A question about why black dramas don’t work on TV at a party turned into a gig directing ‘City of Angels’ and a strong friendship wth the prolific showrunner, who died Sunday at age 74.
I first met Steven Bochco at a party for Dana Walden [around 1999]. Dana and Steven were very close friends. My wife is very close friends with Dana. In fact, Dana introduced me to my wife. I saw Steve across the room and my wife (then girlfriend) said, “Please don’t bother him.” I said, “No, no, no.” I introduced myself to him and said, “I have a question: I don’t understand why black drama series don’t seem to work on television. You’re such an expert in the field. Maybe you could explain to me why they don’t seem to catch on.” He says, “Funny you should ask that. I’m getting ready to do this black medical drama, and now you’re obligated to work on the show.” So all of a sudden I’m working with him directing City of Angels.
If you look back at the cast, it’s the most unbelievable cast. It starred Blair Underwood, Vivica Fox, Maya Rudolph in a dramatic role before she went to Saturday Night Live, this young actress named Gabrielle Union, whom I had never met before but I knew was going to be a big star. Viola Davis. Almost everyone on the call sheet was a big star or was going to be a big star. So I started working in television through him. I had done some pilots of my own, but working in the Bochco organization is a gold standard of how television should be produced. Everyone is top of their field. There’s no late scripts. No half-written scripts. The actors are fantastic. The scripts are fantastic. The crews are fantastic. As a director, you would have your final meeting with Steven to go over the script and his last words to you were always, “Don’t fuck it up.” Meaning, do your part.
The thing that was special about our relationship: I was doing a couple of episodes. I came to him. I had some ideas, some above-my-pay-grade ideas about the nature and tone of the show. A lot of people were scared of him not because he was a mean guy — he always had an open door — but they were intimidated because they thought, “He’s Steven Bochco.” But I thought, if I were him I’d want to hear them, so I pitched them, and it was a great evolution of our relationship. He liked that I cared enough to go to him, and it started a great friendship.
I grew up watching Hill Street Blues, L.A. Law. They were revolutionary. You can’t just pull out one thing. You can’t just say he had diverse casting before it was cool. You can’t say he had an innovative camera style before anyone in mainstream television. He managed storylines like no one had before. It’s all of a piece. It’s not that he did one thing. He did all those things simultaneously. He was a complete innovator of the medium. I grew up an enormous fan of his.
With all that, there was no arrogance. No airs. He was very comfortable in own skin. But because he was comfortable in his own skin, he liked hearing new ideas and new insights. He was a guy with an insatiable curiosity about life, and for someone known for writing dramas he had an extraordinary sense of humor. I always came out ahead on the exchange. He was teaching me about the business, about how to function in Hollywood.
I can give you recent examples. When I was attached to Marshall as a producer, he had dinner with Paula Wagner, who was the lead on the property and also a college classmate of his. Paula was saying, “We just need to find a director for the project.” Steven told her, “You have a director!” She goes “What do you mean?” He goes, “Reggie! There’s no one better for the job!” He just talked me up with Paula, so she tells me, “Steven thinks you should do it. If you want to do it, you’re the director!” Which was just an incredible thing to do. It wasn’t any kind of plan — it just happened that way.
I remember going out to dinner at Ivy on the Shore with him and his wife and me and my date. When my date left the table to go to the bathroom, he turned to me with great intensity and said, “What are you doing? You need to marry that girl. She’s fantastic.” You look at your life and go, gosh, here we are, married for 15 years. We have two perfect children. And the urgency with which he said it — this is crazy. He enhanced my personal life, my professional life. He was a mentor and he was a friend. He was an exemplar of excellence the way he conducted himself personally and professionally. There’s something to aspire to.
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by Dominic Patten
FILE – In this April 3, 1968, file photo, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. makes his last public appearance at the Mason Temple in Memphis, Tenn. The following day King was assassinated on his motel balcony. Travelers will find a variety of events and sites in Memphis and elsewhere honoring King’s legacy on the 50th anniversary of his death.(AP Photo/Charles Kelly, File)
Half a century ago today, Martin Luther King Jr was shot dead in Memphis while supporting striking black sanitation workers in that southern city.
For a nation still severed today along stark racial and economic lines, the death at age 39 of the Nobel Peace Prize-winning preacher and civil rights icon on the evening of April 4, 1968 was a devastating blow — a blow whose impact continues to reverberate in 2018.
As the anniversary of King’s assassination is somberly marked today around the U.S. and the world, we spoke to some of Hollywood’s leading creators and producers across the generations about his murder, and the legacy of his dream and work.
Mandatory Credit: Photo by Willy Sanjuan/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock (9295096bw)
Reginald Hudlin arrives at the 49th NAACP Image Awards Nominees’ Luncheon at the Beverly Hilton Hotel, in Beverly Hills, Calif
49th NAACP Image Awards Nominees’ Luncheon, Beverly Hills, USA – 16 Dec 2017
REGINALD HUDLIN
Marshall director, Oscar nominated producer, former president of entertainment for BET
In 1968 I was 6 years old, living in East St. Louis, a town that had become all black in the early ’60s. By then we had elected our first black mayor; the first black fire chief lived next door. It was a very political time. My older brothers saw a me in a sweat shirt with a U.S. flag on the front and wrote “black power” in marker on the black. The teacher at my all-black school, who was big supporter of then-VP and Presidential candidate Hubert H. Humphrey, thought it was cute.
In anticipation of riots like Detroit and Watts, the world-famous dancer and anthropologist Kathrine Dunham had been brought in by the state of Illinois in mid-1960s and she created a brilliant college prep program that brought in world-class intellectuals to teach high school kids as well as offering instruction in dance, African music and martial arts. She turned gang members into professional dancers and enabled my older brother to attend Yale.
Riots never actually happened in our town. Maybe because it was ours. Shortly after his assasination, one of our streets was renamed after Martin Luther King. Also, the building where I had gone to Head Start was reopened as the King Skating Rink; they had a huge poster of MLK on the wall. It was an enormous success. As years went by, the name morphed into Skate King and the original meaning was lost.
Not only did the city of East St. Louis celebrate Martin Luther King long before there was a national holiday, we had Malcolm X Day as well.
The legacy of Dr. King is so enormous, it’s hard to grasp it all. He’s a planetary hero. He’s a hero for peace, not war. He was an intellectual with populist appeal. Throughout his career he leaned into the most difficult problems, whether it was racism, economic inequity, or unjustified wars. He had a moral compass that could not be moved by polls and trends. The gravity of his work and life defy attempts to reduce him to a greeting card.
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‘Black Panther: Shuri – The Deadliest of the Species’ review: Memorable for its fantastic finish
By DAVID BROOKE
Originally published digitally in 2015, Marvel Comics is printing “The Deadliest of the Species” for the first time. Why now? Most likely because this is the start of Shuri’s reign as Black Panther and she’s one mega badass in the Black Panthermotion picture. This story is a collection of three subplots focusing on different characters as Shuri must take up the mantle with her brother out of commission and dangling for life.
So what’s it about?
The official summary reads:
Who is the Black Panther? Under the protection of the Black Panther, the African nation of Wakanda has thrived. But after attending a secretive, mysterious meeting, T’Challa – the current Black Panther and ruler of Wakanda – returns home with severe injuries and locked in a comatose state. Though Wakanda is a powerful nation capable of defending itself, its power comes directly from its leader, the Black Panther – and in the event that T’Challa doesn’t emerge from his coma, a successor must be chosen. For Shuri, younger sister of T’Challa, the time has finally come to take up the mantle. But as she embarks on the dangerous ritual to become the new Black Panther, the stakes have never been higher. An unstoppable force is headed toward Wakanda: Morlun is back, and he’s hungry!
Why does this matter?
This was the first time someone other than T’Challa held the mantle of the character and it’s an exciting development given Shuri is his sister. This collection also focuses on the spirit realm of the Black Panther corner of the universe which isn’t explored too often.
Fine, you have my attention. What’s good about it?
The opening page is a doozy.
This collection opens with Storm on her way to Wakanda as she introduces herself to the people. This was a shakeup at the time due to Black Panther and Storm marrying. It all crashes and burns at an opportune time when Black Panther’s ship comes crashing into Wakanda. The story picks up from there as Storm attempts to be the queen in his stead, Shuri is called upon as the rightful replacement of Black Panther, and T’Challa clings to life navigating the spirit realm of limbo. All of these subplots carry forward over the six issue run converging at the very end in an earned ending that’s satisfying. The story arc here confirms the love between Storm and T’Challa, pushes T’Challa very close to choosing death over life, and sets Shuri on a quest of understanding herself when given the task of protecting a people.
Reginald Hudlin keeps your interest as Black Panther lies dying with the inter-political elements Storm must navigate in a strange land. She’s familiar with their customs more or less, but she’s clearly in over her head. This leads her down a fearless path that shows how much she’s willing to risk for love. T’Challa must endure the promises of a god of death that is creepily designed and rendered by artist Ken Lashley. I got pangs of Superman’s death via this story as T’Challa hangs on for dear life.
Shuri is the star of the show however, as she attempts to live up to the Black Panther costume. It’s something she’s always wanted but never had the chance to earn and she goes through a few tests here. Hudlin surprises with a twist to the results of her test, but that only makes her heroic acts in the end all the more pleasing.
Lashley does a good job with art, be it the spirit realm, Shuri’s fever dreams, or Storm’s political posturing. I appreciate the fact Lashley doesn’t draw Shuri in sexualized poses (despite the covers) and she’s rendered in the strong and heroic way as she deserves. Some of the best scenes come early on featuring Dr. Doom and Lashley do a fantastic job giving Doom the scars and little details that show off his technological prowess.
A badass moment to be sure.
It can’t be perfect can it?
Two things bothered me in the middle portion of this title. The first is how Shuri doesn’t actually wear the Black Panther costume till late in the collection. Each cover teases she’s the Black Panther but we don’t get that reveal till the last chapter! The second thing is the tail end of Black Panther’s spiritual journey. There’s a point in the narrative where he’s aware of where he is and aware he doesn’t want to die and then he waits. Storm shows, and they wait some more. There’s a reason for the waiting, but it’s as if it wasn’t plotted quite well enough to flow into the admittedly pleasing finish.
Is It Good?
A good collection that shows off a very cool time for Shuri’s character as well as the always compelling spiritual realm Black Panther must navigate from time to time. IF you dug Shuri you’ll dig the start of her time as Black Panther, but above all you’ll dig how well this story comes together in the end.
RATING: 8
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