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The belief that it is hard to get films funded that feature black stars is not new. In a recent example, we are now very familiar with the story behind the award-winning movie 'Precious,' which took years to get financed. When it finally was, it was by a white family who wagered their personal fortune on the black film -- not by Hollywood. Given this reality, how far should some producers be willing to go to get films made featuring black stars who are not appreciated by Hollywood? Would it be fair for producers who want to use African American talent to even accept money from former terrorists?
The list of black stars who can get a mainstream film made is way too short, including only Denzel Washington, Halle Berry and Will Smith. This leaves an amazing stable of talented African American actors in limbo between periods of short-lived success. One of these venerable and underutilized talents is the great Forest Whitaker.
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Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Maybe it's the sign of the times, but in recent years, more and more African Americans have nabbed Academy Awards in honor of their accomplishments to the motion picture industry. From film scoring, production, direction and acting, African Americans have touched many . facets of the film genre. In celebration of the 81st annual Academy Awards, Black Voices takes a look at the winners - through the years.
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BlackVoices.com
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Maybe it's the sign of the times, but in recent years, more and more African Americans have nabbed Academy Awards in honor of their accomplishments to the motion picture industry. From film scoring, production, direction and acting, African Americans have touched many . facets of the film genre. In celebration of the 81st annual Academy Awards, Black Voices takes a look at the winners - through the years.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Hattie McDaniel
She was the first African American to be nominated for, and win, an Academy Award. For her role in the 1939 epic saga 'Gone With the Wind,' the Kansas native took home the prize for best actress in a supporting role. With her win, she met some criticism for playing a stereotypical black character, but McDaniel caused a stir when she told members of the media that she would rather "play a maid than be one!"
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Sydney Poitier
He was the first African American to win an Academy Award for best actor in a leading role. His Oscar win for the 1963 drama 'Lilies of the Field' proved that this Bahamian-American thespian was a real box office draw. Four years later, with 'To Sir, With Love,' 'In the Heat of the Night' and 'Guess Who's Coming to Dinner,' the latter being one of the first movies to positively tackle the complexities of interracial relationships, Poitier became the year's top box office star. In 2002, the 83-year-old was also awarded an honorary Oscar.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Isaac Hayes
Hayes became the first African American to win for best original song and the first African American to win an Oscar in a non-acting category. The theme to the blaxploitation film 'Shaft,' appropriately titled 'Theme from Shaft,' earned this soul singer an Academy Award in 1971. The track, which was written and performed by the late Memphis native, rose to the top of the Billboard charts months after the movie's release. Hayes got to perform the song at the Academy Award ceremony in 1972 and dedicated the win to his grandmother, who joined him on stage to accept the award.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Quincy Jones
He is the first African American nominated for best picture, the first African American to be named musical director/conductor of the Academy Awards ceremony (in 1971), and the first African American to win the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award. Jones, who has long been known for his talent in the music business, made Academy Award history for his role as a producer on the feature film 'The Color Purple.' The 27-time Grammy Award winner is tied with sound designer Willie D. Burton as the most Oscar-nominated African American with seven nominations.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Louis Gossett Jr.
He was the first African American actor to win for best supporting actor. The Brooklyn, N.Y., native, who had no formal drama training, took home an Oscar for his characterization of Gunnery Sergeant Emil Foley in the 1982 film 'An Officer and a Gentleman.' Unfortunately, the he did not find Hollywood calling for major motion pictures, something he lamented about publicly. "If I were white, I'd be as rich as Harrison Ford," he told BV.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Irene Cara
She was the first and only African American woman to win a non-acting Academy Award. Cara, who penned the lyrics to 'Flashdance (What a Feeling)' -- while in a cab on the way to the studio to record the song -- took home her Oscar in 1984. The New York native performed the song and later released it as a single. She is also known for creating the Academy Award-nominated theme to the 1980 film 'Fame,' which she performed at the awards ceremony.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Stevie Wonder
Wonder's 'I Just Called to Say I Love You,' remains one of the Michigan native's most commercially successful singles. The track was featured in the 1984 Gene Wilder-directed comedy 'The Woman in Red' and won for best original song in 1984. The soundtrack also featured Dionne Warwick.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Prince
Was the first and only African American to win for best original song score. After his 1984 Oscar win, the category was retired, but Prince's seminal album, 'Purple Rain,' made the Minnesota native a household name. The soundtrack album spent 24 weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard 200. At one point the pint-sized music icon, who starred in the film, had the No. 1 movie, single and album in America.
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Lionel Richie
Was a winner for best original song for 'Say You, Say Me.' Richie wrote and performed the song, which appeared in the 1985 film 'White Nights.' Most fans of the Alabama native felt that he should have taken home an Oscar a few years earlier in 1981 for his breakout duet with Diana Ross in 'Endless Love.' That track became one of Motown's biggest hits and helped to launch Richie's solo career. He was also nominated in 1985 for a best song Academy Award for 'Miss Celie's Blues,' a song he co-wrote with Quincy Jones and Rod Temperton for 'The Color Purple.'
Black Oscar Winners Through The Years
Despite winning a 2007 Best Actor Academy Award and a place in the public's heart, Whitaker is still not powerful enough in the Hollywood establishment to remain consistently working. In fact, in recent months BlackVoices.com did a report that questioned whether
Forest Whitaker was being railroaded by the traditional Hollywood system, which shuttled his film 'Hurricane Season' directly to DVD with no promotion in 2010. In 2008, Whitaker revealed that he had been called "ugly, black and unbankable" by a Hollywood executive. Cruel words that underscore the hard reality of funding black actors in mainstream films.
Enter the Qaddafi family. The nation of Libya is now attempting to shake off its association with terrorism, and wide-ranging investment is one of its top PR tools. Countries around the world are reopening the doors of trade with the nation, as the U.S. and U.N. are lifting their economic sanctions against it. In control of a nation rich in oil and other resources, Libya's ruling Qaddafi family has access to hoards of cash that as dictators they can spend freely. And one of their entrepreneurial sons is seeking to spread the wealth in the form of film financing.
The Daily Beast reports that Saadi Qaddafi, son of the infamous Muammar, does not shy away from movies with black stars -- unlike many American producers:
Libya essentially took responsibility for the Lockerbie bombing in 2008, when it set up a compensation fund for U.S. victims. That same year the U.S. appointed its first ambassador to the country in nearly 40 years.
Said to have the largest oil reserves in Africa, Libya has, perhaps not surprisingly, attracted the interest of oil companies such as BP, Shell, and ExxonMobil.
And in the same way that the U.S. has been drawn to Libya for its most wanted export, Libya now wants a piece of America's most undeniable commodity: Hollywood movies.
So far, Qaddafi has backed three projects, among them 'Isolation,' a thriller about a medical student who wakes up in a hospital isolation room to find out she's been exposed to an unknown disease. And while neither Saadi, or his infamous father or brother, ever visited the set, the family was still a presence-an empty director's chair bore their name...
In addition to 'Isolation,' currently in post-production, the Qaddafi-backed company [Natural Selection, LLC] has helped finance 'The Experiment,' starring Adrien Brody and Forrest Whitaker.
Responses to the Qaddafi family financing films has ranged from outrage against the "ethical, moral, and political" implications of working with a name associated with killing innocents, to what seems to be a pretty standard filmmaking mantra: "We don't turn down money in Hollywood" (
The Daily Beast). While of course it is easy to understand the rush to condemn movie producers who take money from any Qaddafi, Saadi or Muammar, at the same time we have to consider just how hard it is to get a film with a black star financed.
Related:
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Forest Whitaker: Is Black Oscar Winner Being Railroaded By Studio?
+
Forest Whitaker's 'Hurricane Season' Finally Released on DVD
When the likes of even Forest Whitaker is deemed "ugly, black and unbankable," it makes sense for producers wanting to work with such a gem to do a deal with the devil in order to bring his abilities to light. In addition, we can't call out the filmmakers willing to do business with the son without shining a light on the nations willing to broker deals with the father. Apparently, "Libyan exports to the U.S. have grown six-fold, reaching nearly $2 billion in 2009, and Libya now imports over $700 million worth of goods and services from the United States, up from about $40 million in 2004, according to the International Monetary Fund" (
The Daily Beast).
This commerce with the elder Qaddafi comes courtesy of our same great nation that can't find the funding to get a black film made in the traditional system -- unless it stars Halle Berry.
While it is irksome to think that the Qaddafis have anything to do with enabling black actors to express themselves in empowering roles, at least this use of their funds addresses the social ill of the lack of quality films starring black actors. If people really have a problem with western nations associating with the Qaddafi Family, it would make more sense to address their grievances to the U.S. and U.K., among other world powers, which are profiting handsomely from a renewed relationship with Libya.
Hopefully Forest Whitaker will not be scapegoated in his association with the Qaddafi family. But given the history of successful black people being made into scapegoats in many situations throughout history, this is a high probability.
What do you think? Is Forest Whitaker taking Qaddafi money wrong? Or is it right to get a black star working "by any means necessary"?
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