9768: RE: FWD: 9765: Re: 9749: Kozyn adds Re: Slavery - Democracy (fwd)

[Bob Corbett <corbetre@webster.edu>]

From: amah <amah@gwu.edu>

>I also noted this: "No wonder Hollywood is not interested!!!!"
>
>I was under the impression that Danny Glover was behind the movie project of
>the life of Toussaint L'Ouverture and the Haitian Revolution. Does anyone
>know differently?
>

To answer your question, Danny Glover and Jonathan Demme have been throwing 
the idea around Hollywood since the early 80s. The reason Hollywood is not 
interested is because it's a period film that would have to be filmed partly 
IN Haiti and 1) the cost for the costumes and sets ect... would be 
astronomical, 2) paying the actors would be even more expensive, 3)To make it 
commercially viable to the American public it wouldn't be all that 
historically accurate (and I personally don't think the Haitian Gov. would 
allow filming in Haiti it they didn't agree with the script - I would hope 
not), 4)The country's political situation would have to simmer down quite a 
bit before they consider filming, 5) Though Danny Glover is one of my 
favorites, quite frankly his dramatic credits have not been box office 
"sucesses" for him to carry a film of this magnitude (and Hollywood producers 
aren't willing to take a chance on him).
I spoke to Edwidge Danticat in the spring about a screenplay that I am writing 
and we talked about all this - I'm pretty sure she said that Mr. Glover is 
trying to make it a made for (cable?) TV movie with his production company. 
We'll see....personally I think this should be written and spearheaded by a 
Haitian, but I love the fact that Mr. Glover and Mr. Demme are so passionate 
about this project. I have tried to contact them but no word. 
-Francois Amah Medard-