“…I thought about that in the sense that there are no other blacks in the film, but when I was going out for the part, I didn’t ask how many people were going to be African American. I just auditioned for the role, and then I got it. There was actually some fan backlash when I got cast, because people didn’t see Laurent being black. In the book, he’s described at being olive-toned, and I decided to address the issue head on. I did an interview where I said, “The character is described as olive-toned, but there are many patches of olives. Black olives anyone?” I think the fans responded to that, and they immediately gave me an open reception after the interview. I think that they did a great job in casting colorblind, because it makes it more accessible to many groups of people, and for African Americans to see me in the film, they know that they are being represented.”

Edi Gathegi