The film industry still has plenty ways to go in terms of inclusiveness - an issue that carries enduring weight when it comes to gender stereotypes in entertainment. Actress Taraji P. Henson is tackling it head on as both star and executive producer with her own interest in hopefully doing for female action roles of color what the likes of Keanu Reeves and Liam Neeson have done for John Wick and Taken with respect to their own growth and fortitude.
It's an m.o. especially worth citing with the title character of director Babak Najafi's latest, Proud Mary, which opens on January 12 from Sony's Screen Gems shingle and headlining Henson as an assassin who finds herself inexorably facing down her employer following a botched hit job that lands a young boy reluctantly in her care. Among other topics in Henson's THR interview late last year which just went out today, she dove further in her efforts to push such a film in an area where the narrative regarding "black" films serves counter to her intentions.
"[Studios] never expect [black films] to do well overseas," she says. "Meanwhile, you go overseas and what do you see? People trying to look like African-Americans with Afros and dressing in hip-hop fashions. To say that black culture doesn't sell well overseas, that's a lie. Somebody just doesn't want to do their job and promote the film overseas. Do you not have people streaming my Christmas specials in Australia? Come on, y'all! I don't understand the thinking. Send me over there, and if it fails, then we don't do it again, but why not try? If I knew this movie was gonna make money domestically, I would try to get more money overseas. It's business!"The article reports that Screen Gems is definitely looking into pushing the film internationally. Henson sheds light aplenty on other matters in the interview including her training and preparation, and her camaraderie with the film's stunt team with respect to sequel aspirations:
"I can do anything, that we can do anything as African-American women," she says. "And I want to do it again. The stunt coordinator was impressed with how fast I caught on, and I said, 'Just imagine if we had weeks to train!' If we make a sequel, we'll be ahead of it." She laughs while recalling one of the film's fight sequences she watched with her boyfriend, former NFLer Kelvin Hayden. "He was looking at me scared. He's sleeping with one eye open now!"You can read all about it and more at THR while the studio has released a new featurette a week ahead of its U.S. release. I'm especially excited to see this one myself considering how impressive Najafi has been thusfar at his craft. This, along with the crew and the talented stunt professionals behind the leading lady of a franchise vehicle with potential; Last year we had Theron, and this year I would love nothing more than to add Henson to the roster.
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