What of Sister, the tough-talking scene-stealer who in the original had a persistent thirst for the riches in life? And that energy has to come out somewhere, and unfortunately it comes out on Sister in a domestic violence way.” “We made sure the Satin character got all his riches making jokes off the black community and selling it to the white community, and he’s living a really wonderful life, but inside, he’s torn up, he’s insecure. Portrayed by Mike Epps in the remake, the role of Satin is now “a bit of a commentary on how much do you sell yourself out to entertain,” Brock Akil said. Played by Tony King in the original, the character was a violent yet alluring high-living hustler who had no qualms about physically assaulting or verbally debasing women. In addition to creating more empowered female characters and setting the story in a period filled with the hope for societal changes to come, it was also important to director Akil to re-cast the movie’s villain, Satin. “I think that Dee is now an aspiring doctor, and music is just something fun to do.” She got the best out of Emma,” Brock Akil said.
“The Dee character, I’m very proud of this character and the changes I’ve made. The third sister, Delores, who in the original often gave voice to the racial injustices of the time, is now focused on a future in medicine. Instead of simply being a singer, Sparkle is now a singer/songwriter who can draw comparisons to legend Smokey Robinson. ”Īlthough this is a period film, Brock Akil knew that this also needed to be a story for the modern woman. It wasn’t foreign for a black person to live that.
“It was hard being there knowing what a great city this was, ” Brock Akil added, “a great American city that was thriving because of the car industry, because of Motown. In a role filled by the late Whitney Houston, the new “Sparkle’s” mother, Emma, is a former R&B singer whose mistakes and trials in the music industry led her to turn away from that world and embrace the church.Įmma, now a dressmaker, also has the means to “provide a certain life, an aspirational American dream life,” Brock Akil said, something Detroit has exemplified. The story is now set in Detroit in 1968, and rather than do a spin on the “rags-to-riches” concept the original explored, the family is now a part of a thriving black middle class.īrock Akil said she and her husband, who led the charge for the new vision, re-imagined the film’s mother character as an entrepreneur rather than the housekeeper named Effie who actress Mary Alice played in ’76. Once she moved past her initial trepidation, “The Game” and “Girlfriends” creator was excited by the possibilities. That’s one of the core changes that he wanted to make, and if that was the case, then he wanted to have me write it because I’d been writing about women in my work – our empowerment, our vulnerabilities, our humanity and all those sorts of things, and he thought I’d do a good job with that,” Brock Akil said. He thought in the original that they were a little victimized. For starters, Brock Akil said, she and Akil wanted to give the three sisters at the heart of the story more power. But we were driving around talking about ‘What if.’ … And it was like we were already hooked and wanting to take on that challenge.”
“It did give me pause, and Salim and I both were like, oh, heck no, we’re not doing this. “I think anything that makes me feel that challenge, that’s exactly where I want to be,” Brock Akil said. So when the film’s director, Salim Akil, who is also her husband, pitched her the opportunity to revive “Sparkle’s” tale, Brock Akil admits she was a bit fearful of the wrath she might incur for tweaks made to the story’s original characterizations.īut, she added, “It was the fear that led me to do it.” They didn’t have to tell jokes through it. “They took their problems, their angst, their dreams, their hopes, their desires, their failures, seriously. “When you look at the original, especially in the context of when it was released and even throughout the years, the approach to these characters’ stories, they took them seriously,” Brock Akil said. Screenwriter Mara Brock Akil, who penned the script for the 2012 remake and is also a co-producer, believes “Sparkle” owes its longevity to the heft of its story and the filmmakers’ attention to detail.
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