For those with untrained eyes who look at Hollywood Blockbusters being captained by the likes of Will Smith and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson while being enjoyed by global audiences or lists of the best actors and actresses of all time having Denzel Washington and Viola Davis in the upper echelons might believe that this has always been the reality for Black talents in Hollywood with not only equal opportunities but also being above the rest.
However, the smiles in movie posters don’t tell the struggle of Black talent to have their spot and then see some of their peers climbing to the top in an industry that wasn’t built for them and still is ruled by invisible grabbing hands, obstacles and glass ceilings that dictate the roles for Black people in a rigged game.
To tell this story, which recounts the uphill battles, failures, successes, and funny anecdotes, come the two companion documentary features, ‘Number One on the Call Sheet,’ which are produced by James Foxx, Kevin Hart, Datari Turner, and Dan Cogan. Academy Award nominee Reginald Hudlin directs ‘Black Leading Men in Hollywood,’ and NAACP Image Award-winning Shola Lynch directs ‘Black Leading Women in Hollywood.’
The Leading Men Row features interviews with Foxx, Hart, and other heavyweights like Denzel Washington, Eddie Murphy, Will Smith, Dwayne Johnson, Idris Elba, Morgan Freeman, and Quentin Tarantino, among others. The leading women’s chapter has interviews with Viola Davis, Halle Berry, Angela Bassett, Cynthia Erivo, Whoopi Goldberg, and Tessa Thompson, to name a few. Although “siblings,” both pictures have a distinct feel and use the best that Hudlin and Lynch offer, all in favour of the Black history in Hollywood and the interviewees.
The expression ‘Number One on the Call Sheet’ marks the first actor to appear on a sheet with the cast’s names and what is to be shot. Being the number one shows that the actor is the subject of the narrative and not the object, as Tessa Thompson says in the doc. It is the top cat spot, the protagonist, and, on many occasions, the one with the higher paycheck. It is also a responsibility. In the end, it shows the talent, which is their status in the movie business.
‘Black Leading Men’ has a bold attitude, reflected in how the interviewees tell their truths. They share stories in which you can see them fluctuating from boldness to doubt and back to the mindset that led them to the top of their fields.
The documentary’s strength is its interviewee selection, which includes leading men with different levels of success. It showcases different archetypes and their pioneers to open roles that weren’t thought for men of colour in their original concept. Men like Washington, and before him Sydney Poitier and Harry Belafonte, are society’s standard bearers of Black masculinity, and within time, few Black actors crossed this barrier.
A welcome addition is Tarantino who has a vast knowledge of Hollywood, not to mention that he has created so many Black characters. Although employing crass and controversial humour, the director can translate to the screen nuances of the Black experience; therefore, his presence gives more gravitas to ‘Black Leading Men in Hollywood.’
Nevertheless, those who give Hudlin the most are Denzel, Freeman, Foxx, and Smith. They sit at a table of rarefied air for Black artists and the whole of Hollywood. Their stories of overcoming the struggles are vital to the picture; between the lines are those moments when they talk about their climb, seeing what they had to overcome and the modern challenges of being in the elite squad.
Reginald Hudlin appears as one of the interviewees. A mover and shaker of Black Hollywood, his presence is like that of a historian who has not only seen the events but also been part of them.
The emotional, deeper parts come from Denzel Washington’s interview. His lines make us understand why generations of actors from all ethnic backgrounds look up to him and even more why Black men look up to him. He is a paradigm of confidence and morality in a not-always-ethical landscape.
‘Black Leading Men’ uses a light and bright, colourful palette to tell a story and it highlights the skin tones of the interviewees, showing the consideration Hudlin and team had with the technical aspects that not only enhance the visual language but also further the narrative, which is contrasted with candid moments of vulnerability by these men and it prepares the terrain for its “sibling” documentary.
Mammies and watermelon women opened the path for the trailblazers of modern-day Black female Hollywood
Although it is a companion piece, ‘Black Leading Women’ has an identity of its own, given by Shola Lynch, staff, and her group of interviewees. There are fewer victorious smiles because, as Halle puts it, Black women are really at the bottom of the societal hierarchy, and not only in Hollywood.
Here, women discuss their career paths, those who came before them, and those who will come after. When it turns back to Hattie McDaniel and her 1940 Best Supporting Actress Academy Award win for playing Mammy in ‘Gone With the Wind’ (1939), there is a moment of pride which later turns into a sincere recounting that the talented McDaniel was pigeonholed to playing Mammies for the entirety of her career which is also a grim visage on how many in the industry perceive the very same interviewees of this documentary even after decades of McDaniel’s win where she couldn’t even celebrate among her peers for being Black.
The recount of the ‘mammies,’ nurses, sidekicks, and other stereotypical roles, testify to the fact that many producers can’t (or don’t want to) see these talented women due to their colour, and how they end up dying horrific deaths in horror movies to further the narratives of the white protagonist reminds the classic indie film ‘The Watermelon Woman’ (1996) by Cheryl Dunye where a young Black lesbian filmmaker research the life of The Watermelon Woman, an early 20th Century Black actress who played a set of ‘mammies’ before falling into oblivion.
Shola uses sombre colours and shy lighting to portray the interviewees so that they come naturally on the screen. This is how such capable women should be embraced by the industry, critics, and fans. They can interpret leads who are in love in a romantic role or psychologically demanding characters that are often relegated to white actresses. For example, Viola Davis is in the same league as Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore, Jodie Foster, and Annette Bening because Davis can go from complex dramas such as ‘Fences’ to epic pictures as seen in ‘The Woman King.’ Nevertheless, it feels that the world is only looking at her now. The fact that Black women are going strong in the Academy Awards Best Supporting Actress shows that the industry needs to take huge and courageous leaps to give them lead roles and match the grit these actresses have in a mechanism that wasn’t built to receive them properly.
Apple TV+ has an important documentary in both pieces because it documents Black Hollywood and how it interacts with Main Hollywood and other branches. It is of historical value considering the position cinema holds in American society and its influence around the globe.
‘Number One on the Call Sheet’ should be studied in universities as it is a recorded piece of history and testifies to Apple TV+’s commitment to cinema culture and its acceptance of people from different backgrounds.
The companion piece also opens Apple TV+ to explore other corners of Hollywood, like Latinos, Asians, foreigners, and queer community. For instance, a documentary with a similar format with interviewees like Colman Domingo, Andrew Scott, Hunter Schafer, and Guinevere Turner would serve as a historical document of the LGBTQIA+ artists in Hollywood. These communities are the backbone of cinema and entertainment, and these voices, such as those from ‘Number One on the Call Sheet’, are necessary to a healthier society than the one we live in today.
Rating: 
(4 / 5)
‘Number One on the Call Sheet’ premieres March 28th on Apple TV+.
