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Friday, January 9, 2015

MAKING MOVIE HISTORY
The Inside Agitators, 2015


David Oyelowo on the "Selma" set last summer as Dr. Martin Luther King.  Mr. Oyelowo brought Ava DuVernay on board to direct the excellent drama.  The British actor starred in Ms. Duvernay's 2012 film "Middle Of Nowhere."
  Paramount Pictures
       

by
Omar P.L. Moore/PopcornReel.com        Follow popcornreel on Twitter FOLLOW                                           
Friday, January 9, 2015

Today is a momentous day in American film history, and Hollywood -- at least Paramount Pictures' corner of Hollywood -- should be celebrating it.  "Selma," Ava DuVernay's powerful and supremely eloquent masterpiece, bows in wide release in the U.S. and Canada. 

Before moviegoers settle in today, "Selma" has ridden a tidal wave of strong support.  Universal critical acclaim across America.  "Selma" leads all films, including "Boyhood," with the highest rating of 100% (now 98% and fluctuating) on Rotten Tomatoes, the movie critic aggregate rating site.  Metacritic, boasting a few of the nation's top critics, once had "Selma" as high as a 91 rating.  (As of this article it was 89.)

The story of how Ava DuVernay got "Selma" off the ground is fascinating.

Ms. DuVernay, whose AFFRM distribution network has released several films, was in publicity when the film she would later direct was being passed on by several directors eventually including Lee Daniels and Spike Lee.  The opportunity to sit in a newly-vacant director's chair came.  David Oyelowo was attached to star five years ago.  He had starred in Ms. DuVernay's "Middle Of Nowhere" in 2012.  The British actor lobbied for the director to direct him once again. 

Once Mr. Oyelowo recruited Oprah Winfrey, whom he co-starred with in "The Butler" in 2013, the path to Ms. DuVernay was paved.

Ms. Winfrey was the coup de grace.  She and Mr. Oyelowo lobbied.  Oscar winners Brad Pitt, Dede Gardner and Jeremy Kleiner, all from producing outfit Plan B, were in.  Ms. DuVernay was too.  "Selma" started filming in late May 2014.  The budget?  Just $20 million.  No problem for Ms. DuVernay, who made prior films for between $20,000 and $200,000. 

Like any perfectionist, Ms. DuVernay was busy readying and putting finishing touches on "Selma" right up until last month.  When critics saw "Selma" the end titles hadn't been completed.  Paramount got screeners ready for the Golden Globes (this Sunday) and next Thursday's Oscar nominations.

"It's been only five years since making films.  I didn't go to film school.  I'm all self-taught.  I learned from DVD commentaries," Ms. DuVernay told Roland Martin this week in New York City at the premiere of "Selma". 

All of this is part of a remarkable journey for Ms. DuVernay and "Selma".

"Selma" chronicles the movement to getting Blacks across the Southern Bible Belt the right to vote in the 1960s.  The film features Mr. Oyelowo's majestic performance as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.  It is the first time a feature film anywhere has been done that examines Dr. King.  The movie however, is not called "King", as Ms. DuVernay has often pointed out.  The film is about people with multiple voices who come together amidst differences to strategize and force America to reckon with its violent and unjust ways, through non-violent civil disobedience.  The movement made history in 1965.

History is being made today.  A Black woman director's film, distributed by a big-name Hollywood studio, is opening across the United States and Canada on 2,200 screens.  It's on the most screens a Black woman directors film has ever opened on.  You will have to go back a long, long way to find a big-name Hollywood studio distributing a film directed by a Black woman.  You may not even find one in your odyssey search.  Paramount may be the very first with Ms. DuVernay's "Selma".

Granted, mini-major studios like Fox Searchlight and others have given the directors Amma Assante, Kasi Lemmons and Gina Prince-Bythewood the green light.  Yet to the best of my knowledge Ms. DuVernay, five years removed from movie public relations, has, through a big Hollywood studio, a grand stage with her most grand film.

"Selma" is an inspirational film, as is its director.  Ava DuVernay, today, with "Selma" and her own meteoric rise as a filmmaker -- and self-starter -- has inspired millions of boys and girls, notably Black boys and Black girls, to just go for it

If "Selma" does well -- and there's no reason to think that it won't -- Paramount and other big Hollywood studios, even with their shifting tent-pole paradigm, will have no choice but to open the doors for more women, including more Black women, to direct films.  At least I hope so.  I don't want to be naive.  Yet "Selma" stands to be very profitable.  There's demand the world over for it.  Money is the language movie studios understand.  While many white male directors make lesser, more unprofitable films for ten times the money Ms. DuVernay was given, the belt is tightened for her and other Black and women filmmakers of all races. 

Ms. DuVernay's independent spirit and independent sensibility, makes "Selma" a distinct entry for a huge Hollywood film studio.  Now, with awards buzz and all manner of stories around "Selma", the film is on the verge of making Ava DuVernay a power to be respected in Hollywood.  The doors will need to remain open behind her.


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