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1 year ago
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Robert Townsend moved to Los Angeles successful the aboriginal 80s, determined to go a Hollywood star. And though helium had rapidly emerged arsenic a gully connected the standup circuit, the Chicago autochthonal struggled to reckon with the structural racism helium encountered portion auditioning for spot parts connected movie and TV – the immense bulk of them ham-fisted stereotypes, from snitch to slave.
Before long, Townsend’s casting telephone stories – immoderate of them humiliating, astir of them hilariously code deaf – became excessively overwhelming for his regular postmortems with Keenen Ivory Wayans, who was going done the nonstop aforesaid thing.
Even arsenic helium landed meaty supporting roles successful Cooley High and A Soldier’s Story, Townsend tried roping Wayans into a movie task astir their vocation heartbreaks, but Wayans was skeptical. Townsend ne'er went to movie school, overmuch little had changeable oregon written anything. Townsend didn’t person overmuch wealth either. What helium did person was grooming with a Chicago theatre radical called the Experimental Black Actors Guild, starting astatine property 14. “I was astir technicians who were Black – writers, directors, producers, acceptable designers,” Townsend says to the Guardian. “I was telling Keenen, We tin bash this. There’s thing mystical oregon magical astir it.”
In 1987, a twelvemonth aft Spike Lee announced himself with She’s Gotta Have It, Townsend released Hollywood Shuffle – a 78-minute comedic allegory astir the compromises the manufacture forces connected Black actors successful speech for honorable work. Townsend shows awesome scope arsenic leader Bobby Taylor, a bare young histrion who daydreams of roles successful enslaved dramas and blaxploitation flicks – astatine erstwhile parodying acquainted tropes portion yearning to play them seriously. His off-screen hustle near a mark, too.
Townsend maxed retired a fistful of recognition cards, oregon $60,000 successful debt, to marque Hollywood Shuffle – which went connected to gross much than $5m astatine the container office. Roger Ebert called it “a logistical triumph”. It heralded Townsend arsenic a multitalented prima and indie movie satellite darling, and established on-screen careers for co-stars Wayans (In Living Color), John Witherspoon (Friday), Anne-Marie Johnson (In the Heat of the Night) and adjacent introduced Damon Wayans. This period it was announced that the movie volition beryllium added to the Criterion Collection database successful February. Its interaction connected autarkic film-making has been understated for acold excessively long. “There’s astir apt a 20-year play wherever radical are saying, ‘I’m gonna marque my movie connected recognition cards,’” notes renowned movie student Elvis Mitchell. “That’s Hollywood Shuffle.”
Thirty-five years later, Hollywood Shuffle inactive rates among the astir scathing indictments of the industry. One particularly withering aside, called Black Acting School, successful which Bobby imagines himself endorsing a method that teaches Black actors however to beryllium adjacent blacker, adjacent anticipated the emergence of Black Brits successful disguise arsenic Black American characters. Did Townsend know? “No, I did not,” helium says. “When I archetypal started arsenic a standup, each these Black comedians came connected with a akin benignant of, ‘Wuzzup I’m from the ghetto, baby’ thing.” To basal out, he’d bash the aforesaid lines, but successful a posh accent. “But I gotta say, I don’t cognize if Black British actors are trained otherwise oregon they’re hungrier, but there’s thing to beryllium said. But there’s a question that came, and those are immoderate truly beardown actors. Like, John Boyega is simply a beast.”
Townsend’s towering ambition would’ve been evident to immoderate of his Hollywood Shuffle collaborators. He chopped Wayans from a Siskel & Ebert-style spoof aft the second kept missing rehearsals. “I knew helium was retired chasin’ immoderate honey,” Townsend jokes. “I got mad. I’m takin’ this existent serious. I started successful theatre successful Chicago. I learned my manners there: beryllium connected time. Be good rehearsed. Warm up the actors. Talk done the beats of the scene. I was truly taking time. When it’s your wealth and you lone person a small spot of it, you gotta beryllium truly smart.”
Altogether, Hollywood Shuffle was changeable successful 2 years implicit 12 days. To assistance support the task connected budget, helium collected unused movie from his regular gigs. “Back successful the day, a movie mag was similar 10 minutes long, and a country mightiness beryllium six and a fractional minutes,” helium explains. “So immoderate was near implicit they’d either propulsion distant oregon springiness away. When I finished A Soldier’s Story, I called [director] Norman Jewison and [the producers] and said, I’m gonna marque my ain movie. Can I person the leftover film? They said, ‘Take arsenic overmuch arsenic you want.’
“Film-makers now, they don’t recognize however hard it was backmost past to marque a movie. You gotta enactment it together, rip it apart, excavation for clips successful a bin, splice it together.” What’s more, astir of that editing happened astatine a post-production workplace for porn movies. “Keenen came up with the idea,” Townsend says. “There were 16 antithetic editors successful the antithetic suites. I had ne'er heard anyone nonstop porno. And it was like, ‘Put your caput down! Put your caput back! Join! Join!’ Everybody coiled up coming down to my suite. They were like, ‘Oh, you’re moving connected a real movie.”
In the extremity Samuel Goldwyn Jr bought Hollywood Shuffle from Townsend for $100,000. And erstwhile it was released successful the outpouring of ’87, it was the speech of the town. But erstwhile Eddie Murphy called to spot for himself portion connected circuit successful Europe, Townsend and Wayans hesitated. In different speech successful the film, Bobby fantasizes astir a casting telephone for an Eddie Murphy-type and wins the portion upon arriving successful blackface. And arsenic it approached during a backstage screening Townsend and Wayans acceptable up for Murphy successful Burbank, the co-screenwriters swallowed hard.
“Hey Eddie!” 1 subordinate of his entourage shouted erstwhile the country yet arrived. “They talkin bout you!” A hush fell implicit the theater, arsenic Townsend and Wayans contemplated the repercussions of offending a beloved person who conscionable happened to beryllium the biggest entertainer connected the planet. But erstwhile the country was over, Murphy’s honk-laugh filled the room. As the last credits rolled, Townsend sought retired Murphy to apologize. “No man, I emotion this,” helium told Townsend, earlier asking if he’d beryllium up for directing a performance movie helium had successful his head. That turned retired to beryllium Eddie Murphy Raw. “Eddie was surviving successful a full ’nother stratosphere,” Townsend says. “He wasn’t gonna perceive from actors, ‘Hey, man, went connected different audition wherever they wanted maine to beryllium you.’ I deliberation determination was a beauteous information that helium discovered. But I was sharing my truth. Back past it was, ‘We privation you to beryllium similar Eddie! Can you laughter similar Eddie?’ All of that worldly was real.”
After that Townsend could bash nary wrong. He directed much features, possibly nary much beloved than his Temptations-inspired Five Heartbeats. He headlined an HBO drama special, Robert Townsend’s Partners successful Crime, that not lone acceptable a template for Wayans’s In Living Color, helium adjacent nailed Black radical connected soapy TV – which, again, was decades from becoming Andy Cohen and Tyler Perry’s thing. His imaginative sitcom, The Parent ’Hood, ran for 5 seasons.
At 65, Townsend works astatine a comfy pace. He was prepared to circuit a one-man signifier production, Living the Shuffle, 3 years ago, but past the pandemic hit; immoderate of his stories are chaotic (Frank Sinatra inviting him to a 77th day bash successful Vegas aft seeing the Five Heartbeats), others much poignant (having Sidney Poitier for a vocation mentor); probably, the yarns volition yet go portion of different drama special. Townsend doesn’t enactment arsenic overmuch arsenic helium utilized to. But erstwhile helium did crook up successful the pulp comic publication TV bid Black Lightning, fans couldn’t assistance but beryllium reminded of his aboriginal enactment directing and starring successful Meteor Man. Mostly, he’s kept engaged directing TV bid similar Netflix’s upcoming scam play Kaleidoscope and Peacock’s reboot of the ensemble romcom The Best Man.
Hollywood has travel a agelong way since Townsend’s directorial debut. Some stereotypes person gone away, portion others person evolved. For each of Hollywood Shuffle’s biting satire, you wonder: did the manufacture truly larn the lesson? “I’ve had radical from the Indian community, the Mexican assemblage go, ‘You cognize that’s our communicative too, man,” Townsend says. “There was adjacent a feline that was Italian that went, ‘For maine it’s mobsters.’ It’s been a root of inspiration.
“Has it made a difference? I deliberation it has. You can’t enactment it connected insubstantial and accidental due to the fact that of Hollywood Shuffle, these things changed. But I deliberation due to the fact that Hollywood Shuffle exists, those things are ever successful conversation.”
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