It’s up! Check out our 2020 Paint the White House Black Reunion! We got to hang out with @mrchuckd_pe @yoyofearless @kerrygordyofficial & @reggiehudlin and relive this dope experience! It was such a great time
hanging out with these folks! #reunion2020 Link In Bio Check it out! #paintthewhitehouseblack #GeorgeClinton Pfunk # ParliamentFunkadelic
Reginald Hudlin knew from the moment he read the script that he had to direct “Safety.”
“I just loved the real-life struggles,” Hudlin said. “I feel like that’s the situation of so many people across the country, but we don’t really see that on film.”
The drama based on the true story of Ray McElrathbey. While attempting to navigate his freshman year as a Clemson University football player, he takes on the added responsibility of raising his 11-year-old little brother because their mother is in the throes of addiction.
“This is a movie that is inspirational,” Hudlin said. “It will make you cry. It will make you laugh – and it will make you want to be a better person.”
“Safety,” which stars Jay Reeves, Thaddeus J. Mixson, Corrinne Foxx and James Badge Dale, will be available to stream on Disney Plus starting Friday, December 11. The story reminded Hudlin of his hometown of East St. Louis, not because of the challenges Ray faced, but his capacity to rise above them.
“We deal with addiction. We deal with foster care. We deal will all of these complicated issues,” Hudlin said. “And ultimately, he succeeds because he holds the key values of education, commitment to excellence and family. That’s what gets him through. These are universal values that we can all agree that are some of the most important things.”
Those same values were embedded in Hudlin as he grew up in “The City of Champions.”
“East St. Louis made me who I am,” Hudlin said. “Yes, I went to Harvard. Yes, I lived in Harlem and I work in Hollywood. But the key matrix that shaped me was East St. Louis.”
He discussed the one-of-a-kind cultural richness of his hometown.
“I grew up two doors down from where Ike met Tina,” said Hudlin. “Two doors in the other direction was Brother Joe May, a famous gospel singer.”
The mother of Miles Davis taught at Hudlin’s elementary school. And he spent much of his youth cultivating his love for martial arts and culture at the Katherine Dunham Performing Arts Center.
“From riding my bike, being chased by dogs, chucking rocks, going up on Red Hill to catching two buses to go to downtown St. Louis to go see ‘Enter the Dragon’– all those experiences shaped who I am,” Hudlin said.
Decades later, Hudlin operates as not only a filmmaker, but a key influencer of popular culture. When it debuted 30 years ago, He and his brother Warrington Hudlin’s film “House Party” franchise was among the defining musical films for the hip-hop generation. Three months ago, Hudlin made history as the first-ever African American producer of the Primetime Emmy Awards. But the seed for his pioneering career was planted when as a precocious youth, he navigated through his East St. Louis stomping grounds.
“Ultimately, I’m just doing what I wanted to do since I was twelve,” Hudlin said. “I make movies, I make TV shows, I write comic books and I put on concerts and live events. Why? Because it looks like fun. Part of the fun for me is entertaining people and making a difference. That’s why I’m proud of ‘Safety.’ That’s why I’m proud of the stuff I’ve done. That’s always the goal.”
With “Safety,” Hudlin can add helming a Disney movie to his esteemed credentials.
“When we were putting the movie together, we put the Disney logo on there and we were like ‘Oh my God, we made a Disney movie,’” Hudlin said. “It just tripped me out. I was like ‘I really did this.’ We had the ‘When you wish Upon a Star,’ [theme music] but then I put some beats under it. It was like, ‘This is me. Y’all invited me in, but now you are in here with me.’”
Hudlin is thrilled that the subject matter of his debut film with Disney works to dispel misinformation about Black fatherhood.
“The stereotype is that, ‘oh, we don’t take care of our children,’” Hudlin said. “But in fact when you look at the stats and the numbers, Black dads are the most engaged – whether it’s their biological child or someone else’s child.”
“Safety” shows a young man stepping up to be a father for his younger brother. It also highlights Ray’s village – including his team – lending support while he assumes such a huge responsibility at such a critical point in his journey as a student athlete.
“He is a freshman in college. When I was a freshman in college, just doing the schoolwork was hard enough,” Hudlin said.
Ray is not only doing the schoolwork, but he’s learning about the sacrifices and commitment level required to play Division 1 football. And then he must tackle the responsibility of fathering his little brother at the same time.
“That is an impossible set of obligations,” Hudlin said. “But he gets it done, because failure is not an option. And that’s a hell of a story.”
“Safety” will stream on Disney Plus starting on Friday, December 11. For more information, visit https://disneyplusoriginals.disney.com/movie/safety.
Comment + Permalink| BY GRANT HERMANNS ON DECEMBER 11, 2020 |
In time for the movie sports biopic’s debut on streaming platform Disney+, ComingSoon.net got the opportunity to chat with Oscar and Golden Globe nominee Reginald Hudlin (Marshall, Django Unchained) to discuss his work helming Safety. Our interview can be viewed in the player below!
Disney’s Safety is inspired by the empowering story of former Clemson University football safety Ray McElrathbey, a young man facing a series of challenging circumstances, whose dedication and persistence help him to triumph over repeated adversities. Aided by his teammates and the Clemson community, he succeeds on the field while simultaneously raising and caring for his 11-year-old brother Fahmarr.
The film stars Jay Reeves (All American, The Tax Collector) as Ray and newcomer Thaddeus J. Mixson as Fahmarr, along with Corinne Foxx (47 Meters Down: Uncaged), Mathew Glave (The Rookie), Hunter Sansone (The Little Things), Amanda Warren (The Leftovers), Miles Burris (former Oakland Raiders linebacker), Isaac Bell, Elijah Bell and James Badge Dale (Hightown, The Empty Man).
It was directed by Reginald Hudlin (Boomerang, House Party) and produced by Mark Ciardi, p.g.a. (Secretariat, Miracle) and Gordon Gray (Million Dollar Arm, The Rookie) with a screenplay written by Nick Santora (The Most Dangerous Game, The Fugitive). Douglas S. Jones and Campbell G. McInnes served as executive producers.
Comment + PermalinkPlus: How Disney+ gives room for more types of movies.
From director Reginald Hudlin and based on a true story, the inspirational drama Safety follows Ray McElrathbey (Jay Reeves), a Clemson University football safety who finds himself in the unexpected position of having to raise his 11-year-old brother Fahmarr (Thaddeus J. Mixson). Through dedication, determination and persistence, his unwillingness to give up on his dreams and his desire to keep his family together help him succeed both on and off the field.
During the virtual press junket for the Disney+ film, Collider got the opportunity to chat 1-on-1 with filmmaker Reginald Hudlin about why this story is what the country needs right now, working with the real Clemson University, shooting football in a different way, and what impressed him about his cast. He also talked about the lasting impact of his early films, House Party and Boomerang, his experience working with Bernie Mac on The Bernie Mac Show, taking on a very different Emmy Awards this year, and what he’d still like to do.
COLLIDER: This film is a showcase of strength, drive and courage, all in the name of family, and it’s a very inspirational story. When you first read this script and learned about this story, what aspect of it most inspired you?
REGINALD HUDLIN: All of it. What a perfect summary. You said strength, courage, drive and family. Man, how often do you get that, perfectly woven together in a single story? That’s everything I care about and what I believe in, and it’s a statement that needs to be made. This is, quite frankly, what the country needs right now, so I thought it was an imperative. I was just glad to get the opportunity to do it.
You’re not just telling a story about a real guy, but it’s also set at a real university, so what was it like to get them involved and to work with them throughout the project?
HUDLIN: Actually, all parties were great. Ray is a guy who has a reserve. His mind is always working. He’s very open and transparent about his life. That was very helpful for me in understanding him and telling his story. He was a touchstone for the cast and the crew because he was there on set. Clemson, once they saw what we were doing, was incredibly supportive. They let us shoot at half-time, during a game, for our stadium stuff, so there’s no CG. It’s all real. Two entities that could have been very challenging were, in fact, incredible partners.
How did you approach deciding how you wanted to shoot the game sequences? What was the thought process in deciding what to show, how much to show, and how you wanted to show it?
HUDLIN: Football is shot very well on television. We watch football on TV and we’re very engaged, so what are we gonna do in a movie that’s different or better than what you already see on Monday nights? It’s all about the subjective point of view. How can we get inside the head of the player and what they’re going through, whether it’s him when he doesn’t have his act together and he’s running down the field and he gets his bell wrong, or he does have his act together and, as the play’s about to start, he sees the opponent give his tell, he alerts everybody, and they make that move? That’s the part where you’re really advancing story and not just watching football plays, but the movie and the story is being moved by the plays.
Your leads are relatively new to audiences, so what impressed you about what Jay Reeves and Corinne Foxx brought to these roles?
HUDLIN: They’re good looking, charismatic people that you want to be around. That was so much of the fun of working with them. They’re smart, they’re funny, and they’re really dedicated to their craft. To be so young, they took these opportunities really seriously, and they’re fun. It was a really wonderful situation. I hadn’t worked with young actors like that since House Party. I’ve been fortunate to work with Eddie Murphy and Sam Jackson and Chadwick Boseman, so to work with folks at the beginning of their careers was really invigorating and fun.
Very early in your career, you did House Party and Boomerang, which were important moments in Black cinema, and they’ve also been lasting and enduring films. What did it mean to you to direct those movies, at that time, and how do you look back at them now?
HUDLIN: Well, I’m very grateful that they have stood the test of time and that a generation or more later people still go, “I love that movie! That’s my favorite movie!” People who weren’t born when those movies were out are fans. At the time, I was just really on fire because I really had something to say. They were both movies that didn’t exist in the marketplace and in the pantheon. I thought they should, and I was right.
You also directed 11 episodes of The Bernie Mac Show. What does that show’s legacy mean to you and what made Bernie Mac such a special performer, in your eyes?
HUDLIN: They joy was to spend all day and all week with Bernie Mac. He was brilliantly comic, but he wasn’t one of those comics that, off set, had this dark, twisted side. He was just a great guy. Once a week, he would cater a lunch in his dressing room, and it was not just a soul food spread. He’d have oxtail and lima beans. It was the next level of a soul food get down. You’d be eating and be like, “How am I going to work this afternoon? I’m gonna pass out.” And then, he’d be telling stories of his life, before he became a successful comedian, and they were the best stories you’d ever heard in your life. I remember the last time I saw him, we went to lunch together and he said to me, “You know, Reggie, you understand me about as good as anyone in this town.” And I just was so moved by that. He said, “You get me. Most people don’t get me, but you get me.” That really meant the world to me, and I really, really miss him.
How do you feel the Emmys went this year? What lessons did you learn for future producers of award shows in these times?
HUDLIN: I produce a lot of awards shows, and when I signed on to do the Emmys, all of my friends were like, “Hey, Reggie, congratulations! Are you crazy? This is gonna be a disaster. How are you gonna do an Emmys show?” But that was the point. I didn’t wanna do a traditional show. The only way to make it work was to blow it up. COVID was just an excuse to do what I wanna do, which is try to reinvent awards shows. It turns out, we pulled it off. I was really so overjoyed that it seemed to be universally acclaimed. People were like, “Wow, this is so much better. You’re not gonna go back, are you? You need to keep doing this kind of awards show.” That was the goal. We thought about, “What tropes of this kind of program are actually essential? What do we need to keep, and which ones can we throw away and maybe do something better?” It was an experiment that seemed to turn out great.
You seem like you’re pretty capable of doing it all, so what’s next for you? Do you know what you want to go into production on next? Is there something that you feel you still haven’t done?
HUDLIN: I learned a long time ago, if you wanna make God laugh, make plans. I can’t wait to play in the world of science fiction. I can’t wait to do a musical. I’ve done a lot of things in film and television, and there’s a lot of stuff that we’re working on. There are more documentaries that I wanna do. I don’t know. We’ll see what happens.
Does it feel like Disney+ is a home where you can make some of the types of movies that have fallen by the wayside a bit?
HUDLIN: Absolutely. I think what we’re really gonna see with streaming platforms like Disney+ is this kind of sports drama, which used to be a regular part of the theatrical marketplace. People love these movies, but they fell out of favor. Basically, theatrical was narrowed into superhero movies, horror films and musicals, and I love them completely, but gosh, is that it? As a filmmaker and as an audience member, to be able to make movies like Safety is fantastic.
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