By “black-ish” creator Kenya Barris is at the Sundance Film Festival this week and offered updates on some high-profile projects he’s attached to in an interview with Variety.
He tells the outlet that the feature film biopic of comedian Richard Pryor that he was attached to direct back in 2020 is still in development, but now it has changed into a ten-episode limited series.
Barris says the bio-series is a full “cradle to grave” affair from his growing up in a “house of ill repute” to becoming a comedy god and the “biggest star in the world” at one point. In terms of where it stands, Barris says he’s “in the room with it right now”.
Two projects he’s working on that are more contentious is new versions of film classics “The Wizard of Oz” and “It’s a Wonderful Life”. He confirms his script for ‘Oz’ is done and reimagines Dorothy living in The Bottoms – a massive apartment complex in California’s Inglewood:
“The original ‘Wizard of Oz’ took place during the Great Depression and it was about self-reliance and what people were going through.
I think this is the perfect time to switch the characters and talk about what someone imagines their life could be. It’s ultimately a hero’s journey, someone thinks something’s better than where they’re at, and they go and realize that where they’re at is where they should be.
I want people to be proud and happy about where they’re from. But I want the world to take a look at it and I hope that will come through.”
Like with his new ‘Oz’, his new take on Frank Capra’s ‘Wonderful Life’ will center around a person of color and will aim to shift the perspective of the film:
“It’s a guy who’s trying to help out his community and things are going to turn around on him. I think that’s the perfect story to tell for a person of color – Black or brown – to get into that because our communities have some issues and someone trying to help that community out. I think that’s the perfect vehicle to tell that story from.”
Barris adds that he’s still a “believer in IP” and great stories get told over and over so being able to tell them “from a different point of a view is a gift”.
No word as yet in regards to when any of these may see the screen.
Source: Variety
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