0:00:15 > 0:00:21In 1939, the most successful film ever made was first released
0:00:21 > 0:00:24in cinemas - Gone With The Wind.
0:00:24 > 0:00:29A box office sensation, it won nine Oscars and one of those wins
0:00:29 > 0:00:30was truly extraordinary,
0:00:30 > 0:00:33especially considering the time.
0:00:34 > 0:00:38Hattie McDaniel took Best Supporting Actress for playing the maid,
0:00:38 > 0:00:43Mammy, and became the first black person to win an Academy Award.
0:00:43 > 0:00:46I don't know why she's comin', but she's a-comin'.
0:00:46 > 0:00:50It took 24 years for another black actor, Sidney Poitier,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53to win an Oscar and there wasn't a black Best Actress winner
0:00:53 > 0:00:58until the 21st-century, when Halle Berry won for Monster's Ball.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03The film industry has always struggled when it comes to race,
0:01:03 > 0:01:05Hollywood in particular.
0:01:05 > 0:01:07Its champions would claim that over the years,
0:01:07 > 0:01:11film-makers have challenged racism and showcased black actors
0:01:11 > 0:01:15who became positive role models and champions of change.
0:01:15 > 0:01:20Detractors say that Hollywood has reflected, even perpetuated,
0:01:20 > 0:01:25the racism of American society and continually blocked black talent.
0:01:26 > 0:01:29So which was the case with Gone With The Wind?
0:01:29 > 0:01:33It's a question that was still being asked as late as 2006,
0:01:33 > 0:01:38when George Clooney praised the Oscar Academy for being progressive.
0:01:38 > 0:01:41And we talked about civil rights when it wasn't really popular
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and this Academy,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46this group of people gave Hattie McDaniel an Oscar in 1939,
0:01:46 > 0:01:49when blacks were still sitting in the backs of theatres.
0:01:49 > 0:01:51I'm proud to be a part of this Academy.
0:01:54 > 0:01:58Clooney's speech drew plenty of criticism -
0:01:58 > 0:02:01the arguments against his take on things perhaps put best by
0:02:01 > 0:02:05Spike Lee, director of Malcolm X and Do The Right Thing.
0:02:07 > 0:02:10I love George Clooney, I mean, what he's done,
0:02:10 > 0:02:13not too many Hollywood stars are going to use their power to do
0:02:13 > 0:02:17a film like Good Night, Good Luck and Syriana.
0:02:17 > 0:02:22But I don't know how you use Hattie McDaniel
0:02:22 > 0:02:25winning an Academy Award
0:02:25 > 0:02:30as an example of how progressive and liberal Hollywood is -
0:02:30 > 0:02:32I mean, the Academy.
0:02:32 > 0:02:34When Hattie McDaniel won that award,
0:02:34 > 0:02:36she had to sit in the back of the room.
0:02:38 > 0:02:42That role in Gone With The Wind, she played a mammy.
0:02:42 > 0:02:44Also, Gone With The Wind,
0:02:44 > 0:02:46there's no doubt about it,
0:02:46 > 0:02:48if you look at film,
0:02:48 > 0:02:51the Union are the bad guys
0:02:51 > 0:02:54and the Confederacy are the heroes
0:02:54 > 0:02:57and according to the film,
0:02:57 > 0:02:58the Confederacy should have won
0:02:58 > 0:03:03and kept Negroes enslaved forever!
0:03:03 > 0:03:05Plus...
0:03:05 > 0:03:07Hattie McDaniel won in 1939.
0:03:08 > 0:03:13Halle Berry won... The next African-American woman to win
0:03:13 > 0:03:16the Best Actor was 2003 -
0:03:16 > 0:03:18that's over 60 years!
0:03:18 > 0:03:20So how can you use...?!
0:03:20 > 0:03:22That shows how risible they are.
0:03:22 > 0:03:24It took 60-something years...
0:03:24 > 0:03:271939, Hattie McDaniel, 2003...
0:03:28 > 0:03:30..Halle Berry.
0:03:30 > 0:03:32Come on, George - you know better than that.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37The actress Butterfly McQueen appeared alongside
0:03:37 > 0:03:40Hattie McDaniel in Gone With The Wind,
0:03:40 > 0:03:42cast as the O'Hara's family servant, Prissy,
0:03:42 > 0:03:46was famously slapped by Scarlett in one scene for telling lies.
0:03:46 > 0:03:49- What do you mean?- I don't know!
0:03:49 > 0:03:51You told me you knew everything about it!
0:03:51 > 0:03:53I don't know how come I told such a lie.
0:03:53 > 0:03:55Ma ain't never let me around when folks was having them...
0:03:55 > 0:03:57Ah!
0:03:57 > 0:04:01Critics have described the role as a racist caricature.
0:04:01 > 0:04:04McQueen's feelings about the part were complicated -
0:04:04 > 0:04:06she hated the character for being stereotypical,
0:04:06 > 0:04:10but enjoyed talking about being part of a movie milestone
0:04:10 > 0:04:13during appearances like this one, from 1989.
0:04:13 > 0:04:17- Good to see you.- OK.- OK. Yeah, don't worry.
0:04:17 > 0:04:21Tell me, did that blow from Vivien Leigh, did it hurt?
0:04:21 > 0:04:22- It wasn't a slap!- Wasn't it?
0:04:22 > 0:04:25I bargained with them, I said, "If you slap me, I won't scream,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29"but if you don't slap me, I'll scream as loud as I can,"
0:04:29 > 0:04:31so she comes like this...
0:04:31 > 0:04:33And somebody behind the camera goes...
0:04:33 > 0:04:35SHE CLAPS
0:04:35 > 0:04:37- No, I was not hit. - Oh, thank goodness.
0:04:37 > 0:04:42- But I think Prissy should have been. - Do you?- Don't you?- Oh, yeah.
0:04:42 > 0:04:46- Well, she shouldn't have lied. - No! No.- Did you like her?
0:04:46 > 0:04:50- Did you like that part? - Oh! Ooh! I hated that!
0:04:50 > 0:04:51LAUGHTER
0:04:51 > 0:04:54I hated it THEN, Mr Wogan, I hated it THEN,
0:04:54 > 0:04:56but NOW, I'm very happy!
0:04:58 > 0:05:01Yeah, because it was your very first film role,
0:05:01 > 0:05:04you know, and you tested for the part...
0:05:04 > 0:05:08Yes, I tested in New York for the part and they sent for me
0:05:08 > 0:05:10and I just went...
0:05:10 > 0:05:11cos I wanted to make money
0:05:11 > 0:05:14to pay for some new furniture I'd just bought.
0:05:14 > 0:05:16LAUGHTER
0:05:16 > 0:05:19I mean, the film was made at a tremendous pace, wasn't it?
0:05:19 > 0:05:22- Made very quickly.- Oh, no!
0:05:22 > 0:05:24He was two years searching for Scarlett,
0:05:24 > 0:05:28but I think that was just for publicity and then
0:05:28 > 0:05:33Mr Selznick was very painstaking and careful - it wasn't made
0:05:33 > 0:05:36quickly, it was made very...
0:05:36 > 0:05:38Well, no - from the time it was started
0:05:38 > 0:05:41to the time of the premiere, it was less than a year.
0:05:41 > 0:05:42Oh!
0:05:42 > 0:05:44LAUGHTER
0:05:45 > 0:05:47You are...!
0:05:47 > 0:05:52You are the one to bring a person out, no, no!
0:05:53 > 0:05:55It took longer?
0:05:55 > 0:05:56There you are, you shouldn't believe
0:05:56 > 0:06:00- everything you read in the publicity.- Oh, no.
0:06:00 > 0:06:04Did you... Was it fun on the set, was everybody nice to each other?
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Everybody on that set was a lady and a gentleman.
0:06:08 > 0:06:12Everybody was so happy and content, but I...
0:06:13 > 0:06:16And Mr Selznick understood,
0:06:16 > 0:06:18Prissy was stupid and backward
0:06:18 > 0:06:21and maybe she smelled and she...
0:06:24 > 0:06:27Well, Mr Selznick understood that
0:06:27 > 0:06:29no intelligent person would want to be Prissy!
0:06:29 > 0:06:32What did you think of Gone With The Wind when it first came out?
0:06:32 > 0:06:36- I thought they should bury it. - Put it in a hole?
0:06:41 > 0:06:43The first time...
0:06:43 > 0:06:46The first time I saw it, I thought, "Oh, they should put that..."
0:06:46 > 0:06:50Because, as I said, we weren't concerned about the past.
0:06:50 > 0:06:52- What do you think of it now?- Oh!
0:06:52 > 0:06:53Now...
0:06:53 > 0:06:55- Different now.- Yes, sir!
0:06:55 > 0:07:00I meet nice people and I have money to help the people who need
0:07:00 > 0:07:03homes, people need food...
0:07:03 > 0:07:04Oh!
0:07:04 > 0:07:07And I can now...
0:07:07 > 0:07:09help dig wells in Africa
0:07:09 > 0:07:11and give soap in South America.
0:07:11 > 0:07:13Thank goodness Canada doesn't need anything!
0:07:13 > 0:07:15LAUGHTER AND APPLAUSE
0:07:20 > 0:07:23The great Sidney Poitier once said that
0:07:23 > 0:07:26he knew what it felt like to be in an audience watching images
0:07:26 > 0:07:29of black people that were uncomfortable.
0:07:29 > 0:07:33For decades, Poitier was THE face of black cinema and throughout
0:07:33 > 0:07:39his career, he fought to avoid parts that were caricatures or negative.
0:07:39 > 0:07:41Here, he explains how he told his agent,
0:07:41 > 0:07:45a man called Marty Baum, to reject one such stereotypical role.
0:07:48 > 0:07:52The offer was one week's work for 750, which was,
0:07:52 > 0:07:54for me, a lot of money at that time.
0:07:57 > 0:07:59And so I finally had to tell him,
0:07:59 > 0:08:02"I can't play it."
0:08:03 > 0:08:06And he wanted to know why.
0:08:06 > 0:08:08And I said, "It's very difficult to explain,"
0:08:08 > 0:08:10He said, "Try," and I said, "OK."
0:08:12 > 0:08:13I said...
0:08:17 > 0:08:19..that...
0:08:20 > 0:08:22..anything I do...
0:08:25 > 0:08:27..has to have...
0:08:29 > 0:08:31...some...
0:08:31 > 0:08:34..positive reflection on my father's name.
0:08:36 > 0:08:39There's a certain dignity that he is
0:08:39 > 0:08:42and he insists upon from others.
0:08:42 > 0:08:44He insists upon it in his roles.
0:08:44 > 0:08:46It's not that I would have made those choices,
0:08:46 > 0:08:47but I admire the fact that he did.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49He said once,
0:08:49 > 0:08:52I don't mean to quote him,
0:08:52 > 0:08:54but that he wanted to play roles
0:08:54 > 0:08:56where young black people,
0:08:56 > 0:08:59young boys in particular, would leave the theatre saying,
0:08:59 > 0:09:04"Yeah, I can be a cop, I can be a psychiatrist,
0:09:04 > 0:09:07"I can do this..." Rather than whatever they had thought
0:09:07 > 0:09:09they were going to end up being.
0:09:11 > 0:09:14Marty Baum would go out to the studios
0:09:14 > 0:09:18and he would talk about this young actor that he had.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19He would never say to them,
0:09:19 > 0:09:21"This is a black actor."
0:09:23 > 0:09:24Never.
0:09:27 > 0:09:31I would walk in and they would say...
0:09:33 > 0:09:36"Marty Baum sent you? You're the guy Marty Baum was talking about?"
0:09:36 > 0:09:37I'd say, "Yes, I'm the guy..."
0:09:40 > 0:09:45I suppose that the habit of doing such a thing
0:09:45 > 0:09:48by an agent in New York
0:09:48 > 0:09:52in 1951, '50...
0:09:55 > 0:09:57..must have impressed some of
0:09:57 > 0:10:00the people I went to see,
0:10:00 > 0:10:02because we got good responses.
0:10:05 > 0:10:07Amongst those good responses
0:10:07 > 0:10:09were roles in important socially-aware films
0:10:09 > 0:10:11like The Defiant Ones
0:10:11 > 0:10:13and Raisin in the Sun.
0:10:13 > 0:10:16But the best response came in 1963
0:10:16 > 0:10:18with his role in the film
0:10:18 > 0:10:19Lilies Of The Field.
0:10:19 > 0:10:21With it, Sidney made history,
0:10:21 > 0:10:25becoming cinema's first Oscar-winning black man.
0:10:27 > 0:10:29The winner is Sidney Poitier!
0:10:29 > 0:10:32WILD APPLAUSE AND CHEERING
0:10:32 > 0:10:35Mr Poitier is the first Negro to win such a high award
0:10:35 > 0:10:39and the announcement is received warmly by the audience.
0:10:39 > 0:10:42When it came to the moment and Annie opened the envelope,
0:10:42 > 0:10:44I thought I'd faint!
0:10:44 > 0:10:47I thought I'd fall down, I almost did!
0:10:47 > 0:10:49Sidney, the fact that you're a Negro,
0:10:49 > 0:10:53- did that make this particularly significant tonight?- Er...
0:10:54 > 0:10:57You're going to have to let me mull that one for a while.
0:10:58 > 0:11:01Um, it's a very interesting question
0:11:01 > 0:11:03and I would prefer not to answer it
0:11:03 > 0:11:06in my present anxiety!
0:11:06 > 0:11:08I'd rather be much more collected
0:11:08 > 0:11:11to deal with such a delicate question.
0:11:13 > 0:11:16A delicate question, and it was typical of the man
0:11:16 > 0:11:20that whilst breaking new ground, he did it carefully.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24Poitier sought to charm, rather than alienate those white audiences
0:11:24 > 0:11:26who weren't automatically on board
0:11:26 > 0:11:29with the change he represented.
0:11:29 > 0:11:33And at times, he even resented becoming a symbol for civil rights.
0:11:33 > 0:11:35You ask me questions
0:11:35 > 0:11:36that fall continually
0:11:36 > 0:11:39within the Negro-ness of my life.
0:11:39 > 0:11:41You ask me questions that pertain
0:11:41 > 0:11:44to the narrow scope
0:11:44 > 0:11:45of the summer riots.
0:11:46 > 0:11:48I am artist...
0:11:49 > 0:11:51..a man,
0:11:51 > 0:11:53American,
0:11:53 > 0:11:54contemporary...
0:11:54 > 0:11:56I am an awful lot of things,
0:11:56 > 0:11:58so I wish you would...
0:11:59 > 0:12:02..pay me the respect due
0:12:02 > 0:12:06and not simply ask me about those things.
0:12:09 > 0:12:12But in 1967, Sidney chose a part
0:12:12 > 0:12:15with civil rights clearly in mind -
0:12:15 > 0:12:19Guess Who's Coming To Dinner - which dealt with the issue of
0:12:19 > 0:12:22interracial marriage and co-starred Hollywood royalty
0:12:22 > 0:12:25Katherine Hepburn and Spencer Tracy.
0:12:25 > 0:12:27KNOCKING
0:12:27 > 0:12:29I'm not intruding?
0:12:29 > 0:12:32Of course not, John - please, come in.
0:12:32 > 0:12:37'It was one of the most emotional scenes in the movie,
0:12:37 > 0:12:43'when I addressed them to talk to them as their future son-in-law.
0:12:43 > 0:12:47'And I stood before these two people and I looked them in the eye
0:12:47 > 0:12:50'and I couldn't remember a word!
0:12:50 > 0:12:53'It went on for hours.
0:12:53 > 0:12:57'Ultimately, I had to ask Mr Kramer to do me a favour.
0:12:57 > 0:13:01'I decided that I cannot look into the eyes of these people,
0:13:01 > 0:13:03'because, to me, all I could see,
0:13:03 > 0:13:06'instead of seeing the father and the mother of the girl,
0:13:06 > 0:13:07'I am seeing the legends
0:13:07 > 0:13:09'of the American film industry in front of me.
0:13:09 > 0:13:13'So I said, "Would you please do me a favour? Send them home."
0:13:13 > 0:13:16'And he did! He packed them off and they went home,
0:13:16 > 0:13:18'he gave them the afternoon off.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21'And I then was able to play the scene to two empty chairs.'
0:13:23 > 0:13:27On paper, Guess Who's Coming To Dinner should have cemented
0:13:27 > 0:13:31Poitier's position as a leading challenger of the status quo.
0:13:31 > 0:13:35If anything, the fact it was banned in America's South
0:13:35 > 0:13:38was a testament to its significance.
0:13:38 > 0:13:39But for some audiences,
0:13:39 > 0:13:41it had the opposite effect.
0:13:41 > 0:13:44One New York Times writer claimed Poitier's character slipped
0:13:44 > 0:13:48so far into tokenistic caricature that it was impossible
0:13:48 > 0:13:51to identify with and gave the impression
0:13:51 > 0:13:54that only a black man who was so perfectly refined
0:13:54 > 0:13:58and impossibly high-achieving could be embraced by a white family.
0:14:01 > 0:14:05It was a tough article for me,
0:14:05 > 0:14:06because it came at a very...
0:14:07 > 0:14:11..delicate time in my life and my career.
0:14:11 > 0:14:13Er...
0:14:13 > 0:14:16I had had tough articles before,
0:14:16 > 0:14:22but the extent to which this was, to my mind, totally...
0:14:22 > 0:14:24er, untrue...
0:14:26 > 0:14:28..bothered me.
0:14:28 > 0:14:33It was a couple of months before I was OK with what he had written.
0:14:35 > 0:14:39And, er, I went on with my life.
0:14:39 > 0:14:42I never forgot it.
0:14:44 > 0:14:47The controversy eventually faded.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50Poitier's significance never will,
0:14:50 > 0:14:52with many black stars citing him
0:14:52 > 0:14:54as the first and most important
0:14:54 > 0:14:56aspirational figure they've encountered
0:14:56 > 0:15:01and also, of course, he was just a very, very fine actor.
0:15:03 > 0:15:07The 1970s saw an explosion in black cinema
0:15:07 > 0:15:10and the rise of Blaxploitation films like Shaft,
0:15:10 > 0:15:15made specifically for a young, urban, black audience.
0:15:15 > 0:15:18But the struggle for roles and recognition continued with
0:15:18 > 0:15:23only five black actors nominated for Oscars over the entire decade.
0:15:23 > 0:15:28In 1982, Louis Gossett Jr won the Best Supporting Actor prize
0:15:28 > 0:15:31for An Officer And A Gentleman, and then,
0:15:31 > 0:15:36in 1985, came a film that looked like a guaranteed awards magnet -
0:15:36 > 0:15:38The Color Purple -
0:15:38 > 0:15:41based on the Pulitzer prize-winning novel by Alice Walker
0:15:41 > 0:15:43and directed by Stephen Spielberg,
0:15:43 > 0:15:46who took a specific approach when it came to casting.
0:15:48 > 0:15:51I didn't want to cast traditional black movie stars,
0:15:51 > 0:15:54which I felt would create their own stereotype.
0:15:54 > 0:15:57I won't mention any names, because it wouldn't be kind,
0:15:57 > 0:15:59but there were people who wanted to be...
0:15:59 > 0:16:03To play these parts very much, but if they had played those parts,
0:16:03 > 0:16:05it would represent a kind of...
0:16:05 > 0:16:08"OK, these black people are the only black people accepted
0:16:08 > 0:16:12"in the kind of white world's mainstream".
0:16:12 > 0:16:13And I didn't want to do that,
0:16:13 > 0:16:16that's why I chose so many unknowns who had not been seen before,
0:16:16 > 0:16:20like Whoopi Goldberg and Oprah and Margaret Avery
0:16:20 > 0:16:22and wonderful talents like that.
0:16:22 > 0:16:24I wanted to really avoid that.
0:16:24 > 0:16:26I sort of missed black repertory in America,
0:16:26 > 0:16:28there just hasn't been a lot of it.
0:16:28 > 0:16:31There hasn't been enough of it and when I saw the wealth of
0:16:31 > 0:16:34talent out there when I began casting this film with
0:16:34 > 0:16:36Reuben Cannon, I couldn't believe it.
0:16:36 > 0:16:38It shocked me to see so many...
0:16:38 > 0:16:40I mean, one good black actor,
0:16:40 > 0:16:42male, female, old, young,
0:16:42 > 0:16:45one after the other, coming in to read for me,
0:16:45 > 0:16:49to do videotape performances and being tested.
0:16:49 > 0:16:52One after the other, hard to make up your mind, they're all so great.
0:16:52 > 0:16:55I kept thinking, "Where have they been?"
0:16:55 > 0:16:58"And where's the outlet, where's room to work?"
0:16:58 > 0:17:00If you don't have the subject matter,
0:17:00 > 0:17:03there's no work for these talented people.
0:17:05 > 0:17:08The most significant piece of casting was Whoopi Goldberg,
0:17:08 > 0:17:12a relative unknown, who took the lead role of Celie.
0:17:16 > 0:17:18I'm a very good actor, I'm very good at what I do.
0:17:19 > 0:17:21I believe in myself, you see
0:17:21 > 0:17:25and I couldn't get it through people's heads
0:17:25 > 0:17:28when I would go to audition for something that they should
0:17:28 > 0:17:32hire me because of course they would look and say, "Well, you're not..."
0:17:32 > 0:17:35And I'd go, "What?" And they'd go, "Well, you're very good!"
0:17:35 > 0:17:37And I'd go... "And?"
0:17:37 > 0:17:39And they'd go, "But you're..."
0:17:39 > 0:17:42And I'd say... ("Black?")
0:17:42 > 0:17:45And they'd go, "Well, yeah, essentially, yes.
0:17:45 > 0:17:48"We have a white lead here," and... You know.
0:17:48 > 0:17:51But the most amazing thing about this film
0:17:51 > 0:17:55is it's truly not a black film.
0:17:55 > 0:18:00Here, they always talk about "the black experience", you know,
0:18:00 > 0:18:03when this is more like the HUMAN experience,
0:18:03 > 0:18:08of someone trying to understand that there's another way.
0:18:08 > 0:18:10JAZZ PLAYS
0:18:13 > 0:18:17The film was eventually nominated for 11 Oscars with Whoopi Goldberg,
0:18:17 > 0:18:21Margaret Avery and Oprah Winfrey all competing
0:18:21 > 0:18:22in the acting categories.
0:18:22 > 0:18:25It didn't win a single award,
0:18:25 > 0:18:28but Whoopi was to get another shot five years later,
0:18:28 > 0:18:31with the much-loved fantasy romance Ghost,
0:18:31 > 0:18:34in which she played fake clairvoyant Oda Mae Brown.
0:18:37 > 0:18:40There's a lot of comedy, but it's also...
0:18:40 > 0:18:42I sat and wept watching that.
0:18:42 > 0:18:44Well, yeah, it is a weepy movie,
0:18:44 > 0:18:45it's kind of mushy,
0:18:45 > 0:18:48in these days of, you know,
0:18:48 > 0:18:53Total Recall and Recall It Again and Lethal Weapon Seven
0:18:53 > 0:18:55and, you know... Die Hard
0:18:55 > 0:18:58and then Harder and then Harder Again!
0:18:58 > 0:19:01You know, this is a strange little film,
0:19:01 > 0:19:04because it allows the audience
0:19:04 > 0:19:09to have old-fashioned...tastes.
0:19:09 > 0:19:12But in a sense, you're the heroine, aren't you?
0:19:12 > 0:19:15I mean, Demi Moore, she's very beautiful and all the rest of it -
0:19:15 > 0:19:16she has to cry a lot in this film.
0:19:16 > 0:19:18I punched her, that's why she cried so much.
0:19:18 > 0:19:21- But you're the heroine, aren't you?...- Um...
0:19:21 > 0:19:24Probably. Probably.
0:19:24 > 0:19:29I'm very sort of leery of words like that, because they sort of
0:19:29 > 0:19:33set you up to be something that might not be everybody's idea,
0:19:33 > 0:19:36but she does take a stance
0:19:36 > 0:19:38and goes for it.
0:19:38 > 0:19:40What do you think the chances
0:19:40 > 0:19:42of getting another Oscar nomination are?
0:19:42 > 0:19:45I don't even think about that stuff. You know, they can make you crazy -
0:19:45 > 0:19:48"Am I going to get it? Am I not? Am I going to get it? Am I not?"
0:19:48 > 0:19:51If I get it, I'll be very pleased, if I don't, you can...
0:19:53 > 0:19:56..believe that I will be back, trying to get another one.
0:19:56 > 0:19:58But is it important... It's important to you?
0:19:58 > 0:20:00Oh, absolutely, I want one.
0:20:00 > 0:20:04There has not been, and I rarely refer to myself as black,
0:20:04 > 0:20:06because it's not something that just happened overnight,
0:20:06 > 0:20:07I've always been this way.
0:20:07 > 0:20:10- LAUGHTER - So...
0:20:10 > 0:20:13You know, so it's not like something that's foremost in my mind,
0:20:13 > 0:20:19but strangely enough, there hasn't been a black woman since 1939
0:20:19 > 0:20:24to get an Oscar and I would like to be the first since '39 to get it.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27You don't see your colour as any kind of barrier, do you,
0:20:27 > 0:20:29in your profession?
0:20:29 > 0:20:32- Well, no... I mean, do you? - No, I don't.
0:20:32 > 0:20:34- APPLAUSE - There you are.
0:20:34 > 0:20:36CHEERING AND APPLAUSE
0:20:38 > 0:20:41So what you have to do is go to a film producer and point out
0:20:41 > 0:20:44to him that you could play a role that he's automatically
0:20:44 > 0:20:46thinking of for Meryl Streep or Glenn Close or...
0:20:46 > 0:20:50Well, yeah. I mean, pretty much in the dark, you can't tell.
0:20:50 > 0:20:51You know?
0:20:51 > 0:20:54Yeah, but when they're filming you, they put lights on you!
0:20:54 > 0:20:55Yes, but there's no experience
0:20:55 > 0:20:58that you could have had that I could not have.
0:20:58 > 0:21:01There is no experience that I have had that you have not.
0:21:01 > 0:21:04But how do you get that message across to a film producer?
0:21:04 > 0:21:08- You say it very succinctly. - And you've said it?- I say it.
0:21:08 > 0:21:10- What do they say when you say it? - Sometimes they said, "OK."
0:21:10 > 0:21:14I mean, the only two films that were written for me
0:21:14 > 0:21:18with me in mind were Color Purple and Clara's Heart.
0:21:18 > 0:21:20All the rest were for men and other women.
0:21:20 > 0:21:22But did you have to go knocking and say, "Excuse me, listen,
0:21:22 > 0:21:25"look at me - I know I'm black, I can play that role?
0:21:25 > 0:21:27Well, actually, I go knocking,
0:21:27 > 0:21:30I say, "I hear you have this movie and I'm interested in it,"
0:21:30 > 0:21:32and they generally will say, "Really?
0:21:32 > 0:21:35"But you're..." And I say, "Fat?"
0:21:35 > 0:21:37And they say, "No, you're..."
0:21:37 > 0:21:39And I say, "Got braided hair?"
0:21:39 > 0:21:41They say, "No, you're black." I go, "Oh! No!
0:21:43 > 0:21:46"My God, when did it happen?! Who knew?"
0:21:46 > 0:21:49And then pretty much, they relax and start talking to me as an actor,
0:21:49 > 0:21:51because if you remember,
0:21:51 > 0:21:56all of Shakespeare's actors were men playing women's roles. You know?
0:21:56 > 0:21:58So the idea of the art of acting
0:21:58 > 0:22:01is that we are supposed to be able to play everything
0:22:01 > 0:22:05and very few people write for white or black
0:22:05 > 0:22:07or Asian or Puerto Rican.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09And what do you want to play now?
0:22:09 > 0:22:12You've played a man, you've played any kind of age,
0:22:12 > 0:22:15you've played white, black - the colour doesn't matter.
0:22:15 > 0:22:17What do you really... Who do you admire?
0:22:17 > 0:22:19Who would you really like to be in the cinema?
0:22:19 > 0:22:21God.
0:22:21 > 0:22:23LAUGHTER
0:22:23 > 0:22:26I just want to see what'll happen, you know, if I played God.
0:22:26 > 0:22:28Whether the Vatican would crumble or something.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36Ghost did of course earn Whoopi Goldberg a Best Supporting Actress
0:22:36 > 0:22:40Oscar and made her for a while the highest-paid woman in Hollywood.
0:22:40 > 0:22:45This period also saw the release of the epic drama Glory, which
0:22:45 > 0:22:50told the story of a black regiment fighting in the American Civil War.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53The film brought together Morgan Freeman and Denzel Washington,
0:22:53 > 0:22:57who would both go on to become influential Hollywood figures,
0:22:57 > 0:22:59much-loved and highly successful.
0:22:59 > 0:23:02And Glory wasn't Morgan's only hit that year.
0:23:02 > 0:23:06His real breakthrough came with his performance in Driving Miss Daisy.
0:23:07 > 0:23:09You did a lot of theatre work.
0:23:09 > 0:23:14You were in the theatre in a part which, in a movie, was your biggest,
0:23:14 > 0:23:17first biggest hit over here, which was Driving Miss Daisy.
0:23:17 > 0:23:20Now, that must have been particularly sweet, to create the
0:23:20 > 0:23:23role on stage and then to transfer to the screen, which is quite rare.
0:23:23 > 0:23:27It is quite rare, but that wasn't what was particularly sweet to me.
0:23:27 > 0:23:30What was particularly sweet was before Driving Miss Daisy,
0:23:30 > 0:23:31I did this movie called Street Smart,
0:23:31 > 0:23:34which I don't think got here, but I played
0:23:34 > 0:23:38a really dastardly character, a pimp,
0:23:38 > 0:23:42and that was the film and I was doing the play Driving Miss Daisy
0:23:42 > 0:23:45and the play opened when the film opened.
0:23:45 > 0:23:50So I had these two characters being reviewed by the press at the
0:23:50 > 0:23:56same time and both getting these incredible responses from the press.
0:23:56 > 0:23:57That was... That was...
0:23:59 > 0:24:01I started telling everybody around me,
0:24:01 > 0:24:04"Look out, look out! I'm on my way!"
0:24:04 > 0:24:09- Tell me about working with Jessica Tandy.- Jessica, she's been acting...
0:24:09 > 0:24:13I mean, at that time, she'd been acting for 65 years.
0:24:14 > 0:24:1765 years. She was a consummate professional.
0:24:18 > 0:24:21On time, on-the-job,
0:24:21 > 0:24:25lines down, ready to go.
0:24:25 > 0:24:26No BS.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31You know? It's never, "Miss Tandy's in her trailer.
0:24:31 > 0:24:35"Miss Tandy's not ready." Miss Tandy is on the set, Miss Tandy's ready.
0:24:35 > 0:24:42Because her health was not all that she wanted it to be,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45they would only let her work six hours a day,
0:24:45 > 0:24:49but she'd put in the full six, the full six, every day.
0:24:50 > 0:24:55Oh, I just love the smell of a new car! Don't you, Miss Daisy?
0:24:58 > 0:25:02- I'm nobody's fool, Hoke.- Why, no!
0:25:02 > 0:25:05- My husband taught me to run a car. - Yes.
0:25:05 > 0:25:08I remember everything he said,
0:25:08 > 0:25:10so don't you think even for a second that you...
0:25:10 > 0:25:13Now, wait - you're speeding, I can see it.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16No, Miss Daisy, we only doing about 19mph.
0:25:16 > 0:25:20When you're looking at a film, I reckon you can often tell
0:25:20 > 0:25:24when the people making it had a really good time, and looking at
0:25:24 > 0:25:27that, I just got the impression that you really enjoyed making that film.
0:25:28 > 0:25:31I did, I loved that character.
0:25:31 > 0:25:34I LOVED the whole thing, I loved that piece, that play.
0:25:35 > 0:25:41I thought that it was one of the few times ever that someone went
0:25:41 > 0:25:45to a Southern situation and told a different story.
0:25:45 > 0:25:48You know? Because that was real.
0:25:48 > 0:25:52- Do you enjoy watching yourself on film?- No, not particularly.
0:25:52 > 0:25:56I like watching a good film and if I happen to be in it, fine,
0:25:56 > 0:25:59but for the most part, no, I don't,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04because when you're on stage and you don't get to see yourself,
0:26:04 > 0:26:07except as you're mirrored through the eyes and responses of the
0:26:07 > 0:26:10audience, you look a lot better.
0:26:10 > 0:26:12You know?
0:26:12 > 0:26:14You don't see your...
0:26:14 > 0:26:16perceived mistakes
0:26:16 > 0:26:21or things that you always think of as shortcomings in yourself,
0:26:21 > 0:26:25which we all have, you know? You're perfect.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28You're as perfect as your audience says you are.
0:26:28 > 0:26:31When you actually see yourself,
0:26:31 > 0:26:35then the audience becomes less believable.
0:26:35 > 0:26:38You seem to be a man who likes to keep his feet very much on
0:26:38 > 0:26:41the ground. You sail a lot, you get off in your boat.
0:26:41 > 0:26:43Is that important to you,
0:26:43 > 0:26:46that Chicago upbringing as a kid kind of keeps your feet on the
0:26:46 > 0:26:48ground, stops you getting a bit head in the clouds?
0:26:48 > 0:26:51You've got to keep contact with reality,
0:26:51 > 0:26:55because if you lose contact, and it slaps you, then it's going to hurt.
0:26:55 > 0:26:59Morgan Freeman got a Best Actor Oscar nomination
0:26:59 > 0:27:00for Driving Miss Daisy.
0:27:00 > 0:27:04Denzel Washington won Best Supporting Actor
0:27:04 > 0:27:06for his role in Glory.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09He'd already earned widespread acclaim playing Steve Biko in
0:27:09 > 0:27:13Richard Attenborough's 1987 drama, Cry Freedom.
0:27:13 > 0:27:15He would also tackle Shakespeare
0:27:15 > 0:27:19in Kenneth Branagh's Much Ado About Nothing and star alongside
0:27:19 > 0:27:22Tom Hanks in the Aids drama Philadelphia.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25This appearance comes from those early days -
0:27:25 > 0:27:30a visit to the Wogan studio in 1992 in which Whoopi Goldberg's
0:27:30 > 0:27:33previous appearance on the show came up for discussion.
0:27:33 > 0:27:35Now, I saw Whoopi Goldberg being interviewed,
0:27:35 > 0:27:38I think it was actually when Miss Sue Lawley was doing this show
0:27:38 > 0:27:41while I was away on holiday and doing it dammed well...
0:27:42 > 0:27:46She spoke of a lack of good leading roles for African-American actors
0:27:46 > 0:27:48or for black actors generally.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Has that been your experience?
0:27:50 > 0:27:52It hasn't been so much my experience,
0:27:52 > 0:27:55I've been very fortunate.
0:27:55 > 0:27:57I know a lot of American actors,
0:27:57 > 0:27:58white actors,
0:27:58 > 0:28:02who aren't able to get good parts - who do they blame?
0:28:02 > 0:28:06- Yes, you think it's an easy excuse. - Yeah, it can be used that way.
0:28:06 > 0:28:08But black actors tend to...
0:28:08 > 0:28:11I mean you've got a Supporting Oscar, Whoopi's got
0:28:11 > 0:28:14a Supporting Oscar. It tends to be support roles, doesn't it?
0:28:14 > 0:28:16Well, you know...
0:28:16 > 0:28:18I got a big house in California,
0:28:18 > 0:28:20I'm a fairly wealthy man,
0:28:20 > 0:28:21I can't complain.
0:28:21 > 0:28:24It would be easy to sit here and say, "Oh, yeah,
0:28:24 > 0:28:30"there's a lot of prejudices, a lot of racism." Well, that's a given.
0:28:30 > 0:28:32I try to be a positive person and figure out
0:28:32 > 0:28:35a way I can do better, not give into those problems.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37It's just that some of the interviews I've read
0:28:37 > 0:28:40that you've given, they are casting you in some ways as
0:28:40 > 0:28:43- a role model for other African-Americans...- Mm-hm.
0:28:43 > 0:28:45..for saying that you do take a strong line,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49but obviously...you're relatively happy with your lot.
0:28:49 > 0:28:51As I said, I'm a positive person.
0:28:51 > 0:28:55I think you have to take what you're given and do something with it,
0:28:55 > 0:28:59you know, the easiest thing to do is complain about it and give in
0:28:59 > 0:29:01to that, but I try to turn that into something positive and
0:29:01 > 0:29:05- so far, it's worked for me.- Good for you. You won the Oscar of course...
0:29:05 > 0:29:10- Yeah.- Did you find more people wanted to know you?- Well, um...
0:29:10 > 0:29:14I'd like to think that things are pretty much the same, you know.
0:29:14 > 0:29:17I guess it's been a little better for me in terms of opportunities,
0:29:17 > 0:29:20but I've still got to put out the garbage when I get home...
0:29:20 > 0:29:22For goodness' sake.
0:29:22 > 0:29:25- Do you do the washing up? All that stuff?- Yeah.
0:29:25 > 0:29:27I find myself standing at the sink, saying,
0:29:27 > 0:29:30"I bet Frank Sinatra is not doing this in Palm Beach.
0:29:30 > 0:29:32- "He's not doing that."- He's not!
0:29:32 > 0:29:34- Just you and I!- He's not cleaning the dog turds off the lawn.
0:29:34 > 0:29:36We're the only ones doing it!
0:29:36 > 0:29:39The people don't understand.
0:29:39 > 0:29:43- When you're a star, you shouldn't be asked to do this.- No, no.
0:29:43 > 0:29:46- Do you get sent out to the supermarket?- All the time.
0:29:46 > 0:29:48- And I always bring back the wrong thing!- Of course!
0:29:50 > 0:29:53Again, a film in which you made a tremendous impact was
0:29:53 > 0:29:55as Steve Biko in Cry Freedom.
0:29:55 > 0:29:58Was that the first time that you'd worked in Africa?
0:29:58 > 0:30:02- Yes, first time in England and in Africa.- How did that strike you?
0:30:02 > 0:30:03Well, it was like...
0:30:04 > 0:30:06Being an African-American,
0:30:06 > 0:30:10we're one of the few groups of people on this earth that
0:30:10 > 0:30:13don't know where we're from, specifically, you know,
0:30:13 > 0:30:17because our history was taken from us during slavery.
0:30:17 > 0:30:19We know we're from the continent of Africa,
0:30:19 > 0:30:23but not specifically where, so when I went to Zimbabwe where we filmed,
0:30:23 > 0:30:28it was sort of a homecoming, like, "Yeah, this makes sense now.
0:30:28 > 0:30:31"I'm back home," even though it wasn't necessarily my block!
0:30:31 > 0:30:35- But I still felt good about it.- You just made a film with Spike Lee...
0:30:35 > 0:30:39- Yes.- On the very controversial black American leader...- Malcolm X.
0:30:39 > 0:30:42That's going to make a few waves...
0:30:42 > 0:30:45- Yes, that'll stir the pot!- Really?
0:30:45 > 0:30:49Yes, we just got off the plane from Cairo yesterday afternoon
0:30:49 > 0:30:52and finished up shooting down there.
0:30:52 > 0:30:54Once again you've been cast as a kind of...
0:30:54 > 0:30:59Well, if not a Malcolm X, sort of leader, somebody to look up to.
0:30:59 > 0:31:01Yes, and I don't mind that.
0:31:01 > 0:31:03You know, I've done different types of roles.
0:31:03 > 0:31:08I also did a film that's opening here in April called Ricochet,
0:31:08 > 0:31:11which is just sort of an action-adventure,
0:31:11 > 0:31:14hanging off of tall buildings, hero-type stuff,
0:31:14 > 0:31:16so variety is the spice of life.
0:31:16 > 0:31:18Does Bruce Willis know that you're stealing his thunder?
0:31:18 > 0:31:20I'm right on his heels, he'd better watch out!
0:31:23 > 0:31:26Denzel did indeed have all of Hollywood watching out.
0:31:26 > 0:31:30His popularity is huge and his critical achievements
0:31:30 > 0:31:32have seen him compared to Sidney Poitier many times,
0:31:32 > 0:31:36which is something that he has mixed feelings about.
0:31:37 > 0:31:39I heard it many times in my career,
0:31:39 > 0:31:42"Oh, you're the next Sidney Poitier," and I said, you know,
0:31:42 > 0:31:45"That's the most racist thing I've ever heard in my life."
0:31:45 > 0:31:48Because you're saying it can only be one person at a time -
0:31:48 > 0:31:51there was one 40 years ago and now there's one now?
0:31:51 > 0:31:54You know, and you can only be compared to one other person
0:31:54 > 0:31:57and that person has to be black? That's who you are?
0:31:57 > 0:32:01We've decided who, what you are what category and see you later,
0:32:01 > 0:32:03that's who you are.
0:32:03 > 0:32:06I always resented that. Excuse me.
0:32:06 > 0:32:08At the same time, I was like,
0:32:08 > 0:32:10"OK!
0:32:10 > 0:32:13"I'll take it!" You know? Great actor.
0:32:13 > 0:32:15Wonderful human being.
0:32:18 > 0:32:23In 2002, Denzel Washington won his second Oscar,
0:32:23 > 0:32:27this time for Leading Actor for the film Training Day.
0:32:27 > 0:32:29That same night, Halle Berry made history -
0:32:29 > 0:32:32her role in Monster's Ball
0:32:32 > 0:32:36making her the first black female to win the Best Actress award.
0:32:36 > 0:32:39Here, we join her talking about her experiences
0:32:39 > 0:32:41and that important Oscar win.
0:32:42 > 0:32:45You know, for the first time in my career, I've had like, three or
0:32:45 > 0:32:49four projects in development - I've never had that happen in my career.
0:32:49 > 0:32:52But I think when anybody wins an Academy Award,
0:32:52 > 0:32:55you get a bit more respect from your peers and from the industry,
0:32:55 > 0:32:59but it's such a competitive industry,
0:32:59 > 0:33:05you still have to be very aggressive and have your eye on the ball
0:33:05 > 0:33:09and be very sort of, um, relentless in your approach.
0:33:09 > 0:33:13I think the big myth is that you win an Academy Award and then the
0:33:13 > 0:33:17script bus comes by your house and drops off all these great scripts.
0:33:17 > 0:33:19Many times, more times than I care to tell you,
0:33:19 > 0:33:22I have been told, "I don't want to see Halle Berry for this role,
0:33:22 > 0:33:24"because we don't want to go black."
0:33:24 > 0:33:27Now, what does that mean, "We don't want to go black"?
0:33:27 > 0:33:30But I'd hear that over and over and over,
0:33:30 > 0:33:32or, "If we cast a black woman in that role,
0:33:32 > 0:33:35"it will change the whole dynamic and the meaning of the movie."
0:33:35 > 0:33:37And those are hard pills to swallow
0:33:37 > 0:33:39when you've been chugging along,
0:33:39 > 0:33:41working at your craft and feeling like,
0:33:41 > 0:33:44"if I only had the opportunity, I bet I could do a good job at that,"
0:33:44 > 0:33:46but being denied.
0:33:46 > 0:33:49Not even a chance to audition, not even a chance to be seen,
0:33:49 > 0:33:54just because the colour of your skin and that still exists today.
0:33:54 > 0:33:58I really wish that people would start to see people of colour
0:33:58 > 0:34:02as people and not let our colour precede us - sure, notice it, sure -
0:34:02 > 0:34:05but I hope the day comes when it doesn't always precede me.
0:34:05 > 0:34:07But what it did do was it inspired people,
0:34:07 > 0:34:11it inspired their hearts and minds and those inspired people
0:34:11 > 0:34:12who maybe thought about giving up,
0:34:12 > 0:34:16thought it was a dream or goal that was insurmountable, now have hope
0:34:16 > 0:34:19and faith and they're fighting harder because it's happened.
0:34:19 > 0:34:21So it's almost tangible for them now.
0:34:21 > 0:34:27That WILL transform into a change down the road, it will take a couple
0:34:27 > 0:34:31of years I think to really start to see the effects of that night.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Hollywood loves a happy ending, of course,
0:34:34 > 0:34:38and what could be more perfect than Sidney Poitier being honoured
0:34:38 > 0:34:42with a lifetime achievement award on the same night that Denzel
0:34:42 > 0:34:44and Halle won their Oscars?
0:34:44 > 0:34:48The message was clearly that after years of black talent
0:34:48 > 0:34:50being overlooked, a change had come.
0:34:52 > 0:34:57Oscar winners over the next few years included Forrest Whittaker,
0:34:57 > 0:34:59Jamie Foxx, Morgan Freeman,
0:34:59 > 0:35:02Jennifer Hudson and Octavia Spencer.
0:35:03 > 0:35:05And then, in 2013,
0:35:05 > 0:35:09more than 70 years after Gone With The Wind,
0:35:09 > 0:35:11came a Hollywood film that explored
0:35:11 > 0:35:16the slaves' experience of the American South, 12 Years A Slave.
0:35:16 > 0:35:20Here we join its British director, Steve McQueen, and his cast
0:35:20 > 0:35:22talking to the film critic Mark Kermode.
0:35:24 > 0:35:26I'm from the West Indies,
0:35:26 > 0:35:28my parents were from the West Indies and of course some of my
0:35:28 > 0:35:32ancestors were slaves, so for me, not to have that history
0:35:32 > 0:35:36visualised on film, on celluloid, was very strange.
0:35:36 > 0:35:41It is a huge part of not just America's history,
0:35:41 > 0:35:44but world history. European history.
0:35:44 > 0:35:48So therefore, I needed it to be on film and to see...
0:35:48 > 0:35:52Investigate myself through the camera what occurred, as such.
0:35:55 > 0:35:58Solomon's story begins in 1841.
0:35:58 > 0:36:01His world implodes when his comfortable family life
0:36:01 > 0:36:04in New York state is taken away from him
0:36:04 > 0:36:07and he's sold to work in the plantations of the deep South.
0:36:10 > 0:36:11Powerless to protest,
0:36:11 > 0:36:15he's unable to get word to his family that he has been kidnapped.
0:36:16 > 0:36:19Solomon is somebody who starts off in the story believing that
0:36:19 > 0:36:22he's in a battle for his freedom, but discovers through the story
0:36:22 > 0:36:25that, actually, he's in a battle for his mind.
0:36:25 > 0:36:27It's an amazing first person account from
0:36:27 > 0:36:31so deep inside this experience that really speaks to...
0:36:32 > 0:36:35I mean, so much of the way the world worked then,
0:36:35 > 0:36:39the way it works now, his way of being able to relate,
0:36:39 > 0:36:42and poetically relate the story of what happened to him
0:36:42 > 0:36:46so powerfully I think was so extraordinary.
0:36:46 > 0:36:48And that servant...
0:36:48 > 0:36:50that don't obey his Lord...
0:36:50 > 0:36:54shall be beaten with many stripes.
0:36:54 > 0:36:55That's scripture.
0:36:55 > 0:37:00Tell me how you approached the physicality of the subject of
0:37:00 > 0:37:04slavery, because it's very difficult to know exactly what you can show,
0:37:04 > 0:37:07what you can't show, how you can put the audience in those positions.
0:37:07 > 0:37:10Well, I didn't want to censor myself on anything, so I decided,
0:37:10 > 0:37:11I'm going to show everything.
0:37:11 > 0:37:14Do you have a completely non-censorious
0:37:14 > 0:37:15approach to your vision?
0:37:15 > 0:37:18I'm a bit weird like that, I suppose. Um...
0:37:20 > 0:37:23No. In this case, it was about the truth.
0:37:23 > 0:37:28How can I make a movie about slavery and not show certain aspects of it?
0:37:28 > 0:37:31- Yeah.- I cannot. It would be,
0:37:31 > 0:37:33I mean, sort of... For my ancestors,
0:37:33 > 0:37:38and for other people's, it would be sort of...
0:37:40 > 0:37:42You know, it would be a travesty. You can't do that.
0:37:42 > 0:37:45It's like, you cannot do that. What is slavery?
0:37:45 > 0:37:47Slavery is sort of, you know,
0:37:47 > 0:37:51making people work in servitude,
0:37:51 > 0:37:53and how do you get them to do that?
0:37:53 > 0:37:55Well, you punish them,
0:37:55 > 0:37:58you scare the hell out of them and how do you do that?
0:37:58 > 0:38:00By making examples of people. How do you do that?
0:38:00 > 0:38:04By the most horrible acts of sort of brutality one can think of.
0:38:04 > 0:38:09And how am I sitting here? Because certain people survived that.
0:38:09 > 0:38:14Um... So, you know, there was not a choice, it was not a question.
0:38:19 > 0:38:23We shot scenes by actual lynching trees and it's impossible not
0:38:23 > 0:38:26to feel that, to know that you're really dancing with spirits.
0:38:28 > 0:38:30I mean, you feel that you're connected to something and
0:38:30 > 0:38:35you're connected to one of the most extraordinary experiences
0:38:35 > 0:38:38that a collective of people have ever gone through.
0:38:38 > 0:38:42That was really powerful, to be on a set where everything
0:38:42 > 0:38:46just took you back to a totally different time.
0:38:46 > 0:38:49I never thought that I would be picking cotton in my life,
0:38:49 > 0:38:52and to be doing that at the height of summer,
0:38:52 > 0:38:55at the height of noon, I just...
0:38:56 > 0:39:00..was faced with how strong
0:39:00 > 0:39:03these people were that lived through these days.
0:39:04 > 0:39:09These people did it for 16, 18, sometimes 20 hours a day.
0:39:09 > 0:39:12I mean, that is something to reckon with.
0:39:12 > 0:39:14Tell me about working with Chiwetel.
0:39:14 > 0:39:17- I mean, it's an extraordinary performance from him.- Yes.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20He's done great work before, I think, anyway,
0:39:20 > 0:39:21but tell me about him,
0:39:21 > 0:39:24how you cast him and how you discussed the role with him.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28Well, I asked him, I rang him on the phone, he said...
0:39:28 > 0:39:31I said, "Have you read the script?" He said no.
0:39:31 > 0:39:32He said no. I said, "What?
0:39:32 > 0:39:35- "I just offered you this..." He said no.- Because?
0:39:35 > 0:39:38I think, you know, as he has said before,
0:39:38 > 0:39:41it was like having the role that you've been waiting for all
0:39:41 > 0:39:46your life and this thing landing on your lap and him being paralysed
0:39:46 > 0:39:49and him saying to himself, "I can't do this."
0:39:49 > 0:39:50I'm not filming that.
0:39:50 > 0:39:54'I was just very aware, first of all, the responsibility of it,'
0:39:54 > 0:39:58the responsibility of telling Solomon Northup's story...
0:39:58 > 0:40:00Because it's a real story and an important story?
0:40:00 > 0:40:03Yes, it's this man's life and his experience,
0:40:03 > 0:40:06there's the responsibility to him, his descendants, you know...
0:40:06 > 0:40:08There was a responsibility to the overall idea.
0:40:08 > 0:40:10I'd never seen a story like this before,
0:40:10 > 0:40:14I'd never read a story that was so deep inside this experience
0:40:14 > 0:40:19and I was shocked by that, compelled by that, obviously,
0:40:19 > 0:40:20but I was also...
0:40:20 > 0:40:23It took me a moment, it took me some pause.
0:40:23 > 0:40:25And what about Patsy?
0:40:26 > 0:40:27Well, Patsy...
0:40:27 > 0:40:29That was Lupita Nyong'o.
0:40:29 > 0:40:32It was like searching for Scarlett O'Hara, it really was.
0:40:32 > 0:40:35It was over 1,000 girls we auditioned for that part.
0:40:35 > 0:40:37It had to be someone who was new.
0:40:37 > 0:40:39It had to be someone that we had to find,
0:40:39 > 0:40:43because there was no-one like that, so it was a long and hard hunt.
0:40:43 > 0:40:47We found this girl who had not just graduated from Yale yet
0:40:47 > 0:40:50and she was just amazing.
0:40:50 > 0:40:53And that was it, a star is born.
0:40:56 > 0:41:0012 Years A Slave won that year's Best Picture Oscar,
0:41:00 > 0:41:03saw Lupita Nyong'o win Best Supporting Actress
0:41:03 > 0:41:07and, alongside the Martin Luther King drama Selma,
0:41:07 > 0:41:11was held up as proof that Hollywood had made real progress on race.
0:41:13 > 0:41:16We must march, we must stand up.
0:41:16 > 0:41:18You march those people into rural Alabama,
0:41:18 > 0:41:20it's going to be open season.
0:41:20 > 0:41:24The reason why this film wasn't made earlier
0:41:24 > 0:41:26is because Hollywood
0:41:26 > 0:41:29had a tendency of wanting to tell this kind of story
0:41:29 > 0:41:32through white eyes, because there was this notion that
0:41:32 > 0:41:34A) you need a movie star,
0:41:34 > 0:41:37so there are very few to none black movie stars in their 30s,
0:41:37 > 0:41:40because they have less opportunities
0:41:40 > 0:41:41to become movie stars...
0:41:41 > 0:41:42GUNSHOT
0:41:42 > 0:41:45And also, there is a notion about white guilt
0:41:45 > 0:41:49in relation to slavery and the civil rights movement, so you have
0:41:49 > 0:41:52a white character who's nice to black people who ends up effectively
0:41:52 > 0:41:56saving them, so it's always been through this prism that these films
0:41:56 > 0:42:00have been made until 12 Years A Slave came along
0:42:00 > 0:42:02and did critically well, and well at the box office,
0:42:02 > 0:42:06proving that people are ready to see these kind of films.
0:42:06 > 0:42:09I've seen the glory! Glory!
0:42:09 > 0:42:11Glory! Hallelujah!
0:42:13 > 0:42:18But it took just 12 months for the 12 Years factor to disappear.
0:42:18 > 0:42:20David Oyelowo's much-praised portrayal
0:42:20 > 0:42:25of Martin Luther King in Selma was overlooked in 2015,
0:42:25 > 0:42:29and no other black actor received Oscar nominations that year, either.
0:42:29 > 0:42:31When the situation was repeated in 2016,
0:42:31 > 0:42:34there was an explosion of controversy.
0:42:36 > 0:42:40Now, the absence of black actors among the nominees for the Oscars
0:42:40 > 0:42:42for the second year running is unforgivable,
0:42:42 > 0:42:45according to the British actor David Oyelowo.
0:42:45 > 0:42:47The race row over this year's ceremony
0:42:47 > 0:42:49shows no signs of going away.
0:42:50 > 0:42:53I think it's wrong. Not even nominated. We're not...
0:42:53 > 0:42:56We're just saying being nominated. I just think it's wrong.
0:42:56 > 0:42:58Like last year,
0:42:58 > 0:43:01all 20 acting nominees for the 2016 Oscars are white.
0:43:01 > 0:43:04I'm Chris Rock and I'm hosting the Oscars.
0:43:04 > 0:43:05He may be the host,
0:43:05 > 0:43:08but the Hollywood elite does not look like him.
0:43:08 > 0:43:10The director Spike Lee says he won't be attending.
0:43:10 > 0:43:15He's boycotting the ceremony, calling the Oscars "lily-white".
0:43:15 > 0:43:18The body which decides who gets an Oscar said it's reviewing
0:43:18 > 0:43:21its membership because of the anger at the lack of racial diversity
0:43:21 > 0:43:23among this year's nominees.
0:43:23 > 0:43:25Too late for this year's Oscars,
0:43:25 > 0:43:29already drowned out by the question, "Is Hollywood racist?"
0:43:31 > 0:43:35Hollywood is still struggling to properly reflect its cinemagoers
0:43:35 > 0:43:40on-screen, but as we've seen, it's not through a lack of talent.
0:43:40 > 0:43:43The trailblazing black actors we've been celebrating here
0:43:43 > 0:43:48have proven that the business that is show could be bolder
0:43:48 > 0:43:51and look beyond race for its stars of the future.