During a chat with The New York Times recently, screenwriter, producer and actress Lena Waithe claimed that there is a lack of support for films produced by black people, particularly from black actors and actresses.
Waithe, known for co-writing and acting in Netflix comedy drama series Master of None, has a new production underway called Queen and Slim, starring Daniel Kaluuya and Jodie Turner-Smith. She strongly believes that if movies such as Get Out and Moonlight had not been so successful then there is no way that her latest project would have received support from major studios.
She noted that famous black actors could easily be doing more to support small films by using their profits from big movie roles to help them be produced.
When discussing black film productions Waithe said: ‘Don’t get me started on black financiers! How many of those do we have? I’m not [going to name] names because I know better, but there are some very big black movie stars out there, and they could pay for two or three or even five small independent movies to get made by black directors and black writers.’
Despite saying that she wouldn’t specify names, Waithe went on to criticise some big figures in the movie industry. When referring to Brad Pitt’s company Plan B, which supports auteur-driven work in the United States, Waithe said: ‘Wasn’t Denzel. Wasn’t Will Smith. You won’t catch me making $20 million a movie and not paying for at least four or five independent movies a year.’
Ironically, Waithe’s comments went public on the same day that Denzel Washington received his 47th Lifetime Achievement Award for his contributions to the film industry.
Many on Twitter were outraged by this criticism of the black stars and expressed their anger in their tweets. The International Film Critique tweeted: ‘The same Denzel Washington that produced and directed The Great Debaters, Antwone Fisher and Fences? That paid for Chadwick Boseman’s education? The man that signed a 10 year deal with Netflix Film for August Wilson’s films?’
Although many Twitter users spoke out against her comment, some did agree with her statement. One user tweeted: ‘I find Lena Waithe’s criticism of the established members of black Hollywood to be fair. The majority of them are not financing multiple black indie films. They’re financing their own vehicles (which is fine), but…it comes back to what she said.’
There has been speculation about tension created between the producer and Smith and Washington after the comment was said, however it was thrown out in a response Waithe made at the BET Experience Genius Talks panel on Saturday. She said: ‘Look, Will, Denzel, I have a relationship with both camps, no shade no tea, I was just texting with Jada – everybody’s fine.’
Of course it would be nice to see more small films produced by black people receiving support from other black actors in the community – however, perhaps it is a little unfair to hit out at those who are already immensely contributing to the industry and perhaps do not make many of their contributions public knowledge.
