After his casting in The Lord of the Rings: The Rings of Power, Ismael Cruz Córdova was confronted with racist hostility. Now the actor talks about how he deals with it.
Ismael Cruz Córdova plays the role of Arondir in The Rings of Power. It is the first time a Person of Color has been cast as an Elf in the Middle Earth universe. Although the diverse casting of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series has been widely praised, it has also been met with racial hostility and assault.
Therapist on set of Amazon’s Lord of the Rings series
In an interview with Variety Córdova looks back on his Lord of the Rings casting and talks about the bad experiences he had to go through because of it.
“My mobile phone was hacked, someone tried to hack my bank account. My PayPal was hacked. My friends got messages. I got death threats. Things have been sent to me. People found out my address. All of that. “
How is he dealing with the situation? Córdova says that when he is filming the series he enlists the help of a therapist who is present right on the spot.
” When something like this happens, you need support because the voices are so loud and coming at you from so many sides. “
The Rings of Power
The very presence of the therapist on set is reassuring for Córdova, as he elaborates.
“It was very good to see her [on set], even if we didn’t talk. I knew there was someone who saw me completely, and not just as an actor. “
The therapist wasn’t on set from the beginning, though. It was only when production on Season 1 resumed after the Corona break that the therapist came on board to mentor the cast. For Córdova, it was a relief.
“[The hostility hurt] a lot. It had an impact on my mental health. It’s something I’m very, very open with, so that people understand that what they do and say online really hurts people and has an impact on us. “
