Lets Discuss: Cadillac Records

Just one reason for me to not see this film:



http://www.nydailynews.com/gossip/2008/12/03/2008-12-03_for_adrien_brody_lip_sync_with_beyonc_se.html

For Adrien Brody, 'lip sync' with Beyoncé sealed 'Cadillac Records' deal

You saw how he hammered that kiss onto Halle Berry at the 2003 Oscars, so you know Adrien Brody dove into his work when it came to making out with Beyonce in "Cadillac Records."

Writer/director Darnell Martin admitted at Monday's premiere that she took some "dramatic license" in devising a scene where record boss Leonard Chess (Brody) locks lips and rolls around on the carpet with heroin-fogged singer Etta James (Beyonce).

But Brody wasn't troubled by the historical inaccuracy.

"Let's just say it wasn't a deal breaker," the grinning actor told us. "When I met Etta [the real one], she told me, 'Leonard and I did not do those things!' So, yes, it was somewhat embellished. But what's wonderful is the truth Beyonce brings to that moment. That justified it."

Plus, said Brody, whose girlfriend, Elsa Pataky, was out of earshot, "It is fun, obviously, to kiss Beyonce. I insisted on a lot of takes."

Beyonce, who came to the premiere with husband Jay-Z, allowed that she didn't find the intimacy repellent.


"It wasn't so bad," she said with a faraway smile. "I remember when he kissed Halle Berry. He's not shy! Not at all."


Now there are a bunch of things that tick me off about this whole thing, much of it I’ve been complaining about for years.

1)I like Brody. He seems like a good guy. But if a black actor had kissed a white female star like that when accepting his Oscar I’m not sure if the entertainment shows would keep replaying it or if the nation would find it cute (let alone acceptable). And of course black women would create a fuss about the guy disrespecting them with a white woman, yada, yada.

2)As I’ve written before isn’t it funny how Hollywood likes casting black female singers to play a romantic partner of white males (Diana Ross, Whitney Houston, Beyonce, etc) but never does that with white female singers and black male stars. Its one thing that country artists like Shania, Faith, Carrie Underwood and such would NEVER be put 100 yards of a black leading man on the big screen. That is expected. But hell they wouldn’t even put pop princesses like Britney, Madonna, Mandy, etc with a black dude. Hypocrisy at its best. I can’t wait until Rhiana satrst doing movies.

But the above is to be expected. Here’s the surprise though…according to the part of the article above Etta James and this guy Chess that Brody is playing likely never had a roll on the floor, not to mention a kiss. So why take two true figures of music history and add something like that? Oh, its Beyonce and the white guy just has to kiss Beyonce! If the actress playing her was Jennifer Hudson I’m pretty sure they would not have even gone that route. But when a white man is the lead a pretty woman must always be the object of his desire and vice versa (actually there are two hot babes for Adrian Brody in this movie. Including that how white chick Emmanuel Chirqui (sp?) who is playing his wife). If they did a film about Nat King Cole and knew of his affair with a white woman the people making the film would just probably skip it. But for Chess and Etta James they made something up just so they could get a kissing scene. Same old shit. By the way I’m pretty sure the director of this movie who encouraged (or came up) with this fake moment is a black female.


Wake up and stay observant.

 

Cant wait to see it. Unfortunately, I will have to drive all the way into Dallas to see it as it is not showing any place close. I love Etta and have been fortunate enough to see her a few times.

I am anxiously awaiting the Mary J Blige film about Nina Simone. I want to see that one more than Cadillac Records.

 

Yeah I wanna see this movie as well. I'm also waiting on the Biggie Smalls biopic.

 

Last Dragon remake bitches!

http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/news/samuel-l-jackson-resurrects-sho-nuff-julius-carry-still-dead-but-rolls-over-anyway.php

 

"Catches bullets with his teeth?" Bruce Leroy

 

Really is any attempt at a serious topic going to die on the vine on these boards? Are pictures of booty the only thing that captures the attention and ignites the imagination around here?

Even if one disagreed with my points it would be kinda cool if one shared their reasons. All that comes is a bunch of two sentence posts in which people say how they are interested in seeing this flick.

Even if the points I made in my initial post didn't persuade you how about other reasons to stay away from this nonsense? For example once more we have a flick in which the fascinating, interesting black characters who are the talent are pushed to the side so the movie can focus on a white character. And a likely more fully realized white male character who gets to be at the center of the story and gets multiple love interests. Guys like Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf and Chuck Berry are so interesting they are worthy of their very own films. But they are all squeezed into this one flick as "supporting characters" for the supposedly more interesting white dude who ran the company. Yaaawn.

In the 80s this film would have been progress. To tell a story about some black musicians make the film center around a white character/real life figure who interacted with them. Black folks back then were so happy to see anything with themselves in it they would have flocked to such a flick. You know it would be like making an apatheid flick not about Steven Biko but the white journalist who befriended him...oh, wait! Darn, they did that for "Cry Freedom" in the 80s!

We're living in a time in which white filmmakers are making complex, interesting stories about every racial group other than black folks and no one seems to notice or care. They can make a movie like 'Slumdog Millinaire". A great flick in which the main protagonist is Indian, all the characters are Indian and the lead guy gets the girl. And what do we Negroes get? "Cadillac Records" in which the black folks are pushed to the background in order to put the spotlight on the white male. Also from all reports the script is pedestrian. By the way is there any surprise that its a movie mostly about music? That's right if there is a majority black cast music is almost always what the movie revolves around (unless its a sports flick). Black people want to see this movie?

 

I'm pretty observant these dayz. Yeah, I saw the commercials for the movie and all I thought was typical for today's Hollywood.

We all know they wouldn't. If Julia Roberts had locked lips with our man Denzel that time for best actor, they would have burned the tapes and damn near all of H-town to the ground. We all know it's a gross, gross double standard. Plus I'm still convinced ya boy Adrien only did that to prove his manhood!

To start with, Hollywood probably uses stars in general for blacks because they give a greater impact on the audience. Cats like LL, Ice Cube, even Snoop are gettin' into the act. They do it to get more people to the theaters. But yeah, I have noticed they do that with the sistahs all the time. Again, double standard. As for the white broads, I think we all know some onscreen pairing of a country star and a black actor simply will not happen. That's obvious. Madonna made an appearance in that Rodman, made-for-TV movie a few years back. But she seems to take on almost any roll. Mandy (Moore? I presume), not sure about an IR pair onscreen. And Britney. Let's be real. America has already put her on a pedestal with her wigga ex. That's the closest she's coming to black on or off screen. But for someone from Louisiana, believe me, white girls ARE down.

People will start to notice that the pairings are going only one way eventually. Rihanna will probably do movies and yeah, she'll end up getting put opposite a white boy. I think there was a thread on here a while back where she said white boys were hot at the time and she was really into that. Ya'll know if a brotha in the biz said that about any white girl, they would have burned down the damn record company! Oh wait though! They'll notice, when LAURA LONDON starts doing movies and they put her with a white dude. It will happen. Trust. Paul Mooney said it best in a comedy routine that Hollywood takes all of our stars away from us when they get big. Miss Beyonce is on her way.

Because Hollywood can. They can do WHATEVER they want, especially when it comes to wm/bw relationships. Remember, in the audience's ignorant minds, there just isn't as much negative history there. And everyone will justify it as a kiss, just a minor part of the movie. AND, that in the end, brothas shouldn't worry because Beyonce is only acting and going home to a black man. I do disagree about Jennifer Hudson, who by the way, will end up going this route too. This is just what Hollywood is doing right now.

 

True. But remember that we are still dealing with a largely white audience out there who are spoiled. Let's be honest. When the ATL came out, I think there was some kind of questionnaire sent out asking people what they thought the theme of the movie was without ever seeing it. The implications being without knowing that it's told from a mostly black perspective, would people be inclined to watch anyways. People are just accustomed to seeing whites in leading roles in movies. I'm spoiled too as a black man, going all the way back to the late 70s watching American shows (telling my age:yawinkle. People unfortunately STILL see race first when they watch movies. So this is going to take time. Remember Hancock this past year. In an interview, Will Smith said that he and the writing team had to sit down and start from scratch on the character and the direction of the movie. Sure, to make certain it would be well written. But did they need to do the same with Christian Bale (Batman) or Brandon Rouse (Superman)??? No. Because they were made for WHITE MEN.

Admittedly, the new generation of young people don't know first hand very much about the tough times the previous generations went through. So they can't conjure up that emotion for the plight of our people. I mean they know some from history books and from what relatives tell them, but they may not even care that much.

White Hollywood can make whatever films they want because, not surprisingly, blacks still don't have that much power in Tinseltown. Sure, we have $20 million a flick actors and actresses. But where is the studio power?? Only here and there. And remember, it takes funding to make ANY movie, even on the independent circuit. If any black person cared, that's where our money should be going in order to reach out to those talented writers and directors to make the movies WE want to see. Hell, if Barack Obama could break the bank on the way to the White House with record donations, so can black america do so for our portion of the film industry. But we all must want to start a revolution right now!


Finally, as for the theme of the movie, is anyone really shocked??? This is why I don't go to the movies anymore, much less look for any black films (hate to admit it). It's sad that alot of our movies are deeply rooted in stereotypes from another era and these producers, some black, don't make any real effort to challenge that openly in the movie or promoting it out in the field. But I'm mostly bothered that there is virtually NO outrage from the black community in general about this. Maybe it has something to do with the fact that we've been living with no say on how these movies get made that it's made us (gasp) complacent about challenging the system. For example, I remember a few months ago when a few in the family went to Baton Rouge for fun they saw that Martin Lawrence/Raven movie from Disney (can't remem the name). Anyways, I had seen just about every scenario of these types of movies and wrote it off. Sure enough, one of my sisters came back complaining about how bad it was. Well, when we resolved that we will mainly watch a movie based largely on the fact that the main characters look like us, we should be doomed to disappointment. I think that's what alot of blacks think when they go see black-themed movies. We NEED to start setting our standards alot higher for ourselves, then we can ask more of the actors and actresses who represent us to the world.

Anyways, I always like hearing you're insight into these thinks Jamal. Keep posting. We are watching these movies, though. And sorry about the long replys folks.

 

Went to go see it last night with my husband. The leading character is Muddy Waters. He gets the most screen time and the most women. The movie was executive produced by Beyonce and was written and directed by a black woman.

You thoughts on the lead white guy getting more love interest were off base. His character was shown as very demure, not sexually at all. Unlike Muddy and the other guys.

The whole films is about the record company, so of coarse it will show the founder of the record company. But truth be told, it featured Muddy more than Leonard. The story part of the movie opened with Muddy share cropping and closed with his European tour.

My problems with the movie after having seen it is it really doesnt address how white record producers would rob black artists. It kinda beats around the bush about it.

I also understand why they had the kissing scene between Leonard and Etta. Those two had little screen time together and they needed to convey a sense of intimacy because they needed to explain why she did something he asked (wont spoil). I think Beyonce was over her head, acting wise. I wasnt very impressed with her performance, it had been called Oscar worthy and I expected much more. The actress who played Muddys wife did a much, much better job and had more screen time too. If the previews hyped Beyonce it is because she executive produced it, point blank.

I also do not recall seeing Bo Didly, which would be another complaint of mine.

I wanted to see the movie because my mothers family were migrant farm workers. They worked the fields with a lot of these blues guys from that era. I grew up listening to a lot of this music and before my grandmother passed a few years back, she gave me a bunch of her old records. This is part of my history, my roots.

 

I didn't want to be the one to say it, but Beyonce - the sistah has no acting talent man. She's a hot sistah and all that, but she'll probably end up producing in the long run.

 

I plan on seeing them both as well. I heard Etta James is the daughter of Minnesota Fats, but unsure if this is mentioned on the film.

 

Thanks for the response, fly girl. I haven't seen the movie of course but from every info I have read those ladies that Muddy gets aren't "love interests"; they are instead sexual conquests, nothing more. Nothing deep about the handling of his womanizing at all from all reports. I knew about Beyonce being an exec. producer (how else would she get cast as Etta James). And I mentioned the director being a black female director in another post (the same woman who did "Their Eyes Were Watching God"). I have yet to read any commentary that suggest that Muddy is the lead of the film. Every report claims otherwise. At best its an ensemble but the center is Chess from what I've been reading.

Again...difference between love interest and sexual conquest/hoochie. Are you telling me that other relationships in the film are giving the same time and care of Chess and Etta? Are giving the same spotlight? No one on any message board or any review has indicated that that's the case. I'm sure Gabrielle Union got a good run in her interactions with Jeffrey Wright and since she is indeed a definition of a true love interest. But Chess has Etta and his wife as legit love interest. One of these days when I catch the film on cable maybe I'll use a stopwatch to time the minutes Muddy got on screen compared to Chess or to time the minutes give to Jeffrey Wright and do a count for myself the amount of love interests. Until then I respect your opinion but remain highly skeptical.

My counter is that it didn't have to be about the record company; it could have been about the actual musicians instead. Now if the writers/directors wanted to go with the record company focus then I would hope for a top notch, intelligent, fascinating script that does not lay waste to history (where's Chess brother by the way?). From what I can tell this movie smells like the same ol' thing. I should point out I hated the script for "Ray" too. There wasn't anything intelligent about it.

I'm sorry but if you need to make up something between them to convey an act then the problem lies with the script written or the direction given.

 

Thanks for sharing your insights, hellspawn. But I disagree over one particular thing: Snoop, LL, Ice Cube don't bring anybody to the movies. The 90s saw a bunch of lazy casting where rap stars kept getting roles. Hollywood tried to make white stars out of their young pool of acting talent. Hollywood tried to make black movie stars by bringing in black stars from other fields of entertainment. In other words it had no interest in investing and nurturing young black actors looking for opportunities. I recall when folks in the media though DMX and Ice Cube were going to be the new stars of the new millennium. Problem is neither has much acting range and neither were leading men.

 

For the timebeing there are still more ww/bm couples prominently featured in the media and IRL so I do understand the cause for concern. People should be free to associate as they see fit and this goes for everyone. Time are changing!

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/i...PPDjDl2.7BR.;_ylv=3?qid=20080819081827AAEON3z

Shocked by British men's choice..what is WRONG WITH MEN IN EUROPE?

I'm a college student here in the U.S and this summer I did the "studying abroad" like most universities have. There were about 45 students this summer from the business school in my University.

I'm 23 years and I consider myself a good looking girl because I take care of myself. I do not look down on others or races. I'm obvious white, 115 pounds, 5"5" tall, 36 bust. In college i have a lot of guys going after me and my friends.

STUDY ABROAD SUMMER:

This summer the study abroad was in london. We were so excited about being in london and meeting good looking british guys. To our surprise, we found that european men preferred to go after black women. This was shocking and such an eye opener to me and my white girl friends.

We went to pubs, clubs, restaurants. lounges and some other fancy places. It was the same. They bought drinks for them. Thats not to say that white men did not hit on white girls just that seemed to be on equal grounds. Which is good but surprising because this does not usually happen in america.

OUR GROUP:

our group of girls had 3 white girls and 2 African American girls. I'm not racist. Even in school this is our usual circle of friends. We travelled together in Europe and every where else.

WHAT HAPPENED:

Every time we went out, the british white guys would mostly be after the African American girls. My African American girls are also pretty. It's just that it shocked us the white American girls. We thought, we would be the first pick. I guess we are used to the white American guys not appraoching black girls, I thought it would be the same there.

LEARNING EXPERIENCE:

I found that in europe a white girl is not the most wanted girl. I learned tthat white and black girls have equal chances when it comes to men there. We found that there are many white men and black women couples in the U.K as there are black men and white women couples. Unlike in the U.S where there much more blcak men and white women couples compared to white men and black women couples

By the time we went out for the 4th times, we the white girls knew it was fair game for the men for both black and white girls.

I WAS HURT NOT because I'm white but because there were some guy there that i would have liked to have spent some time with but instead they chose to get to know an African America girl. I would have felt the same way had they chosen an other white girl over me

CONCLUSION:

Not all but from what we experienced we learned that european men view women of all races in the same way or view black women in better light than white american men. This happened when we went to France, Ireland, Scotland, Switerland, Italy and Germany.

Bare in mind that there are a lot black british people in the U.K. I have lived with black people for as long as we have.

I had a good time though. I learned a lot about other people and culture.

MY QUESTION:

Why is it different here. In america, i'm a 100% certain that if I were to walk in a place with only white men and I walked in with some African American girls that a white man would appraoch a black woman at least not in public or in front of a white girl.

What makes a white american man different from a white european man?


WE LEARNED THAT RACE DOES NOT SHAPE BEHAVIOR BUT CULTURE DOES.

 

Near as I can understand it, social issues in Europe have been progressive between the races for years. Don't misunderstand, every place has racism and ignorance. But those countries with black population (England, Germany, etc.) were largely immigrants from african countries. The white population over time probably became accustomed to them integrating into their culture. So overtime, it's not surprising for instance that white english men became interested in black women because they were just "english" to them.

As for the issue with american white men, well do you remember our own history??? NO OFFENSE, really. But even today, you can see that white guys just are too hesitant to approach any black women probably because of fear of ridicule from friends and family much less the fear of flat out rejection from the woman herself. We still have cultural stereotypes and misconceptions to address and get past before we americans begin looking like the racial pairings in europe. Obviously, as a black man on this site, I'm all for IR dating. But I understand it's a touchy issue, hence this topic of Cadillac Records. Think about it. We are working a thread about two well known actors, a white man and black woman, who share a little kissing. We should be farther along than this.

 

Oh you're right. They aren't the blockbuster stars or even mavericks which will put people in the seats. But I'm convinced that Hollywood believes that because of it's history and how whites perceive blacks, Hollywood needs to put out a kind of "super" actor (like a Sam Jackson) who will take on edgy roles particularly when his or her own race will deeply criticize them. They probably think the relative unknown, more talented black actor can't accomplish that.

The fact is Hollywood has its favorites and always tries to make these people its stars, mostly on the fact that they can bring in an audience and will ultimately be a legend. What they should be doing is put out edgy movies with actors from all races, who can act, and let things pan out. The audience will pick the stars. I have no doubt that some black leading men and women will come out of the pack.

 

I agree with all of Jamal's points whole-heartedly! Plus it seems that Adrian Brody has a thing for pretty light skinned black women as well...at least to the point where he gets his rocks off by kissing them!:smt012

 

jamal hit the nail on the head again. Ive been saying this thing about the rappers taking roles for black actors for a while, so its good someone else can see how its damaging black hollywood. ANd theres definitely a double standard in hollywood in pairings involving bw/wm. Honestly do you think hollywood would let shania twain or Britney spears do the same thing? Nope.

Someone mentioned rihanna, right now when she does music videos there is a big difference in the way she interacts with white males and Black males (seriously look it up), in her videos with wm (justin, adam levine even the guy from the video where she's cheating) shes always hugging up on them kissing them and simulating sex, in the videos with black men, some times she isnt in the same room as them (TI, Ne-yo),imagine when she starts doing films.

Im still waiting for chris brown to do a duet with a white girl (not holding my breath).

I always enjoy reading Jamal posts, keep it up fam.

 

I won't watch mainly because of one thing: Beyonce can't act (nor is that talented to begin with).

I concur with some of the comments here regarding several movie roles going to those who have absolutely no business of getting, while real professional actors who have been around the business for a long time get snubbed. It's no wonder why I feel the acting is awful these days, seeing dumb rappers get movie roles, while they have absolutely no acting experience nor the proper training for it. Same goes for the pop music stars, like Beyonce, who are handpicked for movie roles instead of thoroughly checking who would be the most idealistic for the part.

A true and genuine actress would do background and research on how to make a certain role she gets to look like she is really a part of it. Music stars don't do that when a movie role somehow is handed to them. Which makes the acting terrible. Personally speaking, I don't have a problem seeing another a cast of a black woman and white man being the stars. What I do have a problem with is who the stars are; I would much rather see 2 acclaimed, well-respected, and experienced actors than I would with one experienced actor and one experienced (albeit awful) singer who is as good as acting as I am breakdancing.

 

Okay since when are films as a form of entertainment confined to those that are only "trained" actors? Many classical musicians would say the same thing about alot of the music that some of you listen to such as jazz which is considered an art form but is also another form of entertainment! And I don't mean Kenny G or even George Benson, I mean folks like Miles, Bird, Coltrane...etc as an example. To me it's who can get the job done and who is believable in that particular role as well.

I'll also put it like this, if my boy Denzel doesn't mind rappers or folks from the hip hop community in his movies where he's won or been nominated for Oscars, then it's dayum okay with me.

And speaking of Ri-Ri, I'll give her some props in that the guy who is choppin' her down right now is black (Chris Breezy) but I do feel that she has more of a preference for white dudes which seem to be a status conquest for her & she'll probably get with another one after she's through fucking Chris!:smt036 YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!!!:smt029