Tuesday, August 19, 2008

NEW JACK CITY SCRIBE TEED OFF

HipHopdx.com recently caught up with screenwriter Barry Michael Cooper who had some heated words about the upcoming sequel to his classic film "New Jack City" that doesn't include any of the original cast members nor will it include his input.

Of the announcement, Cooper exclusively told DX,

"I know Warner Brothers is not only in the business of making movies, they are in the business of making money. So on that level, I understand why they want to make a sequel of New Jack City as fast and as cost-efficient as possible. But New Jack City is a franchise, and a movement and a template. If there was no New Jack City, there would be no Nino-swagger available for Sean Carter, Sean Combs, Dwayne Carter, and Clifford Harris to study and become Jigga, Diddy, Lil Wayne, and T.I. There would be no Paid In Full, and there would be no The Wire. So for Warner to do a direct-to-DVD New Jack City without Wes Snipes, Al Payne, Ice-T, Chris Rock, Mario Van Peebles, and myself, is almost like doing the Godfather II with the cast of '70s sitcom Barney Miller. It's a stinker. But it is what it is. I just had to speak on it. And my novella "The Diary Of Nino Brown" is my umbrella against the wack juice that sequel is going to be spraying."

Whew...I can certainly feel Mr. Cooper's pain with the bloodthirty quest that Hollywood always seems to be on to make a couple of dollars - even at the expense of ruining a classic film. Not sure why they don't call Wesley since I'm sure he could use a few dollars right about now.