Keegan-Michael Key has praised Netflix for backing a Christmas film starring predominantly actors of colour.
He plays villain Gustafson in the musical Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey, about a spirited and intelligent little girl (Madalen Mills) who helps her jaded inventor grandfather (Forest Whittaker) find his Christmas spirit after one of his prized inventions is stolen.
Speaking to Metro.co.uk and other press he called the David E. Talbert directed film ‘absolutely historic’.
‘Sitting outside of the process of acting I very often would get the feels because I’m just going, “Look at what we’re doing”. I thought it’s revolutionary.’
He enjoyed being part of a film that wasn’t afraid to put Black actors in a Dickensian time period, adding that it was a pleasant change from the expected ‘urban’ setting.
The star said: ‘Something that I loved about the film is how we get this representation visually. It’s the Kente cloth that’s sewn into the Victorian petticoats, it’s the women wearing hair pieces, but still wearing a long gown, a Victorian gown, and that the fusion of those two cultures together was something I thought was amazing.
‘I really would like to say kudos to Netflix for just for taking this chance and saying to David, “We’re going to let you make the movie you want to make with the faces that you want to make it with”, and that means millions of children, and millions of children of colour around the world are going to be exposed to this.
Keegan-Michael added: ‘I hope that they turn to their parents and go, “Can I be a toy maker? That person who looks like me is a toy maker, that person who looks like me has a family? Can I have a family like that?” So that they start to ask those questions. I think it’s I think it’s actually crucial for the development of young people of colour.’
Jingle Jangle arrives November 13 on Netflix.
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