Matthew Heineman Already Faces Backlash Over Upcoming Maria Felix Film

Aug. Five 2021, Published 4:44 p.m. ET

On August 2, 2021, Deadline reported that I Care a Lot's Eiza Gonzalez had been tapped to play the enduring Mexican movie megastar Maria Felix in an on-screen adaptation of the actress's existence directed by way of Matthew Heineman, in partnership with Maria Felix's estate.

Maria Felix — referred to as "La Doña" and "Maria Bonita" in the 1940s and '50s — starred in just about 50 motion pictures in Mexico, France, Italy, and Argentina until she stopped running in 1971. And while several people are excited to get a glimpse of the icon's life thru Eiza's position in the upcoming biopic, many are taking issue with the truth that director Matthew Heineman is attached to the venture.

So, what is the controversy surrounding Emmy-winning director Matthew Heineman? Get comfy while Distractify explains.

This is not the first time Matthew Heineman has been known as problematic.

According to Deadline, the staff behind Maria Felix's biopic is recently "looking for a Latin American writer" to adapt her lifestyles for the display screen.

This be aware rubbed many on social media the mistaken means, as people had been quick to indicate that this movie a few Mexican woman is solely the newest in a long checklist of problematic projects Matthew Heineman, a white man, has directed lately.

Readers could also be conversant in HBO's two-part Tiger Woods documentary sequence, which was launched previous in 2021. Tiger, directed by Matthew Heineman and any other white director, Matthew Hamachek, was seriously panned for being yet another story about a Black person instructed by white men.

What's extra, the manufacturing was to begin with intended to air in July of 2020, in the midst of a summer season marked by way of the deaths of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor, Ahmaud Arbery, a summer season stuffed with Black Lives Matter demonstrations and nationwide protests.

Though HBO held off on releasing Tiger until January, industry execs and casual audience alike had been fast to name out the lack of Black talent at the docuseries' roster. "I ... feel compelled to ask you — in the spirit of being anti-racist — why did you both, two white men, opt to direct this film?" Geeta Gandbhir, the Emmy- and Peabody-winning director and producer asked on the Facebook submit where Matthew Heineman had proudly announced the film.

She continued, "I want to make you aware of the asks from the Black and brown community — as you have a huge platform, and the whole community needs to grapple with the issue of systemic racism in our community. Why was there not a director reflective of the community on this project? ... Accountability and leadership are needed at this time — you are in a great position to be a positive example."

More than 200 feedback followed Geeta's, a lot of which also known as out movie initiatives of Matthew's that preceded 'Tiger.'

Matthew directed 2015's Cartel Land, a documentary about Mexican cartels that Vadim Rizov of Filmmaker Magazine referred to as the one film on the Sundance Festival he "really and truly despised." "Cartel Land is an absolute mess of a film," he wrote, calling some of Matthew's possible choices "egregious, manipulative, unnecessary, and all kinds of problematic."

Others known as Matthew's 2015 undertaking a "xenophobic" and "myopic view of Mexico," that gives troubling "moral equivalents" and "problematic if not ridiculous" comparisons between the Michoacán autodefensa group and a bunch of vigilantes who patrol the U.S. aspect of the Arizona/Mexico border.

On Twitter, audience have been less cautious with their words. "Matthew Heineman you must be a racist f--k! How much did you pay those Mexican families?!" one individual wrote.

The film, despite those oversights, earned Sundance Film Festival's "Best Director, U.S. Documentary" and "Best Cinematography, U.S. Documentary" awards.

Matthew's next undertaking used to be the 2016 documentary quick The Third Man, which according to its synopsis, "explores the fight for racial equality at the 1968 Olympics." The director followed that mission up with 2017's City of Ghosts, about a Syrian media activist group who risked their lives to document atrocities dedicated through ISIS.

After releasing A Private War in 2018, Matthew directed Showtime's The Trade for 2 seasons, which "offers a visceral look at illicit industries" with a keen interest in Central America. Season 1 follows the opioid epidemic, "from cartel-controlled Mexico to heartland America," and Season 2 "centers on human trafficking and smuggling, following Central Americans on a perilous odyssey to the U.S."

Then in 2020, Matthew directed a documentary following Colombian reggaeton singer J Balvin, before returning as soon as again to the headlines for his Tiger docuseries on HBO.

Following the backlash he received online for the two-part Tiger Woods sequence, Matthew expressed his regrets in the similar Facebook submit where Geeta had first of all left her comment. "I absolutely should have done more to diversify our Tiger crew," he wrote in a lengthy statement. "I wish I could go back in time and change things, and it's my responsibility to course-correct and do better."

Flash forward to August 2021: Many onlookers are puzzled about how exactly Matthew's choice to tell the story of a Mexican woman is the white director course-correcting and doing higher. Or, as one person on Twitter put it, "It's not right to have a white guy who stereotyped Mexicans be at the helm" of this Maria Felix movie.

Do you think Matthew should have achieved higher after expressly saying that he would, or do you assume social media is simply overreacting?

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