Ahead of the film’s debut on Disney+, Looper spoke with director Reginald Hudlin about his new movie Safety, the story of Clemson football player Ray Ray McElrathbey raising his little brother on campus. Hudlin, of course, has had a long career before Safety — he’s been writing, directing, and producing comics, TV shows, and movies for decades now. To many comic fans, Hudlin will always be associated with Black Panther, and he’s even worked with the late Chadwick Boseman before. During our chat with the multi-talented Hudlin, we took some time to ask him about both.
Hudlin directed Boseman in Marshall, a biopic about the early years of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, whom Boseman portrayed on screen. The director described working with Boseman as “just a dream,” given that he was “such a dedicated actor, such a wonderful person.”
Following Boseman’s untimely death in August 2020, Hudlin mourns both the star himself and what could have been for him. “It’s just a horrific loss,” Hudlin told Looper. “It’s hurtful to lose a friend and also a guy I couldn’t wait to work with again. I just thought, ‘God, we could make a movie together every couple of years. That would just be perfect.'”
He was also surprised as anyone about Boseman’s illness and death, having been kept in the dark on it himself. He recalled, “[I was] talking with everybody and we’re all [asking], ‘Did you know? Did you know?’ No one knew. No one had any clue, and we all sort of played things back — ‘Was that a clue? Was that a clue?’ But at the time he just really is a guy who kept his private life private.”
Hudlin directed Boseman in Marshall, a biopic about the early years of future Supreme Court justice Thurgood Marshall, whom Boseman portrayed on screen. The director described working with Boseman as “just a dream,” given that he was “such a dedicated actor, such a wonderful person.”
Following Boseman’s untimely death in August 2020, Hudlin mourns both the star himself and what could have been for him. “It’s just a horrific loss,” Hudlin told Looper. “It’s hurtful to lose a friend and also a guy I couldn’t wait to work with again. I just thought, ‘God, we could make a movie together every couple of years. That would just be perfect.'”
He was also surprised as anyone about Boseman’s illness and death, having been kept in the dark on it himself. He recalled, “[I was] talking with everybody and we’re all [asking], ‘Did you know? Did you know?’ No one knew. No one had any clue, and we all sort of played things back — ‘Was that a clue? Was that a clue?’ But at the time he just really is a guy who kept his private life private.”
Hudlin also recognized the herculean effort Boseman put into his work given the circumstances. “I’ve had quite a few friends who’ve fought with cancer. Some of them have won, some of them have lost, but the truth is that’s a full-time job, and the fact that he was performing at the level that he was while battling cancer is a level of heroism that I can’t imagine,” the filmmaker noted.
The Black Panther expert
Few creatives are more associated with Black Panther than Reginald Hudlin. He wrote Black Panther comics for about four years, starting in 2005. His first storyline — Who is the Black Panther? – helped introduce the character to a whole new generation of comic fans. He also wrote two of the most consequential parts of Black Panther lore: T’Challa’s marriage to Storm, and the introduction of T’Challa’s sister Shuri. On top of all that, Hudlin developed and wrote the Black Panther animated series that ran for one season on BET in 2010.
When asked how he feels about Black Panther becoming a cultural phenomenon, Hudlin shared that he knew this time would come sooner or later. “It’s great. People ask me, ‘Oh, did you know it was going to be a big hit?’ Yeah, I did! I absolutely knew, and so it’s great for that validation,” he told Looper. “I think the success of Black Panther will open the door not just for sequels of that film, but also more movies like that. I think we see that already, but I think the best is yet to come.”
Safety is streaming on Disney+ now. Stay tuned to Looper for more exclusive coverage.
EXCLUSIVE: ZQ Entertainment has acquired rights to Black Cotton Star, a graphic novel that will be scripted by Deric Hughes & Benjamin Raab for Reginald Hudlin to direct. Hudlin will produce with Prime Universe’s Adrian Askarieh, and ZQ heads Ara Keshishian and Petr Jakl. Martin J Barab will be exec producer.
Deric Hughes, Benjamin RaabNAACP; Personal Courtesy
The scribes are co-executive producers of Legacies for The CW. They have also worked on Arrow, The Flash and Syfy’s Warehouse 13. They are separately developing the martial arts & fantasy comic Infinite Kung Fu with Kevin Tancharoen, DeKnight Productions and Brook Worley for IDW Entertainment and Hudlin.
The script’s development is being financed by ZQ, which among other projects is backing the George Clooney/Grant Heslov adaptation of John Grisham’s Calico Joe.
The graphic novel focuses on three African American soldiers in WWII who are dispatched on a suicide mission to retrieve the first ever American flag, stolen by a sadistic Nazi commander. Written by Yves Sente and illustrated by Steve Cuzor — they will be exec producers — the graphic novel was originally published by the Belgian publisher Dupuis, part of the French-Belgian Company Media Participations. The deal has been managed by Laurent Duvault from Mediatoon, their indoor agency. It is published in the U.S. by Pegasus Book and digitally by Europe Comics.
Hudlin is repped by CAA and and attorney Darrell Miller at Fox Rothchild; Hughes and Raab are repped by Verve, manager Peter Dealbert, and attorney Darren Trattner of Jackoway Tyerman. Askarieh was repped by attorney Peter Grossman of Lichter, Grossman; ZQ by Barab and and attorney Patrick Josten. Yves Sente, Steve Cuzor and Dupuis are repped by Mediatoon Laurent Duvault and attorney Marie Bonrepaux.
Image Credit: Tiffany Haddish, Tina Knowles Lawson, Snoop Dogg and Deon Cole
“Friday Night Vibes™,” a new 52-week movie destination that spotlights feel-good comedies, action-packed blockbusters and culturally significant storytelling inclusive of diverse voices, kicks off on Friday, June 18 at 7:30 p.m. ET/PT on TBS with its first in-studio guestsSnoop Dogg and Tina Knowles Lawson for the broadcast of “Creed” and “Creed 2.” The Doggfather and Knowles Lawson will join host Tiffany Haddish (“The Last O.G.,” “Girls Trip”) and co-hostDeon Cole (“Black-ish,” “Grown-ish”) to launch the year-round celebration of all things for the culture, as well as commemorate and honor Juneteenth and Father’s Day.
The premiere episode of “Friday Night Vibes” is kicking off this celebratory weekend with special guest, Tina Knowles Lawson, as she stops by to discuss her friendship with Haddish, all things Juneteenth and its Texas roots, as well as sharing her secrets, along with Snoop, on how to have a successful marriage.
With “Creed” and “Creed 2” as the double feature for the night, The Doggfather joins in to give a hilarious play by play of the top knockouts of all time. There will also be a moment to celebrate dads for Father’s Day and the party keeps going in preparation of Juneteenth.
With a mix of comedy, celebrity interviews and musical performances, Haddish, along with Cole, will guide “Friday Night Vibes” viewers through this celebration of life, cultural diversity, special behind-the-scenes moments and authentic conversation. The program will be ground zero for those who love movies, black culture, music and hanging out at the beauty salon and barbershop.
The weekly lineup will include thoughtfully selected movies that are filled with storylines and characters viewers love and vibe with and special guests will be announced accordingly. The “Friday Night Vibes” summer 2021 schedule is as follows:
Simultaneously TBS will host a “Vibe With Us” party for influencers to post on their social handles leading up to “Friday Night Vibes™,” and on the day of the premiere encourage their followers to watch “Friday Night Vibes” with them, exclusively on TBS. Influencers will share their “Vibe With Us” party scene, featuring their movie night setup must-haves: drink of choice, best “Friday Night Vibes” outfit, snack spread and drinking games. Once the movie begins, influencers will then LIVE tweet their favorite moments and reactions, and post photos within their tweets to give audiences at home an inside look at their “Vibe With Us” party.
Tina Knowles Lawson is a businesswoman, philanthropist, fashion designer and activist. She is the co-founder of WACO (Where Art Can Occur), an initiative started with her husband, actor Richard Lawson, to bring art to young students in Los Angeles. They also mentor young people through Tina’s Angels and Richard’s Warriors. She is the mother of Grammy award winning singers, Beyoncé and Solange Knowles.
As an award-winning artist, Snoop Dogg has released 19 studio albums, sold over 30-million albums worldwide, reached No. 1 countless times on Billboard charts internationally, and received 20 GRAMMY® nominations. He is an American rapper, singer, songwriter, record producer, DJ, media personality, business mogul and actor, and has appeared in numerous films such as, “Dolemite Is My Name,” “The SpongeBob Movie: Sponge on the Run,” “Beach Bum,” “Starsky & Hutch,” “Soul Plane,” and the Oscar®-winning drama “Training Day.”
Deon Cole is a comedian, writer, and actor, who can currently be seen as Charlie on ABC’s “Black-ish” and Freeform’s “Grownish”. For his work on “Black-ish,” Deon won Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Comedy Series at the 51st NAACP Image Awards, in 2020, and at the 52nd NAACP Image Awards in 2021. Deon can currently be heard as the voice of Dave, for Dreamworks Animation’s Netflix series, “Kipo and The Age of Wonderbeasts.” Previously, he starred as Detective Daniel “DJ” Tanner on the TBS comedy “Angie Tribeca” opposite Rashida Jones.
“Friday Night Vibes™” is executive produced by Reginald Hudlin (“Academy Awards,” Emmy Awards,” “NAACP Image Awards,” “House Party,” “Django Unchained”) for Hudlin Entertainment, Phil Gurin (“Shark Tank,” “The Singing Bee,” “NAACP Image Awards,” “Weakest Link”) for The Gurin Company and Byron Phillips (“NAACP Image Awards,” “Emmy Awards,” “The Black Godfather”) for TBS.
Follow “Friday Night Vibes” on TwitterVibesonTBS, and IGVibesonTBS and join the conversation using #FridayNightVibes.
