Ava DuVernay's Netflix movie 'Origin' is about to start filming in the Southern United States. The film was initially reported to be called "Caste" but the title seems to now be “Origin” …
It sounds like another preachy sermon from DuVernay, who has really decided to completely destroy the promising filmmaking of “Middle of Nowhere” and “Selma” with rather bland projects.
Written and directed by DuVernay, “Origin” chronicles the true journey of Pulitzer Prize winning author Isabel Wilkerson as she embarks on a quest to find the origins of injustice. She ended up travelling across the world - from Berlin, Germany to India. Stricken by grief at home, Wilkerson turned her professional quest into a therapeutic one, trying to identify the nature of America’s divisions.
DuVernay showed up at a time of transition for Hollywood (around 2015-16) and, really, just American culture in general. Her ever-increasing presence on Twitter made her more than just a director, it turned her into an activist. Whatever one might say about her, she is relentless in her pursuits and ideals.
However, when it came the time for her third feature-film, “A Wrinkle in Time,” the critics weren’t having it. Based on Madeleine L'Engle's 1962 novel of the same name, ‘Wrinkle’ was a horrendous children-fantasy adaptation which hit DuVernay very hard and you could tell. She all but refused to accept the negative reviews (the film was met with abysmal reviews, a 52 on Metacritic and a 42% on Rotten Tomatoes). DuVernay blamed white critics for not understanding the movie because of their own privilege-filled positioning.
Despite directing “A Wrinkle in Time,” DuVernay has also blamed white people for not giving her enough opportunities in genre filmmaking, adding she has often been approached about films dealing with historical events and Black people, but not genre.
Well, now she’s back tackling “injustice” in what honestly sounds like an insufferable concept for a movie, especially one directed by her. “Origin” is set to shoot in Savannah, Georgia early next month.
Still no distributor for "Bucking Fastard," "Alpha Gang," "The Last Photograph," "Closing Night," and "The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd." The issue seems to be quality more than a lack of willingness to buy.