![]() To me, it fluctuates very much like mainstream culture. ![]() Black and white cools it down.ĪP: Before Sundance, a lot of the conversation was disappointment in the homogeneity of the filmmakers being celebrated at the Oscars.īlank: I was disappointed but I wasn’t surprised. That’s part of why I wanted to film it in black and white. Some of the culture is over-sexualized and over-saturated and so loud. I know a lot of people who feel that way, I just don’t see it reflected in mainstream culture. AARP is sending me (expletive) in the mail. But you bring a different perspective to hip-hop.īlank: It’s all of the bravado of hip-hop but it’s from a person whose body is changing. You can have revelations about yourself and what you should be doing at any age.ĪP: And that includes rapping for you. It’s kind of this idea that we never stop learning about who you are. For people who know me and know my work, it was just a matter of time before I got here. When it came time to make the film, I knew exactly what it is I wanted to say. I’ve been telling and crafting stories for over 20 years. And groundbreaking, fresh films seems to be associated with young filmmakers. Everyone was like, why would you do that? It’s a matter of trusting your impulses.ĪP: How does it feel to be making your filmmaking debut at this stage in your life?īlank: “Auteurs” are reserved for older filmmakers. And for me, when I first decided I wanted to shoot this in black and white. My character, the idea of her becoming a rapper is a joke until she starts rhyming. What we have in common is how we use rejection to fuel an idea. She is who I wish I could be all the time. I probably saved more children by not becoming a social worker.īlank: It’s me but a heightened version. I was going to go back to school and become a social worker. I was probably going to quit anything creative because my biggest champion and friend was now gone. Like we were like Dorothy and Sophia domestically, as a viewer of “The Golden Girls.” We shared the same birthday and she’s the person who nurtured all these storytelling seeds in me. About two weeks before we were going to shoot the first two episodes, my mom passed away and it pretty much devastated my life. I’m going to make a web series so that I’m in charge. And I was kind of devastated and felt a little powerless and just decided, you know what? (Expletive) it. Someone had seen a play of mine and they hired me to adapt a book. This is like before I was writing for TV. ![]() There are people who look like me who have those odd moments where there are clashes of culture right in front of them.ĪP: What compelled you to start writing this?īlank: I was fired from a film job. for about three years and even though I look like I might have blended into the cool arts scene, I always felt like Larry David. I would hope one day my films can be in the canon of his storytelling. I love it when I say ’“40-Year-Old Version” and they go, “That move came out 15 years ago.” And I go, “Nope! V-E-R-S-I-O-N.” But also trying to stay in the spirit of Judd Apatow, black protagonists are quirky and awkward and can’t figure things out and are having identity crises at 40. I’m comin’ for you!” I think he will have a great sense of humor about it, but I’m totally appropriating his (expletive). People appropriate black culture all the time. In an interview, Blank talked about her film and her Sundance breakthrough.ĪP: How would you describe your film’s connection with Judd Apatow’s “The 40-Year-Old Virgin”?īlank: Honestly, I’m just like appropriating his (expletive). ![]() Lena Waithe (“Master of None,” “Queen & Slim”) came aboard as a producer. The death of her mother derailed the series, and Blank later realized “The 40-Year-Old Version” needed a bigger canvas. Faced with unappealing options, like a Harriet Tubman musical put on by white producers, she turns to an old passion, hip-hop, and begins performing as RadhaMUSprime.īlank, who has written for the series “She’s Gotta Have It” (on which she was also a producer) and “Empire,” first began the project as a web series that would have culminated in a mix tape. PARK CITY, Utah (AP) - The Sundance Film Festival is a showcase of new voices in cinema, and few have come through louder and clearer than Radha Blank’s.īlank wrote, directed and stars in her debut film, “The 40-Year-Old Version.” It’s a heavily autobiographical tale, shot in black-and-white and on 35mm, about a middle-aged playwright in Harlem struggling to fulfill her career’s earlier promise. Writer/director Radha Blank poses for a portrait to promote the film "The 40-Year-Old Version" at the Music Lodge during the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, Jan. ![]()
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