An appeal to the film museum: pay that tribute to “Boyz N The Hood” with no apology

Executive director of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, Bill Cramer, announced in Toronto on Saturday that his group’s film museum will be replaced in February by the late director John Singleton. neighborhood kids.

So here’s a polite plea to the museum: do it without excuses.

For now, the academy and its museum are in apology mode. Next Saturday brings “An Evening with Sacheen Littlefeather”, complete with “a long-awaited apology from the Academy” for 50 years of boycotts, assaults, harassment and discrimination that led to Sachin rejecting the Oscars on stage. For Marlon Brando.

The museum’s celebration of the current “rebirth” of film noir also comes with regret. “We should have seen it a long time ago, but this is the day it starts,” said Academy Governor Ava DuVernay, introducing the show about black success.

An apology is probably a must. There will probably be others. But Singleton and their 1991 debut deserve to be remembered for what they were: a proud and irreverent presence in a studio culture that was happy to have them.

I knew John only a little, certainly a lot less than his executive mentor and later collaborator Stephanie Allen, or many of the young people who worked at his New Deal production company. When I was at Columbia, trying to make movies in the 90s, I had an office two doors from Singleton. In one project, an action movie that was never made, we were partners. We chatted from time to time; I could feel enough of his quiet pride that at 22 had found his place in the study system.

He was so young when he did. neighborhood kids. At the age of 27, she created three studio feature films (add poetic justice Y high school education), all for Colombia: a great result.

Sure, Singleton had his frustrations then and after. Allen could tell you more about them. Most importantly, I remember a moment of personal uncertainty as I struggled with the choice between potentially hot action projects or delving deeper into black culture. it went on rose treeabout lynchings, for Warner, and was largely rooted in black culture.

But his respect for Columbia was not inferior to that of the most experienced film directors and producers: Penny Marshall, Harold Ramis, Danny DeVito, Jean-Claude Van Damme, Robert Duvall, John Woo, Adam Sandler, Wolfgang Petersen, Jim Brooks. who then opted for the Sony batch.

Frank Price, head of the center-right political firm, which gave Boys His green light was certainly proud of the film, so much so that he chose his young Cuba star Gooding Jr. in his first performance in a vulgar boxing movie. GladiatorLeave the executive position.

Jeff Stockwell, then Maurice Sendak’s development manager and then screenwriter, enjoyed clandestine celebrity status in the lot simply because he noticed Boys– or so the legend went – while working deep in the Columbia history department.

As for my action project, the studio accepted it, after paying $ 5,000 for a short 52-page exclusive reading period from a non-produced writer at the time, a rather strange deal since Singleton was interested. They loved him very much.

Of course, the Academy loved Singleton enough to make him the first black nominated for an Oscar for directing in 1992. Singleton later told me that his only wish was to lose the distinction of being the only black director nominated. Others followed, Lee Daniels, Steve McQueen, Spike Lee, Barry Jenkins, Jordan Peele.

So, in 2019, Singleton’s untimely death from a stroke has nothing to apologize for, nothing to regret.