GINA PRINCE BYTHEWOOD FILMMAKER PROFILE

Gina Prince Bythewood is the writer/director of such female-driven African-American dramas like Love & Basketball and The Secret Life of Bees. She is the second black women ever to direct a film financed by a studio and the high grossing black female director of all time. She first broke the record when Love & Basketball grossed over 27 million in 2000, and again in 2008 when The Secret Life of Bees grossed over 38 million.

Gina’s decision to become a filmmaker arose while running track for UCLA. She found she had a desire to direct and applied to the UCLA film program. After being rejected, she appealed the decision and by writing an impassioned letter to the department heads, was granted enrollment. Post-graduation, she nabbed her first industry gigs writing for shows like A Different World, South Central, and Sweet Justice. Her writer position for A Different World, again, came after a relentless pursuit. Having failed her first interview, she called every other day until granted another chance. It was here she met her husband, Reggie Rock Bythewood, another staff write whose gone on to write films such as Biker Boyz, Spike Lee’s Get On The Bus, and Notorious. Out to prove she could write about other lives than just black people, she was granted a staff position on J.J. Abram’s Felicity.

Trekking five-years in the TV industry made Bythewood restless. Soon she took a year off to write her first feature film; a story about an upper-middle class boy and girl who shared a passion for the game of basketball. However, the script was rejected everywhere it went. The studios saw little diversity in black films and Bythewood’s script didn’t fit their guarded mold.

Eventually Love & Basketball was accepted into the Sundance Institute Writer’s and Director’s lab and got the attention of Spike Lee who decided to produce it. Granting a theatrical release, Bythewood became only the third black female to do so after Julie Dashes’s Daughters of the Dust and Kasi Lemmon’s Eve’s Bayou.

Bythewood continues to be a silent trailblazer for African-American women in film. Her second feature, The Secret Life of Bees, opened to critical acclaim. She also has directing credits for TV shows Girlfriends, Everybody Hates Chris, and The Bernie Mac Show, and producer credits for Biker Boyz and Felicity.

AWARDS:
3 Black Reel Awards - (2008, Directing Bees); (2008, Writing Bees); (2001, Directing Basketball)
2 Black Reel Nominations – (2001, Writing Basketball); (Directing cable film Disappearing Act)
1 Sundance Humanities Prize - (2000, Writing Basketball)
1 Independent Spirit Award – (2000, Writing Basketball)
1 Independent Spirit Nomination – (2000, 1st Feature Award for Basketball)

SOURCES:

Answers.com
Celebrity Biography.com
Gina Prince-Bythewood's Wikepedia Page
Reggie Rock Bythewood's Wikepedia Page

Tropic Thunder Review

Absurdity runs amuck. I would have thought the chances of Ben Stiller creating a Academy-Award nominated movie would have been the same as watching Tom Cruise grind to Ludacris. Aside from that, Tropic Thunder remains the only good thing to come out of god-awful Steven Spielberg's Empire of the Sun. Stiller came up with the idea in 1987 on the set of the film. 21 years later, his idea comes to fruition, creating the most absurd and unconventional movie of the year. A gang of pampered film stars run amuck while filming a Vietnam War Memoir adaptation about a POW. Determined to seize back control, the director opts to shoot guerilla style in the middle of a jungle. Unbeknownst to them, a real militant Vietanemese army is nearby and soon they're ironically realistically recreating the scenes the film is adapting. 

Bar none, the best part of this film is Robert Downey Jr. He plays an Australian method actor who undergoes skin surgery to play the role of a black sergeant. A play on method actors like Russell Crowe who take their roles too seriously. A beginning montage of the actors other films show Downey's character, Kirk Lazarus, as a priest getting his belt fondled by Toby Maguire. This alone sets the tone for what's it's like to watch Downey's performance. Amazing and creepy. He disappears into the character so much, you no longer see Downey, but the fact that he's playing an actor who disappears into a character makes the performance that much more admirable. He actually says it best. "I know who I am. I'm a dude playing a dude disguised as another dude."

Surprises also run amuck such as Matthew McConaughey as Ben Stiller's manager or Tom Cruise as an over-the-top Hollywood exec. Cruise's role in the film was a well-hidden kept secret.

The worst part about this movie. I hate to say - Jack Black. He plays a comedian who battles his addiction during the shoot. While Downey's and Stiller's humor were found in the characters, Black's was in his conflict and could have been transplanted into any comedy and gotten the same laughs.

Despite it being a comedy, many cultural introspections can be drawn. Many about the film community i.e. jerkwad Hollywood executives caring more about their profits than their products and how much actors have to loose themselves in a role to pull of a decent performance. Also the issue of black face, ringtone rappers, and homophobia in the African-American community (to be discussed). The most talked about issue is the portrayal of the mentally challenged. Stiller's character (Tugg Speedman) reminisces a time when he played a mentally challenged character by the name of simple jack. Everytime he refers to the character, he calls him retarded - the n'word or f'word to the handicapped community. Many groups spoke out against the film's use of the word although I wouldn't put it past Paramount to have drawn the hoopla up for publicity. Whether they did or didn't, it's safe to say we live in a PC world. Nas tried to put out an album called "Nigger" and was denied by the powers that be. A couple years ago, Isiah Washington was fired from Grey's anatomy for calling a castmate a faggot. Even those these are words, they obviously carry a huge weight if they are able to rally up ney-sayers. But if they can't be used in anger, comedy, or to make a social statement, then when can they be brought up?

THE BLACK PERSPECTIVE:

Downey plays blackface, which would normally be a cause for resentment. However, they were very careful with the protrayal of Kirk Lazarus. Instead of being a buffoon, unintelligent, or lacking self-respect, Downey plays him competently. At times he's the intelligent voice of reason explaining they are in a real jungle and the bloody head he's holding is not a prop. This gets sketchy when it comes to his jive speak, but the creators cover their bases here by having Brandon Lee's character (rapper- Alpa Chino) call him out on it. So even if Downey (or Lazarus, whatever) did play the fool, it would seem more of a social statement ala Bamboozled.

Lee or Alpa Chino plays a flagrant, misogynistic rapper whom shameless promotes his products like an energy drink called "Booty Sweat" and granola bar titled "Bust-A-Nut". His music video/commercial seems to be a farce of Nelly's Tipdrill. But while they show the bad, they also show the good. I remember Nelly on BET's Hip-Hop vs. America discussion, asking why nobody ever brings up all his charitable givings. Likewise Alpa Chino gives millions in charities. Bringing up the point that while many rappers do little to raise the perceptions of the black community, the good deed they do pull of are often forgotten and they tend not to be so socially irresponsible as we claim. Chino is also a closet gay - pinning for a man named Lance who we later find out to be Lance Bass. With the rap communtiy so fixated on representing the utmost masculinity, a closeted gay rapper who hides under lyrics like "I love the pussy" doesn't seem to be to far off. 

EXTRAS:

Tropic Thunder garnered two Golden Globes nominations for Robert Downey Jr. & Tom Cruise and an Academy Award nomination for Downey. As a director, it is Stiller's most successful film to date. 

RATING:

 = 4 Stars

 = 4 Black Fists

Could PUSH be the next Slumdog?

SUNDANCE, the biggest film festival of the year, gave it's top drama award to PUSH, a Lee Daniel's produced tale about an abused teenager. The film also won the Audience Award and a Special Jury Prize for Acting for Mo'Nique's dramatic turn as an abusive mother. Lee Daniels is best known for being the only African-American to solely produce an Oscar winning film - Monster's Ball. Also known for taking risky casting moves, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Sherri Shepherd, and Robin Thicke's wife Paula Patton co-star.

PUSH Description from Sundance website:

With sheer audacity and utter authenticity, director Lee Daniels tackles Push: Based on the Novel by Sapphire and creates an unforgettable film that sets a new standard for cinema of its kind. Precious Jones (Gabourey Sidibe) is a high-school girl with nothing working in her favor. She is pregnant with her father’s child—for the second time. She can’t read or write, and her schoolmates tease her for being fat. Her home life is a horror, ruled by a mother (Mo’Nique) who keeps her imprisoned both emotionally and physically. Precious’s instincts tell her one thing: if she’s ever going to break from the chains of ignorance, she will have to dig deeply into her own resources.Don’t be misled—Push is not a film wallowing in the stillness of depression; instead, it vibrates with the kind of energy derived only from anger and hope. The entire cast are amazing; they carry out a firestorm of raw emotion. Daniels has drawn from them inimitable performances that will rivet you to your seat and leave you too shocked to breathe. If you passed Precious on the street, you probably wouldn’t notice her. But when her story is revealed, as Daniels does in this courageous film, you are left with an indelible image of a young woman who—with creativity, humor, and ferocity—finds the strength to turn her life around.

THE STUEY'S

Between the Oscars, the Golden Globes, the Razzie's, there is no prestigious selection I have more beef with than The Stuey's. This annual tradition of one of my best friend's choice for top picks of the year gives me the chance to ream him on his personal taste and audacity to avoid some of the year's best films (last year he avoided Into The Wild and had the nerve to still call it a Top Ten).

My beef with the Stuey's this year - Forgetting Sarah Marshall. Don't get me wrong, I'm not bashing the Judd Apatow raunch-fest craze. I think Knocked Up, Superbad, & 40-Year Old Virgin were all amazing movies, insightful, emotional, touching, and still edgy. Forgetting Sarah Marshall isn't even the best comedy of the year. That distinction goes to Tropic Thunder. Christian Bale's Batman grunt earning a Best Actor nod is also questionable. On a better note, I'm glad he had the balls to give WALL-E the respect its due. 

 

Best Picture
The Dark Knight
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Best Director
Danny Boyle, “Slumdog Millionaire”
Jonathan Demme, “Rachel Getting Married”
David Gordon Green, “Snow Angels"
Christopher Nolan, “The Dark Knight”
Andrew Stanton, “WALL-E”

Best Actor
Christian Bale, "The Dark Knight"
James Franco, “Pineapple Express”
Sean Penn, “Milk”
Brad Pitt, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Mickey Rourke, “The Wrestler”

Best Actress
Kate Beckinsale, “Snow Angels”
Cate Blanchett, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Anne Hathaway, “Rachel Getting Married”
Meryl Streep, “Doubt”
Kate Winslet, “The Reader”

Best Supporting Actor
Robert Downey, Jr., “Tropic Thunder”
Heath Ledger, “The Dark Knight”
John Malkovich, “Burn After Reading ”
Gary Oldman, “The Dark Knight”
Brandon Walters, “ Australia ”

Best Supporting Actress
Penelope Cruz, “Vicky Christina Barcelona”
Viola Davis , “Doubt”
Rosemarie DeWitt, “Rachel Getting Married”
Taraji Henson, “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”
Marissa Tomei, “The Wrestler”

Best Original Screenplay
The Bank Job
Forgetting Sarah Marshall
Rachel Getting Married
WALL-E
The Wrestler

Best Adapted Screenplay
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
The Reader
Slumdog Millionaire
Snow Angels

Best Song
“Down to Earth”, WALL-E
“Dracula’s Lament”, Forgetting Sarah Marshall
“Pineapple Express”, Pineapple Express
“The Wrestler”, The Wrestler

Best Original Score
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E

Best Cinematography
Australia
Burn After Reading
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
WALL-E

Best Sound
Burn After Reading
Cloverfield
Iron Man
Quantum of Solace
WALL-E

Best Visual Effects
Australia
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Incredible Hulk
Iron Man

Best Editing
The Dark Knight
Iron Man
Slumdog Millionaire
WALL-E
Wanted

Best Art Direction
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull
Iron Man

Best Makeup
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
The Reader
Tropic Thunder

Best Costume Design
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button
The Dark Knight
Doubt
Iron Man
Sex and the City 

Biggest Disappointment
Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Chrystal Skull
Quantum of Solace
Speed Racer
Twilight
The X-Files: I Want to Believe

Stu’s Top Ten of 08 
1. The Dark Knight
2. WALL-E
3. Slumdog Millionaire
4. The Wrestler
5. Forgetting Sarah Marshall
6. Snow Angels
7. Iron Man
8. Rachel Getting Married
9. Tropic Thunder
10. Shine a Light

January Oscar Predictions

So,  I had planned on casting my updated list of Oscar Nominations, but oddly, nothing has changed. See below for my predictions and compare when the official list is posted tomorrow. My brave picks I'm sketchy on:

Clint Eastwood (Gran Torino) -Best Actor

Richard Jenkins (The Visitor) - Best Actor

James Franco (Milk) - Best Supporting Actor

*May possibly be upstaged by Slumdog Millionaire's Dev Patel

Darren Aronofsky (The Wrestler) - Best Director

Charlie Kauffman (Synechdoche) - Best Original Screenplay