Wesley Snipes: 'White people like to watch white men do white things.'
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LadyKalma — 13 years ago(July 07, 2012 05:00 AM)
Huh. Some friends and I watched this whilst drunk last night, and one of us noticed something related. A "utopian" future society, practically all of the named characters are white, and the thing that "ruins" it all is a black man from early 90s LA going on a crime spree, who can only be stopped by a white guy. It's amusingly uncomfortable to view it through that lens, but unfortunately doesn't hold water in the least.
As for Snipes' specific comments, he's a smart guy but this is just a very, very dumb generalisation. It was never written with the idea of a black antagonist, that was just a result of them finding a great martial artist for the role (Jackie Chan was apparently even considered at one point). Snipes also disproved his own comments by grossing $70mil only a few years later, "despite" having a black protagonist, in Blade. Blade 2 made $150mil despite one of the antagonists being a white supremacist (played with entirely self-aware irony by the jewish Ron Pearlman) who is bested by the black protagonist. He was way off mark. I like Snipes on screen, and his commentary tracks on his DVDs are entertaining, but the guy comes off as a major ass the rest of the time. -
tueher86 — 12 years ago(February 12, 2014 01:48 PM)
Was Wesley Snipes even aware that the movie's original depiction of the villain was never a black guy? They just happened to land Snipes while failing to get their original choices for the role. They mostly just wanted someone who knew martial arts. The fact that Wesley Snipes came on board was the only reason they edited the script to alter the villain into having a black personality.
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Mr_Hamster — 11 years ago(December 04, 2014 02:54 AM)
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/top-five-filmmaker-chris-rock-75 3223
Kind of addressing the same issue here, isn't he?
Who are they? And what do they want? -
nancy-mitrione — 9 years ago(January 04, 2017 04:44 PM)
Personally I think he is dead on . and it doesn't matter if it is 2003, 2012 or 2018, I don't think too much has changed. There are many more prominent roles for white people. Why, not sure. Is it because white leads have a better return at the box office? Producers are racists? I love a variety of movies and I have probably seen all of WS Ice Cube's movies and found them enjoyable. BTW I am a white, 51 year old woman and watched for the 10th time Boyz n the Hood last nightand still think it is a great movie.