SUBMITTED BY Scooby
June 5, 2001 — Orlando Jones has had a rocking career lately: With Evolution opening June 8, Orlando Jones has already starred in three movies in the year 2001, after Double Take and Say it Isn't So. In Evolution, Jones plays a geologist investigating an alien species evolving dangerously fast. Playing opposite David Duchovny in the Ivan Reitman comedy, Jones saw the film as a chance to betray tired stereotypes. "There were two things in particular that I wanted to accomplish," Jones said. "One was always that I want to do a black/white relationship like I hadn't seen before. I was a little tired of seeing the black/white relationship where the black dude just got out of jail or he's from the ghetto and the white dude is from Harvard and they're having the same freaking argument that Richard Pryor popularized and made his staple in 1972. And I wanted to try and do something that I thought was fresh. The freshness is it's the 21st century and two guys are just friends. What a novel freaking concept that it. That's what I thought would separate the movie from most movies that are buddy comedies with a black guy and a white guy. "The other major separating factor is that usually in a Summer blockbuster in particular, if there's a black guy in the movie, he's dead. Even if he's on the poster, that doesn't mean anything. In the first half hour, he's dead. However, in the second half hour the woman usually dies. So, when the angst ridden hero saves the day after having lost his negro buddy and romantic interest, give me a break. That wasn't in the script. Clearly [my character] Harry was all throughout the movie but he was also not written black at all either. So, when I was cast in it I had to be in some way aware of the fact that I don't want to die and the script doesn't do that. By the same token, I know that in popular consciousness, this is what people are used to seeing, so I'm looking to go the other way as much as I possibly can." To comment on such cliches, Jones added lines like, "I've seen this movie. The black dude dies." Check out the link below for more. (Thanks to Movie Headlines for the heads up) |
