A two-part documentary event explores the ongoing evolution of Black performers as Hollywood headliners
In the new docu-profile Number One on the Call Sheet, directors Reginald Hudlin and Shola Lynch celebrate the achievements of Black actors in Hollywood. Split into two films, by gender, trailblazers like Angela Bassett, Halle Berry, Eddie Murphy, Denzel Washington and many, many more, detail their experience of rising to the top of the “call sheet” — a list of actors participating in a given film project where the first name indicates a bona fide star. But even as the documentaries highlight the successes of these actors, Hudlin says two things can simultaneously be true: “Things are better and it’s important to acknowledge that. At the same time, you can acknowledge things are better and go, ‘And we have more to do.’”
The journey in Lynch’s Black Leading Ladies, in particular, demonstrates how the rise for women can still be fraught with obstacles pertaining to both racism and sexism. “As the director of the women’s documentary, I wanted to be true to their story and what the through-line is from them,” says Lynch. “I didn’t tell them what to say. I asked the questions. I wanted to be true to their love of craft, their love of the business, their gratefulness, but, also, some of the things that are difficult — the hurdles — so that we see them as real people.”
Oscar-winning actor Jamie Foxx, who also serves as producer of the two documentaries, reveals he was moved by the difference between the experiences of leading men and women in Hollywood. “What you really find out is that all the women are amazing, because they have to be a billion times better to scratch the surface,” he says. “At the beginning of this whole Hollywood train, it was just women as eye candy, for the most part. And here come these women who are like, ‘Man, we don’t even need a leading man.’ And what you see is those women saying, ‘Hey, it is harder.’ I’m glad that they were able to share that. Because if you look at the surface, it [seems like] just sunshine and it wasn’t.”
In Hudlin’s film depicting Black leading men at the top of their game, the actors discuss the oft-perpetuated notion that Black films will not travel well. “First the issue was that you can’t show movies with Black people in the South. Of course, when you look at Black films, some of the biggest box office is in the South. So, it was just a lie,” says Hudlin. “The new lie was, ‘The international audience, they’re so much more racist than the American audience.’ That was told to me throughout my career, not only with my first movie Boomerang, but even when I was making [Django Unchained] with Quentin Tarantino, Jamie Foxx and Leonardo DiCaprio. They would talk to me as a producer and go, ‘Look, there’s two things that don’t travel: Black movies and westerns.’ We made a half-a-billion dollars worldwide. That’s pretty damn good for movies that no one wants to see.”
A message that reverberates through both documentaries is that Black success in film is far from a coincidence. “What you see, over the course of the [docs], is that there are movies that break through and change everyone’s perception, and every time people go, ‘Who would’ve imagined this?’” Hudlin reflects. “Well, we would’ve imagined this because, at a certain point, these accidents are not accidents. They’re, in fact, a pattern.” One measure of success, in this case, may be the area where Hudlin says he now encounters less resistance than he used to. “There used to be a thing I call the preamble, where I would take the first 15 minutes of my pitch to explain that Black culture is pop culture. I would have to explain that before I could even talk about the specific idea I wanted to talk about,” he says. “In the last couple of years, I no longer have to do the preamble. Executives actually understand the power of Black culture. The next step is when the executives that make the ultimate greenlight decision become people of colour — that hasn’t happened yet.”
The two films premiered in March, just as the new U.S. administration started aggressively cutting diversity, equity and inclusion programs throughout America. Hudlin and Foxx feel affirmative action still serves a purpose, while they also see the need for Black filmmakers to create more avenues for filmmaking. “We have to build our own institutions where we can greenlight our own product and decisions will be made even faster,” says Hudlin.
Political climate aside, Foxx feels the pull toward progress in Hollywood. “When the world recognizes, beyond your colour, the art that you’ve given, that’s when things start to move,” he explains. “The one thing I will say about America, our natural resource is freedom — but it’s the evolution of it. We are evolving now. The art is evolving as well. And those executives, whether they be white, Black, brown, realize that Black is a super commodity. I think we’re just getting going.”
Number One on the Call Sheet, streaming on Apple TV+