Reply With Quote"So, because one-white, one-black buddy crime thrillers have been a hit before, a film with two white leads will fail to appeal at the box office?"
Well, if it ain't broke.....
Thomas Jane axed from movie because he's white??
Tom Jane Getting Axed From New Sylvester Stallone Film Because He's White?
Walter Hill's next picture should be Headshot, a hitman thriller set to star Sylvester Stallone. Until now we believed that the film's second billed star would be Tom Jane, the man who was Stander and star of The Mist and The Punisher, as a cop who would team up with Sly’s paid assassin.
Aint It Cool were first to report that Jane would likely not be in the film. They've got a hotline to Stallone, so it's not entirely surprising to see news appearing on their site.
The reason for Jane's exclusion? It has nothing to do with star Stallone or director Hill, but apparently "the studio" – ie. Warner Bros., and their belief in an old formula:
So, because one-white, one-black buddy crime thrillers have been a hit before, a film with two white leads will fail to appeal at the box office? Is there nobody at Dark Castle or Warner Bros. who sees the patent stupidity of this?What I hear is that while Stallone and Hill like Jane for the part (they must since he’s cast already), the film is now with Warner Bros' Dark Castle and the studio wants Jane replaced with someone more "ethnic" in order to meet an in-house formula-for-success. The word is that Jane's still the favorite for Hill and Stallone, but the studio is insistent on getting a minority in the role.
Of course, there's a lot of evidence that studios, not least Warner Bros. themselves, are keen on repeating formulas – witness our review of The Hangover Part 2 from yesterday, which reports how that second film is more or less a scene-by-scene remake of the first.
Tom Jane himself has provided a quote to Arrow in the Head:
No comment, but I can tell you this, we have a classic with me & Sly & Hill. Script is tailor made for us all.
Sites that may or may not interest you..
"So, because one-white, one-black buddy crime thrillers have been a hit before, a film with two white leads will fail to appeal at the box office?"
Well, if it ain't broke.....
I always thought that Blade Runner would have been a bigger box office hit if they had partnered Harrison Ford with Chris Tucker. Where's that thread where Cth and I riffed on that goldmine of an idea?
Originally Posted by schizorabbit
Wasn't this called the Fifth Element?
He was partnered with Edward James Olmos so he was partnered with a minority.
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Thank god, otherwise they would've had to bring up his inability to act.
Winter is Coming.
He wasn't colorful enough.He was partnered with Edward James Olmos so he was partnered with a minority.
What really disturbs me is if they have this "formula" for buddy movies, then they have other formulas too. Makes me wonder how many parts that a minority actor was chosen for got nixed by the studio because their formula says a white actor should play that role.
Sites that may or may not interest you..
All of them? This is a similar situation to Affirmative Action. Sure, Jane is someone a lot of people seem to want to see, but I can't fault a studio for trying to correct an inequality by using a "formula". I mean, if they're going to apply that anywhere it makes sense to do it in a film already artistically bankrupt enough to cast Stallone.
Winter is Coming.
BINGO!
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