Is Hollywood ready to produce a BIG BUDGT Epic film starring mostly black people??? (1 Viewer)

[Holadem]

This is the story you're looking for.

The story of Soundjata Keita is simply awe inspiring. He unified the region into what would become the mighty Empire of Mali. The very definition of Epic, with prophecy, difficult childhood, exile, arch-enemy (a Witch-King... sounds familiar?), massive war, showdown, and return of a king to his rightful throne. All set in a land that is unfamiliar to most of you, with gobs of what you would call fantasy. Most of it did happen. The book (Soundjata ou l'epopee Mandingue) is a classic of african litterature. It has all the ingredient to fit the standard hollywood formula for epics. It would be an excellent movie, as long as it's not culturally dumbed down - consider the declaration of war ritual showcased in the link I provided. If the only way to film this is to turn it into some western story set in Africa, then I hope no one takes offense to this when I say I would rather it not be made.

At the height of it's might in the 14th century (some 100 years after Soundjata), the Empire of Mali was a military, cultural and intellectual force to be reckonned with. The story of how then Emperor Musa's lavish pilgrimage to Mecca severely depreciated gold in the region for 10+ years is well known. Timbuctu at that time was one of the major cultural centers of the world.

Great, great things were done on the forgotten continent, but few here are willing to tell it.

--
H

 

[FilipM]

How about an epic about the African slave trade?

It may be uncomfortable for some people but the fact is that nearly every black slave was captured, processed and sold by powerful African tribes who raided their neighbors for slaves and they made a major industry of this setting up huge and wealthy slave trading cities on the african coast, where they did profitable business and made business and personal relationships with slave trading ships and their crews and captains. While it would most likely upset the PC crowd the same controversy and historic nature of this would add weight and could make it a very successful, serious and groundbreaking epic film on the cinematic and emotional level of Schindler's List.

Every significant role could be performed by black actors.

 

[MartinTeller]

A while ago there was a thread in Polls with alternate casts for LOTR. This was mine.

 

[KylePete]

Martin, that is unreal. I never even read that post. It's interesting that we both saw Cedric the Entertainer as Gimli.

I think your suggestions for characters are better.

Kyle

 

[Rex Bachmann]

Paul_Sjordal wrote (post #31):


No, it wouldn't. That would require a fundamental change in the "audience" (the real world of people) which will never happen. The story itself is too "European" for the incongruity of the casting to evanesce.

 

[Evan Lee]

When I try to think of all the shows on television that are targeted to an African-American audience, I can only come up with sitcoms. Every time (and admittedly there have not be very many) a drama targeted towards African-American audiences is put on the air, it flops. I believe that if a sucessful drama staring a black cast can be produced then Hollywood will start to see the potential of a big budget epic with a black cast. The African-American community needs to give the penny pinching hollywood execs a reason to believe that such a movie will suceed.

 

[JonZ]

While I hate love stories, if u want to see a good film with a intelligent attractive cast, check out Love Jones.

Unfortunately,movie companies make what sells. With the MTV/Hip Hop Videos influenced public - most younger black people I know would rather watch The Fast & Furious than American Beauty.

I prefer to look outside Hollywood for some of what you guys are talking about - Youll find lots of movies out there about different people.

 

[Jim Ogilvie]

The Moors?

No, I'm so sorry.

Its the MOOPS.

 

[Lew Crippen]

There are plenty of films with predominately minority casts—they just don’t happen to be Hollywood films, or necessarily epics.

All you need to do to watch these is avoid the multiplexes and hit some of the art hourse. City of God, is a great example of a very fine film that has a majority black cast—it just happens to have been made in Brazil, not Hollywood. Or take George Washington, a small independent first film by David Gordon Green—this got very little expose outside the art houses, but had enough of an impact to be one of Criterion’s releases.

This is where people will take chances today. And those chances are being taken. Just search them out.

 

[StevenFC]

As I've always said--it's about the story. Give me a good story and I'll go to see it no matter what the ethnicity of the cast. Just don't bore me.

Hollywood will make such a movie when it feels it will make money. Green's the only color they recognize.

 

[Evan M.]

Again I will reiterate my feelings waaay back on post 6: I do not think that it is Hollywoods' problem about releasing an "epic" starring mostly "minority" stars, I think it is the publics issue. Ultimately it is the public that decides whether or not a movie becomes an epic. A great movie could be made but if the people do not come out to see it than it will not be an epic. Yes there have been great films starring mainly African American actors, but have they become "epic" almost always no. The big reason for this I think is the publics reluctance to see such a film. I am not saying that the public is all racist, I am saying that a film starring mainly "minority" actors has more obstacles for making it big than a movie starring all caucasian actors. By the way I put "minority" in quotes because I have always hated that word. Where our roots are from should not allow people to be placed in a category.
Les, I completely agree with your sentiments that the world is making large strides when it comes to acceptance, and that a good director, writer, actors will bring out the public. However, word of mouth alone can not break down some of the walls that people unfortunately built around them. I think using MTV may be a bad example for people assimilating together. For people 30 and under this could be a good example but not a lot of people over the age of 30 ever put that station on. And when they do a lot of people shake their heads at some of the stuff they are seeing. Like I said earlier, there are soooo many wonderful stories that could be played out wonderfully on the big screen. I would love to see them and millions more would love to see it too. I just hope that someday they will become "epic" without people even noticing that "hey, all of those actors were African American."

 

[Gary->dee]

Well I don't know how big a budget it would have, I reckon probably between $25-45 million(which isn't that big a budget relatively speaking), but I recently submitted a script to Derek Luke's(star of Antoine Fisher Story) people at ICM. It would basically be a trilogy, a franchise, based on a young man that goes from the L.A. streets to office cubicles and finally escapes(literally) to New York at the end of the first movie. Very gritty, realistic, and yet if I were given the chance to make it I'd use a mixture of orchestral music and hip hop so as to not paint the character or story as one-dimensional. The second movie would take place in New York and show the further evolution of the character. The third movie would perhaps(not sure yet) take place in Washington D.C. with him being the first black president(no Thomas Jefferson jokes please). In the end an assassin's bullet takes his life, but not just any assassin. It would be someone he had known in the first movie.

Anyway I haven't even written the second and third scripts yet and who knows if ICM will even be interested in the first script I submitted to them. But it would be something special if it all happens according to how I envision it. Somewhat epic, at least in the telling if not the environments, and definitely audacious.

 

[Yee-Ming]

Mandarin. For once the non-original dub was Cantonese, rather than the other way around. Hence the "mirth" among Mandarin speakers, since neither Chow Yun-Fat nor Michelle Yeoh are native Mandarin speakers, both being more comfortable with Cantonese, and they sounded a bit "off" (I suppose almost as bad as Costner trying to sound Brit as Robin Hood in Prince of Thieves, but not quite THAT bad...)

Isn't the real point to reach a stage where no one really questions the character's race and doesn't see it as being significant either way? Morgan Freeman and James Earl Jones portraying Jack Ryan's boss, without the question of race even coming up, is an example; come to think of it many of their roles are such.

If anything, I get the impression (sorry to tread into delicate areas) that audiences would be more puzzled to see an Asian in such a role of authority. The closest analogy I can think of off the top of my head of race-neutral roles played by an Asian would be certain villians where race is not germane (e.g. Lila's rival in Angel -- though his name escapes me), and forensic technicians in some cop shows (e.g. the computer whiz in L&O:SVU).

 

[WillG]

Not that this is any commentary on my personal feelings, but if I were a studio executive being pitched a $100 Million + treatment with mostly a minority cast without at least one caucasion in a principal role, I believe I would be a bit hesitant. The primary demographics are still white males ages 18-49 and unfortunately you really have to consider that for such a large investment. We all know that Hollywood makes films for other demos but they very rarely spend that kind of money on them. Even "Titanic" promised enough carnage to get men into the theater. The good thing is that much of the time the smaller budget films that may have primarially minority casts turn out to be much better than the $100 "Epics" that Hollywood turns out.

 

[MarcusUdeh]

 

[Paul_Sjordal]

Egypt was a Mediterranean civilization through and through. Heck, it's one of the definitive Mediterranean civilizations. The Moors were Arabs who happened to live on the African continent, but that doesn't really make the Africans. Carthage was founded by Phoenicians.

 

[Les Samuel]

That's the writers job to give it heat, it's the writers job to embellish to make it an epic. Then it's the director's job to secure the vision, then the actors must do their part, then the studio to market it as a film; period. Not a film targeting a specified audience. A poster mentioned many TV shows are targeting black folks and I have no problem with those shows because for years black audiences had been neglected and Hollywood should continue to do this. I also do not have any problems with shows targeting white folks either such as Friends. However the public is ready for this as long as the story is good and it's marketed across the board it will do well. Market the film like you would any Will Smith movie. I don't want to see commercials for it during The Parkers or during Rap City, I want to see it during Smallville, CSI, and the O.C.

Evan

I used the MTV as an example of assimilation representing a certain age demographic, keep in mind I also used Condoleezza Rice as well as an example who's extremely respected. If I recall correctly President Bush delayed for a short time publicly stating that he was going to run for the presidency. The reason was Colin Powell had not yet stated his intentions for the 2000 candidacy. At the time a Gallop poll show IF Powell ran for the Presidency many Americans would vote for him before voting for Bush. This is the age demographic you are skeptical of that would see an epic film dominated by people of color. These same folks would go see a good movie regardless, these are the same folks murmuring about how far can Condoleezza rise in the Republican ranks. Possibly VP for the 2008 campaign.

 

[Evan M.]

Les, I completely understand where you are coming from. And in a perfect world it would of course happen. And I am sure the people who may have voted for Powell WOULD see a mainly African American film. However not many people actually vote (look at the numbers). Out of those people, what percentage would vote for Powell? Out of those what kind of movie tastes do they have? Out ot those which even bother go to the movies? You can see the percentage shrinks and shrinks. Yes, the country is making great strides of accemptence....I completely agree. But I do not think that using a public official's accemptence will dictate movie outcomes. And if it did it would be waaay to small to even factor in and it would be impossible to see if it was a cotributing factor.
I am not trying to be negative, I just think that a movie of all "minority" decent would have a lot more obstacles to overcome than a movie staring mainly caucasion actors. I do not want ot give the impression that I think a lot of people wouldn't want to see such a film. It has happened several times. But out of those how many can be considered "epic"? Very few, if any (unfortunately). Why is this? Because the public decides what is epic. Not Hollywood. Hollywood can talk it up, Ebert and Roper can give it 2 thumbs up all they want, but if the people do not see it then I do not think it could be called "epic".
So yes I completely agree with you Les that we as a nation are making strides in accemptence. I am sure in 2008 thing will be even better. But where things are right now, I think what is holding a lot of these possible epic movies back is unfortunately public accemptance.

 

[Mike Broadman]

The public does not decide whether something is epic. Epic is a term used to describe a type of story, particularly one with a grand scope touching upon many generic life-themes, usually involving heroism and a long time-line.

Saying the public determines if something is epic is like saying it determines whether something is a musical.

 

[Evan M.]

LOL, thanks for the vocab lesson Mike . I am fully aware of what the word epic means, that is why I put it in quotes often in my statements because what I was calling was meant to be taken as a loose definition. My bad on that one, should have been a lot more specific.
What I mean when I say it is up to the public to decide whether a movie is epic or not, is as follows (to the best of my,not so great so far, ability ) : I think in the movie world we can all agree that A LOT of movies have come out and title themselves as "epic" or an "epic adventure". There have been a billion movies that nobody has ever heard of that have been so called "epic". From what I have gathered from this thread people are taking epic in the movie world as movies of importance and that have a lot of impact on people. People are wondering why more "minority" actors and actresses are not in a lot of these rolls as often as caucasians. I think in order for a movie to be considered "epic" in the way the thread seems to be interpreting it, the movie needs to be seen by as many people as possible to reach that "epic" level. There have been a ton of epic movies (by the real definition) that african american actors have been in, but many people have no idea what those movies are.
I hope this makes a little sense, hard to sit and describe things in my current surroundings . I apologize for not making my ideas more clear earlier on.