Papa Vinyard here, now here's a little somethin' for ya...
Yes, Jaden Smith is going to be wearing a dress to throw off slavers in his next movie. That's not a joke.
Deadline announced that Smith and Liev Schreiber are going to headline an adaptation of James McBride's novel, THE GOOD LORD BIRD. Schreiber will play legendary abolitionist John Brown (the same one Tarantino keeps wanting to make a movie about) who takes Smith's Henry "Onion" Shackleford under his wing amidst the Bleeding Kansas wars of the mid-19th century. The two encounter folks like Harriet Tubman and Frederick Douglass, and eventually instigate the raid on Harpers Ferry that led to the Civil War. And yes, "Onion" wears a dress for most of the story.
This has Oscar-bait written all over it, and the thought of Smith in girl's clothing for the duration of the picture screams of Lee Daniels-level high camp, but the story sounds fairly interesting. McBride, who also wrote the source material for MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA, has a rock-solid reputation, and this novel was a bestseller that landed on several Top 10 lists last year. Apparently, the book injects a good amount of humor into its depictions of historical events, and it'd be nice to see that carry over to the feature film version. Add the talents of Schreiber (so good in the upcoming FADING GIGOLO) to the mix, and you have something that could be more than an obvious prestige picture piggybacking on the success of 12 YEARS A SLAVE.
But…Jaden. Smith. In. A. Dress.
-Vincent Kim-Zahedi
”Papa Vinyard”
vincentzahedi@gmail.com
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