Nothing`s Black And White For Comic-turned-director

June 10, 1987|By Kathy O`Malley.

Hollywood Shuffle`` is--at its most basic level--a movie about a system that stereotypes black actors. But it`s not a ``black film``--and that assessment comes from no less a source than Robert Townsend, the movie`s writer, director, producer and star.

Townsend, a former standup comic who`s fighting the notion that he is moviedom`s Great Black Hope, says he`s not sure what the difference is between a black film and a film that stars black actors--or if there`s a difference at all.

``I don`t really know . . . it makes me crazy, because people say,

`Robert, you`ve got a black film here,` and I say, `Hey, it`s just a movie.` It`s not like I pick up the movie section of the paper and say, `Hmmmm . . . I`d like to see a good white movie,` you know? Let`s see, there`s

`Hoosiers,` there`s a good white movie, or `Blue Velvet,` yeah, there`s a crazy white movie.` `Hollywood Shuffle` is a story that could happen to any actor--Irish, fat, dumb, blond, Italian guys who always have to play mafia leads. The story is universal; it`s about an actor who has dreams.``

Townsend`s dreams included a Hollywood that didn`t distinguish between

``black roles`` and ``white roles`` but only between good and bad actors.

``I knew there was a problem, even as a kid, because I never noticed color. I was into Humphrey Bogart, Ronald Coleman, you know, Sherlock Holmes, Sergeant York, the great classics. Those were the movies I loved, then I got into it and noticed that the parts black people got were `You wan` yo`

luggage, Miz Ma`am?` and Ronald Coleman is saying `I shall fight for the Queen of England for the rest of my life` and then the black guy says `Da empero` be heah.`

``I`d notice it in `Amos and Andy.` They`d say `Now, Kingfish, we is goin` to da sto` and we is gonna buy us some low-shun, and we gonna buy dis low-shun and you gonna pay a dolla` . . . Then they get to the store and the man behind the counter says, `You`d like to see some lotion, sir?` and Amos would say `Yassuh, he goan pay fo` it and I goan take it . . .` The white actor`s voice would be so normal, and theirs would be so . . . I`d hear them

(Freeman Gosden and Charles Correll in interviews, and they`d be so . . . normal!``

But to hear it from Townsend--in Chicago to participate in the Black Film Festival--making his dreams come true was just a matter of persistence and outlook.

``Nobody encourages you; everybody says it`s so hard, it`s so hard. Well, it is, you do have to work hard, but some actors can`t read, some aren`t any good anyway, some do drugs, some drink, so right away you can eliminate half of them. Then there are others who never come to work on time, they`re always reading the trades. Then there are others who say (here Townsend assumes a stiff upper lip with a British accent to match) `I`m an actor; I don`t do extra work. I`d rawther starve.` And they do starve. Of those who get work, there`s just a handful that work all the time--and from the time I got to New York, I never stopped.``

``You`ve got to find ways to get in and not let it bother you. A lot of people took it so seriously; I always laughed and enjoyed the process; I stuck it out and had a good time. . . . It`s like, I was an extra, but I knew I wasn`t going to be there always.``

``Shuffle,`` which switches from reality to fantasy and back again, is not unlike its creator. Standup-comic-turned-movie-mogul Townsend waves his arms, stands up, sits down, does ``schtick`` with his expressive face, and stops in mid-sentence, looking for the right word. What he`s trying to explain now is how ``Shuffle`` has changed things. Like where women are concerned, for instance.

``I feel like. . . like Darren on `Bewitched,` you know? He could have anything he wanted--a yacht--boom!--but he never wanted it like that. He wanted to work for it. So it`s like that now, when women approach me, real attractive women. It`s not about Robert Robert, but the showbiz Robert. Six months ago, they`d walk past me. . .`` He stands up, looks in the distance, becomes one of the women who love the Showbiz Robert now--but he`s being one of them back then. ``Get outta my way . . . Where`s Eddie Murphy?`` Now, it`s like, ``Oh, Robert Townsend, he`s sooooooo handsome. Is it the money? I just don`t know.``

But he does know. He`s had 10 years to get ready for this, 10 years to see how The System works, even to make a movie about it--and at least so far, he appears to be holding out against one of the cardinal Rules of Fame: Nice unknown guys become money-hungry jerks when they get famous.

``All I want to do is quality work. I didn`t negotiate for money; I negotiated for control. If you`re going to do something and put your life and your heart and your gut into it, you want to have control. Everybody else was, like, `Can you give my client a million dollars?` and I just wanted to know who would have control over the final cut, who got casting approval, who gets approval of the budget.``