Hollywood actor, Taye Diggs, says studios set double standards for black films.
Actor Taye Diggs recently spoke on the the approach Hollywood has towards African American films and argues that Hollywood is separate and not equal.
Whether a studio decides to proceed in making a black-oriented film can depend on the success of other movies with a primarily African-American cast, even if the productions are not even connected.
In a recent interview, Taye Diggs said that he and his cast mates of “The Best Man Holiday” were excited to start on a sequel. However, a sequel was dependent not upon the success of their feature film, but on how black-oriented films, including “Think Like a Man Too,” perform at the box office.
“Unfortunately, the business is such that as far as studios are concerned, they judge one quote-unquote black movie on how other ‘black’ movies have done, even if they have nothing to do with each other,”
“We’ve definitely come a long way. But we’ve got a long way to go,” Diggs comments. “It’s too bad we can’t do well on our own merit when it comes to the studios. They don’t like to take risks and, unfortunately, we’re still considered a huge risk, even though I don’t think we are.”
“The Best Man Holiday” made nearly $70 million in North America last year and was highly profitable for the studio companies, according to Paul Degarabedian, senior analyst for box-office tracker, Rentrak.
Taye Diggs is known for his lead roles in movies such as, “The Wood“, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back” and “Rent“. He is currently featured in the new TNT drama, “Murder in the First“.
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