Why tiptoe out of the gate?'Īs it happens, this is also the first movie out of the gate for actress and comedian Mo'Nique since she won an Oscar four years ago for her role in the movie 'It's terrific, I mean, it's Bob Johnson,' she says. De Veaux is impressed that it's the Urban Movie Channel's first original acquisition 'I might have said, 'Play it safe.' 'īlackbird is also opening in a small number of theaters across the country this weekend. 'If I were guiding him, I would have suggest something maybe not so controversial, maybe not so provocative,' she says. But she was still surprised to see Isaiah Washington in a movie with a lot of gay teenage sex - some of it during church. She's a media relations expert who follows entertainment issues. Washington's recent films reflect his range and fearlessness, says Marcella De Veaux. He starred in the critically acclaimed but little-seenīlue Caprice, where he played the Washington, D.C., sniper John Muhammad. Grey's Anatomy incident, Washington has worked in a lot of small independent films. Polk says the label sticks with Washington even though other actors like Alex Baldwin, Jonah Hill have used gay slurs, apologized and moved on. 'And suddenly he's labeled, you know, homophobe, and that's all people remember.' 'Two actors having a spat on set - which happens all the time - and unfortunately in this media age that we live in now, that gets blown up,' he says. That's because seven years ago, Washington was accused of using an anti-gay slur in an argument on the set of the showīlackbird, he plays Randy's loving father.Īll the drama around what Washington might have said on the Coming from me, I know it's going to raise eyebrows.' ' Washington recalls: 'I said, 'So, sorry I said have to be part of this - this is an amazing story. That perspective informs everything Polk's made for the past 20 years, including his groundbreaking cable seriesīlackbird, he sent the script to actor Isaiah Washington. 'I'd never read anything that was told from a gay black perspective.' 'I could see illustrated brown skin on the spine.' 'And there was one book on the shelf I could tell had an illustration of a black person on the cover,' he recalls. Even though his best friend is gay, Randy's in denial about his own sexuality.īlackbird is a movie he has wanted to make ever since he left Mississippi for college and found himself in the gay and lesbian section of a Boston bookstore. Everyone thinks he's gay, and they're totally fine with it.

Inīlackbird, the main character Randy is in high school. The first original film it has acquired is a gay interracial romance set in the Deep South. Johnson created BET and now, the Urban Movie Channel - an online channel that's being called the black Netflix. A tiny independent movie has been picked by one of Hollywood's biggest moguls to promote his latest venture.

Blackbird by larry duplechan