Journalist Tries To Race-Bait Hollywood Stars About Lack Of Minorities In Film Set In 1750s Denmark, Gets Immediately Put On Blast

Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Arcel didn't have any tolerance for nonsense involving a lack of diversity in their film "The Promised Land."

Mikkelsen stars in the movie from Arcel, and the plot is described as follows:

The poor soldier Ludvig Kahlen arrives in 1755 on the barren Jutland heath with a single goal: to follow the king's call to cultivate the land and thereby achieve wealth and honor himself. But Kahlen quickly makes an enemy. The merciless landowner, Frederik De Schinkel, who is sole ruler of the area, believes that the heath belongs to him and not the king. When De Schinkel's serf runs away with his wife Ann Barbara and seeks refuge with Kahlen, the landowner does everything to drive Kahlen away and at the same time exact a cruel revenge. Kahlen does not bow, but stubbornly takes up the unequal battle and now risks both his life, but also the bond with the small, troubled family that has arisen around him on the heath.

Seeing as how it's set in 1755 Denmark, it would make sense that the cast is almost entirely white, which it is. It would be historically inaccurate to just add minorities, transgender people or anything like that to a film taking place in an entirely white country.

However, a journalist at the Venice Film Festival felt the need to demand answers on why there are so many white people.

It went over about as poorly as you could imagine.

Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Arcel react to allegations of lack of diversity in "The Promised Land."

"This is a cast and Danish production that is entirely Nordic, therefore, has some lack of diversity," the journalist, who also said he was Danish, started before almost immediately being cut off by Mikklesen.

"What are you going onto," the star actor asked as he shook his head in disbelief and laughed. However, the Danish journalist pushed forward demanding information on the lack of diversity and pointing out the film wouldn't qualify for the Academy Awards Best Picture because it doesn't have enough minorities (that's a real thing, but is being slightly walked back).

He asked if the "lack of diversity" was a cause of concern come award season, and Mikkelsen turned the tables and said, "You're putting us on the spot. So, you answer the question…What do you think?"

It didn't take long for Arcel to jump in and state a truly matter of fact way, "First off, the film takes place in Denmark in the 1750s. We do have a big plot line about a girl of color who is being subjected to racism. Which was very rare any people of color in Denmark in 1750s. Almost nobody. She was probably the only one at the time in the entire country of Denmark."

"It's just historical how it was in the 1750s," Arcel added. You can watch the entire two-minute exchange below.

Credit to both for not backing down on "The Promised Land."

This is how you handle people asking absurd questions about a lack of diversity in entertainment. Don't give an inch.

State the facts and move on. There's nothing to apologize for. It's a film set in 1750s Denmark. As Arcel said, seeing a non-white person virtually never happened.

The idea of it happening literally is hard to comprehend. Even today, almost all of Denmark is white. Why would anyone just insert characters that wouldn't have existed?

Mads Mikkelsen defends having a mostly white cast in "The Promised Land." (Photo by JEFF PACHOUD/AFP via Getty Images)

Of course, this isn't the first time a historically accurate racial breakdown caused problems. "Dunkirk" apparently needed to include more blacks and women....something that didn't actually exist in the *checks notes* real life battle in WWII.

"The fact that there are only a couple of women and no lead actors of color may rub some the wrong way," USA Today wrote at the time.

USA Today infamously brought up race in a review for "Dunkirk." (Credit: USA Today)

If "Saving Private Ryan" was made today, there'd probably be someone arguing there needed to be more women and transgender soldiers in the opening wave on Omaha Beach.

Movies should be realistic, and shouldn't feel like characters are forced into plot lines to fill diversity quotas. That's what makes Taylor Sheridan's writing so elite. There are so many different groups covered, and everyone feels absolutely necessary to the story.

Props to Mads Mikkelsen and Nikolaj Arcel for not even engaging with this nonsense. That's exactly how a situation like this one should be handled.