Producer-director John Singleton clarifies his busy slate, talks “Illegal Tender”
Breaking News: Singleton Involved in Fatal Accident
By Jeffrey Jolson
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Hollywood Today) 8/25/07 – Academy Award-nominated filmmaker John Singleton confirmed Halle Berry and Billy Bob Thornton have signed on to racism drama “Tulia” which will begin production in two months, that despite rumors he would not be directing “Convoy” and that he would soon be producing a country music-oriented film with Craig Brewer who directed his acclaimed features “Hustle & Flow” and “Black Snake Moan.”
After he cleared up some conceptions that were floating around the Internet, most of Singleton’s conversation on Friday morning with Hollywood Today was about another music-fueled film, the raggaeton-flavored mob movie “Illegal Tender.” Singleton pays homage to old school gangster films, those made long before his hip hop-driven “Boyz in the Hood” helped create the urban gangsta movie genre.
He blends both modern and classic thugs into “Illegal Tender,” which he produced with director Franc. Reyes at the helm. The film has the elements of “The Godfather” and other Mafioso movies, as it features a dispute that affects families and sons must deal with the sins of their fathers. But Singleton (“Four Brothers,” “Shaft”) said “It was definitely ‘Scarface’ that influenced the film the most. It’s a throwback to the classic mob films.”
Indeed, the film centers around a Hispanic family, in this case a suburban widow, formerly married to a drug dealer, who teams with her college-age son to take on a mob boss who’s been sending assassins after them for years.
While his street-hardened films don’t usually center on Latinos, a hood is a hood no matter who lives there. “The culture may be different, but the love, family and dangers are the same,” he told Hollywood Today.
Especially strong is the bond between mother and son, and this young man’s stepping up to “take care of family business” to protect his loved ones. Reyes and Singleton found winners in Rick Gonzalez as son and especially Wanda De Jesus as the mother, Millie DeLeon.
“She’s a real pistol-packin’ mama,” said Singleton of De Jesus’ character. “And Wanda is phenomenal, beautiful to look at, a great actress and a great lady.”
Also in the film is reggaeton music star Tego Calderon, who almost left after the first day of shooting. “He wasn’t used to the early morning hours of a film shoot. He’s a night owl and wanted to go to a concert,” Singleton said.
He may not have had a lot of face-to-face work with the actors though, as his style is to let his directors give actors their guidance. “It makes it easier. I talk to the director, Franc. Reyes in this case. I try not to talk to the actors. The director should, not me.”
He still says he’s a hands-on producer, and gives direction to his directors, a right that he’s earned with a collection of hit movies including “2 Fast 2 Furious” and being the youngest nominee for best director Oscar in 1991 for “Boyz.”
“I’m on the set every day,” he said, fairly unusual in a time when many producers come to the set mainly when there are cost overruns. “I’ll step in and give advice when I’m needed. I talk to the director every day.”
Which helps explain why Singleton has a most powerful Hollywood position — the ability to “greenlight” a film, to turn a script from a writer’s glimmer into a production with a nod. He still needs Universal or another studio for funding pictures under his New Deal banner, but he is a tried and true commodity and they will back him on any modestly-priced play without much question.
“I did give ‘Illegal Tender’ the green light, the movie was done for under $15 million, so it’s not much of a financial burden.”
But for Reyes, it was a gift from the heavens. The writer-director (“Empire”) started writing on December 27 and finished on January 17. “When I took it to John, he said, ‘Let’s do it!’ I couldn’t believe it. I said, ‘This is crazy, ’cause who does that? Nobody does what John did.”
He summed up “Illegal Tender” as a “fun gangster movie with cool action, lots of sex play and a lot of great acting.”
As for the title, the mother in the film lives very well on the smartly-invested drug money from her slain husband, one of the reasons the mobsters still hold a vendetta against the family. That brought up the matter of the old adage: “Behind every great fortune, lies a great crime.”
Singleton laughed at the reference and said “Yes, I guess that’s true. (It’s said) Bill Gates stole the idea that became Microsoft from Apple, so it’s kind of right.”