With Academy Award nominations to be announced on January 31, BoxOfficeGuru.com examines this year's major contenders with the new Oscar Spotlight column. Each Friday, editor Gitesh Pandya talks one-on-one with producers and studio executives behind some of the most acclaimed films up for recognition this season.

This week, Oscar Spotlight talks to John Singleton who earned a pair of Academy Award nominations in 1992 for writing and directing his debut feature Boyz n the Hood. Since making his splash in the industry, Singleton has directed eight feature films, seven of which have opened in the top five at the box office including four at number one. The filmmaker is now the producer of Hustle & Flow which wowed audiences at last year's Sundance Film Festival and went on to gross over $22M last summer while playing in only 1,000 theaters.

Box Office Guru: How did you first get involved with Hustle & Flow and what made you want to take the role of producer?

John Singleton: Well, it was sent to me and I read the script and I loved it. It was a switch for me, being on the set, you know, and not directing. But at the same time, I learned a whole lot more about doing what I had to do behind the scenes, even more so than on the films I actually produced before that. With this picture, since I was using my own money, I had to become a signatory to all the deals, and I had to deal with the I.A. and the teamsters. Usually things I always hire people to do, I had to deal with firsthand - payroll services, etc. It was really an enlightening experience because, as I said before, I'm writing every check. So I'm watching every dime of my money going out there. So that was a unique experience in itself, along with the creative part like shooting a little bit of second unit and shooting stills. The still of D Jay sitting with the girls on the couch and of him with his back to the girl as he smokes, you know I shot those. Those are my shots from my medium format camera! I was on set shooting stills and shooting second unit as well as writing checks, so it was a great experience.

BOG: When it came to attaching talent, did it make a big difference given your stature in the industry and getting actors to work for you?

JS: I think it made a difference. A lot of the actors that we got are friends of mine who I've wanted to work with but hadn't had an opportunity to work with yet. It helped that I had a track record as a filmmaker and I could call up people and say 'Hey, this is good material. You should give this serious consideration.' And they rose to the occasion.

BOG: Terrence Howard has gotten rave reviews for his acting performance in the film. How long did it take to cast the role of D Jay and how did you first come across Terrence?

JS: I've known Terrence for many, many years. I saw him over twelve years ago and I always wanted to work with him. And he was also supposed to be in Shaft. He had done this movie called The Best Man and because he got so much hype from it he pulled out of doing Shaft. So as friends we kinda had this rancor over that like 'man, you pulled away from me, you left me hanging.' So I told him we have this movie now and you gotta be on your P's and Q's and attack this movie. And he attacked it, to his credit, he really did attack it. And it was really a good thing because I had never worked with him. I wanted to direct him in a movie seven years ago and then he pulled out, but then he did this movie. And because of the pleasant experience of doing Hustle & Flow, as soon as we wrapped it and I was going into Four Brothers, I knew I had to cast him in that because he was going to be HOT after Hustle & Flow!

BOG: The Best Actor in a Drama category for the Golden Globes is always one of the most competitive categories. How did you feel when Terrence's name was announced?

JS: I was so happy. I was SO happy! I was bouncing for joy that he was nominated. Because Craig Brewer and myself in working on this picture only extensively screened movies like Midnight Cowboy, Taxi Driver, Raging Bull, and movies like A Streetcar Named Desire. We were going for the edgy anti-hero, not the acceptable clean-cut guy. A lot of people don't understand how difficult that is in our business since heroes are certain archetypes. We wanted this guy to be very flawed. Plus, given what he does being a hustler and everything, it's not the most commercial of characters to be putting in a picture. But it was the most interesting guy to play. So for the Hollywood Foreign Press to consider that, it's really an honor and I hope the Academy really gives him consideration. And I hope the Academy gives consideration to other cast members. I mean Taraji P Henson, who plays Shug in the movie, her performance is what I call 'quiet fire.' It's such a subtle powerful performance. She walks on the screen and you can't tell that she's acting, you just think here's this angel girl.

BOG: Do you think Oscar voters will get the film's story, or will it be a little foreign to them?

JS: I have no idea. It's so arbitrary. I never got nominated for a Golden Globe, but I got nominated for two Oscars my first time out of the gate. Some times the Globes are a bellwether for the Oscars, and sometimes they really aren't. Look at what happened a couple of years ago when Fernando Meirelles was nominated for best director for City of God and the screenplay was nominated and the editor was nominated. Nobody could have predicted that, but that movie well deserved those nominations. I think it should have gotten a Best Picture nomination too. But it's beautiful that with the Academy, people actually sit and meal over different films because at the end of the day, we all look back and look at this time period in a historical context and we see what movies were significant and what movies weren't. We're really in a mode in our business where there's not that many people making films that are really aspiring to do anything more than fill up the multiplexes for two weekends. And the people that are trying to do it are independent filmmakers, whether they be independent with their own money or what I call the 'pseudo-independents' or mini-majors making lower-budgeted pictures. It's a very difficult task when you deal with difficult subject matter. So it's nice to be rewarded for that.

BOG: Given the attention this film has gotten, you must be involved in the awards season this winter. What do you make of all the work that goes into campaigning and getting films and actors considered for awards?

JS: I think it's great. I call it the politician thing. You basically have to go out and play the politician and drum up attention for yourself for different things. I think it's great, you know, for new actors coming up to get a chance to meet a lot of established talent. You never know what could come up. It may not be just about drumming up the votes to get an Academy nomination. You never know, the veteran character actor that you meet at this or that party may end up being your co-star next week. I like that.

BOG: Last summer, Hustle & Flow and Four Brothers, which you directed, were released three weeks apart. Was it difficult to be out promoting both films around the same time?

JS: No it wasn't, actually it was a lot of fun. We had two of the most interesting films of the summer, so it was great. You can't really look at those two movies and say they are cookie-cutter films within our business. That's my whole thing. I don't want anything that looks like it's gonna be done in a cookie-cutter way that any person could have done.

BOG: How different is the film industry today for an African American filmmaker than it was when you were making Boys n the Hood 15 years ago.

JS: I think there are more opportunities for African American filmmakers, but I think what's being lost is a cultural context in terms of people doing films that have some type of culture behind them. It's one thing for an African American filmmaker to get different films and make films about whatever subjects. When I was coming up and when Spike was doing his thing, we were basically speaking from a culturally-informed perspective, and it wasn't just from an African American perspective. It was a multiethnic perspective that added to the all-white perspective. And the interesting thing is that people are just getting jobs now. Which is just fine, but there's a flip side to that. There are people who are passionate about telling different stories. You look at Craig Brewer who was discriminated against by a couple of studios because he was a white guy trying to tell a story about a black pimp that gets a lot of people together to realize a dream. I love the irony of that! (laughs) Here I am having to defend him against studio executives, but also from black people who were like 'why is he making this movie? Why aren't you making this movie?' Because it's his vision, not my vision.

BOG: I guess a decade ago you never thought you'd be in that position, defending this man's right to make this film.

JS: Yeah. But it's great because it means that I've grown up. I was the new kid on the block, and now my thing is to find the next filmmakers.

BOG: Do you think studios are recognizing the true commercial potential of the African American moviegoing audience, or is there more they could be doing?

JS: I think they are, but they still dabble with it. What makes movies commercial now is the fact that they are multiethnic. There are different demographics. The American moviegoing public is, what people used to give lip service to, the American melting pot. So there's a lot of different people coming to movies for different reasons and everybody wants to see a little bit of them in the audience. So there's not just a large African American audience, but a large Latino audience, you know, a large Asian audience, there are different segments. So I think what the studios are missing is the fact that if you have these different types of people in a picture, you're basically satisfying a lot of people's desires. They see a part of themselves on screen. It amazes me every time there is a film that comes out that has a predominantly black cast or a black lead and people say 'Oh man, I can't believe that movie made so much money!' Or they can't believe that horror movie that had the Latin guy made so much money. But they don't understand that. Those audiences are so vast, and they don't consider the rest of the country besides New York and L.A. as being significant, they don't understand that we live in a very huge country with a lot of different people. L.A. is so insular in that way.

BOG: So if you were running a major studio, what changes would you want to see be made to this business?

JS: (laughs) If I were running one? If I were a major studio I'd make a cross-section. I'd do what Jack Warner or Harry Cohen did. I'd make some B pictures and I'd make a few A pictures. Now what you see is they're making a lot of big B pictures that are actually on an A movie budget. But you know I sit up and I read about film history and I know there's a reason why the system is the way it is. There was a certain way of running things and every time there's a problem with the system, it needs to be modified. So that's where we are now in our business.

Be sure to check back next Friday for a new installment of Oscar Spotlight.

Last Updated : January 27, 2006

Previous Oscar Spotlight: Jan 20 - James Schamus, Brokeback Mountain