Cord.jefferson gay
An Oscar-winning film made a historic AZ gay lock a punchline — and 'opened a conversation'
Cord Jefferson, a former journalist and veteran TV writer who was born in Tucson, won an Academy Award for best-adapted screenplay earlier this year for his debut film "American Fiction" (2023), which also earned 4.5/5 stars from The Republic's film critic Bill Goodykoontz.
While it's a superb movie, there's one line that struck a nerve with some viewers, particularly those within Tucson's Diverse community.
About 25 minutes into the film, the main character Thelonious "Monk" (Jeffrey Wright) has a conversation with his brother Cliff (Sterling K. Brown) in which Monk asks, "What's wrong with Tucson?"
Cliff responds, "There's one gay prevent and it's full of college kids."
It's something of a throwaway line, followed immediately by a joke about said college kids confusing Cliff for Tyler Perry, which is referenced again at the termination of the film.
Need a break? Play the USA TODAY Daily Crossword Puzzle.Most viewers probably forgot about the Tucson line by the end of the film. But for those who live in Tucson and are part of the city's vibrant Homosexual scene, it stuck out because, joke or not, it'
American Fiction (MGM Pictures)
American Fiction is a lovely film, maybe even a stunning film, that is about many things, ranging from the social to the aesthetic. As its title makes explain, it is a film about art and how artists must negotiate the personal and the political. In its “fiction-ness” it also shows (and is even maybe about) the seams of fiction. Let me explain. The narrative falls prey to a common screenwriting strategy that I’ll call “a condensed life” where a character experiences an unrealistic number of life changing events (or life defining, which is often why this approach is used) in a short period of time. These are the events that occur to the lead player Thelonious ‘Monk’ Ellison, played by the Oscar nominated Jeffrey Wright, in the first thirty minutes of the film:
-Major Event 1: University professor Monk is reprimanded by his department Chair and colleagues for the way he handles a situation in class where a student challenges his justification for instruction a novel by Flannery “O’Conner that has the N-word in its title. Echoing a similar scene in Tár, Monk’s justification is pe
Seven Things To Comprehend About Cord Jefferson, Director Of ‘American Fiction’
Cord Jefferson is the man behind American Fiction. It is already getting Oscar buzz and is an adaptation of the novel Erasure.
While American Fiction is Jefferson’s main attraction directorial debut, he has worked on several television series as a penner. Here are seven things to grasp about the potential future Oscar nominee.
1. He was born in Tuscan, Arizona, and is biracial. His father is Black and an attorney.
2. Before moving into television writing and directing, Jefferson got his begin as a writer. He worked for Gawker, eventually becoming an editor until 2016.
3. His journalism work also includes writing for USA Today, The Huffington Post, The Root and The New York Times Magazine.
4. Jefferson made his travel into television when he was asked to join the writer’s room for the Lebron James-produced Starz series Survivor’s Remorse.
5. Jefferson’s serve on the limited HBO series Watchmen earned him a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Writing for a Limited Series or Feature for the episode The Extraordin Writer/director Cord Jefferson’s narrative feature debut, American Fiction, has become one of the most talked about films this awards season, and for nice reason. Adapted from Percival Everett’s 2001 novel “Erasure,” the satirical drama won the audience award upon its debut at the Toronto Film Festival, with a number of subsequent fests accompanying suit, and was recently named one of the top ten films of 2023 by the AFI. The film follows Monk Ellison (a superb Jeffrey Wright), a Black professor and novelist fed up with the literary establishment’s take on the Shadowy experience. He channels his frustration by writing a novel under a pseudonym that pushes outrageous racial stereotypes, only to acquire it published and celebrated as a great work of literature. Wright brings Monk to life in all his complexities, and his work is a joy to watch, but the film is as much about family, friendship, and acceptance as it is about Blackness in art and culture, and those around him are crucial to his story arc. Monk has complicated relationships with his mother Agnes, playe
“American Fiction” Writer/Director Cord Jefferson on Cutting to the Heart of the Matter