diversity in hollywood
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There Are Plenty of Black Women TV Writers, Hollywood. Y'all Just Don't Want to See It
It was 2017, and I was sitting in a packed theater in Salt Lake City, Utah watching horror-themed short films directed by women for Sundance’s midnight showcase. After the films faded to black and the lights went up, one particular white male producer went on a spiel during the panel about not being able to…
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Michael B. Jordan Takes the Lead in New Warner Bros. Diversity and Inclusion Initiative
The last two years have shown Hollywood that diversity in front of and behind the camera pays major dividends, both in quality and box office receipts. No surprise, then, when Warner Bros. launched a new policy aimed at bringing more underrepresented talent into their productions—and they’re tapping one of Hollywood’s top leading men, Michael B.…
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Ready for Their Closeup: What Crazy Rich Asians Means to the People Who Made It
Director Jon M. Chu thought he was done with crying over Crazy Rich Asians. In an interview with The Root, Chu divulged that he and the movie’s cast and crew “cried almost every day on set.” The history-making film is only one of a handful of Hollywood films to boast an all-Asian cast, and is…
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Michael B. Jordan Explains Why He Sought Roles Written for White Men
As his career shows, Michael B. Jordan has not been one to shy away from complex portrayals of black people. The actor, whose first major break was as Wallace on The Wire, has played Oscar Grant, a 22-year-old black man killed by a Bay Area Rapid Transit officer on New Year’s Day, and Black Panther’s…
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For the 3rd Straight Season, Queen Sugar Boasts All-Female Directing Team
The critically acclaimed drama from Ava DuVernay and Oprah Winfrey, Queen Sugar, returns to OWN in May, and once again, DuVernay has assembled an all-female directing team to tell the story of the Bordelon family. The announcement marks the third season in a row that Queen Sugar will tap exclusively female directors to steer the…
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So … Will Hollywood Finally Learn This Lesson, or Nah?
When writer-director Jordan Peele won his Best Original Screenplay Oscar for 2017’s biggest hit, Get Out, I cheered. When cast members of 2018’s biggest hit so far, Marvel’s Black Panther, walked the red carpet at the 90th Academy Awards, I swooned. And when I looked out at the sea of (mostly) white people attending the…
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Ava DuVernay Says Not So Fast on the Gold Star, Hollywood: ‘We Sit on Top of a Broken System’
Ava DuVernay is super clear about how Hollywood is still a white man’s game. Although she is set to release a $100 million-budget film, A Wrinkle in Time, and Ryan Coogler’s Black Panther has been doing gangbusters at the box office, the celebrated director says not to break out the Champagne just yet. “I’m an…
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Viola Davis Says Pay Her Like You Pay White Women
Viola Davis is sick of Hollywood’s shit. The accomplished actress is a Juilliard graduate who has won an Oscar, a BAFTA (British Academy of Film and Television Arts) Award, a Golden Globe, a Primetime Emmy, five SAG Awards and two Tonys. She has been called “the black Meryl Streep,” but when it comes to job…
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A (Too) Short List of All the Black Golden Globe Nominees to Root For
Welcome to my Caucasian home, said the Golden Globes this morning, before flooding us with the sort of nominations list that would have you convinced it was still snowing—all over your computer screen. After a high-water mark for diversity last year, when the Golden Globes (aka a drunker, sloppier Oscars) nominated a bevy of black…
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Counterpoint: Oh, C’mon! Spider-Man: Homecoming (and Its Diversity) Were Just Great, Jason
Jason Johnson, our political editor at The Root and an in-real-life close and personal friend of mine, wrote this last Friday about the new Spider-Man movie: Spider-Man: Homecoming is a fun movie, but not one that will stick with you for long. It’s significantly better on the diversity front than whitewashed Doctor Strange, or the…