-American best friend Wallace Fennel; and her motorcycle gang member, Latino classmate Eli "Weevil" Navarro all played markedly middle-class characters who served as a counterpoint to Neptune’s secretive and corrupt upper-class.
We caught up with Percy Daggs and Francis Capra (the actors who play Wallace and Weevil) during the film’s SXSW red carpet premiere to ask them about the challenges of avoiding stereotypes while playing characters of color. We also asked Enrico Colantoni about the show’s depiction of Keith as a single dad who unsuccessfully sought female companionship amid his daughter’s social disruptions.
See the interviews AFTER THE JUMP…
Interesting note: director Rob Thomas used a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign to prove to Paramount Warner Bros. that the film would have an audience. Within the first four hours the campaign raised $1 million; within 12, it had met its $2 million goal; by the time the campaign ended, it had raised a total of $5.7 million. The show featured gay and closeted characters but only as minor characters.
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WTF is Veronica Mars? Honestly, I've never heard of this show.
Posted by: max | Mar 12, 2014 3:20:36 PM
Seeing the midnight premiere tomorrow.
Max - we live in an age of Google. I get that you're using your ignorance to make your point, but it ain't cute.
Posted by: Mikey | Mar 12, 2014 3:38:16 PM
@MAX, then perhaps Google it, since you are obviously interested enough to read an article and comment, and it's certainly not like there aren't dozens of fan sites that will fill you in. I always wonder why people feel the need to publicly declare that they are commenting on something they have never heard of.
Posted by: Chris | Mar 12, 2014 3:38:44 PM
Not Paramount. It's Warner Brothers.
And I saw the film in sxsw, it's a lot of fun, just like the show. Its fans will love it for all the inside jokes and returning characters/actors.
Posted by: mb | Mar 12, 2014 4:09:01 PM
My goodness, the semi-colons!
P.S., while the class issues you mention were a focus of the show, Veronica, her father, and Weevil were not "markedly middle class" - they were poor. Veronica and her dad lived in a motel in the show.
Posted by: scott | Mar 12, 2014 4:10:50 PM
Maybe a better mic? So we can hear what they are saying?
Veronica Mars is an almost surreal show where no one acts like they really do in life and yet somehow, we become obsessed. I watched the whole thing (3 seasons) prolly ten times. Genius writing, lighting and humour.
Posted by: Brion | Mar 12, 2014 5:53:06 PM
@CHRIS - What is this verb 'Google' of which you write? Tis peculiar to mine eyes, capitalized thusly. Is it a gerund, perchance?
Posted by: Hansel Currywurst | Mar 12, 2014 7:31:17 PM
Scott, it wasn't a motel, it was an apartment building.
But yes, they were supposedly poor.
Posted by: StudioTodd | Mar 12, 2014 8:30:45 PM