A couple of years ago, Fox announced plans to bring playwright/director David E. Talbert’s best-selling debut novel Baggage Claim to the big screen. At the time, Taraji P. Henson was slated to play the lead character, 35-year-old flight attendant Montana Moore who is the oldest woman in her family not married, but two years later, Taraji is out and Paula is in as the star of this new romantic comedy. Here’s the plot behind the film:

“Pledging to keep herself from being the oldest and the only woman in her entire family never to wed, Montana embarks on a thirty-day, thirty-thousand-mile expedition to charm a potential suitor into becoming her fiancé. Whom will she choose? Damon Diesel, a P. Diddy wannabe; Reverend Curtis P. Merewether, pastor of Greater House of Deliverance, Tabernacle of Praise, Worship, and Miracles; pompous attorney-turned-councilman Langston Jefferson Battle III; or Quinton Jamison, a multimillionaire who’s twenty years her senior?”

There’s no word on why Taraji is no longer attached to the movie but with filming already set to begin in September, Paula appears to be a sure thing. Talbert, the director who made his debut with Ice Cube and Tracy Morgan in the comedy “First Sunday,” will also be behind the camera.

This news from Fox on top of the coming “Baskbetball Wives” film has many on alert that Searchlight is ready to reinvest in black film—perhaps after witnessing the huge box office success of “Think Line a Man.” Whatever the motivator, let’s just hope the investment is done right.

What do you think about this movie? Would you prefer to see Paula Patton or Taraji P. Henson starring?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Thejasminebrand.com

The reaction to news that Shaunie O’Neal and Tracey Edmonds sold a “Basketball Wives”-like project to Fox films was like the cringe heard around the world. Already fed up with the nonsense shown on VH1 every Monday night, many easily dismissed this venture as a feature-length version of either her life or the reality TV show she produces, and people weren’t exactly thrilled about the possibility of either one. In an interview with Vibe though, Shaunie claims the movie will be nothing like the reality series we love to hate and she even suggests the film is an opportunity for her to redeem herself.

“It’s fictional. It’s a movie, so it has nothing… I see people on Twitter saying, ‘Oh god, you guys gon’ take that and turn it into a movie?’ You don’t take a reality show and make it a movie. At least I wouldn’t,” she said. “It’s not a quote, unquote ‘basketball wives movie.’ Even though it has to do with basketball life, it’s not actually taking Basketball Wivesfrom TV and making it a movie. And it’s not about women sitting around arguing or lunching all the time. It’s an actual story. It’s a love story. It’s an empowering story. It’s funny. It’s life. It’s similar—we’ve taken a girl who’s just going into the NBA life and experiencing things and showing the whole story. She learns from the organization. She learns from other wives. And by the end of the story, it’s empowering for women and men. It’s so nothing like the TV show at all. No comparison.”

Empowerment and learning really aren’t defining characteristics of the VH1 show so Shaunie may be telling the truth about this film. During the interview, she also explained why she thought this project was necessary.

“It was important for me to have other outlets outside of ‘Basketball Wives’ to represent myself and who I really am and what I really would like to put out there. Because, again, I did reality TV and I can’t control that. I can’t control how everybody acts and what everybody sees. This, I can control [laughs]. If I come and I say, “This is what I envision, this is what I feel, this is what I see,” with the help of others, we sit around and collaborate on how this vision can come alive and how we can make it entertaining and how we can make people interested. And [Tracey] understood what I was saying. She got where I was coming from. We always wanted to work together on something, be it TV, movie or whatever. We sat around and talked about this for a couple months and I was so eager to make it happen because I needed some other ways to almost redeem myself. Like, this is not what I’m about people, [laughs] so let me show you. And it’s not my only way of showing but it’s a huge start. And it’s one that I know I’m gonna be 110 percent proud of.”

Since the deal was just closed last Monday, Shaunie says production is in the very early stages with the writer still finishing the script. She does know a little somethin’ somethin’ about the cast though.

“We haven’t casted yet, but I wouldn’t call [the movie] a Black woman’s story. It’s going to be a multiracial cast. Of course, there will be Black women ’cause most of the NBA seems to be. But it is going to be multiracial.”

Sounds like “Basketball Wives” to me.

Do you think Shaunie can redeem herself with this film?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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Source: Hotspotatl.com

Shaunie wasn’t lying when she said she had other projects in the works, but the reality is they’re of the same ilk as the “Basketball Wives” franchise. Variety is reporting that Tracey Edmonds and Shaunie O’Neal have sold a pitch to Fox Greenlight for a feature-length film that’s pretty much ‘BBW’ meets the big screen:

“Drawing loosely from the lives of O’Neal and some of her friends, the Searchlight project centers around a young woman who follows her boyfriend to Miami after he gets drafted into the NBA. Thrust into the world of professional sports, she meets the other players’ wives and learns from their trials and tribulations.”

Sound familiar? Shaunie apparently reached out to Tracey about the project via Twitter and the producer brought fellow “Jumping the Broom” collaborator Elizabeth Hunter on board to write the movie script.

“The beauty of a feature film is that we’ll have the ability to dig much deeper into the stories and characters that come from this very colorful world and create a very juicy, action-packed narrative,” Edmonds told Variety.

It might be a little too soon to start guessing which actresses will play the ladies of the VH1 series, but I don’t think I’m getting ahead of myself when I say let the boycotting begin.

Are you surprised by this project?

Brande Victorian is a blogger and culture writer in New York City. Follower her on Twitter at @be_vic.

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