Reginald Hudlin, David Hill
The Hollywood Reporter, by Gregg Kilday, 10/21/2015
Producers Reginald Hudlin and David Hill predict: “He’s going to hone every word, every phrase, every sentence.”
Although Reginald Hudlin and David Hill, who are producing the 88th Oscars, originally talked of hiring two hosts to front the broadcast, the producers said they opted for a solo host once they secured Chris Rock — with Hill joking, “We decided on Chris and Rock.”
Downplaying reports that other co-hosts like Amy Schumer were under consideration, Hill said, “It became apparent that Chris by himself was the way to go. If you tried to pair him with someone, it wouldn’t have the same comedic impact of him working by himself. So that’s where we ended up.” Rewatching Rock’s performance at the 77th Oscars convinced them that he deserved a return engagement, Hill explained: “He had so many on-the-money observations about the business, delivered in such an enlightened and entertaining way.”
The fact that Hudlin and Rock have worked together — Hudlin directed Rock in 1992’s Boomerang and also helmed the pilot for the 2005 TV series Everybody Hates Chris that Rock co-created — was a factor in convincing the performer to return to the Oscar stage, where he hosted the show for the first time in 2005, they said. “It was lucky because of Reggie’s relationship with Chris — there’s a level of trust between the two of them,” Hill commented.
“We’re friends,” Hudlin added. “I know his mother, he knows my mother. We’re always looking for opportunities to work together, most recently at the 2014 Governors Awards, where he was part of the tribute to Harry Belafonte and did a spectacular job.” In fact, the two producers ironed out final details about the gig with Rock over a dinner at Hudlin’s house Monday night.
Rock, who Hudlin described as a “big-picture thinker,” is expected to take a very hands-on role in helping shape the show, working as a producer as well as host. “The key thing,” said Hill, “is that he’s coming to the show, not simply as a performer, but as a producer as well. He’ll know every aspect of the show as we’re planning it, step by step.”
Added Hudlin, “He’s one of the best hosts we could get, one of the guys who is absolutely hilariously funny and who has a brilliant and intelligent sense of humor. He’s done pretty much every job in the business — as a performer, as a comedian, as a director and producer and writer in film and television and documentaries. Chris attracts incredible talent, the number of people who want to write for him, who want to perform with him. There’s already been an incredible response of A-level talent in every category who want to work with Chris.”
Testified Hill, “He’s the ultimate professional. He prepares before he does a gig like this like he’s writing a Ph.D thesis. He’s going to hone every word, every phrase, every sentence.”
The 88th Oscars will be held Feb. 28, broadcast live by ABC from the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.
Comment
+ Permalink
New York Times, By Michael Cieply, October 21, 2015
Chris Rock during the Hollywood Film Awards in 2014. Credit Danny Moloshok/Reuters
LOS ANGELES — One problem solved for next year’s Oscar broadcast: Chris Rock, a proven audience draw, will return to host the Academy Awards ceremony, set for Feb. 28.
When last led by Mr. Rock, a raucous comic who has also directed films like “Top Five” (2014), the Oscars drew about 42.2 million viewers in the United States, far outstripping almost all recent broadcasts. That performance was in 2005, when “Million Dollar Baby” was named best picture.
In February, the Oscars, with Neil Patrick Harris as host and “Birdman” the best picture winner, slipped to about 37.3 million viewers, down from a recent peak of 43.7 million viewers in 2014, when Ellen DeGeneres was the host and “12 Years a Slave” took top honors.
In announcing Mr. Rock’s return, Reginald Hudlin, who is producing the ceremony with David Hill, said: “Comedian, actor, writer, producer, director, documentarian — he’s done it all.”
Mr. Rock’s return follows a year in which the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which hands out the Oscars, was widely criticized for overlooking black acting nominees. Mr. Rock’s presence may bolster the show among African-American viewers, who historically have watched the broadcast in large numbers, significantly raising overall ratings, when the black presence is strong among nominees and performers on the stage.
Whether black actors will fare better in this year’s awards race is far from clear, as handicappers have again pointed toward largely white favorites in most categories. One prominent Oscar watcher, the journalist Anne Thompson, this week listed only one black actor — Idris Elba, for his performance in “Beasts of No Nation” — among the apparent front-runners for the 20 acting nominations in four categories.
In 2005, when Jamie Foxx was named best actor for “Ray” and Morgan Freeman won for best supporting actor in “Million Dollar Baby,” Mr. Rock nonetheless tweaked the Academy for its whiteness. During the broadcast, he introduced two burly black men as the supposed representatives of the accounting firm that tabulates the Oscar votes, and showed a taped segment in which he interviewed mostly black moviegoers, asking if they had seen the best picture nominees. None had, but the interviewees claimed to have seen “White Chicks,” starring two of the Wayans brothers.
That sort of humor — biting but self-aware — might help the Academy recover from last year’s dip, when Mr. Harris, normally an adept awards host, was caught up in song, dance and a perhaps misguided stunt that found him onstage in his briefs, mimicking a “Birdman” scene.
Mr. Hudlin and Mr. Hill in early September agreed to produce what will be the 88th Oscar ceremony, after a search that included several possible producers or producing teams to replace Craig Zadan and Neil Meron, who had overseen the previous three shows.
Mr. Hudlin, a filmmaker and executive with wide experience in movies and television, had earlier produced the Academy’s Governors Awards, a separate ceremony that is not televised. Mr. Hill, a television producer and executive who has worked at Fox and elsewhere, has a substantial history in producing sports and other live television events.
“We were both in violent agreement,” Mr. Hudlin said of an early meeting in which he and Mr. Hill first discussed the possibility of Mr. Rock’s returning as host.
Mr. Hill said Mr. Rock’s earlier performance hit precisely the note they seek from the next show. “It wasn’t about him,” Mr. Hill said. “It was all about the industry, all about his peers, all about the movies.”
Mr. Rock recently directed an HBO comedy special, “Amy Schumer: Live at the Apollo.” Last year, he directed and starred in the film “Top Five,” about the life and times of a New York City comic and film star being interviewed by a reporter for The New York Times.
While Mr. Rock generally stayed in bounds during his previous appearance as Oscar host — some Academy members privately groused about his jabs at Hollywood — he is known for flirting with danger in his live performances.
In the days after the terror attacks on the World Trade Center, for instance, Mr. Rock showed up in a Los Angeles area comedy club, trying out a comic routine about the attack. Ultimately, he used a somewhat tempered routine at a Carnegie Hall comedy benefit for 9/11 survivors.
At this year’s Governors Awards dinner, set for Nov. 14 in Los Angeles, the Academy is poised to bestow its honorary awards on a lineup that includes Debbie Reynolds, known for classic and somewhat lighthearted entertainment like “Singin’ in the Rain”; Gena Rowlands, who has starred in sophisticated fare like “A Woman Under the Influence”; and Spike Lee, whose bent for sharp-edged social humor and drama in films like “Do the Right Thing” and “Malcolm X” should help set the stage for Mr. Rock.
Comment
+ Permalink
Anthony Hamilton and Lalah Hathaway at the Black Movie Soundtrack tribute at the Hollywood Bowl
I get a call from Lalah Hathaway, who tells me she’s doing a cover of her dad Donnie Hathaway’s classic song “Little Ghetto Boy” and she wants me to appear in the video. I say yes of course. There’s no downside to this. A. I get to be in a music video. B. I get to be in a music video with Lalah Hathaway. C. I get to return the favor for her appearing on several of my projects, like the Black Movie Soundtrack concert at the Hollywood Bowl, and “After All”, a beautiful song on The Ladies Man soundtrack.
Wow, I didn’t know how beloved that song was until I read the comments on YouTube. That’s the second cult classic Marcus Miller has written for one of my soundtracks. The other was from the Boomerang soundtrack as an instrumental cue that folks liked so much they looped it and posted it on line:
Marcus finally turned it into a full song with Raphael Saadiq on vocals.
Back to the video. The other bonus is the video is directed by Ali Leroi, who I’ve known for decades now. I first met him when he was part of Mary Wong, a black high concept comedy team who became part of the Chris Rock comedy brain trust. We worked together on the Everybody Hates Chris pilot, the Are We There Yet? series, and The Shut Your Pie Hole animated digital series, and other stuff I’m probably forgetting and things that never happened, or haven’t happened yet.
Ali is one of those guys who actually does the stuff I think about doing. He actually learned how to play bass. He has become an amazing photographer. I thought about doing all that. But he did it. I’ve also thought about doing a podcast, but here I am appearing on Ali’s actual podcast.
I ask Ali what am I supposed to do in the video. Am I me or a character? He says I am “meta Reggie”, which is all the explanation I’m going to get, and that’s fine.
I meet them in the parking lot of the church where my children were blessed, and hop in a car with several cameras mounted on it. We drive around listening to the song. Just like everyone else doing a cameo. Finally we just start talking. I make unwanted but nicely tolerated suggestions like adding musical allusions to the songs “The Ghetto” and “The World Is A Ghetto” to the rousing vamp hook at the end. I tell Lalah I do this all the time and how I’m still trying to convince Marcus Miller to do a mash up of Wayne Shorter’s “Pinocchio” and Bootsy Collins’ “Pinocchio Theory”. I play both for her…which led to a shot of me looking down playing with my phone, which somehow made it into the video. “Why are you checking your email daddy?” chastised my daughter, upon seeing the video.
Here’s a behind the scene clip of the making of the video:
What’s great about the video is that it shows hope. The men in the video were little ghetto boys and now they are successful men. Music like her father’s kept us inspired. Lalah continues that mission.
Comment
+ Permalink
By Joseph Philip Illidge, Comic Book Resources
On February 27, 1993, Milestone Media and DC Comics released the first issue of “Hardware” in comic book stores.
Milestone Media, a Black-owned comic book company founded by Denys Cowan, Michael Davis, Dwayne McDuffie, Derek T. Dingle and Christopher Priest, had a publishing partnership with DC Comics.
This partnership allowed DC Comics to lead the way in diversity because Milestone Media published a line of books reflecting a diverse universe of superheroes and villains.
In the last 22 years, Milestone comic books and characters have been in and out of publication, but never out of the comic book fan consciousness.
The relationship between Milestone Media, Inc. and DC Comics has been one of peaks and valleys, and shifts from individual superhero mythologies to shared superhero mythology.
Interestingly enough, the first meeting of the worlds of Milestone and DC took place through a crossover event called “Worlds Collide” in which the Milestone characters fought with, then worked alongside the Superman family of characters, to stop an event that would lead to the destruction of both worlds.
In the most recent cooperative ventures between the two companies, the Milestone characters were established as a part of the DC Universe, most notably in 2011 with the “New 52” initiative that reintroduced the African-American teenage superhero Static Shock to the public, in a monthly series of the same name that lasted eight issues.
That character is at the core of the relationship between the two companies.
Just as Disney purchased the Marvel and Star Wars intellectual properties, companies and characters because, in part, the young male demographic that was elusive to Disney was captured by Marvel and Star Wars, the teenage Black male is a demographic that the DC Universe does not seem to understand.
The company’s heroes later crossed over with DC’s icons in the “Worlds Collide” storyline.
That archetype is not significantly represented in the DC Comics Universe, and the character of Static Shock has appeared in an animated series, a limited series, a one-shot tribute book, various DC Comics titles, and the aforementioned ongoing series since the end of the first “Static” series in 1997.
With all of this, on July 11, 2015, at Comic-Con International in San Diego, arguably the most significant pop culture and entertainment event in the United States for the film, television, and comic book industries, the relaunch of Milestone was clarified with an announcement that the first wave of new titles would happen in conjunction with old publishing partner DC Comics.
Milestone 2.0, founded by original Milestone co-founders Derek T. Dingle and Denys Cowan, and filmmaker and producer Reginald Hudlin, will produce the content that DC comics will publish.
During the Milestone 2.0 panel, a special guest appeared, adding a new layer to the groundbreaking significance of the event.
DC Entertainment’s Chief Creative Officer Geoff Johns.
One would be hard-pressed to find a person more instrumental to the DC Universe and its creative developments over the last decade than Geoff Johns.
Writer of the company’s flagship hero, Superman, along with Batman, The Flash, Green Lantern, and the Titans, all of which have either been translated into cinematic media or will be in the near-future with identified networks, Johns has represented the combination of relative youth and respect for the core mythos and characters that lie at the heart of the DC Comics Universe.
Johns’ presence, his admiration of the Milestone characters and of the Milestone founders, and his announced involvement as writer of an upcoming Milestone project, is symbolic of a new kind of commitment, one unprecedented in the entire history of the Milestone/DC Comics partnership.
That of the creative corporate advocate.
DC launched a “Static Shock” series as part of the New 52, the latest attempt to serve the young Black male demographic
Derek T. Dingle stated at the Milestone panel that the decision to bring the company back in full strength for consistent presence and output was initiated by the death of Milestone Co-founder and Editor-in-chief Dwayne McDuffie.
McDuffie passed away in February of 2011, so this reunion of creative and corporate parties has been in the works for four years.
While the subject of diversity has continued to build in momentum and intensity, this was happening.
The Milestone people were talking and planning with the DC Entertainment people. At the very least, with CCO Geoff Johns and DC Comics Co-Publishers Dan Didio and Jim Lee.
With Johns as the more youthful voice of the three, the one who produced the largest body of creative work revealing his knowledge of the DC Comics mythology and characters, the person who made the historic leap from a vital force in the publishing company to a vital force in the umbrella company encompassing the publisher, the most recent act of his presence at the panel identifies him as the “Superman” of this business equation.
Denys Cowan would be the “Hardware” representative, with his arsenal of visionary skills in which to turn ideas into reality.
Derek T. Dingle, the “Icon”, the business acumen and perspective sitting alongside the creative fictional world of Milestone.
Reggie Hudlin, the “Static”, the newest member of the equation, bringing a new energy and point of view to the company and the cooperative venture.
Hudlin and Johns are the most vocal of the new ingredients to the relationship.
With both men consistently operating in the comic book, television, and film industries, they represent a bridge of worlds and experiences that is at the ethos of the new Milestone 2.0, to expand into different media and increase the exposure of the Milestone characters.
Following the passing of Dwayne McDuffie, one of its founders, Milestone 2.0 has emerged, with Reginald Hudlin coming on board.
The “Static Shock” live-action show, to debut on the Warner Bros. digital platform, and the upcoming “Static Shock” 6-inch figure by DC Collectibles, are unprecedented extensions of the character and license.
The Black teenage male demographic will be captured, and represented in heroic form. Just as Static preceded the teenage Black/Latino Spider-Man by more than a decade and a half, the character will return to reclaim that space as the most relevant reflection of that demographic.
DC Comics, a company unable to match the level of diversity left vacant by the absence of Milestone, despite their various attempts and various characters of color created or re-imagined by DC Entertainment CCO Geoff Johns, will resume the position they held from 1993-1997, as the American superhero comic book publisher with the most focused representation of ethnic and cultural diversity in the business… through the new partnership with Milestone.
Above and beyond the excitement and talent announcements and new art and press releases and panels is that significant point.
The truth of the point is the understanding that the most prevalent narrative of diversity in comic books in the last quarter-century started with Milestone Media, Inc. and no single comic book publisher or combination of comic book publishers has been able to sufficiently replace that narrative.
Milestone will now be poised to reclaim and redefine the narrative.
DC Comics will, once again, be the vehicle of facilitation.
In San Diego, Milestone 2.0 revealed a new partnership with DC Comics, and the latter’s CCO Geoff Johns will write an upcoming project.
Worlds which collided, have united.
There is no better likelihood of success than this, no better social environment open to receive and embrace the Milestone universe than the one in which we now live.
The commitment of Milestone and DC Comics is clear and defined.
If we really want a more diverse fictional world, with creators from different backgrounds writing the stories of characters with different backgrounds, on platforms of global interest and visibility, then nothing should stop us from supporting the fruits of this union.
The quality will provide their commitment.
The sales and loyalty will prove ours.
On February 1993, Milestone Media and DC Comics released the first issue of the Milestone universe of comic books into stores.
I wonder what February 2016 will reveal.
Comment
+ Permalink
