Actor Depardieu downplays role criticism

PARIS, Feb. 20 (UPI) -- French actor Gerard Depardieu says he has dismissed criticism over his performance as mixed-race author Alexandre Dumas in a film.

Depardieu's comments come after France's Representative Council for Black Associations questioned why Depardieu, who has blue eyes and blonde hair, was chosen to play Dumas in "The Other Dumas."

Depardieu, 61, said he is not troubled by such criticism or interested in the issue, The Daily Telegraph said.

Dumas, who wrote such classics as "The Three Musketeers," was born in France but his family came from Haiti. Dumas died in 1870 at the age of 68.