The behind-the-scenes tidbits of black powder

The most famous role of black actor Michael Jai White appeared in 1997' s "Spawn", followed by the image of the gangster overlord in "The Dark Knight". However, at this year's Sundance Film Festival, White showed a completely different film realm with this black powder ... The film pays tribute to the classic works of those black characters in the 1970s, and it feels like "I'm going to get it, you suck the card" (1988), which is really worth seeing.

Black Powder was written and directed by Scott Sanders. At the same time, michael jai white and Byron Minns, the two leading actors, also participated in the screenwriter work-in fact, at the beginning, it was White who first thought of making such an action film that returned to the classics. That was a few years ago, he recalled. At that time, I was making an action movie called Undeployed II: The Last Man Standing ... I came home at night and turned on my iPod, which happened to have the song "Super Bad" by james brown, the godfather of soul music. Under the hypnosis of music, I recalled my past, including the old movies I saw aimed at black people. At that time, friends were often invited to my house to watch such movies. Some are really good, some are bad. They had a very happy time with us. I think it is from listening to that song that I have established the basic framework of the story in my mind. I have thought about the beginning and the end, which are full of many very interesting conflicts and contradictions, all inspired by the movies I have seen before. In my opinion, such movies can certainly entertain, educate and even bring the audience back to the cultural atmosphere of the 1970s, which is a very great era, whether for movies or music-I feel that black powder can definitely awaken our memories diluted by the torrent of time.

For michael jai white, who was a little boy at that time, this kind of positive film directed at black people can be said to be the first realistic and powerful description of his community. White admitted: I have never seen such a controversial change since then ... it really represents an era of unlimited release. Although there is still a lot of confusion, these descriptions of blacks in early movies, whether it is Shaft (. Even before Hollywood began to mass-produce such films, it predicted the awakening of black culture and finally gained its place in American history-for me and many black compatriots, these films are equivalent to a real soul liberation in our lives.

When michael jai white conceived such a complete movie plan in his mind, he rented some clothes from that era and took several photos. In the meantime, Scott Sanders called him. White explained: He called to discuss a script he had just written. He told me that he was interested in shooting the film in Brazil ... and then he asked me what I was busy with recently. I described to him the inspiration of the story I just thought of. At that time, we all called it "Too bad", which was the title of a song by james brown-obviously, Saunders thought it was very interesting, especially after he saw the photo I took, he immediately decided: this is it. Saunders added: White's photos are the most accurate. With such an intuitive imagination as the backing, what is there to consider? Even photos can produce such a strong attraction that we naturally have no reason to refuse.

Therefore, Michael Jai White and Scott Saunders set the basic rhythm and speed for Black Powder. White said: I find it cool to play nunchakus with a gun in one hand, especially when you look at the photos, you will immediately think,' Wow, that's so handsome.' But what you should pay attention to is that this kind of modeling is really a bit lethal. The so-called extremes meet, and it will develop in a ridiculous direction ... Soon, Sanders devoted himself to it with the greatest enthusiasm. He had long forgotten the movie that I mentioned to him and was shot dead on the spot in Brazil-so we decided to write the script with Byron Mince. When michael jai white, Scott Saunders and Byron Mince got together to work on the script of Black Powder, it was almost April 2006, and White had not started his own performance in Batman Begins 2: The Dark Knight ... Since he grew up with such films, there is no need to do it again. White said: I remember that I held a special' XX Night' at home, and everything was for this kind of film noir, so all I needed to do was piece together the classic moments in my memory, and even came up with the idea of shooting a documentary about the history of film noir. I put all the necessary materials together, then edited them, and then ran through the clear story line that Sanders and I had thought of before. They are all very interesting moments and special performance styles, including some classic mistakes and similar things. We found that there are too many shooting methods that can be done without spending money. Without the help of high technology, it was the time to test human wisdom, almost to the point where imagination exploded. Sanders went on to say: I am also an avid advocate of this kind of film works, and I have seen a lot of them before ... Since we decided to shoot black powder, White and I have been discussing constantly, including the complete scope of the film and the quality it should show. I think we deeply love every topic mentioned in it. Starting from a more perfect performance system, with better elements and essence, we can naturally create a relatively more terrible influence.

In Scott Sanders' view, the greatest thing about the revival of this kind of black films is that they have such peculiar sensitivity and characteristics that no cultural form can match them. Saunders said: One of the topics that Michael Jai White and I discussed was why only white people are entitled to own swimming pools. We have always wondered where this view came from. Then the next question arises at the historic moment, that is, do we blacks also think that white people are born to sit by the swimming pool and do nothing? Anyway, we have been discussing similar plot settings. We want to know, what caused our life on the big screen to be so miserable? That feeling is really interesting. We all realize that sometimes, historical reasons and our own habits really should be treated differently. White, on the other hand, thinks: Of course, it can't be said that the present society is completely fair, and the little things in life can still reveal some essence. For example, you often hear some harsh' them'-'they can do this,' they can do that ...' They' are like a group of faceless shadows and have become substitutes for the lowest people in this society, so Sanders and I are interested in giving them'.

Scott Sanders and Michael Jay White really did a good job. Although I am paying tribute to the first generation of black movies, I don't feel old and cheap at all, and I won't borrow some super vulgar jokes to gain sympathy. Saunders said: We have always compared "I will let you XXX" and "Undercover Brother" because they are representatives of this kind of movies. What I want to say is that the era when film noir rose quietly was an extremely special experience for us, because after that, we will face the changes brought by an earth-shaking cultural trend.

"I will let you XXX" and "Undercover Brothers" are still the best pictures, although they do not directly comment on the period that made the black community proud. Michael Jai White said: We all think this is a very interesting contrast. Speaking of the 1970 s, it is actually a very difficult choice to describe the black community from such a sincere perspective ... first, we look for clothes, then cars, and finally music.

During filming, the most important thing for several filmmakers is not to let modern cars appear in the picture too frequently. Because the story involves too many street scenes, this has become the biggest obstacle they need to overcome. Scott Sanders said: I think during this period, we all experienced some strange changes, and even deliberately took some obvious' goof' shots in it ... But it is undeniable that there were some unexpected situations, but we all kept them intact. I think this is also some purposeful explorations we have made on black powder-using' accidents' to create corresponding entertainment effects.