Why did the Color Purple cast have to ask for food and dressing rooms on set?
Taraji P. Henson and Danielle Brooks have both alleged that actors had to fight for fair working conditions on the set of the Warner Bros. film
Aux News The Color Purple
If the SAG-AFTRA strike this past summer taught us anything, it’s that the reality of working as an actor is rarely as glamorous as one might imagine. Even so, it’s still pretty jarring to hear about actors having to fight for basic necessities like food and dressing rooms on the set of a major studio film, especially one that does impressive numbers at the box office. This was, unfortunately, the experience of the cast of The Color Purple.
In a recent interview with The New York Times, Taraji P. Henson claimed that she had to fight for “a lot of stuff” on the set of the Warner Bros. film. “They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous,” she said. “So I was like, ‘Can I get a driver or security to take me?’ I’m not asking for the moon.”
“They’re like, ‘Well, if we do it for you, we got to do it for everybody,’” she continued. “Well, do it for everybody! It’s stuff like that, stuff I shouldn’t have to fight for.”
Henson wasn’t just fighting for herself. The Empire alum became a “guide” and a “voice box” for the entire cast as they contended with the frustrating conditions, said her costar Danielle Brooks during a Q&A hosted by The Hollywood Reporter. “I remember when we first came and we’re doing rehearsals, they put us all in the same space,” Brooks explained. “We didn’t have our own dressing rooms at the time. We didn’t have our own food…[Oprah] corrected it for us. [Taraji] was our voice. This was my first studio film. Sometimes you do come in saying, ‘Ok, I’ll take whatever they give me. I’m just happy to be here.’ But [Taraji] spoke up for us. [She] showed me how to do that.”
While some internet detectives guessed that the issues on set had caused a rift between Henson and Oprah, who produced the film, the latter denies anything of the sort. “People are saying that I was not supporting Taraji. Taraji will tell you herself that I’ve been the greatest champion of this film. Championing not only the behind-the-scenes projection but also everything that everybody needed,” Winfrey shared with Entertainment Tonight on last night’s Golden Globes carpet. “I’m not in charge of the budget because that’s Warner Brothers—you know that’s the way the studio system works.”
Representatives from Warner Bros. did not immediately respond to requests for comment on this story. Still, it is worth noting that The Color Purple was granted an approximately $90 million budget by the studio (per The New York Times), while Barbie, filmed at a similar time, received $145 million (per Screenrant). Additionally, The Color Purple was only given $40 million for marketing while Barbie received a whopping additional $150 million, covering that all-out press tour, couture outfits for its stars, the works. The point is: the money was there. No one should ever have to beg for basic necessities like food and a dressing room at their job.
But this is a bigger story than just The Color Purple or even Warner Bros., according to Henson. “It wears on your soul because you fight so hard to establish a name for yourself and be respected in this town to no avail. With Black films, they just don’t want to take us overseas and I don’t understand that. Black translates all over the world, so why wouldn’t the movies?” she said in the same New York Times interview. “I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time, but what else is it, then? Tell me. I’d rather it not be race, please give me something else.”
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Yeah why should a BIG TIME MOVIE STAR have to drive to work in gasp ATLANTA(!!!) like some kind of pleb? “he Color Purple was granted an approximately $90 million budget by the studio (per The New York Times), while Barbie, filmed at a similar time, received $145 million”
I haven’t seen the new version of TCP but I did see Barbie and, being familiar with the original TCP, I can definitely understand this budgeting decision.
What do you mean? Her film had a smaller budget and a smaller return, therefore it’s racism. Obviously.
The cast of Empire’s batting average in making accusations of racism is not great.
The cast of Empire’s batting average in making accusations of racism is not great.Naw, white people just ignore all the times when they’re right. LOL
whypipo.
the real racists never realize they are one.
I don’t know the daily hours the cast worked on TCP or the start and end times but Henson’s driver request brought to mind when a Riverdale actor got into a car crash late at night when he fell asleep at the wheel after a sixteen-hour day on set.
I can’t argue against drivers being provided in cases like that, if that’s what she meant than it’s fine.
Obviously that’s what she meant.That’s why it’s the norm. Why people like you insist on trying to be maximally unpleasant about it is really a big question here.
Are we sure he fell asleep? Maybe he got fixated on thinking about how he was filming a show where characters time traveled to try to save Martin Luther King’s life, and had some kind of mental break.
I mean, really, everbody knows that time travel should only be used to 1) kill Hitler or 2) save JFK. Saving other people like MLK Jr. is completely out of bounds!
Oh, when I went back, you wanted me to kill Hitler and save JFK? Sorry, that’s on me.
““They gave us rental cars, and I was like, ‘I can’t drive myself to set in Atlanta.’ This is insurance liability, it’s dangerous,” she said.”
Some people really need to check their privilege.
“I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time, but what else is it, then? Tell me. I’d rather it not be race, please give me something else.”Okay, how about you’re not as important and entitled as you think you are?
Also, it isn’t true that “if we did it for you we gotta do it for everybody”. I’ve not seen the movie, but I’m sure there are lead actors and there are supporting actors. Every actor in a movie does not get the same compensation or perks.
“Look, Taraji, it would’ve been fine if there had only been two Bar Patrons, but we’d have to provide a driver for Bar Patron #3 as well if we got one for you and the budget just can’t support that.”
A $90 million budget, with a $40 million for marketing, is a huge amount of money to spend on a musical The Color Purple remake that does not have Spielberg behind the camera or someone like Oprah in front of it. Barbie’s not a meaningful comparison here. It’s also puzzling how the author says that the movie has done “impressive numbers at the box office,” then cites for its budget numbers to a New York Times story explaining why The Color Purple is struggling at the box office.None of this is to say that the cast should not have basic necessities, like dressing rooms or food. But some belt-tightening (like having actors commute to work like everybody else in the world) is necessary if studios are going to keep making these kinds of movies. I don’t think it was ever realistic to expect The Color Purple to be a huge hit, so its budget has to reflect that.
It’s not actually clear the actors weren’t provided with food, I don’t think. “We didn’t have our own food…” reads to me like there was probably a spread for all of them?
yeah, sometimes talent gets upset they have to eat with the crew
and lets be honest here, Spielberg killed that film. My parents used to watch it all the time and that film only had a 15 million dollar budget (under 50 million today). But was Oprah a big figure back in 1985? Her show started the following year so I guess she was a little famous then.
“With Black films, they just don’t want to take us overseas and I don’t understand that. Black translates all over the world, so why wouldn’t the movies?” This is a major, pernicious problem that almost all major studios have: they exhibit ZERO confidence in Black movies and movies with Black leads international appeal.And they are DEAD WRONG every time
Maybe in some places overseas but I’m not sure the Chinese market has a huge appreciation for black films. And ‘the overseas market’ is absolutely dominated by China these days.
I guess all the other markets will have to soldier on, not being as important as China. The point very much remains that Black perspectives and Black stars in movies and media, translate to other cultures.
“The point very much remains that Black perspectives and Black stars in movies and media, translate to other cultures.”Ok sure but I’m saying I kind of doubt they do in the biggest overseas market, so that’s a big part of the reason you’re not going to see black movies heavily marketed overseas. I absolutely may be wrong, if you have any evidence otherwise I’d be happy to see it.
I know they don’t do well in China. I’m not surprised, based on what I have heard and seen. I’m going to disengage now bc it seems like a weird thing to keep harping on, the failure of Black culture overseas. You have a good day.
I know they don’t do well in China.Fast and Furious 7 had a mostly black cast and a mostly black poster and it made more money than any movie had made in the history of movies ever released in China. And then six months later Disney hid Finn on the poster for The Force Awakens and blamed Chinese racism AFTER the massive box office success of Fast and Furious 7.The reality is that Hollywood is afraid Americans (and Italians) are going to be incredibly racist toward any movie with black people in it, so they blame it on China and the rest of Asia to avoid pissing off their majority white racist markets who hate being called racist. Of course, blaming Asians for being the real racists gets you an uncritical free pass from racists in your own country who are actually out there sending death threats.
“Fast and Furious 7 had a mostly black cast”
In what world is that true???
The poster was referring to black films though, not films with black casts. The Color Purple is a black film, Fast and Furious is a film with a lot of black people in the cast.
Fast and Furious 7 had a mostly black castWTF are you talking about? Two of the (many) supporting characters are black, that’s it. None of the leads identify as black.
“I’m going to disengage now bc it seems like a weird thing to keep harping on”You’re the one who brought the issue up. If you’re not capable of engaging with differing opinions, don’t post in the first place.
“The point very much remains that Black perspectives and Black stars in movies and media, translate to other cultures.”This is a problematic phrase and in of itself: it’s American lensing. It’s assuming that Black Americans represent all people with the same skin colour is at best ignorant and at worst arrogant, hegemonistic, and colonialist.
Here’s a post that neatly sums it up from a local Gamilaraay/Kamilaroi/Gomeroi elder I’ve met and interviewed – incidentally, it just popped up today:
Absolutely, on the broad themes of racism, there’s parallels, but in terms of nitty-gritty life details, like what is shown in Hollywood movies…yeah, nah.
This isn’t true though.The reality is that, of Western movies, only blockbusters ever do well in China, and the dumber, the better.So the only movies to whom China actually matters to are brain-dead blockbusters. China just isn’t interested in foreign movies unless they’re maximum-dumb blockbusters. Hell, most of their own successful movies are basically what would have been jingoistic and dim-witted movies in the 1980s or 1990s US, just made with a bigger budget, and now.Just look at this – the second-most successful movie ever in China – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wolf_Warrior_2 That’s just basically a 1980s US action movie, except with China in the role of the US, except worse. Absolutely moronic jingoistic drivel. And that’s not even as extreme as it gets. China audiences have porridge for brains even worse than US ones.And this “blockbusters only need apply” isn’t true more generally. A move like The Color Purple is going to do a vastly better, relatively, in France or the UK, than it would in China.
What you’re saying is ‘Black movies don’t do well in China’ though.
No. I’m saying “A Black movie which was a massive dumb blockbuster for morons” would probably do great in China.I’m not sure why this is a complicated concept for you. Any movie which isn’t a blockbuster for morons doesn’t do great in China. By your logic, that means it shouldn’t be shown anywhere outside the US, which is absolutely demented.
You might be right but you don’t really have evidence to prove otherwise so I’m going with what I think until you do. I know the Chinese like big dumb action movies and I also know they’re very racist.
“I’m not sure why this is a complicated concept for you”It’s not, I don’t know why you have to be a jerk about it.“By your logic, that means it shouldn’t be shown anywhere outside the US, which is absolutely demented”That’s not what I’m saying at all. And, again, I’m really not sure why you’re being such a jerk about it. Fuckin ‘absolutely demented’ what in the actual fuck, dude? Converse like a goddamn civilized human being, holy shit.
“Converse like a goddamn civilized human being, holy shit.”I mean, you’re speaking like a cowboy here lol. “Converse” “goddamn” “holy shit” etc.I’m speaking like a British person. I can assure you that there’s a much lower floor for what gets called “absolutely demented” here than there is in the US.
Yeah, I may speak ‘like a cowboy’(converse is a cowboy word, what? It’s originally French) when you start insulting me. Protip: Don’t call someone ‘absolutely demented’ no matter what your ‘lower
floor’ may be, it’s rude even if British people speak like that
generally.
While I agree that the Chinese market may not be the best for black films, it’s also becoming a less important market that is downplaying Western releases.
Five years ago, the market was booming, but China is becoming restrictive about Western releases now, strictly enforcing its tiny quotas for overseas films and enforcing arbitrary bans. When cinemas reopened after Covid, it was with far less focus on foreign films than before, and with an increased focus on “patriotic” entertainment.During Covid, China tried to prop up domestic filmmaking by all but banning overseas films. After Covid, it was hard for them to let go of this stance. For example, no MCU films were approved by censors for four years during and after Covid. When this de-facto ban was lifted in 2023, it was to half-hearted promotion and sluggish box office returns. As a result, returns are dismal when compared to five years ago. Ant Man 3 took about 10% of what Ant Man 2 did at the Chinese box office.
Post-pandemic, there’s been a reluctance by cinemas to promote non-patriotic films. The largest box office takings in recent years have been for state-approved films like “My People, My Homeland” (2020), “The Battle of Lake Changjin” (2021), “The Battle for Lake Changjin II” (2022), and “Full River Red” (2023). These have reassuringly patriotic messages, so at an increasingly politically risky time, they’re safe bets to promote.
Each of these took CNY4-5 billion, comparable to Avengers: Endgame. Meanwhile, Black Panther: Wakanda Forever, the first MCU film to be released after the ban, took CNY100 million.The only Western film to have done really well in China post-pandemic was Avatar: The Way of Water. It managed to take CNY1.7 billion. It was still outgrossed handily by a whole host of recent Chinese “patriotic” films.
Oooooooooooh, boy, they really, really do not. The slur “monkeys” gets used a lot. Remember, China got Hollywood to completely change – in post – the Red Dawn reboot to make the baddies North Korea. That was the last time was set out to be a bad guy in a movie. Still, it’s not like anyone saw that movie, so…it was more symbolic, I guess.
I think the data we have challenges your argument, at least when it comes to this movie.As the New York Times notes, “[t]he film’s opening-weekend audience was 65 percent Black, 19 percent white, 8 percent Hispanic and about 5 percent Asian.” That suggests the movie is struggling to appeal to non-black audiences, and it’s hard to see how that bodes well for showings abroad. In basically all the most lucrative foreign markets, the share of the audience that is black is smaller than it is here.
That’s founded on a fundamentally stupid and unsupported idea – that audiences outside the US behave identically or even similarly to US audiences.They don’t.Britain’s Black population is under 3%. Yet for example Black Panther was huge in the UK:https://www.theguardian.com/film/2018/feb/14/marvel-movie-black-panther-is-box-office-hit-in-uk-and-irelandWe don’t have figures for The Color Purple for exactly the reason the person you’re responding to suggested – the complete lack of confidence in an international audience. It’s not released until the 18th (there’s also zero advertising for it). Yet movies which are centered on Black actors routinely do big numbers here.As for China, whilst racism is an issue with their audiences, I don’t think it’s a huge one. The fundamental issue is that to do well in China you need your Western movie to be absolutely 100% confirmed brain-dead. If brain cells are needed, it will not do well in China. That obviously means stuff like The Color Purple is out, as is almost any drama. Only really dumb blockbusters really do well over there. This is largely true with 100% Chinese movies, with a handful of exceptions based on successful books and the like. So I don’t think they’re talking about China, mate. Only blockbusters need concern themselves with China.
So, I was about to talk about that part. I think if we were talking about Black Panther or something like that, the point would stand. I think it’s less supportable with this movie. Black translates all over the world for sure, but this type of Black agrarian struggle experience does not. This was not the experience of Black people all over the world. It was pretty much just us, Black Americans. It was even different in the Caribbean, though with some similarities. I’ve been saying they need to let Black movies expand beyond the struggle content. As a Black person I’m tired of seeing these traumas replayed over and over again. They are valuable stories, but my emotional health can handle taking it in as entertainment any longer. Send Love Jones on a worldwide press tour or Set it Off. Send our Black stories that really do translate around the world. Make more of those stories and see how they can blow up.All that is not to say that this movie was treated fairly. It almost certainly was not and it should have had a bigger budget. But I think the issue is bigger than “Black translates around the world.” It does, but these specific experiences do not.
Thank you for this. I posted this from a Gamilaraay/Kamilaroi/Gomeroi elder woman and activist I’ve met and interviewed above, but figured you might want to see it:I think something like American Fiction will translate better globally, though I’ve not seen it yet.
“It was pretty much just us, Black Americans. It was even different in the Caribbean, though with some similarities.”This, it’s not that international audiences don’t turn out for black lead movies, it’s that they don’t turn out for black lead movies focusing on the specific black American experience. A movie about the slaves struggle in the south just doesn’t hit the same in places where, well that wasn’t really a thing. The experience of black folks in America is different than black folks in Africa, or black folks in Europe.
exactly, i wouldn’t read too much about a somewhat tired story like The Color Purple not setting the world on fire. i think for plenty of older people the spielberg film was enough, plus the stage version since then. Not sure about the demand for a new movie version. You’d think there haven’t been any new black writers since Alice Walker.
Can someone explain the driving thing to me? Like, I assume I am missing something here.Also, any chance I could finally get out of the greys?
I don’t understand the “driving herself to set in Atlanta” thing specifically, other than Atlanta having a reputation for having shitty drivers – which isn’t untrue, but I would argue, what major metropolitan city with urban sprawl doesn’t have its fair share of bad drivers? The studio where The Color Purple shot was also at least 30 minutes outside of Atlanta in an almost rural area, so again, I don’t know what she was specifically implying. But I know some actors work very long hours, and that grueling schedule can make it difficult to drive alert. See: the lead on Riverdale was in a pretty bad accident that was blamed on his work schedule, and one of the proposed solutions is to have cast members driven home so that they’re not driving half-asleep. I would argue that not letting drowsy people get behind the wheel is a good thing. The counterpoint though would be that hundreds of people below the line work grueling hours, and no one’s seriously talking about driving all crew members home after a 16-hour day unless they were shooting on location.Can’t help you with the other thing. Only a staff member can permanently bring you out of the greys.
WB did push back on KJ Apa’s claim that he fell asleep because of work obligations stating that he had been repeatedly offered both rides and hotel rooms so I do think there’s some level of actors and actresses being able to say “I am very tired and unsure I should drive” just like non-actors need to do after long days.I think the bigger issue with how all of this is framed is that it ends up worded in a way that is both hard to relate to and feels entitled mostly because the comments seem to lack context. Hansen doesn’t really say why being driven was important. Brooks doesn’t really say why having a shared dressing room for rehearsals was a problem.
My first thought is, of course WB is going to push back on the claim that the accident wasn’t caused by KJ’s work schedule. Maybe WB did offer him rides and hotel rooms, but the ADs or line producer discouraged it. Other CW/WB leads chimed in to say they believed it could have been because of his schedule because of their own experiences, but I can’t deny that he could have asked for a hotel room or a ride and gotten it. I wasn’t there so I don’t know.I agree about their comments lacking details for context.
That’s not how it works. We usually drive to base camp, which is where hair/makeup is done, and then we (cast and crew) load into a sprinter van that takes us to/from set so we have a chance to go over the shooting schedule & any script changes. That time is even more important for the lead of a project who will be on-set for 10-16 hours/day, and especially a project as emotionally draining as The Color Purple, and extra especially for a musical which can be physically exhausting.And Atlanta’s traffic is notoriously slow, so any extra time spent in traffic pushes the day back for everyone. Which means later drives home in an unfamiliar city with awful congestion. It’s a recipe for an accident.
what major metropolitan city with urban sprawl doesn’t have its fair share of bad drivers? “I’m so glad I moved to Chattanooga. The drivers here are so good.”
Correction: on the studio thing, I got the lots mixed up. This movie did shoot within the perimeter, not 30 minutes outside the city.
Can someone explain the driving thing to me?16 hour days, sometimes 12 to 4 am, eight hour rests between shoots, city you don’t live in and have probably never been to before, often shooting in the middle of nowhere — just look at the promotional photo, it’s an actual forest.Replace acting with any job where you don’t work in a building and have to pack up and leave at a moment’s notice. They’re not working a 9 to 5 in a cubicle.When in doubt, just ask why the actress with a 25-year career is deciding to complain right now and everybody agrees with her.
“16 hour days, sometimes 12 to 4 am, eight hour rests between shoots”
Citation? You know, because there are specific rules about actors having a minimum 12-hour turnaround, but hey, maybe you actually have receipts?
It’s generally unusual for actors to drive themselves to set on a professional film production. She raises the insurance issue, which probably is a big one. You’re making an $80m movie that’s main draw is that, I dunno, The Rock is starring in it, the insurer will want to know that you’re keeping Mr Rock as wrapped in cotton wool as is humanly possible during production.But also, yeah, long hours and draining work, unfamiliar cities (sorry we burned $2m on overtime today, Kevin Hart took the wrong exit on the interstate). Plus, you want your cast focused completely on the task at hand for any given shoot day, not stressed about some arsehole who tailgated them on the way there.
The driving-yourself thing is pretty non-standard at least in NYC union shoots. At least in NYC) “above the line talent” usually get schlepped to locations by Teamsters and not necessarily in a limo. It’s not done to pamper anybody so much as it’s done to make sure production knows the A-listers are on their way. Even production assistants can usually catch a ride in a production van. I don’t doubt things are different down in Atlanta but this story seems a bit fishy.
If you’ve driven in Atlanta traffic, you’d know that Henson had a definite point. The traffic there is insane. The only thing worse than Atlanta traffic is the Atlanta airport.
“I’m not the person that pulls the race card every time, but what else is it, then? Tell me. I’d rather it not be race, please give me something else.” – Taraji P. Henson“Everything before the word ‘but’ is horse shit.” – Ned Stark
I think there are a few misleading things here:They were not given private dressing rooms while they were rehearsing (which for a musical is likely a longer period of time) and they didn’t have their own food, meaning they were likely using a cafeteria or a buffet. She did not say they were not given any food at all. There is nothing to suggest they didn’t have normal trailers and craft services during production itself.I do find the suggestion that they couldn’t drive themselves to set a little odd. I don’t think that’s an absurd request by film companies on moderate budget films.
I don’t know, I get the impression a lot of actors are not experienced drivers. If they were staying and filming in Atlanta then it wouldn’t be tough to run a simple shuttle or black car/SUV service. The overall metro area is huge, but the city itself is pretty tight.
They all presumably drive in LA, which is some of the most horrific conditions around. They also paid for their rental cars (and presumably the related insurance). If you drive in your personal life (which Henson does), it seems like an odd line in the sand to make and minimally, she isn’t framing it in a way where she’s apt to get a lot of sympathy. Perhaps with greater context of what her concern was, it would make more sense.
Yeah I was addressing that one element of her comment specifically. In general she comes off pretty damn spoiled. But hey, Oprah fixed it since she’s obviously going to be the only person involved in a remake of The Color Purple who isn’t racist.
hey, the world’s filled with shitty drivers. I wish they’d all fuck off so I could get to work.
“I do find the suggestion that they couldn’t drive themselves to set a little odd. I don’t think that’s an absurd request by film companies on moderate budget films.”The fact that you think this shows you have no idea what you’re talking about, and that your opinion should be disregarded. It is not normal for actors to drive themselves, and it’s a great way to end up with huge production delays, stressed actors, and to have to keep cutting shooting short, which increases costs in the longer run.
I’m sure you like thinking you know more than other people, but no, not all actors have drivers who drive them to set especially on smaller budget films and in many cases, private drivers are not paid for by production. The only actors who always have private drivers are A-listers working on large budget films. Additionally, many of those A-listers are using their own private car companies and are not being wholly financed through production. Union rules dictate that certain aspects of travel and transportation must be reimbursable. In some cases an actor may put this per diem expense towards a private driver. This is why, for example, Turtle drives Vince around on Entourage. He’s on Vince’s payroll, not productions. A real world example: Reese Witherspoon used to pay her brother to serve as her driver.
There is nothing that dictates that production needs to provide a driver outside of an actor’s individual contract. It does not require that a private driver be reimbursable. In the case of the Color Purple, they opted for no-cost rental cars, self-driven to meet the union requirement of reimbursable travel – a common occurrence on film sets. Other productions might opt for a shuttle to and from the production hotel. You’ll see that’s why I said “it’s not an absurd request by film companies on moderate budget films.”
My thought is that she’s very well known in Atlanta, driving by herself, without any security, to an out of the way filming location could be dangerous, some nut might pull a Misery style situation on her. I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect some kind of security detail.
That could be her concern, but that is not necessarily the production’s responsibility. Under union rules, they are required to reimburse travel and transportation, not supply it. In this case, they supplied rental cards. A celebrity can negotiate one, but most A-listers with drivers are just employing whoever they employ in their day-to-day lives and applying the amount of reimbursement to that driver. See Turtle in Entourage, as an example. The idea that all productions are supplying drivers to all cast on a production is simply not accurate and the lack of context for her concern makes it harder to be clear on how necessary it is – She drives herself around LA without a security detail in her day-to-day life.
IDK, food could be something I’d gripe about, depending on what we’re talking here. I’d absolutely *prefer* to drive a rental car than be driven, though. Fuck, that’s ME time.
[Ugh crashes car while masturbating.]
Nothing says “self-driving” like…
Talk about auto erotic!
“. . . in cars”
But Barbie had a black President.
Really awesome movie for most of its running time, before taking a hard turn into literally preaching to us that abuse victims will go to Hell if they don’t forgive their abusers. Maybe that’s in the original book, I haven’t read it, but you’d think anyone doing an adaptation these days would be smart enough to take it out.
I haven’t seen the movie yet, but neither the book nor the stage musical suggest that to the best of my recollection. Celie literally sings a song about how she doesn’t need anyone other than herself and that she sees clearly how things are now so it would be odd to me for that to be a message, but it has been a while since I read the book but I really don’t recall that being part of it.
I’m fuzzy on SAG-AFTRA rules with regards to driving to set, and I know that it’s a teamster violation in California if their drivers aren’t used, and while I’m sympathetic to Taraji P. Henson being underpaid, underappreciated, underutilized, and undereverything else, I can’t help but think about how Ben Affleck slept on Kevin Smith’s couch while shooting his shoestring budget indie classic Chasing Amy.Like what others are saying, I don’t believe there was no food, just not specially catered individual meals, which sounds like something you’d hear about in old stories about Jennifer Lopez or Gary Busey. Oprah is a billionaire for a reason, but she’s not Doug Walker.
Do you think Ben Affleck sleeps on couches now? The woman is advocating for herself, why is this such a problem for so many people who aren’t financially affected by her getting what she asked for or not.I guess this uppity negress needs to know her place.
You’re showing your ignorance. Chasing Amy was far from Affleck’s first role, and he was already getting parts that provided better accommodations. Chasing Amy is noteworthy because it had the least accommodations for his entire career. He took the part because Smith was his friend and it was good role, not because it paid well or came with any frills. He would absolutely sleep on his couch again, although at this point, I imagine Kevin Smith at least has a guest bed or money for a Motel 6 room.Advocating for yourself, your value, and Black media is laudable, but demanding extras like personal meals and drivers is entitlement. Productions film outside of LA and New York to save money. The more they spend, the less the movie makes, resulting in less opportunities and recognition for the cast and crew who would take the lion’s share of blame. If she wants a chef and a driver, she needs her agent to negotiate those riders into her contract. Or better yet, not. There’s plenty of great actresses that would take that opportunity and not care about having to drive a rental and eat craft service. Those of us with regular jobs have to pay for our own food and transportation.
because “racist”. the answer is always “racist”.
Watching you people vigorously fight to diminish these women and erase their workplace issues is just another day that ends in “y.” You don’t care, you will never care, and you have nothing to contribute to help, so why are you running your mouths?
Because we enjoy shooting the shit about the news on this pop culture website?
i work 16 hour days, wheres my driver?
“the reality of working as an actor is rarely as glamorous as one might imagine.”-
First issue brought up: Where’s my personal driver!
The level of ignorance from AV Club respondees here is just shocking. You’re on a site about movies and TV, and you know absolutely fucking NOTHING about movies and TV. Incredibly stuff. Right up there with gamers acting like the art team should be fixing bugs on a videogame.The reality is, actors tend to work very long days, often 16 hours, often getting up extremely early. It’s normal for them to be driven to and from work. You can be a shit about that if you like, and break out childish nonsense which only proves your own ignorance like “entitled”, but that’s just digging yourself in a very stupid hole.
“I’m not in charge of the budget because that’s Warner Brothers—you know that’s the way the studio system works.”Sorry Oprah, you are one of the most powerful, and richest, people in Hollywood. You could have full control over the project.
Sometimes you do come in saying, ‘Ok, I’ll take whatever they give me. I’m just happy to be here.’ Warner Brothers knows it. My guess is the bare budget was a combination of racism (“it’s a Black movie”) and “A lot of the cast is new enough that they will take what scraps we give them and be grateful.”