USA: LOS ANGELES PREMIER OF THE 'THE WOOD' CO-STARING UP AND COMING ACTOR OMAR EPPS FEATURES AN ALL AFRICAN-AMERICAN CAST

Record ID: 567124

  • Title: USA: LOS ANGELES PREMIER OF THE 'THE WOOD' CO-STARING UP AND COMING ACTOR OMAR EPPS FEATURES AN ALL AFRICAN-AMERICAN CAST
  • Date: 19th June 1999
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JUNE 19) (RTV-LA) (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) RICK FAMUYIWA SAYING OF INGLEWOOD, It was where I grew up and where I met my friends who are still my friends and it's a middle class environment that was great for me and I had alot of fun growing up in Inglewood so it's good for me to be able to make this film about the city because there are some misconceptions and people think that Inglewood is a ghetto or just there's gangs and violence and, as with any city, as in Los Angeles, there is that element and Inglewood is just a microcosm of Los Angeles so there's it's good, there's it's bad, but mostly it's good and mostly it's just regular folks doing regular things. LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (JULY 14) (RTV-LA) OMAR EPPS, RICHARD T. JONES AND TAYE DIGGS POSING AT THE FILM'S PREMIERE OMAR EPPS POSING AT THE FILM'S PREMIERE (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) TAYE DIGGS SAYING It's nice to see a film with African American actors in it showing the characters doing something other than selling drugs or bumping and grinding or being crackheads and what-not. These are very positive characters. RICHARD T. JONES ARRIVING WHILE OMAR EPPS POSES FOR PHOTOS (SOUNDBITE) (ENGLISH) OMAR EPPS SAYING It deals with young black men in an intellectual way, in a passionate way. And it's nothing, you know, what's great about this movie is that there's nothing really great about the movie. When I say that, I mean, there's no big twist, explosion, it's just, and that's how normal life is. It's real simplistic. You get up in the morning and that's it. "THE WOOD" MOVIE POSTER AT PREMIERE
  • Embargoed: 4th July 1999 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES AND FILM LOCATIONS
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAAI67ZBRGH2P10JZZA36EP3U4T
  • Story Text: Fresh from the big screen version of "The Mod Squad,"
    up and coming actor Omar Epps co-stars in "The Wood," a coming of age tale of three African American boyhood friends growing up in the Los Angeles suburb of Inglewood in the 80's.
    Co-stars Taye Diggs and Richard T.Jones joined Epps at the film's Los Angeles premiere on Wednesday, July 14.
    "The Wood" is unusual for Hollywood filmmaking because it features an all African-American cast and is written and directed by an African-American filmmaker, and yet doesn't deal with drugs, prostitution, or gang violence.First-time feature filmmaker Rick Famuyiwa set out to tell a story that could be understood by anyone, no matter what their race of where they grew up.
    In this case, the location is Inglewood, California, a middle class, largely black middle class suburb of Los Angeles right near the airport.For many outsiders, Inglewood is a place plagued by drugs and gang violence, but Famuyiwa doesn't see it that and he should know because he grew up there.In fact, "The Wood" is largely based on his experiences in junior high school and high school.
    His story centers around three boyhood friends: Mike, played by Omar Epps, Slim, played by Richard T.Jones, and Roland, played by Taye Diggs.It all takes place on the eve of Roland's wedding, when he disappears from the ceremony just before it starts and the other two have to find him and bring him back.
    What they find is their friend who's having second thoughts about the committment of marriage, but what they wind up doing is reminiscing about their days in school together, and the rest of the film is told in flashbacks to the mid-1980's, complete with the music, fashions and hairstyles of the period.
    Director Rick Famuyiwa started his career in movie-making during his senior year at the University of Southern California, when a short film of his was selected to be screened at the prestigious Sundance Film Festival.He was the first undergraduate to ever earn that distinction.
    After graduation, his screenplay for "The Wood" was accepted to the Sundance Institute's screenwriters and directors lab, which helps independent filmmakers develop features and line up financing.Following his experiences at the lab in the summer of 1997, Famuyiwa worked full time at the Beverly Hills Niketown during the day and worked on his screenplays at night.
    Finally, Famuyiwa and his script for "The Wood" was brought to the newly-formed MTV Films, which has been responsible for such recent movies as "Varsity Blues" and "Election." Together they put the film into production under the Paramount Pictures banner.
    Omar Epps is perhaps the best-known member of the cast, being the veteran of such films as "The Mod Squad," John Singleton's "Higher Learning" and "Scream 2." Taye Diggs made his feature film debut last summer opposite Angela Bassett in the comedy/drama "How Stella Got Her Groove Back," while Richard T.Jones recently co-starred in the films "Kiss the Girls" with Morgan Freeman and "Event Horizon" with Laurence Fishburne.
    "The Wood" opens in theaters throughout the United States on Friday, July 16.
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