By Odeisel

You think you got grind?  You think you got hustle?  Try selling a movie before you even have a script?  Try shooting a trailer before you even have a budget to do a movie. That’s some serious grind time.  Oh and by the way, sell a cartoon based on a movie that hasn’t even opened. 

Director Scott Sanders and friend Michael Jai White did all of the above with their new Blaxsploitation era comedy Black Dynamite.  Planet Ill sat down with Mr. Sanders to talk race, Black image, comedy, and the challenges of trying to get a movie done this way.  Light’s, camera…action.  Read on.

Planet Ill: The word is, you did a trailer for the movie before you actually had a movie.  Is that true?

Scott Sanders:  We did the trailer for $500 and we sent the trailer to my friend [producer] John Steingart.  He said, “Why you sending me that old trailer?” I said, “That’s Michael Jai White.” He freaked out and said, “Ok, I think I can raise the money for this movie.”

So we actually had the money before we had a script. So then we had to write a script.  It’s been a blessed project from the beginning and it’s been a lot of fun.

Planet Ill:  How important was it to get the feel of the 70s in this movie.  You have other movies with similar themes like an I’m Gonna Git You Sucka that were set in a different era.

Scott Sanders: That was the whole thing; that was the element that made it worth doing. If any of those other movies were set in the 70s and were keen on getting all of the aesthetics of the genre and the era, then I don’t think there would be a purpose for us to do the movie. That’s the reason for the movie.  That’s why it exists.

Planet Ill: How important to the success of the movie is the idea that people actually “get it?” People can be very sensitive in a PC kind of way.

Scott Sanders: The movie’s been doing incredibly well overseas at all the film festivals.  We’ve showed it in the Czech Republic. We had one of our biggest audiences and best responses, and they’ve had no experience with any Blaxsploitation films whatsoever. And English is not their first language. I think you can enjoy the movie without knowing anything about Blaxsploitation.

We as Black people have had a long history in film to just look at something and dismiss it outright. You have to take it and look at it in the context in which it was made, and I think we are being extremely analytical about those films. You have someone like Hattie Mcdaniel who’s playing a maid in Gone With The Wind. Considering that was 1932, how much dignity did that woman play that role with? What she had to go through to do that role and to do it so well. You can’t just say well Hattie McDaniel played a maid. I think that’s an unanalytical and unforgiving way of looking at history and Black people’s place in history.

Planet Ill: Ok.  But with America, there is obviously a different weight to these kinds of situations. Where the Blaxsploitation era was actually used to save Hollywood, now with a Black President, people are “concerned” with the Black image in media. Do you think that would lead to undue criticism?

Scott Sanders: Absolutely some people are going to take it that way.  I don’t feel like I want to make art for the most unanalytical person that exists. That’s the essence of the lowest common denominator. “Well I don’t get it, so I’m offended.” Well screw you then, I don’t care! Clearly this is something we’re examining its place in history, we’re having fun with it. Anyone that looks at Black Dynamite and thinks that it’s some sort of reflection of Black people in America in 2009 is ridiculous.

Planet Ill:  How fun was it making this film?

Scott Sanders: It was great. To walk out on the set and see all of those costumes and all that craziness, it was great. It was fun. It was hard because it was a 20 day schedule, which is very very short for a period action kung fu movie, but it was a blast.

Planet Ill: You got Blaxsploitation, you got Kung Fu, and you got the Watergate crisis. How did you manage to get all of that in one film?

Scott Sanders: We just wanted to pack it all in.  The one thing that those movies didn’t have is pacing. They’re slow. I think we remember them a lot better than they actually were. These brothers would drive down the street for no reason, get out of the car lock it and unlock it, go inside brush their teeth and THEN have a scene. We packed every Blaxsploitation plot into one movie so that was a lot of fun.

Planet Ill: Tommy Davidson’s character Cream Corn is an amalgam of every loser Black guy/Huggy bear type character in all the films. How important was it to include that character in the film?

Scott Sanders: Tommy was there actually from the very beginning. Tommy worked on the original trailer before we had a script. He’s a good friend of Mike’s and a good friend of mine and it was great having him there and I couldn’t imagine anyone else as Cream Corn but Tommy Davidson.

Planet Ill: How important was ownership of this film? You guys actually did all the hustle work before you even had a budget. How important was that approach and how did it influence the way you made the film?

Scott Sanders: Me and Michael really understood the movie.  It’s a difficult thing to play with obviously, because you can’t only be familiar with Blaxsploitation movies you have to be very familiar with the nuances of Black culture. We are a very nuanced, contradictory people. I think that was important as far as having the control over the creative nature of the script and the project.

Planet Ill: From what I understand there is a Black Dynamite cartoon coming out, can you tell us about this?

Scott Sanders: Absolutely.  The Black Dynamite cartoon will be on the Cartoon Network. We’re writing the pilot right now and just about to shoot it. Carl Jones from The Boondox is running the show. For those that don’t know who he is, YouTube “Tube Steak” and you’ll see Carl Jones because he’s the infamous Tube Steak. He’s a phenomenal actor and a jokester. He’s also a great animator and a great writer, so we’re in really great hands with him.

Planet Ill: If this movie is a success do you have any ideas on how you would do a sequel?

Scott Sanders: That’s one of the great things about Blaxsploitation movies.  Hopefully we’ll play it out like Shaft, you know?  There’ll be Black Dynamite’s Big Score, Black Dynamite Goes To Africa, Black Dynamite Goes To Copenhagen, we’ll run with it as far as people want to go with it.

Planet Ill: Any last thoughts?

Scott Sanders:  Please come out and see Black Dynamite on October 16^th. You’ll have a good laugh and a lot of fun!

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