In 1990, the filmmaker Jennie Livingstone made her way to the streets of New York City to meet the movers and shakers of the sub-culture often cast into Pop culture’s shadows.
What she delivered following her journey? ‘Paris is Burning’, an upbeat yet arguably despairing documentary about the lives of players in the city’s gay and drag culture.
Many of these players, now deceased, are to thank for sights and sounds popularised by the likes of Beyonce , Madonna (see origins of ‘Vogue‘) and Lady GaGa.
This year, ‘The Butler’ director Lee Daniels has revealed that he hopes to retell their stories by way of a reboot.
Full story below…
In an interview to promote his new TV series ‘Star’ Daniels shared:
The show’s main characters will do whatever it takes. They’ll murder. They’ll f— you. They’ll rob you. [The characters] Star and Simone are very, very poor. They come from the foster-care system, and we explore the atrocities that happen there… That performance that Teyana Taylor did at the MTV Video Music Awards? Well, we’re going to get down in the dirt with mine. You’ll see the girls with the gay boys voguing in a way TV audiences are yet to see. It will be very much like ‘Paris Is Burning,’ which influenced me growing up. I told Queen Latifah that we should remake ‘Paris Is Burning’ as a musical.
The project’s bold take on homophobia, classism and racism saw it earn over
$3,779,620 on the back of a $500,000 budget and propel the likes of Octavia St. Laurent into the general public’s awareness.
that would be so dope as a musical
Only if the surviving cast are paid.
This is the only comment that came form the righ place, the rest of yall are just salty and bitter. stfu
You can’t use people’s real life stories which they have suffered from and endured to make money under the guise of celebrating LGBT history. Celebrate them by giving them a share in the profits of THEIR story.
Once you put Lee Daniels name on it, it becomes tainted
I’ll watch
I don’t care what anyone says because that movie was incredibly sad and tear-evoking. It’s quite weird how all of social media is using the lingo they pretty much introduced in the movie, though.
of course they use the lingo now a days. thats where the lingo came from. the gays. u see how the gays have been using that lingo since back in the day
Imma watch it
No, no, and HELL no. Do not touch this classic. The original players were screwed out of royalties the first time, and now they’re gearing up to screw them again. Plus their stories are legendary and iconic. Have several seats Miss Daniels and come up with your own ideas.
This was a keke Keke‼️
http://youtu.be/rsnq1IzJD9I
The video at the end was EVERYTHINH
It’s a classic. Do not ruin it with a remake. These girls can’t TAKE!!
Yall internet trolls make me absolutely sick. None of you have degrees in music to even understand the legalities of this, and further more, they are in TALKS to have it re-done. You need to stfu and be happy that somebody like lee is wanting to make sure that hollywood tells the story of the gay community. Stop making this an issue because yall don’t like empire smh.. top the hate and appreciate
if your not apart of the ballroom scene then hush. this is not the story of the gay community. this is the story of THE BALLROOM SCENE. MAYBE YALL SHOULD GO TO YOUTUBE TYPE IN “BALLROOM THROWBACKS” AND SEE THE BALLROOM SCENE WITH YOUR OWN EYES. ITS STILL OUT THERE. THE BALLS ARE STILL GOING ON. NO ONE WHO PARTICIPATES IN THE SCENE WANTS TO SEE A “REMAKE”. WHY DONT THEY JUST USE THE PPL WHO ARE STILL ALIVE FROM THE OLD PARIS IS BURNING AND MAKE A UPDATED VERSION. INSTEAD OF ACTUALLY DOING A REAL DOCUMENTARY ON TODAYS GENERATION OF THE BALLROOM SCENE.
*Degrees in film
LEAVE IT ALONE LEE DANIELS, DO NOT TOUCH THIS CLASSIC!!!! I REPEAT x3.
but how do u make a remake of a documentary? why not do a documentary on the new generation of the ballroom scene in 2016.
Octavia would have had mixed feelings about this. If she were still alive, and they turned it into a musical, she would have wanted to sing in it.
People on this thread asking for a documentary about the current ballroom scene need to check out KIKI: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ixeDKdMLRHw
That’s was something I didn’t even know exsisted and I see someone I met in my home town when they was still in high school. Thank for sharing “KIKI”
Seem interesting
Lee Daniels is a HORRIBLE storyteller and writer. He does not fully know or understand ballroom culture — as in his mind, ballroom = vogueing… which it does not. Vogue is 1 of at least 100 categories. Lee Daniels does not have a full grasp of the culture and would honestly do more harm than good by placing his less than stellar or impressive stamp on an already marginalized subgroup. I HATE that certain people in the industry are given a green light to do just ANYTHING. He isnt deserving.
Now truth be told the thought of an up to date Paris is Burning would be nice…. On the other hand with as many kids in the scene with degrees in the arts and the platform that ballroom throwbacks has built I feel it should be a story given by them. Those who have watched has seen the good the bad the love the hate the shade reads fight and family love that make up the ballroom community. If ballroom throwbacks sees this really think about it and just ask around I, Kasper, will be down to help in any way possible. But yeah I’m not going to say Lee can’t but I will say he shouldn’t have had the opportunity because we all know it will be commercialized to death and its not gon tell our stories right. And get some of the girls/kids outside of NYC… The scene has grown and expanded so much since those days. Just my 2cents
And the exploitation continues for ill consumption. HELL THE F*** NO TO MAKING IT AND AND HELL THE F*** NO TO WATCHING IT. Leave the scene alone We. Don’t. Need. You. Y’all just want to suck the lifeblood out of the nyc underground. shame on you. Y’all wanna see ballroom… go out to the clubs… support your performers, runway queens, voguers and talents by supporting the houses/individuals themselves. Its their/our story to tell.
-a child of the NYC ballroom scene.