Hollywood has turned it’s back on black films.
DETAILS: George Lucas Couldn’t Get Funding For Red Tails
Earlier this week George Lucas revealed that he couldn’t get a major film company to fund his movie Red Tails because it had an all black cast.
Well George, welcome to the reality of filmmakers like Spike Lee, Saleem Akil and more. The legendary Star Wars director told Jon Stewart he had to fund the movie himself because “there’s no major white roles in it at all.”
“I showed it to all of them (the major studios) and they said, ‘No. We don’t know how to market a movie like this.'”
But my President is BLACK.
It’s rather sad that in today’s diverse and more tolerant world we actually have less black movies being made today than we did in the ’90s.
Back then, we had classic films like Menace II Society, Waiting To Exhale, Boyz In The Hood and more. Sure there were flops like Vampire In Brooklyn and The Great White Hype, but still. A flop never stopped Tinseltown from making another Striptease. They made Burlesque and the same thing happened. Nothing.
I’m not trying to compare black vampires to exotic dancers, but we need more movies that fully reflect the complexity of the hip-hop generation.
Anthony Mackie wants to make a movie telling the story of Jesse Owens, a black American Olympian who squashed Germany’s superior race theory by demolishing Hitler’s boys on the track. Of course like Lucas, Mackie is having a hard time getting funding for the film.
Early last year he told me, “I think Jesse Owens is a story that deserves to be told, especially if you can make a movie every three years about a race horse.”
This year War Horse is nominated for an Oscar.
So I get it! Hollywood doesn’t like black interest, but they love any story that has to do with a horse.
While I do appreciate Hollywood’s efforts to include at least one black person in almost every movie they make, I’m not a thug or a rapper. I don’t work in the mail room, I’ve never been a maid and I’m not the president. Casting us as God, Gatekeepers and other high authority roles doesn’t make up for the fact that Hollywood likes ponies more than black people.
I would be perfectly fine with a movie where the lead is a semi-successful pet shop owner who gets into some trouble and ends up saving the world.
Tell that story, and we’ll come out and support.
Xilla is the Sr. Entertainment Editor for GlobalGrind.com as well as CEO of BlogXilla.com/M2TB.com. He has been featured in XXL, The Source, Essence, LA Times and is considered one of the premiere bloggers in the industry. Follow him on twitter @BlogXilla
