10 Little-Known Facts The Love Jones Cast Revealed About The Film For Its 20th Anniversary
Isaiah Washington Was Asked to Cut His Locs
Per the usual, a non-Black producer tried to come in and throw his weight around. One issue for the person was Isaiah Washington’s locs at the time, which he was asked to cut his very first day on the film’s set. Washington played Savon Garrison in the film:
I remember one of the producers walked into my trailer with clippers in his hand demanding that I shave my head because he wasn’t aware of any teacher that would look like me, with a goatee and locs and wearing a field jacket. This was my first day on set. My reason for doing this character looking this way is because we had a huge problem with African American hair in the workplace and, unfortunately, 20 years later we still have people losing their jobs because of locs.
Now, I don’t think the producer was being racist or biased. I think he was trying to protect the money that was given to us by a system that didn’t care what we thought or how we felt about empowering ourselves. I don’t hold a grudge to that producer, but I do recall saying, “I’m not making that change, so you can send me back to L.A. if you want to, but right now I need to be on the set to shoot this scene in five minutes.”
There was really no debate or battle because money was being lost and a decision had to be made on his part and obviously it was the right one to be made.
