“Mayans M.C.” co-creators Kurt Sutter and Elgin James addressed the amount of violence depicted in their FX series in the wake of two mass shootings over the weekend, including one in El Paso that police believe was targeted towards Latinos.
Sutter argued that the violence in “Mayans” is always done with a purpose and it’s never meant to be glorified.
“I feel like we’re sort of an easy target up here, because our show is really gritty it leans with what it is,” he said Tuesday during the Television Critics Association press tour. “It’s uncomfortable to watch sometimes and it’s not being portrayed by pretty white people.”
Sutter then called out comic book films for portraying the same amount of violence as his series, but not facing criticism.
“Every superhero movie is loaded top to bottom with violence, but because it’s done with lasers by f–king pretty folks in tights, somehow that’s more palatable,” he said. “I would say that shit is more irresponsible than the stories we’re trying to tell. Because within those stories we saw the ramifications of that. We see f–king people shattered. We see families shattered, we see the pain. And it’s never done in a gratuitous way. It’s never done in a way where I feel like we’re making it sexy or glorifying it. But it is the world, it’s the world… I don’t write about doctors or f–king lawyers or firemen. ”
“Mayans M.C.,” a spinoff of Sutter’s popular FX drama “Sons of Anarchy,” features a cast that is made up of almost entirely Latino people. A year ago, Sutter and Elgin James addressed their reason for using the all-too-common trope of depicting Latinos as gang members on television. The topic was brought up again on Tuesday due to the two mass shootings in El Paso, Texas and Dayton, Ohio.
“The fact that it’s been almost 20 years fighting white supremacists — literally fighting white supremacists — so it’s trying to figure out now, how to do that through art,” James added. “With this show, we inherited a very heightened very hyper-violent language to tell our story.”
12 Actors Who Have Played Charles Manson in Movies and TV (Photos)
No other mass criminal or cult figure in American history has garnered as much fascination within Hollywood and popular culture as Charles Manson (though Ted Bundy is coming close). He and his "family" have been the subject of many onscreen treatments from "American Horror Story: Cult" to Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." Here is a sampling of actors who have dared to play the notorious figure.
Steve Railsback - "Helter Skelter" (1976)
The memory of Manson was still fresh when this TV special based on Vincent Bugliosi's book aired. CBS even made it a two-night special.
CBS
Michael Reid MacKay - "Summer Dreams: The Story of the Beach Boys" (1990)
This TV special about the career of the Beach Boys explored Manson's relationship with founding member Dennis Wilson.
ABC
Marcelo Games - "The Manson Family" (1997)
Officially released in the U.S. in 2004, this dramatization of the Manson Family murders in director Jim Van Bebber's film is seen all through the lens of Super 8 home movies.
Dinsdale Releasing
Trey Parker - "South Park" (1998)
Way back in Season 2 of "South Park," Trey Parker had some fun with Manson by having the kids teach him the true meaning of Christmas after he escapes from prison.
Comedy Central
Jeremy Davies - "Helter Skelter" (2004)
This CBS update of their classic "Helter Skelter" shifted more of the focus away from Bugliosi and onto Manson and "family" member Linda Kasabian, with Jeremy Davies playing the cult leader.
CBS
Ryan Kiser - "House of Manson" (2014)
Kiser actually had the "honor" of portraying Manson twice, once in 2009's "Lie" and again in 2014 for "House of Manson." The latter film goes further back into Manson's life leading up to the murder of Sharon Tate and resembles Charles "Tex" Watson's account of events most closely.
Gravitas Ventures
Taran Killam - "Saturday Night Live" (2014)
Remember when news came out that Manson had found love in prison with 26-year-old Star Burton? Who couldn't fall for his beard and "winning smile." And he's only in for income tax fraud!
NBC
Gethin Anthony - "Aquarius" (2015)
The short-lived NBC drama "Aquarius" was set in 1967 and followed two detectives searching for a missing girl who ended up being a Manson recruit.
NBC
Jeff Ward - "Manson's Lost Girls" (2016)
Even Lifetime got into the Manson Family story. One of the network's original movies focused on Linda Kasabian and several of the other female members of the family caught up in Manson's spell.
Lifetime
Evan Peters - "American Horror Story" (2017)
In "American Horror Story: Cult," Evan Peters plays a politician who becomes obsessed and inspired by Manson and is eventually possessed by him.
FX
Matt Smith - "Charlie Says" (2019)
"Charlie Says" is set years after the Manson Family murders and focuses on the psychological rehabilitation of Leslie Van Houten, Patricia Krenwinkel and Susan Atkins. "Doctor Who" actor Matt Smith portrays Manson in flashbacks to examine the mental spell he cast on the many women who killed for him.
IFC Films
Damon Herriman - "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood" AND "Mindhunter" (2019)
Damon Herriman makes only a brief appearance in Quentin Tarantino's ninth film -- but the Manson Family and victims like Sharon Tate (Margot Robbie) figure prominently in the plot set around the time of the 1969 murders. And the actor was also cast as the cult leader in the second season of David Fincher's Netflix series "Mindhunter" -- where he has a more extensive scene in a prison meeting with an FBI investigator.
Sony Pictures
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From Steve Railsback in ”Helter Skelter“ to Damon Herriman in ”Once Upon a Time… in Hollywood“ and ”Mindhunter“
No other mass criminal or cult figure in American history has garnered as much fascination within Hollywood and popular culture as Charles Manson (though Ted Bundy is coming close). He and his "family" have been the subject of many onscreen treatments from "American Horror Story: Cult" to Quentin Tarantino's "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood." Here is a sampling of actors who have dared to play the notorious figure.