Anyone else hear the "hero" in the WTC movie is really an African

[a kennedy]

American and not white??? Was listening to The Black Eagle radio show (WOL-AM), on Friday and they were talking about it. I haven't seen the movie and won't, but evidently one of the rescuers was a black marine in real life, and in the movie Oliver Stone made him white.

[ewagner]

1. I saw that on CNN

last night....sort of chuckling about it ....

[malaise]

2. I saw him on TV last night

What a mess up but that is so typical. Looks like Stone never asked the other rescuer for a description or someone lied. Jason Thomas (of Columbus, Ohio) said he doesn't even plan to see the movie.

Here's a link
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/14350685/?GT1=8404

Add link.

[eccles12]

16. I recommend people read or listen to "Lies My Teacher Told Me"

by James W Lowen and read the writings of Dr. Karenga if you want to know some truth about African Americans' and Africans' place in history.

[Karenina]

17. Do you remember w-a-a-ay back

when a sculpture of the flag being raised on the rubble was proposed to honor all the rescuers and the NYFD went ballistic because the artist wanted to depict 3 very different looking men? Can't remember what happened to that... :rofl:

[malaise]

19. Vaguely

Stone loses credibility here and I won't waste our money to see it.

[LA lady]

3. The guy was so cool about it!

Shamberg said he apologized to Thomas for getting his race wrong in the movie. Filmmakers discovered the mistake after production had already begun. Thomas laughed and gently chided the filmmakers, then politely declined to discuss it further.

“I don’t want to shed any negativity on what they were trying to show,” he said. As for his story, Thomas said he is gradually becoming more comfortable telling it. “It’s been like therapy,” he said.
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2006-08-15-sept11-hero_x.htm?csp=34

[sendero]

4. Yeah..

... and the real crime here is that we're supposed to believe this was an "accident".

[davepc]

5. nobody knew who they were.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060814/ap_on_re_us/attacks_hero_found

[mcscajun]

13. And Jason L. Thomas is okay with it...he's getting his story out anyhow.

Good for him!

Shamberg (the movie's producer) said he apologized to Thomas for an inaccuracy in the film: Thomas is black, but the actor cast to portray him, William Mapother, is white. Filmmakers realized the mistake only after production had begun, Shamberg said.

Thomas laughed and gently chided the filmmakers, then politely declined to discuss it further. "I don't want to shed any negativity on what they were trying to show," he said.

[Bill McBlueState]

14. well, that explains it to my satisfaction

Other reports make it sound like the man's race was common knowledge and Stone deliberately cast a white guy. But according to your link, production was well under way before anyone actually found the rescuer.

[Kickoutthejams23]

6. Maybe they can fix it for the DVD release.

If George Lucas can screw up the original Star Wars with such technology it would be nice if someone used it for good. Simply replace the actor in those scenes with an African American.

[rfranklin]

8. Can't it just be "colorized?"

They did it to all those classic black-and-white films of the thirties.

[MoonRiver]

7. BULL SHIT that Stone didn't know.

:mad: I wish we hadn't given him our money to see the film. We definitely would not have if we'd known this racist piece of information ahead of time.

The movie wasn't even that good. :mad:

on edit: Any half way decent producer would have asked the survivors and rescuers details about one of his main characters in the movie. That's why I call BULL SHIT. I am sure Stone did this but thought the movie would be more "marketable" if the guy was white.

[mcscajun]

12. Jason L. Thomas is the hero.

Thomas had kept his involvement in the Sept. 11 rescue so quiet that even Stone’s people couldn’t find him when they researched the movie. They cast a smaller, white man to play Thomas, whose license shows he is black, 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds.

The producers have since apologized, and Thomas’ identity has been confirmed by Karnes and the rescued Port Authority officers.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/19/20060819-A1-02.html

more about Thomas' reaction:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1952273&mesg_id=1952575

[radwriter0555]

9. In "Black Hawk Down" the film maker neglects to tell you that the "hero"

of the true story, the real guy, is now in jail serving many years for sexual assault on a child...

It seems that poetic license is used rampantly.

[Cassandra]

10. Saw the film yesterday.

It sounds like the real marine isn't nearly as creepy as the character they showed.

[mcscajun]

11. Yes, there was a news article about this man earlier this week

QUIET HERO
Saturday, August 19, 2006
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

To his Whitehall neighbors, Jason L. Thomas is a mild-mannered family man who spends his weekends fighting crab grass. Until this week, they always pictured him outside playing with his five kids or toting a lawn sprinkler.

So they were surprised to discover that Thomas, 32, is one of two Marines whose rescue of two survivors of the Sept. 11 attack is portrayed in the movie World Trade Center.

For five years, Thomas didn’t talk about that day. But a few weeks ago, he hesitantly came forward to identify himself as one of the heroes portrayed in Oliver Stone’s new movie.

(snip)

Thomas had kept his involvement in the Sept. 11 rescue so quiet that even Stone’s people couldn’t find him when they researched the movie. They cast a smaller, white man to play Thomas, whose license shows he is black, 6-foot-3 and 240 pounds.

The producers have since apologized, and Thomas’ identity has been confirmed by Karnes and the rescued Port Authority officers.

http://www.columbusdispatch.com/news-story.php?story=dispatch/2006/08/19/20060819-A1-02.html

[zbdent]

15. Another reason (probably) why the righties praise it ...

because "the filmmaker never tried to inject political correctness into the film by turning the hero of the film into an African-American and screwing around with the facts" ... whoops, the "screwing around with the facts" turned the hero into a white ...

[CJCRANE]

18. Isn't one of the guys

pulled from the rubble (not necessarily the ones mentioned in the film though) a big voice in the 9/11 Truth Movement?

I saw a few articles linked on DU a few months ago that mentioned a 9/11 survivor trying to get publicity by visiting Chavez in Venezuela.