'Rings of Power' Cast Needed Help Dealing with Racism
by EG
Ismael Cruz Córdova, one of the stars of Amazon's The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, is opening up about how the series dealt with attacks by racist trolls during production of the show. Cruz Cordova says Amazon went as far as bringing a therapist on-set to help the cast and crew cope with the stress of the attacks. Read on for details.
Via Variety.
“The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power” star Ismael Cruz Córdova is opening up about the cast and crew’s mental health while shooting the Amazon Prime Video series.
During an appearance on this week’s “Just for Variety” podcast, the actor tells me that an on-set therapist was on hand to offer help after the show received racist backlash against its inclusive and perse casting. “You need support when this happens because the voices are so loud and they’re coming at you from so many places,” Córdova says.
Córdova, who was shooting Season 2 in the U.K. when we spoke, says the therapist’s presence alone was beneficial. “I loved seeing her there, even if we didn’t speak,” he said. “I knew there was someone there seeing me completely. It wasn’t just as an actor.”
The therapist was brought on board when production resumed shooting after pausing during the pandemic. Córdova’s character Arondir is the first person of color to play an elf onscreen in the “LOTR” universe. “It hurt,” Córdova says of the backlash. “It had a psychological and mental health impact. That’s something that I’m very, very open about so that people understand that what they do and say online really hurts people, really has an impact on us.”
It wasn’t just attacks on social media. “My phone got hacked,” Córdova recalls. “I had bank account attempts of being hacked. My PayPal got hacked. My friends got messages. I got death threats. I got things mailed to me. People found out my address. It was a lot of that.”
Córdova has also been open about how badly he wanted to be on the show -- so much so that when he wasn’t originally cast, he convinced producers to reconsider. “I grew up with that rejection all around me. And that’s something that’s driven me,” he explains. “I was not going to take a ‘no’ for an answer because I knew what this role would entail. I knew what it would do in the scope of fantasy. I knew that I wanted to be part of something historic, especially with the elves. The elves have been historically portrayed as white and Aryan. I wanted to be an elf. I was a mountain boy [who grew up in Puerto Rico]. I was in love with nature, and I knew it would change things.”
After starring in the “LOTR” universe, the Marvel Cinematic Universe may also be in Córdova’s future. He says Marvel Studios have reached out to him about different projects: “I have very good relationship with the Marvel casting directors.”
Get the rest of the story at Variety.