She says: "I thought it might be an issue that I was not African-American, but it wasn't. They hired me more for my heart and soul than for the colour of my skin. The first edit of the film focused heavily on the fire incident and Zenovich says the audience at test screenings did not like it. She says: "They said it needed to be more funny, not so depressing. He was such an icon we needed to deliver what the people wanted and they wanted to laugh more.
The finished film is set to be nominated for awards and Zenovich says she has heard there are plans for a Hollywood biopic of Pryor's life, with Michael B Jordan - who played Wallace in The Wire and recently starred in Fruitvale Station - playing the comedian. Asked why Murphy, Cosby and Wilder declined to be in the film, she says: "People are more interested in their own story and they don't necessarily want to talk about public figures unless it suits them.
Pryor was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis in and his health deteriorated severely during the s. One of the most touching moments of the film is when his former lawyer Skip Brittenham wells up with tears as he recalls Pryor's last years. Zenovich says: "It was never my goal to get him to cry. Jennifer didn't think he would talk but he said yes. He loved Richard so much. When he started tearing up he said, 'I didn't know I had this in me. For her documentary Zenovich dug out some footage of Pryor being asked how he wanted to be remembered after he died.
In a rare moment of straight-faced candour, he said: "I'd like the people to see my picture and laugh and have stories to tell, tell some lies on me Comedian Richard Pryor dead at Obituary: Richard Pryor. Or do you want to end up a spitting wad like Jerry Lewis? This identity crisis came to head in , when Pryor, already regularly doing cocaine after being introduced to it by a sex worker name Tia Maria, famously flamed out on stage in front of none other than Rat Packer Dean Martin.
In a burst of inspiration, I finally spoke to the sold-out crowd. In Foxx, he found a mentor—and a partner in crime. Sometimes a gun. Redd also liked the cocaine, too. I spent many nights when I felt as if we were in the coke Olympics. But Foxx was a master storyteller. Pryor had started to find his voice. Pryor found a soul mate and champion in jazz icon Miles Davis. Instead, just before showtime, a lackey came in and told Pryor that Davis, already a legend, would be opening for him instead.
I played his music, collected his art, admired his independence, understood his rudeness, and loved the way he talked. It fascinated me like nothing else. No matter what he said, Miles sounded cool. Not a fucking note. But I blew the mother fucker as if the shrill discordant sounds that went screaming into the darkness would let everyone know how unhappy I felt inside. But through all the turmoil, Pryor found in Davis a hero who inspired him to listen to the music in his head.
Married seven times to five different women, Pryor would also have affairs with Pam Grier, a transgender beauty named Mitrasha, and as Quincy Jones has hinted Marlon Brando.
After actress Margot Kidder discovered he was cheating on her, she cut up his Armani wardrobe with a pair of scissors. The comic genius, however, had another side to him - one riddled with darkness, angst, and pain.
Pryor, born on December 1, , was raised in Peoria, Illinois. His early years were spent living in a brothel with a mother who worked as a prostitute and a father who was a pimp. While his grandmother, the matriarch of the family, made her money as the madam of the brothel. Pryor, in his childhood, had only known violence, and lived a very unstable life. After his mother decided to leave the life of prostitution behind, he was asked to choose between his mother and grandmother in court.
Whereas the popular notion is that Pryor accidentally set himself on fire while using cocaine liquefied by a flame ''freebasing'' , in the movie the accident is depicted as nothing less than a suicide attempt. A drugged Pryor pours liquor over his body and then, off-screen, ignites his clothing. The pain. In other words, the alcohol-dousing may be only symbolic of his death wish. Why not something more direct, like a bullet though the head? Maybe you have to be crazy to understand it, but I was powerless over drugs, and I still am.
The excellence of ''Jo Jo Dancer'' comes as a major surprise. The film was rumored to be ''in trouble'' late last year when its Christmas opening was delayed--never a good sign. Indeed, Pryor confirmed that re-editing took place and that new scenes and music supervised by Herbie Hancock were added.
It was too confusing for audiences. So we decided to tell the story more chronologically.
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