{"id":3897,"date":"2012-09-13T13:01:10","date_gmt":"2012-09-13T19:01:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=3897"},"modified":"2012-09-13T13:01:10","modified_gmt":"2012-09-13T19:01:10","slug":"black-nativity-shelved-for-lack-of-a-leading-man","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2012\/09\/black-nativity-shelved-for-lack-of-a-leading-man.html","title":{"rendered":"Black Nativity<\/i> shelved for lack of a leading man"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>Two months ago<\/a>, I noted that there were no less than four movies in development that dealt in some way with the birth of Jesus \u2014 and, at the time, it looked like the one that would get made first was Black Nativity<\/i>.<\/p>\n

It was based on a popular musical, and it had actors like Samuel L. Jackson, Angela Bassett and Jennifer Hudson lined up for a story about a young black teen who spends Christmas with his grandparents, one of whom is a pastor \u2014 and along the way, there was going to be \u201ca stylized, dream-sequence retelling of the classic Nativity story\u201d in which the pastor would appear as \u201cmultiple characters\u201d.<\/p>\n

But now comes word, via the Hollywood Reporter<\/a><\/i>, that Fox Searchlight has pulled the plug on the film mere weeks before it was supposed to start shooting.<\/p>\n

The reason? Jackson passed on the project, possibly for paycheque reasons, and the studio couldn\u2019t find another bankable African-American leading man who could both sing and be convincing as the father of Hudson, who is 31. (Jackson, for his part, is 63, while Bassett, who was set to play Hudson\u2019s mother, is 54.)<\/p>\n

The studio reportedly also approached Laurence Fishbune, who is 51, but he, too, passed on the project, as have others. So it looks like the film \u2014 which was supposedly being \u201cfast-tracked<\/a>\u201d as long as three and a half years ago \u2014 will have to wait just a little while longer before it hits the big screen.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two months ago, I noted that there were no less than four movies in development that dealt in some way with the birth of Jesus \u2014 and, at the time, it looked like the one that would get made first was Black Nativity. 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