James Baldwin Was Born Today; No Biopic Yet, So Watch 'Take This Hammer'

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• Masha Dowell | August 9, 2012 4:32 AMReply

  There was a minor James Baldwin character in Rodney Evan's film, "Brother To Brother." Starring Anthony Mackie http://youtu.be/qyVmaX4uQNU ---but it was very minor.

• Orville | August 4, 2012 5:58 PMReply

  @Troy you are correct that no one knew James Baldwin personally since he died in 1987 in France. Baldwin was a complex figure but one of my complaints about black biopics is they straight wash black queer history. James Baldwin wasn't heterosexual and everyone knew it he wasn't hiding in the closet he was out of the closet. Baldwin wasn't Langston Hughes a black gay literary icon who lived his life in the closet.
  
  So if a biopic is made about James Baldwin's life his homosexuality should be an integral part of the film.
  
  The love of James Baldwin's life was a white Swiss man he met when he was young. Baldwin's work also dealt specifically with male homosexuality.
  
  However, Baldwin was very famous during his lifetime he was an international celebrity because of his writing and political work. Baldwin was at the 1963 civil rights march in 1963 and he knew Martin Luther King.

• Troy | August 3, 2012 9:56 AMReply

  The great thing about entertainment is that the audience is allowed to take what they want from it. No one commenting knew him personally but are confident in when they say what a big part of his life was. No one mentioned that he was a child pastor and as he grew as an intellectual he grew a part from the church and his subsequent teachings. His profile is very deep in context and colorful in character. I would love to see biopic but I don't believe he was as public a person as some of us think. I find it that highly intellectual creators of art are less likely to put their lives on tableau to be judged. Should people or products be placed on a tableau to be bought and sold. Sounds like self-imposed slavery an existence in which black comedians seem to reject after becoming over exposed. Like rappers they don't have a false face buffer like actors, whose off camera personas are idealized because of the heroic characters they portray.

• Orville | August 2, 2012 10:51 PMReply

  Tambay, I think one of the reasons a biopic hasn't been made about James Baldwin's life is because he was an out gay black man. There was the 2004 independent film Brother To Brother which focused on the Harlem Renaissance movement and it dealt with black homosexuality. Let's face it, in the black community some people are still uncomfortable discussing black male homosexuality. Baldwin was an incredible man because he fought for black rights he wrote passionately about civil rights & about gay male love.
  I am shocked James Baldwin has NEVER had a biopic made this man was a gay and a black American icon. I remember when I was in high school my friend told me to read Giovanni's Room one of the first novels ever written about gay male love. I love Giovanni's Room the book is incredible.
  
  If someone was going to make a biopic about Baldwin's life they would have to focus on the fact he was also a homosexual that was a big part of his life.
  
  It would take a very special black male actor to pull off the performance I think the biopic should focus on the most important times of Baldwin's life from the 1950s to 1970.

• Patrick Morgan | August 2, 2012 5:16 PMReply

  All I know is that I've looked up to James Baldwin since i was a freshman in college, and I'd consider playing James Baldwin in a biopic to be the epitome of my, or anyone's career. If I currently had the resources I'd write and produce it now.

• urbanauteur | August 2, 2012 4:58 PMReply

  I think maybe a teleplay and/or 1 room drama like playwright-Jeff Stetson's "The Meeting" adaptation directed by Bill Duke, if i wrote it, i'll conceive it as a {tug of war} between James Baldwin vs. Richard Wright (when James Balwin was the young lion roaring down Richard Wright's back circa early 1950's) and "then" have a role reversal with James Balwin being the [elder statesman] and have young lion incarnate-Elridge Clever(circa 1960's, blowing superlatives done James Baldwin's back!.. what u think;-)?

• urbanauteur | August 2, 2012 5:10 PM

  oh?..by the way ...james balwin "dis" richard wright in his seminal essay "everybody's protest novel" and subsequently,writer-elridge clever "dis" james balwin in his black panther manifesto-Soul on ice- with his essay, talk about what goe's around comes around?,whoa.

• getthesenets | August 2, 2012 3:32 PMReply

  to be honest....I think there would be an audience now more than ever before.
  I think to make it sell, they'd have to play up Baldwin's sexuality and tone down his criticism of American racism, though.

• Nemesis | August 2, 2012 4:09 PM

  Um... then why bother? If a film about Baldwin is going to play up his sexuality and tone down his criticism of American racism, I'd rather the film just not be made at all.