Hey folks, Harry here...
This just... it hurts. Here's the thing, I like Will Smith - and his daughter Willow Smith is incredibly talented. That song and music video about shaking hair - was kind of friggin super awesome. My wife and I love it. And I absolutely agree with the notion of Willow becoming a star.
That said - excuse me if I get offended. As a Redhead and a Ginger, we're a very rare minority. We only make up around 1%-2% of the world population. And we don't have many traditional characters throughout history. I get that it's easier to think of ANNIE as an orphan girl, but to redheads, she is a hero. Like Pippi Longstockings, Jimmy Olsen, Scarlet O'Neil, Ron Weasley, Black Widow, Woody Woodpecker, Strawberry Shortcake, Archie and Popeye.
And as an extreme minority, I absolutely know that my gripe will go absolutely ignored. My little sister grew up without many role models, but she had ANNIE.
Now, I bet Willow will play the hell out of the role. I really do. But as a redhead, I will stick with the 70's John Huston version of ANNIE. It is a treasure - Hell, even if they were going the redhead route, they'd probably never go with a real redhead anyways. Sometimes, you just have to face disappointments by an inconsiderate media world that never for a second considers my tiny minority. Mainly because... we have no souls. And we're scary looking.
So, get ready, Sony, Will Smith & Jay Z are going to make a new run at ANNIE - Willow Smith can absolutely capture the spunk and cool that has always been the essence of ANNIE, I'm also going to be said to see the 30's Setting go away. It will be interesting to see how they handle the adaptation and the casting of Daddy Warbucks and Punjab. If they even keep those characters.
Excuse me, I have to break the news to my sister now. She's gonna be so pissed.
