Normal People‘s Daisy Edgar-Jones will star as Carole King in a forthcoming biopic about the musician.
Sony announced the news on Thursday, revealing the film will be based on the Beautiful broadway musical about King.
Beautiful details the early life of King in the Sixties and Seventies, during which time she composed some of the world’s most successful songs to date, including “You Make Me Feel Like A Natural Woman” and “Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow”
King has already given her stamp of approval on the casting.
“Daisy has a spirit and energy that I recognized as myself when I was younger,” King told Variety.
“She’s a tremendous talent and I know she’s going to give a great performance,” she added.
Despite Kings endorsement, some fans have questioned why a Jewish actor was not cast in the role.
“Daisy Edgar-Jones being cast as Carole King, did she read my thread about how it’s weird that they keep hiring actors who aren’t Jewish and have zero Jewish features to play Jews,” wrote someone on Twitter.
“Why is this white English woman to play an iconic American Jewish woman??? What do Jews need to do to play ourselves in movies??? Disgusting and infuriating,” said another.
“Carole King is a Jewish icon and once again we’re getting a non-Jew playing a Jew in a time when people are really hatin on Jews,” wrote another critic.
Others simply couldn’t see enough likeness between the actor and the musician: “I don’t see Daisy as Carole at all,” one tweeted.
“At this moment i am both morally and spiritually against Daisy Edgar-Jones playing Carole King,” said another.
“I’m sorry am I the only one who thinks Daisy Edgar-Jones is not the right choice to play Carole King??? And I love me some Daisy, I’m a Sally Rooney girlie, but like she’s just not quirky enough in the right way!!!” one person remarked.
Meanwhile others were pleased with the casting news: “News broke today that Daisy Edgar-Jones is playing Carole King in a movie adaptation of Beautiful. If it turns out that she can sing as well as she can act, there is no one under 25 who can catch her from a talent perspective.”
“Daisy Edgar-Jones as Carole King… u don’t understand what this means to me [sic],” said another.
The new film will be directed by Lisa Cholodenko and produced by Tom Hanks, Gary Goetzman, and Paul Blake, who was responsible for production on the Broadway show.
