DOCSLIB.ORG

Shakespeare Unlimited: How King Lear Inspired Empire

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
Shakespeare Unlimited: How King Lear Inspired Empire Shakespeare Unlimited: How King Lear Inspired Empire Ilene Chaiken, Executive Producer Interviewed by Barbara Bogaev A Folger Shakespeare Library Podcast March 22, 2017 ---------------------------- MICHAEL WITMORE: Shakespeare can turn up almost anywhere. [A series of clips from Empire.] —How long you been plannin’ to kick my dad off the phone? —Since the day he banished me. I could die a thousand times… just please… From here on out, this is about to be the biggest, baddest company in hip-hop culture. Ladies and gentlemen, make some noise for the new era of Hakeem Lyon, y’all… MICHAEL: From the Folger Shakespeare Library, this is Shakespeare Unlimited. I‟m Michael Witmore, the Folger‟s director. This podcast is called “The World in Empire.” That clip you heard a second ago was from the Fox TV series Empire. The story of an aging ruler— in this case, the head of a hip-hop music dynasty—who sets his three children against each other. Sound familiar? As you will hear, from its very beginning, Empire has fashioned itself on the plot of King Lear. And that‟s not the only Shakespeare connection to the program. To explain all this, we brought in Empire’s showrunner, the woman who makes everything happen on time and on budget, Ilene Chaiken. She was interviewed by Barbara Bogaev. ---------------------------- BARBARA BOGAEV: Well, Empire seems as if its elevator pitch was a hip-hop King Lear. Was that the idea from the start? ILENE CHAIKEN: Yes, as I understand it, now I didn‟t create Empire— BOGAEV: Right, because you‟re the showrunner, and first there‟s a pilot, and then the series gets picked up, and then they pick the showrunner. CHAIKEN: Yes. It was created by Lee Daniels and Danny Strong. And as I understand it, that was the idea. Danny Strong wanted to write about hip-hop. He went to Lee and his idea was, let‟s do King Lear in hip-hop. BOGAEV: And it seems pretty literal in that it‟s explicit in the pilot, there‟s a reference to King Lear. CHAIKEN: Exactly. Exactly, it‟s literal in the conception and in the modeling of the show, and it‟s actually put on text. BOGAEV: Yeah, remind— for people who didn‟t hear the pilot, and also the premise, which is, it‟s three sons, not three daughters. CHAIKEN: Right. So it‟s a father who charges his three sons each with earning the right and privilege of inheriting his company, his kingdom—it‟s called Empire. It‟s all very literal. BOGAEV: Yeah, his name is Lucious. I mean the patriarch. CHAIKEN: Yes. Yeah. Exactly. And in the premise-establishing scene, which is a scene probably five minutes into the pilot, when Lucious sits his three sons down at his dining room table and says, “One of you three is going to have to take over this company.” [CLIP from Empire.] LUCIOUS LYON: Your brother and I been working hard to turn Empire into a publicly traded company. Now, part of us going public is ensuring a legacy for this company, and right now, it appears none of you are prepared to take over when I’m gone. CHAIKEN: Lucious already knows or believes that he has a fatal illness, and he puts it to them: “One of you is going to have to prove himself. You‟re competing against one another to take over this great billion-dollar company that I‟ve created.” [CLIP continues.] LUCIOUS: Now it won’t happen today, nor tomorrow, but I will start grooming someone soon… CHAIKEN: And one of the three sons, Jamal, the most sensitive, the most artistic, the most honest, and pure, and the one his father is least likely to favor says, “What are we, King Lear or something?” [CLIP continues.] JAMAL: What is this? We King Lear now? LUCIOUS: Call it what you want, smartass, but over the next several months— ANDRE: Wait, wait, what are you saying? We’re all in competition to be the future head of the company? CHAIKEN: And I think that you know, probably we should believe that Jamal is the only one that would go there, Jamal is the one who has the literary framework to even understand that reference. BOGAEV: And there are a lot of reverberations and foreshadowing and in some ways it‟s closer to The Lion In Winter, right, because in that you have a husband and a wife using the children in all these ways, and as pawns and there‟re three sons rather than three daughters. CHAIKEN: Yes, and Danny also was explicit about The Lion in Winter. He said, “This is The Lion in Winter, that‟s what I‟m doing, it‟s King Lear.” I‟m not sure that this is correct, but wasn‟t King Lear the underpinning for The Lion in Winter? I mean, isn‟t it, you know, a reference and an inspiration that now goes through several layers of interpretation? BOGAEV: Now as we said, you‟re the show runner, so you came on after the series got picked up, and it already has this Shakespeare-flooded intention. Was it clear to you how you were going to practically follow through on that though? CHAIKEN: No, not initially, my job in coming on as the show runner, to carry out somebody else‟s vision, Lee and Danny‟s vision— BOGAEV: Right, to make it work. CHAIKEN: —Is, it‟s to make it work, but it‟s also to really explore it with them. They‟re very involved in the show and especially in the beginning, the first thing I did was sit down with them, and talk to them at length—it‟s a very kind of psychological interview, a mind-meld. BOGAEV: It‟s a mind-meld. Right. CHAIKEN: It‟s all of those things, you know, what are your wishes, intentions, and so on? And neither of them has ever done a television series, has—I mean Lee is a filmmaker, a director. Danny is a screenwriter and an actor. He‟s acted in television shows before, but he‟s never created one that‟s been on the air and had to tell stories week after week. So, I talked to them about all of the things that are important to them, and one of the things that comes through is… these Shakespearean themes are core to our concept of the show, and we want to really stay true to them and it‟s not that we‟re literally doing Lear, that‟s going to have to— BOGAEV: Fade away. CHAIKEN: Yes. It‟ll have to fade away, or at least take on a life of its own. But the themes of the show should always feel Shakespearean. And so we talked about all the different ways in which that can happen, and one of the things that I‟ve done in my own shows, has been to find something that doesn‟t expressly wind up on the screen, but that informs the thinking behind a show. It‟s, you know, how do you name your episodes? How do you contemplate your themes? And I suggested that maybe every episode we should find a quote from Shakespeare—and it can be anything, I mean, I think we‟ve stayed with the plays, we‟re not going to sonnets—but every single episode, we find our themes, and we always define a Shakespearean theme or story in the episode, as we‟re breaking a story. And the scripts, you know the audience never sees this, but every single script has on the title page, a quote from one of Shakespeare‟s plays, comedy or tragedy. BOGAEV: Right and you have “Out, damned spot” and “Et tu, Brute” and “Poor Yorick”. CHAIKEN: Exactly. And further to that, every episode, with the exception of three that were written by Danny, because he likes to choose his own titles, but every episode is titled with some portion of a quote. And we try to be—not random about it—but we find sometimes something that‟s not all that familiar. That says it in a way that isn‟t clichéd. BOGAEV: But I find that really fascinating. And as a show runner, you think about… it‟s very much about construction and form, right? You… that‟s what you, among other things, bring to this, bring to a script, especially a television script. So what do these quotes do for you all there in the writer‟s room? CHAIKEN: They do a number of things. They help to pull us back to our themes, because breaking an episode of television, especially when you‟re doing serialized drama, is hugely challenging. And you always wind up going off in a million different directions, and you need something to pull you back to the show. Now, it‟s the characters, primarily, and the stories you‟re telling, but we always find several moments during a story-break, where we go back to that quote. When we say, either, “Are we being true to these themes?” or if we‟re lost, “How can these themes help us to find our way?” So— BOGAEV: So, it‟s like the guiding light. CHAIKEN: Yeah. BOGAEV: That‟s so interesting. Now, and going back to what you said before, that Lee Daniels and Danny Strong and you were very adamant about this series reflecting Shakespearean themes, and style, and honing to that--what did that mean? CHAIKEN: I‟m not sure that it meant the same thing to the three of us.
Load more

Recommended publications
  • Catalogue Pilot Film & Television Productions Ltd
    productions 2020 Catalogue Pilot Film & Television Productions Ltd. is a leading international television production company with an outstanding reputation for producing and distributing innovative factual entertainment, history and travel led programmes. The company was set up by Ian Cross in 1988; and it is now one of the longest established independent production companies under continuous ownership in the United Kingdom. Pilot has produced over 500 hours of multi-genre programming covering subjects as diverse as history, food and sport. Its award winning Globe Trekker series, broadcast in over 20 countries, has a global audience of over 20 million. Pilot Productions has offices in London and Los Angeles. CONTENTS Mission Statement 3 In Production 4 New 6 Tough Series 8 Travelling in the 1970’s 10 Specials 11 Empire Builders 12 Ottomans vs Christians 14 History Specials 18 Historic Walks 20 Metropolis 21 Adventure Golf 22 Great Railway Journeys of Europe 23 The Story Of... Food 24 Bazaar 26 Globe Trekker Seasons 1-5 28 Globe Trekker Seasons 6-11 30 Globe Trekker Seasons 12-17 32 Globe Trekker Specials 34 Globe Trekker Around The World 36 Pilot Globe Guides 38 Destination Guides 40 Other Programmes 41 Short Form Content 42 DVDs and music CDs 44 Study Guides 48 Digital 50 Books 51 Contacts 52 Presenters 53 2 PILOT PRODUCTIONS 2020 MISSION STATEMENT Pilot Productions seeks to inspire and educate its audience by creating powerful television programming. We take pride in respecting and promoting social, environmental and personal change, whilst encouraging others to travel and discover the world. Pilot’s programmes have won more than 50 international awards, including six American Cable Ace awards.
    [Show full text]
  • Transgender Representation on American Narrative Television from 2004-2014
    TRANSJACKING TELEVISION: TRANSGENDER REPRESENTATION ON AMERICAN NARRATIVE TELEVISION FROM 2004-2014 A Dissertation Submitted to the Temple University Graduate Board In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY by Kelly K. Ryan May 2021 Examining Committee Members: Jan Fernback, Advisory Chair, Media and Communication Nancy Morris, Media and Communication Fabienne Darling-Wolf, Media and Communication Ron Becker, External Member, Miami University ABSTRACT This study considers the case of representation of transgender people and issues on American fictional television from 2004 to 2014, a period which represents a steady surge in transgender television characters relative to what came before, and prefigures a more recent burgeoning of transgender characters since 2014. The study thus positions the period of analysis as an historical period in the changing representation of transgender characters. A discourse analysis is employed that not only assesses the way that transgender characters have been represented, but contextualizes American fictional television depictions of transgender people within the broader sociopolitical landscape in which those depictions have emerged and which they likely inform. Television representations and the social milieu in which they are situated are considered as parallel, mutually informing discourses, including the ways in which those representations have been engaged discursively through reviews, news coverage and, in some cases, blogs. ii To Desmond, Oonagh and Eamonn For everything. And to my mother, Elaine Keisling, Who would have read the whole thing. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Throughout the research and writing of this dissertation, I have received a great deal of support and assistance, and therefore offer many thanks. To my Dissertation Chair, Jan Fernback, whose feedback on my writing and continued support and encouragement were invaluable to the completion of this project.
    [Show full text]
  • Media Advocacy. Fighting Defamation. Changing Hearts and Minds
    GAY & LESBIAN AllIANCE AgAINST DEFAMATION PERFORMANCE REPORT 2007 Media Advocacy. Fighting Defamation. Changing Hearts and Minds. Personal Stories That Move Public Opinion 70280_GLAAD_r2.indd 1 6/26/08 1:04:19 PM GLAAD PERFORMANCE REPORT 2007 1 Letter from the President 1 Letter from the National Board Co-Chairs 2 Changing Hearts and Minds: Harnessing the Power of the Media to Move Public Opinion 8 Media Advocacy: Focused on Issues of Faith 14 Fighting Defamation: Holding Media Accountable 20 Timeline of Accomplishments 23 18th Annual GLAAD Media Awards 24 Support 30 Independent Auditors’ Report 31 Financial Statements 32 Board of Directors, Staff, Media Fellowships and Internships 70280_GLAAD_r2.indd 2 6/26/08 1:04:19 PM GLAAD PERFORMANCE REPORT 2007 1 Letter from the President Letter from the National Board Co-Chairs I often say that how our lives are portrayed in the media doesn’t On behalf of the GLAAD National Board of Directors and our make a bit of difference; it makes all the difference. Media advocacy, senior volunteers across the country, we are pleased and proud fighting defamation, and changing hearts and minds are at the to offer you this Performance Report for 2007. core of GLAAD ’s mission. Throughout 2007 and for over 22 years, GLAAD has met significant programmatic and operational our culture-changing work has helped empower Americans who milestones in 2007 that are critical to our continued success believe in fairness for all people. The visibility of the lesbian, gay, as the LGBT community’s national media advocacy and anti- bisexual and transgender (LGBT ) community, telling our individual defamation organization.
    [Show full text]
  • Not for Publication United States Court of Appeals
    NOT FOR PUBLICATION FILED AUG 28 2020 UNITED STATES COURT OF APPEALS MOLLY C. DWYER, CLERK FOR THE NINTH CIRCUIT U.S. COURT OF APPEALS EHM PRODUCTIONS, INC., DBA TMZ, a No. 19-55288 California corporation; WARNER BROS. ENTERTAINMENT INC., a Delaware D.C. No. corporation, 2:16-cv-02001-SJO-GJS Plaintiffs-Appellees, MEMORANDUM* v. STARLINE TOURS OF HOLLYWOOD, INC., a California corporation, Defendant-Appellant. Appeal from the United States District Court for the Central District of California S. James Otero, District Judge, Presiding Argued and Submitted August 10, 2020 Pasadena, California Before: WARDLAW and CLIFTON, Circuit Judges, and HILLMAN,** District Judge. Starline Tours of Hollywood, Inc. (Starline) appeals the district court’s * This disposition is not appropriate for publication and is not precedent except as provided by Ninth Circuit Rule 36-3. ** The Honorable Timothy Hillman, United States District Judge for the District of Massachusetts, sitting by designation. orders dismissing its First Amended Counterclaim (FACC) and denying its motion for leave to amend. We dismiss this appeal for lack of appellate jurisdiction. 1. Under 28 U.S.C. § 1291, the courts of appeals have jurisdiction over “final decisions of the district court.” Nat’l Distrib. Agency v. Nationwide Mut. Ins. Co., 117 F.3d 432, 433 (9th Cir. 1997). Generally, “a voluntary dismissal without prejudice is ordinarily not a final judgment from which the plaintiff may appeal.” Galaza v. Wolf, 954 F.3d 1267, 1270 (9th Cir. 2020) (cleaned up). A limited exception to this rule—which Starline seeks to invoke—permits an appeal “when a party that has suffered an adverse partial judgment subsequently dismisses its remaining claims without prejudice with the approval of the district court, and the record reveals no evidence of intent to manipulate our appellate jurisdiction.” James v.
    [Show full text]
  • MOULDINGS | STAIR PARTS | BOARDS | EXTERIOR MILLWORK MIDWEST CHICAGO DISTRIBUTION CENTER Our Our STORY FAMILY DEEP ROOTS
    MOULDINGS | STAIR PARTS | BOARDS | EXTERIOR MILLWORK MIDWEST CHICAGO DISTRIBUTION CENTER our our STORY FAMILY DEEP ROOTS. HIGH STANDARDS. BRIGHT FUTURE. EMPIRE IS NOW A PART OF THE NOVO FAMILY. Founded in 1946 Empire has grown into With a geographic footprint that touches Novo Building Products is the industry door shops, retail home centers, and one of the largest millwork distribution the majority of the eastern half of the leading manufacturer and distributor of millwork manufacturing partners and manufacturing companies in the United States, Empire is positioned for mouldings, stair parts, doors, and specialty throughout the United States and parts United States. continued expansion. building products. We are proud to serve of Canada and Mexico. LJ Smith building material dealers (lumberyards), Puyallup, WA L.J. Smith Learn more at . Salem, NH novobp.com Empire Zeeland, MI L.J. Smith Empire A llentown, PA Empire Bowerston, OH Channahon, IL L.J. Smith West Valley City, UT Empire REFRESH. Ornamental Mouldings Empire Archdale, NC Dallas, TX L.J. Smith Ball Ground, GA L.J. Smith Corona, CA Southwest Dallas, TX REVIVE. L.J. Smith Empire Houston, TX Lakeland, FL RENEW. 2 empireco.com | 800.253.9000 empireco.com | 800.253.9000 3 Style is individual, personal, and unique. Make your room a reflection of you... DISCOVER YOUR STYLE HERE Achieve a similar look using: P 450 Chair Rail | 041 Crown | 5030 Architrave | 312 Casing | L 163E Base Colonial, Ranch, Traditional, Midwestern, Early American, Inviting and Timeless... The new and improved Empireco.com. Explore our comprehensive collections of mouldings, Classic Classic Mouldings enhance any home style from Midwestern to stair parts, boards, and exterior millwork as well Early American, and blend perfectly with the classic style furnishing as find inspiration for every room in the home.
    [Show full text]
  • Boardwalk Empire
    BOARDWALK EMPIRE "Pilot" Written by Terence Winter FIRST DRAFT April 16, 2008 EXT. ATLANTIC OCEAN - NIGHT With a buoy softly clanging in the distance, a 90-foot fishing schooner, the Tomoka, rocks lazily on the open ocean, waves gently lapping at its hull. ON DECK BILL MCCOY, pensive, 40, checks his pocket watch, then spits tobacco juice as he peers into the darkness. In the distance, WE SEE flickering lights, then HEAR the rumble of motorboats approaching, twenty in all. Their engines idle as the first pulls up and moors alongside. BILL MCCOY (calling down) Sittin' goddarnn duck out here. DANNY MURDOCH, tough, 30s, looks up from the motorboat, where he's accompanied by a YOUNG HOOD, 18. MURDOCH So move it then, c'mon. ON DECK McCoy yankS a canvas tarp off a mountainous stack of netted cargo -- hundreds of crates marked 'Canadian Club Whiskey·. With workmanlike precision, he and .. three CREWMAN hoist the first load of two dozen crates up and over the side, lowering it down on a pulley. As the net reaches the motorboat: MURDOCH (CONT'D) (to the Young Hood) Liquid gold, boyo. They finish setting the load in place, then Murdoch guns the motorboat and heads off. Another boat putters in to take his slot as the next cargo net is lowered. TRACK WITH MURDOCH'S MOTORBOAT as it heads inland through the darkness over the water. Slowly, a KINGDOM OF LIGHTS appears on the horizon, with grand hotels, massive neon signs, carnival rides and giant lighted piers lining its shore. As we draw closer, WE HEAR faint music which grows louder and LOUDER -- circus calliope mixed with raucous Dixieland jazz.
    [Show full text]
  • Installation INSTRUCTIONS and OWNER's MANUAL
    Installation INSTRUCTIONS AND OWNER'S MANUAL UNVENTED ROOM HEATER MODELS SR-10TW-1 SR-18TW-1 SR-30TW-1 WARNING SR-30TW SHOWN If not installed, operated and maintained in accordance with the manufacturer’s INSTALLER: instructions, this product could expose you Leave this manual with the appliance. to substances in fuel or from fuel combustion CONSUMER: which can cause death or serious illness. Retain this manual for future reference. WARNING “FIRE, EXPLOSION, AND ASPHYXIATION HAZARD WARNING Improper adjustment, alteration, service, FIRE OR EXPLOSION HAZARD maintenance, or installation of this heater or Failure to follow safety warnings exactly its controls can cause death or serious injury. could result in serious injury, death or Read and follow instructions and precautions property damage. in User’s Information Manual provided with — Do not store or use gasoline or other this heater.” flammable vapors and liquids in the This is an unvented gas-fired heater. It vicinity of this or any other appliance. uses air (oxygen) from the room in which — WHAT TO DO IF YOU SMELL GAS it is installed. Provisions for adequate • Do not try to light any appliance. combustion and ventilation air must be • Do not touch any electrical switch; do provided. Refer to page 6. not use any phone in your building. • Leave the building immediately. WATER VAPOR: A BY-PRODUCT OF UNVENTED • Immediately call your gas supplier ROOM HEATERS from a neighbor’s phone. Follow the Water vapor is a by-product of gas combustion. gas supplier’s instructions. An unvented room heater produces approximately • If you cannot reach your gas supplier, one (1) ounce (30ml) of water for every 1,000 BTU’s call the fire department.
    [Show full text]
  • From Disney to Disaster: the Disney Corporation’S Involvement in the Creation of Celebrity Trainwrecks
    From Disney to Disaster: The Disney Corporation’s Involvement in the Creation of Celebrity Trainwrecks BY Kelsey N. Reese Spring 2021 WMNST 492W: Senior Capstone Seminar Dr. Jill Wood Reese 2 INTRODUCTION The popularized phrase “celebrity trainwreck” has taken off in the last ten years, and the phrase actively evokes specified images (Doyle, 2017). These images usually depict young women hounded by paparazzi cameras that are most likely drunk or high and half naked after a wild night of partying (Doyle, 2017). These girls then become the emblem of celebrity, bad girl femininity (Doyle, 2017; Kiefer, 2016). The trainwreck is always a woman and is usually subject to extra attention in the limelight (Doyle, 2017). Trainwrecks are in demand; almost everything they do becomes front page news, especially if their actions are seen as scandalous, defamatory, or insane. The exponential growth of the internet in the early 2000s created new avenues of interest in celebrity life, including that of social media, gossip blogs, online tabloids, and collections of paparazzi snapshots (Hamad & Taylor, 2015; Mercer, 2013). What resulted was 24/7 media access into the trainwreck’s life and their long line of outrageous, commiserable actions (Doyle, 2017). Kristy Fairclough coined the term trainwreck in 2008 as a way to describe young, wild female celebrities who exemplify the ‘good girl gone bad’ image (Fairclough, 2008; Goodin-Smith, 2014). While the coining of the term is rather recent, the trainwreck image itself is not; in their book titled Trainwreck, Jude Ellison Doyle postulates that the trainwreck classification dates back to feminism’s first wave with Mary Wollstonecraft (Anand, 2018; Doyle, 2017).
    [Show full text]
  • Rap and Feng Shui: on Ass Politics, Cultural Studies, and the Timbaland Sound
    Chapter 25 Rap and Feng Shui: On Ass Politics, Cultural Studies, and the Timbaland Sound Jason King ? (body and soul ± a beginning . Buttocks date from remotest antiquity. They appeared when men conceived the idea of standing up on their hind legs and remaining there ± a crucial moment in our evolution since the buttock muscles then underwent considerable development . At the same time their hands were freed and the engagement of the skull on the spinal column was modified, which allowed the brain to develop. Let us remember this interesting idea: man's buttocks were possibly, in some way, responsible for the early emergence of his brain. Jean-Luc Hennig the starting point for this essayis the black ass. (buttocks, behind, rump, arse, derriere ± what you will) like mymother would tell me ± get your black ass in here! The vulgar ass, the sanctified ass. The black ass ± whipped, chained, beaten, punished, set free. territorialized, stolen, sexualized, exercised. the ass ± a marker of racial identity, a stereotype, property, possession. pleasure/terror. liberation/ entrapment.1 the ass ± entrance, exit. revolving door. hottentot venus. abner louima. jiggly, scrawny. protrusion/orifice.2 penetrable/impenetrable. masculine/feminine. waste, shit, excess. the sublime, beautiful. round, circular, (w)hole. The ass (w)hole) ± wholeness, hol(e)y-ness. the seat of the soul. the funky black ass.3 the black ass (is a) (as a) drum. The ass is a highlycontested and deeplyambivalent site/sight . It maybe a nexus, even, for the unfolding of contemporaryculture and politics. It becomes useful to think about the ass in terms of metaphor ± the ass, and the asshole, as the ``dirty'' (open) secret, the entrance and the exit, the back door of cultural and sexual politics.
    [Show full text]
  • Dixie Succumbs to Vision and Victory
    sfltimes.com “Elevating the Dialogue” SERVING MIAMI-DADE, BROWARD, PALM BEACH AND MONROE COUNTIES FEBRUARY 5 — 11, 2015 | 50¢ IN THIS ISSUE PALM BEACH Dixie succumbs to vision By DAPHNE TAYLOR Special to South Florida Times Nearly every city in America and victory has a street named for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. And since Presi- dent Barack Obama made history BLACK HISTORY as the first black president of the SPECIAL SECTION/1D free world, he too, is gaining mo- mentum with streets named after Keeping our History him -- even right here in the Sun- Alive 365/24/7 shine State. But predominantly the idea about black Riviera Beach in Palm Beach a year ago. “I’ve al- County, is hoping to be among the ways had an idea to rename a lot of first where Barack Obama High- streets in our city. I think our city is way intersects with Dr. Martin Lu- much more than just a bunch of let- ther King Jr. Blvd. ters of the alphabet and numbers. It has an amazing ring to it I’ve wanted to rename our streets for Riviera Beach mayor, Bishop after African-American role mod- Thomas Masters, who is the brain els and leaders, so I had this idea behind renaming Old Dixie High- about the president for some way in Riviera Beach after the time now. It would be the right president. “It would be the father thing to do today and would and the son intersecting,” said reconnect this great city to Masters. “You have the father of history.” the Civil Rights Movement, and Masters said some crit- SOFLO LIVE you have the son, our first black ics said he should wait un- TARAJI HENSON/4C president, who benefitted from til after the leaders have that movement.
    [Show full text]
  • BOARDWALK EMPIRE "In God We Trust" by Reginald Beltran Based
    BOARDWALK EMPIRE "In God We Trust" By Reginald Beltran Based on characters by Terence Winter Reginald Beltran [email protected] FADE IN: EXT. FOREST - DAY A DEAD DOE lies on the floor. Blood oozes out of a fatal bullet wound on its side. Its open, unblinking eyes stare ahead. The rustling sound of leaves. The fresh blood attracts the attention of a hungry BEAR. It approaches the lifeless doe, and claims the kill for itself. The bear licks the fresh blood on the ground. More rustling of the undergrowth. The bear looks up and sees RICHARD HARROW, armed with a rifle, pushing past a thicket of trees and branches. For a moment, the two experienced killers stare at each other with unblinking eyes. One set belongs to a primal predator and the other set is half man, half mask. The bear stands on its two feet. It ROARS at its competitor. Richard readies his rifle for a shot, but the rifle is jammed. The bear charges. Calmly, Richard drops to one knee, examines the rifle and fixes the jam. He doesn’t miss a beat. He steadies the rifle and aims it. BANG! It’s a sniper’s mark. The bear drops to the ground immediately with a sickening THUD. Blood oozes out of a gunshot wound just under its eyes - the Richard Harrow special. EXT. FOREST - NIGHT Even with a full moon, light is sparse in these woods. Only a campfire provide sufficient light and warmth for Richard. A spit has been prepared over the fire. A skinned and gutted doe lies beside the campfire.
    [Show full text]
  • Lee Daniels on Empire: the Show Has Already Changed Homophobes' Minds
    8/15/2018 Empire on Fox: Lee Daniels on his Show's Effect on Homophobia | Time Lee Daniels on Empire: The Show Has Already Changed Homophobes' Minds Lee Daniels on Dec. 1, 2014 in New York City. Theo Warg—Getty Images / IFP By LILY ROTHMAN January 7, 2015 Lee Daniels is best known as the lmmaker behind gritty independent lms like Precious, but his new project is the slick primetime drama Empire, premiering Jan. 7 on Fox, which he co-created with Danny Strong. Daniels recently spoke to TIME about the show, and how — despite not being independently made — http://time.com/3656583/lee-daniels-empire/ 1/3 8/15/2018 Empire on Fox: Lee Daniels on his Show's Effect on Homophobia | Time it’s a personal story. The Shakespeare-inected tale of record mogul Lucious Lyon (Terrence Howard), his ex-wife Cookie (Taraji P. Henson) and their sons Andre, Jamal and Hakeem, often draws on stories from his own life. And, he tells TIME, the show is already making a difference toward his larger aim of increasing tolerance among its audience: TIME: You’ve told a story about trying on your mother’s shoes as a child. There’s a scene in the Empire pilot that sounds very similar to that episode, where Lucious reacts to seeing his young son do just that… Lee Daniels: I was terried of that scene. My sister was an extra — she’s in the scene — and when the kid put the shoes on, having him walk in front of his father, I had a meltdown.
    [Show full text]