Question for the Room.

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Does the fact that Tyler Perry and Oprah teamed up to “support” Push (which slb discussed here) make you more or less likely to see it?

G.D.

G.D.

Gene "G.D." Demby is the founder and editor of PostBourgie. In his day job, he blogs and reports on race and ethnicity for NPR's Code Switch team.
G.D.

Latest posts by G.D. (see all)

  • GVG

    LESS! Normally the Tyler Lynch co-sign would have been this productions death nail in my book. However, since I’m hearing such amazing things back from Sundance, I’m just going to have to wipe those doubts away, and lend this one to the theory that even a broken clock is right twice a day.

    I’m LMFAO over here though because I just heard about those co-signs the other night from a commenter (in a positive way from them) and immediately thought – NO! Not Tyler Lynch – 10 points off. It should be noted that Monique’s participation got the production another 10 points off from jump.

  • NinaG

    Less. I can’t stand anything Tyler Perry.

  • Grump

    Nope, not the way I see this. It’s a TP movie but more than likely without the spirituality and happy ending. Plus, I’m still laughing that the author’s name is “Sapphire”…

  • ladyfresshh

    I’m happy it is getting support though I’m really not a fan of tyler perry movies, though i do watch them with family, seems to be a fun family thing to do.

    I haven’t read the book but this film did peak my interest before tyler and oprah got on board. I know if i heard about it after and saw the subject matter it would have lower my odds of seeing it.

    That it does not originate from perry/oprah seems to be the difference to me.

    not sure if that answers the question

  • GVG

    “That it does not originate from perry/oprah seems to be the difference to me.” – ladyfresshh

    Agreed.

  • kaya

    it indirectly makes me more likely to see it.
    how?
    because if it gets the oprah touch it’s guaranteed to get more exposure.
    which means more likely to be coming to a theater near me.
    as much as i want to hate on oprah’s opinions, she does bring a lot of exposure to less well-known things.

  • lenée

    i agree with kaya. i’m more likely to catch it near me, so i’m more likely to see it. the book was phenomenal and i absolutely refuse to let tyler perry or oprah be the reason why i don’t go see it. it’d take a lot for tyler perry to turn push into anything even loosely resembling his usual stuff.

  • soma lux

    lee daniels directed this movie. that can be either good or bad. but one thing i know about him is that he likes to push boundaries( he produced monsters ball {which i didn’t care for personally} and the woodsman {which i did like because he ventured into touchy territory}). that at minimum needs to be respected, especially with the constant regurgitation going on in black cinema right now. his directorial debut was shadowboxer with cuba gooding jr. and hellen mirren. it made me a bit uncomfortable but i like that he is willing to go there with a story. push might actually be a perfect fit for him.

    the tyler perry stamp of approval makes me nervous. but its just financial support hopefully and he has nothing to do with final cut of the film.

    oprah supporting it is ok by me.

    i think that we may have to get used to the fact that tyler perry is not going anywhere. i personally am not a fan of his work. but he has made an obscene amount of money (pimpin) catering to simple church folk. he took that money and built his own studio. he has garnered power for using his own money to make a film and then his own studio.

    isn’t this what we all wanted? black people with money coming together to push OUR stories out there?

    now trust me i wished that it would have been bill cosby, oprah and spike lee and not tyler perry but its tyler perry.

    maybe we can pimp the church too and and then use the money to make quality films.

  • If I didn’t already know something about it, like that it didn’t originate with Oprah and Tyler Perry, I would avoid it like the plague.

  • Less. Much, much less. But like Consuela and LF, it helps that I know it didn’t originate from the dynamic duo.

  • less…lessssss likely to see it. Every book to movie project Oprah touches she BOMBS. Beloved. They’re Eyes Were Watching God. smh. It’s unfortunate, but everything she does on the production level, she desecrates. Tyler Perry, he manages to suck all of the complexities out of things. God Bless ’em though…they try. lol The fact that this particular book is one that you can’t read with out cringing, crying, or wanting to vomit at times, makes me curious to see how they turn it into something you can watch. Curious enough in fact that I’ll see it opening night!

  • Scott

    According to the NYT Arts Beat, this film is now the subject of litigation over who exactly owns the rights to it. So it may be a while before it comes to your local theater.

  • A.D. Nix

    I loathe Tyler Perry but I’m not going to swear off sandwiches just because I find out he likes them too. In other words: I’m no more or less likely to see it because TP and OW are helping it get to a theater near you (me).

    @ Scott: Holy shiz. That’s unfortunate.

  • ladyfresshh

    @ajuaorangemoon makes me curious to see how they turn it into something you can watch.
    is LD allowing them to edit?

    @ scott – holy crapola

  • sasha

    I’ve been excited about this movie since i first i heard it was going to be made so it doesn’t matter to me that Oprah and Tyler Perry are supporting this movie; i’m glad that they are since I think it will help it get distributed into more theaters since this is a hard movie to market (so i’ve read).

  • From my understanding Oprah and Perry are just helping with distribution and publicity right? Without there star power this movie would still be sitting on a shelf like a lot of black movies that don’t have to do with shucking and jiving.
    And since it did so well at Sundance there probably will only be minor changes to the final project. If the material is as raw as the book, studios might want to cut some of that out to get more people to see it and make more $ but with Tyler and Oprah behind it, the two have the $ to demand that it not be touched.

    On another note, I believe I saw on youtube that Mariah Carey is in this film. That’s what might make me less likely to see it if that’s true. And I saw a clip with Sherry Shepard from the view and it wasn’t that interesting but the reviews for the entire film have been all positive.