Lifetime to remake "Steel Magnolias" with all black cast

[quartermainefan]

I don't know if it is that black women can't have the same type of emotions or rather that black women can't get the same type of roles. At the start of this thread someone mentioned Pearl Bailey doing an all-black version of Hello Dolly. Pearl Bailey was a true talent, a great personality, a fine singer and a good actress. Dolly was white. So why not remake it to showcase the talent? It is 2012 but there just are almost no roles for women, let alone black women.

[Wales2004]

It's totally mu fault for prematurely commenting. My thoughts weren't formulated well. I've been reading about and listening to too much race talk (Tyler Perry's fans vs. Spike Lee's fans, Gwyneth Paltrow's tweet, Dyson overload, etc) and I should have done more thinking before I decided to type.

This wasn't directed at you or SFK. I was making a generic statement about society in general. You do raise an interesting point about churches though. I understand why American churches were segregated historically but other than for geographical reasons, I don't understand any religion that uses the Bible as its guide being intentionally segregated. My take though is that people become proficient at imitating or passing down. If a kid sees a service conducted a certain way then gets older and decides to follow that path, he's more likely to carry on what he is told is a tradition. It's kind of like singing. Some singers sing melismatically because they "feel" it and some do it because they're imitating their favorite singers.

I don't, for example, know if competing dance crews really antagonize each other like thugs or gang members but dance movies give that impression. What are the chances that there are kids who see some of these movies and think that's the way they are supposed to act?

I'm good with people being who they are. I just don't care for someone trying to insist that a character like Claire Huxtable is less black than a character like Nikki Parker. There's plenty of room for both. I'n not a fan of Tyler Perry but he does what works for him and his viewers/supporters. I've seen attacks on him claiming that he's set black people back centuries along with the black women on the VH1 reality shows. Those women only represent themselves.

Thanks for clearing that up because I was thinking I must really be worse than I thought.

[Wales2004]

I've already said that I commented prematurely. I didn't formulate my thoughts on the topic.

I don't agree that there are no roles for women though because Lifetime seems to churn out movies on a regular basis. They could probably cast a variety of women in those movies because the characters are so generic for the most part. The fact that they choose not to is another thing altogether.

[Eric83]

LMAO. Me too.

[Cheap21]

[SFK]

This is kind of difficult viewing for me! Wish I could get out of my head, I'm playing the original movie side-by-side in my mind and annoyingly fast-forwarding.

[jcar03]

The first movie is no engrained in my mind that nothing could live up to it. Several of the performances are very wooden (Queen Latifah and Condola Rashad mostly.)

Condola's diabetic seizure was NOTHING in comparison to Julia Roberts. You can barely tell anything was even going on.

[Y&RWorldTurner]

This was just terrible, and the actresses had absolutely no spark or chemistry together. They all seemed bored and just doing it for a paycheck.

[dragonflies]

I had a feeling this wouldn't work, it's not about race, it's just that some movies shouldn't be remade. The casting isn't that great IMO

[JaneAusten]

This movie was a disappointment. I do think casting was an issue with a few of the roles but I think the major flaw was the direction and the fact they elected to play these characters as just "ordinary people" to give the film a more contemporary and realistic vibe. That's what Queen Latifah, who was the executive producer of the film, said they were going for. Part of the charm is yes, these are ordinary women but they were portrayed almost larger than life in the studio film, and it gave the film and characters a certain charm . The 2 highlight performances were Alfre Woodard and Phylicia Rashad, and even their performances were very toned down. I didn't believe the connection or closeness of this group of women. I think aside from Woodard and Rashad, the rest of the cast lacked real chemistry.

[Mr. Vixen]

I haven't gotten the chance to watch it (though it's on my DVR), but I'm going in with *very* low expectations. The original is one of my absolute favorite movies.

[dragonflies]

http://tvbythenumbers.zap2it.com/2012/10/08/steel-magnolias-averages-6-5-million-total-viewers-in-world-premiere/152040/?utm_campaign=WP%20%3E%20Twitter&utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitter

averages 6.5 million

[Y&RWorldTurner]

Not surprised, they promoted the hell out of it and whored it everywhere.

I just wish it wasn't such an awful adaptation though.

[jcar03]

I agree....specifically about Phylicia Rashad. She was the best part for me. When I first heard they were doing this and they listed Rashad and Latifah as two of the people in it, I thought of Latifah in the Dolly Parton role and Rashad playing M'Lynn.

[SFK]

I also agree, and especially about Rashad. Her Clairee rung the most true to me and I had the easiest time adjusting to the transition to her from Olympia Dukakis. AW didn't let it rip quite like Shirley MacLaine, in both the case of AW and PR, I felt that there was "a cap" on their performances and they didn't play the material as broadly as the writing gives it breadth to. I actually thought Condola was quite good at parts, her line delivery was very smooth and believable and then there'd be a moment (like the seizure) where things just sort of fell flat in comparison to the original movie. I've seen comments about the lack of the funeral scene, but that scene (and the entire play for that matter) happens in Truvy's shop in the play. The cemetery setting was the original film's invention.

The all-black casting did not hurt the piece at all. What hurt it was the fact that the script is delightfully quotable and you just cannot hear all of those bon mots repeated by "imposters". If you grew up watching the original, you knew the lines before they even came out of these new actresses' mouths. To be fair, I am sure that this is an issue for every fan of the film who has ever seen the stage version. It was on Broadway again a few years back, and I bet a lot of folks felt the same (plus there's the fact that everything in the play takes place in the shop and the male characters are all referred to off-stage).

I've never seen a stage production of Driving miss Daisy, but i have a feeling I would feel exactly the same. It was on Broadway last season with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones, and yet, I bet I still wouldn't be able to shake Tandy and Freeman' voices in my head.