Being an actor requires portraying all types of characters, good and evil, fictional and real, that all bring their own unique sets of challenges. Things become especially difficult however, when playing a real life controversial figure, especially one who is still alive. Such is the challenge Topher Grace faced for Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. In BlacKkKlansman, Topher Grace plays former Ku Klux Klan Grand Wizard and 2016 United States Senate candidate, David Duke. As you might have guessed, not everyone is happy about this. One person was so angry that he actually called the actor to berate him about it.
According to TMZ, police have gotten involved after Topher Grace received a troubling phone call from someone denouncing his role as David Duke. The caller apparently called the actor a gay slur and in an aggressive manner warned Topher Grace that his role in BlacKkKlansman was going to ruin race relations in America. Topher Grace contacted police after the threatening phone call. The authorities took an incident report, with TMZ saying that depending on if the caller threatened the actor and how, this could lead to a hate crime investigation. As of right now, this is all that has been reported, so it is unclear what else might have been said and who the caller was or how he got Topher Grace's personal phone number.
Without getting into the various flaws with the caller's complaint, this is definitely troubling that he found the actor's personal number. It is unclear if this is just someone who wanted to vent some frustration to Topher Grace and went a step further than the people who just shout into the void on social media. With any luck, this will be the last we hear of this and things of this kind.
Topher Grace has already spoken about what a challenge this role has been and the emotional toll it took to research and become such a despicable figure. Ultimately, he was grateful to have done it because as a part of Spike Lee's film, he got to say something and contribute to the conversation. Then, as a way to decompress from the negative and trying role, he took some time to recut The Hobbit trilogy into a single movie.
Although some people are clearly not happy about this film, which is sadly unsurprising, reviewers have praised BlacKkKlansman and Topher Grace's role in it. Spike Lee's film debuted to a solid box office on a modest number of screens and has received reviews that rank it among the auteur's very best.
BlacKkKlansman is in theaters now. Check out our premiere guide for all the biggest movies still to come in 2018, and stay tuned to CinemaBlend for all your movie news.
