Cary
Granat is the new president of Miramax's Dimension Films. Granat
has been credited with his work on Scream, From Dusk Till Dawn, Mimic
and the hood spoof, Don't Be a Menace... But Menace was primarily
the project of former Dimension V.P. Helena Echegoyen, as was
Rhyme and Reason and love jones (her last project at New
Line). Her exit this spring not only marked a change of the color guard
at Miramax, but left Hollywood without a single African American holding
a V.P.-or-better post at any studio.
On the brighter side, the Screen Actors Guild reports that ethnic minority
actors have increased their stake in Hollywood in each of the past five
years, topping out at 20.7% of all speaking roles last year -- an all-time
high. And a few of those roles could actually be performed without a
gun or the use of the "F" word.
Meanwhile, even in the future, Laurence Fishburne is being cast
as a slave fighting for freedom. In Keanu and Laurence's Excellent Adventure,
a.k.a. Matrix, the future is run by computers which trick the
world into thinking it's still the 1990s. (If I had to relive another
decade of Gen X, I'd kill myself) Mr. Fishburne plays Morpheus, leader
of the freedom fighters who recruit Reeves' character to help retake
control. And a dumb white man shall lead them!
In ethnicity-
free news, if you are in San Francisco and you love horror movies, you
can check out Body Snatchers: The Musical this month. If it succeeds,
we'll all be looking forward to Jason On Ice and Robert Englund
in Hello, Freddy. ("You're lookin' dead, Freddy! Open head, Freddy!")
Finally, reports of Jabba The Brando making A Civil Action with
John Travolta were premature. Robert Duvall will re-team
with his Phenomenon co-star since "the deal" for Brando couldn't
be worked out. Something about three tons of M&Ms with all the brown
ones taken out. Rock on, Marlon!
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