Props to Julie Delpy

http://www.laweekly.com/2012-08-02/film-tv/julie-delpy-2-days-in-new-york-paris/


I guess I shouldn't be surprised that it took a foreign white chick to deliver a romantic comedy couple centering around a black male/white female couple, not to mention a comedy one that doesn't look to be dismissive of such a coupling.

I've made a seperate thread for "2 Days in New York" because of the article that I link above. The part of the article that stands out the most to me and caused me to nod in approval was this:


We're interrupted by a male executive from a distributor, a competitor of , which is releasing New York in theaters and has already made it available on cable video-on-demand.

Delpy and the executive kiss hello. "What's going on, darling?" he asks.


"I'm OK. My film's coming out in August," Delpy says.


"Who bought your movie?"


"Magnolia. You guys didn't buy it." She smiles. "You'll regret it!"

"I want to see it! Why didn't we buy it? It's not me. I would have been all for it."


Delpy says, deadpan, "Because there's a black man with a white woman."


She's joking — sort of — but maybe there's a kernel of truth to the accusation, because instead of quipping back, the exec gets slightly defensive. "No, we did, we did, um?...?." He names a Chris Rock film his company distributed, in which there is no interracial relationship.

"Why, then, didn't you do me?" Delpy asks.


I realize she's doing something kind of incredible, in playfully nudging this mundane kiss-kiss Hollywood run-in into the realm of interrogation. The exec is smiling tightly, trying to keep the encounter light, clearly frustrated that she's pressing the issue. It's almost turning into an echo of Marion's conflict with the critic in Delpy's movie:
Confronted with an opportunity to help herself via schmoozing, Delpy can't resist a potentially damaging confrontation.


"I don't know, I didn't see, because you didn't ... when did you show it? I wasn't there," the executive says.




Ha. Delpy, whether she intendd to or not, exposed a truth that is rarely discussed And she didn't water it down by saying "Interracial couple" because Lord knows these execs wouldn't object if it was a good movie starring Rashida Jones and some white guy. She specifically said "clack man and white woman."

Still hate the fact that Chris Rock got the male role but unfortunately there aren't many working black comedians with true acting talent that have enough clout. At least Rock isn't some chickenshit who backed out because he didn't want to offend black women or some of that other bullshit I've heard over the years in similar situations.

Anyway the movie is getting good reviews overall and because of that as well as Delpy's comments, I will overlook my rule to never again pay money to see Chris Rock act in a motion picture. I will definitly support this film.

 

I'll put my $ behind it and show support.

Sounds like it's worth checking out.

 

I'm going.

 

I will check it out. It seems made along the veins of those romantic French comedy style. I'm always game for that.

 

It was mentioned in threads in the past including my own.

 

I wasn't gonna see this but now I have to Thanks for posting this I'm officially a fan of this woman

 

You know, it doesn't take a FOREIGN woman to stand up for her convictions. What about Julia Stiles? You all really need to stop being so prejudiced. If you think foreign women are so wonderful (btw I'm Canadian, not sure how "foreign" that is but whatever), then maybe we ladies should start fetishizing all foreign black men and put African American men in the dump truck.

How would you feel?

BTW I am dating a Caribbean man and I must say that there is a difference. I can't get away with half of the shit that African American men will put up with - he calls me on it and brings me to the table. Must be why I am normally a lioness, but a kitten at the knees of this man.

 

That is true Julia Stiles appeared in more than one IR flick. There are not too many White actresses like her in Hollywood. I don't know about Canadian actresses however.

 

There are "not too many" because WE ARE SPECIAL. White women who love black men and are not ashamed of it, who are PROUD of it - we are going to have a hard time getting promoted in Hollywood, no matter how beautiful and/or talented we are.

What about Ashley Judd? She didn't play IR so to speak, but she could. Also Dakota Fanning.

 

No. The movie itself was mentioned in previous posts. I am well aware of that. But I felt this interview of Delpy - particularly those comments I highlighted - deserved its own thread. That's why I wrote in my intial post that I made a seperate thread of my own.

 

WTF?

Seriously instead of going on some rant maybe you should have done a better job at paying attention.

Julia Stiles? In case you didn't get it this has NOTHING to do with white actresses "brave" enough to be seen with black men on the screen in an IR relationship. No, my reason for starting the thread was to demonstrate my respect to Ms. Delph for WRITING and DIRECTING and PRODUCING and, least of all, STARRING in a romantic comedy in which the central couple is a black male and a white female. With all due respect to Stiles I don't recall her ever writing, directing or producing such a film (not that she had the talent to do so anyway for all I know). Ms Stiles appeared within a short time in two movies in which her romantic onscreen co-star was a black guy. Cool. Not taking anything away for her for taking roles in two major motion pictures. But it is not close to what Delpy has done. And if I may the fact that you had to reach deep down in your bag of magic tricks to pull out Stiles' name only reenforces how extremely rare WW/BM pairings are in the first place. Stiles did those films over a decade ago.

There have been American white female filmmakers/screenwriters who have made such an IR film but those were arthouse flicks to be seen in film festivals and the women behind them were trying to get a foot in the door of Hollywood. But I can't recall any established white American actress or established white American female director or established white American female writer who has put together a romantic comedy in which the male lead is a black guy. This is despite the fact the black presence in the USA is more prevalent and has more history than the black presence in European nations such as France.

Think of the most popular white leading ladies of chick flicks. You think any of them would have gone down this road if they could write and/or direct a romantic comedy? A few of them have gotten to the point that they have enough clout to produce their films and yet you won't find any of them even hiring a black guy to play the male lead or even one of the male leads if there is more than one suitor for the main female character of a motion picture. I am not hating on these women for that, I am simply giving Delpy her props for using her clout to give a black actor such an opportunity. And, yes, it is very telling that this white woman to do this is from another country other than America.

American actress Zoe Kazan wrote a romantic comedy for herself to star in called "Ruby Sparks" that is playing in theaters now, but the lead male role went to her boyfriend Paul Dano, a white guy, and based upon seeing the film I am completely sure the role was intended for a white male all along (good movie btw). And as you may recall I did make a comment about American actress Rashida Jones in my OP. She wrote a romantic comedy as well ("Celeste and Jesse Forever") to star in but in her film too the boyfriend role went to a white male. White men also got all the roles of the other guys who were trying to woo her character. And, hell, she's black (or bi-racial if you prefer). Rashida's dad is Quincy Jones. So amazingly here we have three romantic comedies coming out around the same time in which the female leads wrote the scripts. The lone one to use a a man of color as the main guy happens to be a foreign woman. Coincidence? Perhaps.

That being said it was Julia Roberts who requested Denzel Washington for the "Pelican Brief" and it was Jodie Foster who asked for Terrence Howard in "The Brave One". Of course in both cases neither man ended up being a romantic interest of those leading ladies, but at least those ladies took a chance.

 

By now it is clear you were confused by the criteria I was trying to establish and I don't like piling it on, but....Ashley Judd? As you wrote yourself "she didn't play IR so to speak" and yet you couldn't come up with a better example? You see that's how bad it is merely in the amount of IR between BM and WW on the big screen. Meanwhile basically every black actress of some standing has at least a couple of movies in which she is paired onscreen romantically/sexually with a white male.

 

are you still talking?

 

Obviously, because you're still responding.

Don't be mad. Learn to read instead. That would spare you from coming across like a fool and resorting to talking like a psycho about how your Carribean boyfriend treats you. Just saying.

 

Don't be jealous because I prefer FOREIGN black men to the homegrown variety.

 

You still talking?

And no one gives a fuck who you prefer. Just be happy. That's all that matters.

 

Of all the movies I had mentioned in the past is this IR movie is the first to be written,produced,and directed by a WW? Over the years I made a list of IR movies where brothers had some lovin with WW. You can count with your fingers on the number of White actresses who had love scenes with Black actors. Some are good and others are not. The same with the soft porn etc. It took a lot of guts for those actresses to have these love scenes and the brothers who demand them instead of playing a gelding male.

 

If some of you are so butthurt by the lack of IR romance films, why dont you get off your ass and write a screenplay yourself instead of crying about it all the time.

 

ROFL, you do have a point there. Because we can be pretty sure Hollywood isn't trying to have it.

Wonder if Spike can be petitioned to make a couple.

I think its cool for once to see a film that is just straight up black/white relations without all the Civil Rights/stereotype/societal drama and conflict setting that such films normally entail.

 

Julianne Moore and Dennis Haysbert deserve props for their work in 'Far From Heaven'. Great movie with a real IR portrayed respectfully. Even though it was never consummated, it felt as real as any depiction I've seen.