Project Greenlight (diversity)

Project Greenlight (diversity)

Let the battle lines form, and I can already see the writing of stories bashing both Matt Damon and Effie Brown. There was a very heated moment between producer Effie Brown and Matt that has been summed up for the past four years on the internet. It is diversity.

From AV Club, ((hat latter point is stressed by line producer Effie Brown, a black woman who pushes for the team of Leo and Kristen, the only participants to express concern over the portrayal of a prostitute named Harmony in Not Another Pretty Woman. Things get a bit heated between Brown and Damon, ))

I love the fact, while I partly disagree with her, that she stood up for her point of view. However, I respect Matt Damon even more for not backing down. Damon is very much a left-leaning kind of guy and it is good to see someone from the left stand up for their beliefs even when the “D” word is being spoken.

Yes, we should be respectful of the portrayal of any minority character, but let's not harm the story because we want to keep it PC. And, it really bothered me that she wanted to Leo and Kristen for their diversity and not their merits as director. Matt Damon is right. Let's pick the right director for their skills and not what they symbolize and being guardians for minority characters. I cringed when she spoke those words.

And, this is shocking coming from a producer that worked on Dear White People that was surprisingly a extremely well balanced message movie. It actually tackles the issues like this and doesn't really have an answer for you.

This goes into the harder issue of affirmative action. Let's not force diversity down people's throats, but let's not exclude people because of their race, religion or sex either.  I don't want the job because of my skin color, but because I totally kick ass. 

However, all this talk is moot, because I DO think they made the worst choice possible for the director spot. I think this guy will turn out to be a pretentious cross between a hipster and Tim Burton. It just bothers me to see him almost come across as not wanting to be there.

I'm guessing we're going to see some major battles between this new director and Effie Brown. Something tells me it will be akin to those Chris Moore battles, but a bit more personal. 

 Side Note:  I love that the movie will be on HBO and the network is funding it to the tune of 3 million dollars.  I am certain this is HBO flexing its muscles showing they will spend more on the movie than a normal studio.  Plus, the bigger budget has to come out of the fact that this is HBO of the Game of Thrones era.