Tag Archive for 'For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.'

Woman Loses Directing Gig to Tyler Perry

Published
by
Melissa Silverstein
on September 8, 2009
in Women Directors
. 8 Comments

6a00c22529945d8fdb00f48ceda05e0003-500piLast March Lionsgate (Tyler Perry’s home studio) announced that it has acquired the rights to the classic Ntozake Shange’s play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf. It also announced that Nzingha Stewart was going to be directing the film from her script adaptation.

Last week brought news that Perry has taken over the project as the writer and director.  Lionsgate re-announced the acquisition of the project this time as the first vehicle for Perry’s production company 34th Street Films which is housed at Lionsgate.  Film starts shooting in November with an all-star cast (none of the actors were named.)

Here’s what Perry had to say:

Making a film of FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF is a dream come true for me. Ntozake Shange’s play is a magnificent tribute to the strength and dignity of women of color, and I think audiences of all generations will be able to recognize and embrace the experiences these women represent. Creatively, this movie is one of the most exciting undertakings of my career, and I’m excited to start production this November.

Sigh.  On the one hand I’m really glad that this film is now on the fast track   Perry can clearly generate audiences for his work and hopefully people will come out and see this film too.  But let’s note, that an African American female director was announced for this film 6 months ago, and that can’t be ignored.  I know that directors get replaced all the time but to send out a press release on September 2 as if the announcement from March 25th didn’t exist just doesn’t fly.  They could have at least acknowledged that she had been involved with the project.  We have so few women directors, and fewer African American women directors, that Stewart’s loss of this project is worth noting.

Tyler Perry’s Black Feminist Classic (Salon)

Lionsgate & Tyler Perry To Make Movie Of ‘For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Is Enuf’ (Deadline Hollywood)

Lionsgate Acquires Suicide (Variety)

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Tags: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf., Ntozake Shange, Nzingha Stewart

Lionsgate – An African American Studio?

Published
by
Melissa Silverstein
on April 6, 2009
in Movies
. 3 Comments
Nzingha Stewart

Nzingha Stewart

Lionsgate Studios which has been in the very lucrative Tyler Perry business for several years now is clearly on track to take up more of the slack in producing and distributing entertainment for the underserved African American market.  They bought Push (now renamed Precious) out of Sundance with Perry and Oprah, and now has acquired the film rights for Ntozake Shange’s play For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf.

The play was supposed to have been revived recently on Broadway with India.Arie but financing fell through.  The play initially opened off Broadway in 1974, then moved to Broadway and was nominated for a best play Tony in 1977.  A TV movie was made of the play in 1982.

Lionsgate “touted its ‘leadership role in producing and distributing a diverse roster of motion pictures about black characters.’” when announcing the film.

Interesting.

From what I can tell this is all about Tyler exerting some power.  For Colored Girls will be directed by music video director Nzingha Stewart who adapted the screenplay and who has an affiliation with Perry having directed The Marriage Counselor which is a part of the “Tyler Perry Collection.”

It’s pretty interesting that the last indie studio is being this formal, deliberate and public about it’s strategy.  Will it be a success and can it maybe influence someone to think about women this way?

Lionsgate acquires ‘Suicide’ (Variety)

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Tags: For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf., Ntozake Shange, Precious