| Dre
(Taye Diggs) and Sidney (Sanaa Lathan) can attribute their friendship
and the launch of their careers to a single childhood moment - the
day they discovered hip-hop on a New York street corner. Now some
15 years later, she is a revered music critic and he is a successful,
though unfulfilled music executive. As they lay down the tracks toward
their futures, hip-hop isn't the only thing that keeps them coming
back to that moment on the corner...
Directed
by Rick Famuyiwa (THE WOOD), BROWN SUGAR stars Taye Diggs (HOW STELLA
GOT HER GROOVE BACK), Sanaa Lathan (LOVE & BASKETBALL), Mos
Def (MONSTER'S BALL), Nicole Ari Parker (REMEMBER THE TITANS), Boris
Kodjoe (LOVE & BASKETBALL) and Queen Latifah (THE BONE COLLECTOR).
The screenplay is written by Michael Elliot (LIKE MIKE) and Rick
Famuyiwa based on a story by Elliot. The film is produced by Peter
Heller (LIKE MIKE) and co-produced by Trish Hofmann (IGBY GOES DOWN).
BROWN SUGAR marks Earvin "Magic" Johnson's first feature
film as an executive producer.
"I
always felt like all the great love stories weren't ones that had
black people in them. I just wanted to create something really romantic
that by the end of the movie, touched you," says Screenwriter
Mike Elliot of his motivation for BROWN SUGAR.
Elliot
decided to base the story on lifelong friends who, as adults, come
to the realization that they are also in love with each other. Once
he had worked with the basic concepts of the love story, Elliot
placed Sidney and Dre against a background he was intimately familiar
with, the world of hip-hop music. "I had the desire to create
a love story inside a world that I loved. It just made sense,"
Elliot recalls.
Producer
Peter Heller was quick to recognize the story's potential. "It's
really hard to find a romantic comedy that can surprise people because
the structure for the genre has become so fixed in stone. This film
sets the audience up to believe that something is going to happen,
and then all sorts of other things happen."
Elliot's
obvious love and understanding for his characters was another reason
Heller was drawn to the script. He explains, "The secondary
characters in romantic comedies are usually set up to be weak, so
you know why the two main characters end up together. This was not
the case. All of the characters are really funny and rich, unique
and grounded."
When
Fox Searchlight Pictures came on board, the quest began to find
a director who could bring this unique combination of elements to
the screen. It soon became apparent that Rick Famuyiwa was the ideal
man for the task. "He saw in this script an opportunity to
use it as a metaphor for people who grew up loving hip-hop music,
and who found something in the music that was unique and fresh and
theirs," comments Heller.
Famuyiwa
made his feature film debut with THE WOOD. The film, an insightful
exploration of male friendship, also proved that he knew how to
make music an integral and seamless element of the story. In addition
to being a talented director, Famuyiwa is also a noted screenwriter.
After reading the script, he had a number of ideas that he wanted
to incorporate into the story. Elliot welcomed the opportunity to
collaborate with the talented director. "It is such a blessing
to have someone like Rick to work with. From the moment Rick added
his own thoughts to it, not only did his ideas gel with mine, but
they elevated the script and the movie."
Famuyiwa
describes BROWN SUGAR as a dream project because it combines some
of his favorite topics - romance, hip-hop culture and the ways in
which people relate to each other. "I love doing stories about
people, about friendships and relationships, and how we fall in
love. So when I saw the concepts in the screenplay, I knew that
I wanted to build on that. It had six characters that I thought
I could develop and really make into special, quirky individuals."
Like
Elliot, Famuyiwa grew up listening to hip-hop. He can easily recall
the time that he fell in the love with this constantly evolving
cultural force. "There was a radio station in Los Angeles called
K-DAY that played hip-hop all the time. There was an outlet that
I could turn the dial and hear Eric B. and Rakim, LL Cool J and
Run DMC. I heard all the stuff coming out of New York, and the stuff
that started to develop in Los Angeles with NWA and Eazy E and that's
when I truly fell in love," Famuyiwa reminisces.
"Just
the idea of this romantic comedy being set in the world of hip-hop,
which is the music that I grew up with, really moved me. I felt
a connection immediately. I thought that it would be interesting
to make a film where the characters' love for the music spoke to
the love that they had for each other. That's the idea that I wanted
to play with."
He
welcomed the opportunity to show the diverse elements that co-exist
in the world of hip-hop. "You don't think of hip-hop when you
think of a romantic comedy. There's a certain connotation that comes
with the music, because a lot of what's popular is negative and
violent. I feel that there's always been romance in the music. It's
always been a music that's true, so whether that truth is violent,
whether that truth is love or friendship - hip-hop has always been
multi-layered...I wanted to do something that showed a different
side of the music that I love," he concludes.
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