Jamie Foxx isn’t sure a shelved movie of his would fly in today’s culture.
We’re all pretty familiar with the concept of cancel culture , even if the actual effectiveness of using it to “cancel” anything might be up for debate. When it comes to movies and actors playing roles outside of their own identities , especially marginalized ones, the conversation can get heated pretty fast. Jamie Foxx might be a little worried about this when it comes to his highly-anticipated film All-Star Weekend .
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‘All-Star Weekend’ was originally slated to come out in 2018.
The film, which was directed by Jamie, stars him and Jeremy Piven as NBA obsessed friends who win tickets to the NBA All-Star Weekend in Los Angeles and documents their journey trying to make it to the game. The star-studded cast includes Robert Downey Jr., Benicio del Toro, Gerard Butler, and Eva Longoria.
Jamie was recently asked about the status of the movie, which was delayed to 2019 and then indefinitely shelved.
“It’s been tough with the lay of the land when it comes to comedy,” Jamie responded , seemingly alluding to the fact that Robert Downey Jr. plays a Mexican man in the film, which might be seen as politically incorrect by modern audiences. “We’re trying to break open the sensitive corners where people go back to laughing again,” he went on.
“If I read all the comments I would never tell another joke,” Jamie previously spoke on the film’s edginess in 2017.
“I got a movie we just shot for little or nothing, called ‘All-Star Weekend.’ The jokes are all the way out there,” Jamie told Joe Rogan. “If you read the comments, that will make you tuck that in,” he said.
“I called Robert, I said, ‘I need you to play a Mexican,'” he said of casting the part.
Jamie explained that Robert initially agreed, then got nervous about taking the part. Jamie said he referenced Robert’s role as a white man in blackface in Tropic Thunder when convincing the star to do it. “I said, ‘[expletive] you played the black dude and you killed that [expletive]’ We got to be able to do characters,” he said.
What do you think? Are modern audiences ready to see Robert Downey Jr. play a Mexican man, or is it better to keep this movie on the shelf? Let us know!
h/t: TMZ
