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Behind the Scenes of "Shaft" |
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Other Articles |
When
Richard Roundtree first exploded across movie screens in 1971 as
"the black private dick that's a sex machine to all the chicks",
he did more than break box office
records. The original movie Shaft became a juggernaut that
smashed racial stereotypes in Hollywood and carved a path for a future
generation of black filmmakers and performers.
"Things were different then", said John Singleton, who directed the new Shaft which is this month's action-packed video release starring Samuel L. Jackson. "Up until that time," explained Singleton on the official Paramount Pictures web site, "we really only had Sidney Poitier." Samuel L. Jackson remembers his impression when he saw the original Shaft in Atlanta when he was a drama student in Morehouse College. He said, "it was the first time I actually saw someone who looked like me, sounded like me, dressed the way I wanted to dress and played a hero!" For Jackson, "it was all about Black Pride." Because the actor, Richard Roundtree, became a cultural icon from his portrayal of the private detective in three feature films and a subsequent TV series, the filmmaker, John Singleton (Boys N the Hood) knew that he could not approach this project as a "remake" without inviting critical comparison. So instead, Singleton opted to make his Shaft a reverent "update." In the new film, Roundtree appears, once again, as the original John Shaft; and Samuel L. Jackson stars as his nephew and namesake, police detective, John Shaft, who carries on the crime-fighting tradition of his uncle and mentor. To capture the original flavor, the director shot on many of the same New York City locations that were used in the first movie. Paramount Pictures helped expedite the renovation of the Lenox Lounge to use a John Shaft's favorite hang out. The historic Harlem nightclub had long stood in disrepair, but now has been beautifully restored as a popular tourist sight thanks in part to the production of Shaft. |
