American Fiction Movie Featurette - Page to Screen (2023) - US Release Date: December 15, 2023
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross
Director : Cord Jefferson
Synopsis: AMERICAN FICTION is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture's obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish "Black" book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
Starring: Jeffrey Wright, Sterling K. Brown, Tracee Ellis Ross
Director : Cord Jefferson
Synopsis: AMERICAN FICTION is Cord Jefferson's hilarious directorial debut, which confronts our culture's obsession with reducing people to outrageous stereotypes. Jeffrey Wright stars as Monk, a frustrated novelist who's fed up with the establishment profiting from "Black" entertainment that relies on tired and offensive tropes. To prove his point, Monk uses a pen name to write an outlandish "Black" book of his own, a book that propels him to the heart of hypocrisy and the madness he claims to disdain.
Category
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Short filmTranscript
00:00 Monk, your books are good, but they're not popular.
00:03 American fiction is based on the novel
00:06 Erasure by Percival Everett.
00:07 Editors, they want a black book.
00:09 They have a black book. I'm black, and it's my book.
00:12 You know what I mean.
00:14 When I read the book, I felt the material deep in my bones,
00:18 and so I knew almost immediately that I wanted to adapt it.
00:21 I just want to rub their noses in it.
00:24 [laughs]
00:26 It's dealing with some super relevant age-old themes
00:31 along with a deep thread of comedy and irony running through it.
00:35 You sold your book?
00:36 No.
00:37 As soon as I met Korg, it was clear that he understood
00:40 the spirit of the novel.
00:41 It's a joke, the most lucrative joke you've ever told.
00:44 He took my material and made it his own.
00:47 Is this based on your actual life?
00:49 Yeah, you think some bitch-ass college boy
00:53 can come up with that shit?
00:55 No, no. No, I don't.
00:56 There's something delightful in the simplicity of this story
01:02 and what it's actually trying to comment on.
01:05 I thought it was really funny and rooted in realness.
01:11 I am thrilled to read a BIPOC man harmed by our carceral state.
01:15 It explores identity, culture, race, family
01:20 in a way that I think is really interesting.
01:22 People want to love you, Monk.
01:24 You should let them love all of you.
01:26 The work Korg has made here is a fine piece of art.
01:29 Once the screen goes dark, the lobby will be filled
01:32 with conversation about this film.
01:34 Yes! The dumber I behave, the richer I get.
01:36 There's levity, but also an element of surprise.
01:39 That, to me, is really keeping with the essence of the book.
01:43 # Yeah, I'm rolling with the thunder
01:46 # Oh, oh... #
01:48 # Oh! #
01:49 (CLICKS)
01:51 (MUSIC ENDS)
01:54 (MUSIC ENDS)
01:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]