legendary film star Danny Glover (Lethal Weapon, Witness, The Color Purple) is having a bit of trouble. see, he wants to direct a movie telling the true story of Francois Toussaint-Louverture, the slave who rose to become one of the fathers of Haiti's independence from France in 1804, making it the first black nation to throw off imperial rule and become a republic... but he's been getting the same question from all the producers:
"Producers said 'It's a nice project, a great project, but where are the white heroes?" said Glover. "The first question you get, is 'Is it a black film?' All of them agree, it's not going to do good in Europe, it's not going to do good in Japan."
Glover said he needs a paltry $30 million to make the film, and wasn't having much luck "I couldn't get the money (in France), I couldn't get the money in Britain. I went to everybody. You wouldn't believe the number of producers based in Europe, and in the States, that I went to," he said. so far, Glover has about $18 mil. and where did he get it from, you ask? a cultural body set up in 2006 by his friend, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez (you know, the guy who called President Bush the devil from the floor of the U.N.) to counter what he termed "the Hollywood film dictatorship".
NICE! anyways, the film is Due to be shot in Venezuela early next year, and will star Don Cheadle, Mos Def, Wesley Snipes and Angela Bassett.
i'm SO down...
-gM
and so...
ReplyDeleteThis film has been Glover's pet project for years. I didn't know that he was having financial troubles getting it completed.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the world will eventually change.
i discuss this with white friends a lot, who don't seem to get it that if they don't watch good minority films, this is what happens when someone wants to make one.
ReplyDeleteit is unbelievable that with all the rich black folks around, he can't get the money for a project like this... c'mon Oprah, where you at!?!
I think this is my dilemma. I want a black film that doesn't profess to be black, it just comes out by nature.
ReplyDeleteLike I want to see Aliens or Star Wars without saying "hey this is the black version" it just is.
But I suppose you have to get there first.