FilmChat with Reggie Hudlin

On Boomerang and Hollywood

Jimi Izrael : How did  Boomerang come your way? On paper, you would like a strange choice for a romantic comedy.

Reggie Hudlin: Why strange? It wasn’t like my first film was a slasher flick. 

In any case, I was approached by Eddie Murphy, who saw HOUSE PARTY and liked it. He said “you guys get the joke; you go for the joke”. We actually pitched projects back and forth to each other for months. Then he sent the script for BOOMERANG, and I knew this was the perfect project for us to do together.

JI: The thing I dig about Boomerang was that it wasn’t a black romantic comedy-there isn’t a lot of shucking and jiving. It screens like it could have had a black cast or a white cast, and I know two white cats wrote it, yes? Did you rely on your actors to season or did you go in with a mind towards a very specific timbre?

RH: There was a lot of rewriting…both in rehearsals, and through production. The writers resented it, but there was a lot of work that needed to be done. There was no turning point where Eddie’s character definitely rejected Robin’s character, and the end was completely rewritten. And of course millions of jokes were added. I did a lot, I got help from friends like novelist Trey Ellis, and of course the cast made great contributions.

JI: This film looks really unique — it feels warm and colorful, without being too bright and cartoony, like a lot of the black films of this time screened. I see this same kind of cleanness in White Hype. What is your approach to cinematography?

RH: Well, comedies tend to be bright and colorful. You don’t want flat or cartoony…it is still a film, not a sitcom, but “grim and gritty” ain’t the look for that subject matter. Black folks yearn for the lushness that we have in our lives to be reflected on screen. It’s not a class issue, it’s a world view issue. 

JI: How did this film test with audiences? It seems like such a great, broad comedy, yet I seem to remember it being kinda pigeon-holed as “black comedy.”

RH: Tested great. I mean great. There where critics who were offended that their stereotypes of black people were being challenged, but I took those comments as a sign of victory. 

Even though HOUSE PARTY made 1/5 of the gross that BOOMERANG did, it is perceived as more of a “crossover hit”. Part of it is the nature of the films…HOUSE PARTY is a very accessible look into hip hop culture, while BOOMERANG is a very R & B film that showed a very culturally specific side of the world’s biggest crossover black star. Public Enemy crosses over better than Luther Vandross..

JI: We haven’t seen a story quite like Boomerang, which just shows people living, loving and learning, who just happen to be black—- why is that?
 
RH: The system isn’t built to produce stories like that. The movie was Eddie’s premise, and he empowered me and my brother to make the movie, and those are unusual circumstances. 

JI: See, I have to push back on the “the system won’t let us do it” thing. It seems to me that all the black filmmakers could get together and form your own distribution network—what’s up with that?

RH: I’m gonna push back on your push back with real experience.

JI: D’OH!

Any time a sentence starts with “why don’t all the so-and-so’s get together and…” Sscrreeeeee – STOP.  First of all, people as a rule don’t pool money to get ahead. The Korean community does, and I admire them deeply for it, but I don’t see that happening in business generally.

How it works is there’s a person with the vision and the drive and the willpower to make it happen. That person is the boss. Everyone else plays their position.. Secondly, knowing how to make films doesn’t mean you know beans about marketing and distribution. Third, usually film collectives fail. Look at United Artists, First Artists, The Director’s Company. I can’t find an example in mainstream Hollywood that worked.  I’m not saying it can’t happen, but I am saying that whole “all you need to do is” tone needs to stop.

JI: Okay, man…I’ll take that hit. On the treadmill this morning, it occurred to me that black filmmakers already have an anti-Hollywood distribution model: the straight-to-DVD market. I don’t know that many major black directors/producers have explored it, and beyond QD3 and Tyler Perry, I don’t know that many have had more than moderate success with it. The product, over-all (story, cinematography, acting, et al), is often sub-par. As a major name in the game, do you see yourself exploring straight to DVD releases as an option to the Hollywood Hit Machine?”

RH: It’s really Master P that pioneered the straight to DVD market for black audiences with I’M BOUT IT, although it’s been very successful for black product overall, from Tyler Perry’s straight to DVD releases, QD3’s BEEF series and pretty much all of the 70’s and contemporary blaxsploitation product.

Unfortunately, DVD is currently in a market freefall. It’s a combination of causes, from shrinking retail outlets (the closure of Circuit City was a huge blow to Hollywood), high speed downloads of free product, and the overall maturation of the market. Folks feel like they have enough movies in their collection period. Actually, seeing movies in theatres has actually held up very well, some might even say prospered in this recession, while DVD is hurting. 

This is not a black problem; it’s a huge problem in Hollywood in general. Studios treated theatrical releases as a way to break even, with DVD being where you made money. With that revenue stream gone, the number of films released every year is being cut back.  That’s why contemporary media companies have to play in multiple media streams in case there’s a downturn in one format or the other to really survive.

JI: What do you think about all the talk of a “post racial” America, and how do you think that will affect Hollywood and the stories it chooses to tell?

RH: [President] Obama’s success has created a global opportunity for all black people, including those in the entertainment business. I think people want to understand the world that created Barack Obama more. I think people want to hear new stories that reflect and extend the vision of this new era. If we as storytellers, as professionals, don’t take advantage of this opportunity, shame on us.