The Black List: Coffee Table Book Is Perfect Companion

By Karu F. Daniels, BlackVoices.com

The companion coffee table book to the critically acclaimed HBO film project of the same name, 'The Black List,' arrived in bookstores and became available at online outlets on Sept. 16.

And just like the remarkable television event, which premiered Aug. 25, the literary project offers a thought-provoking, conversational collection of twenty-five portraits and essays by powerful, trailblazing African Americans from a wide range of professional and personal backgrounds.

Featuring boldfaced names such as Toni Morrison, Chris Rock, Colin Powell, Keenan Ivory Wayans, Serena Williams, Vernon Jordan, Lou Gossett Jr., Bill T. Jones, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Zane, Rev. Al Sharpton, Sean Combs, and Richard Parsons, to name a few, 'Black List' was directed by the renowned portrait photographer Timothy Greenfield-Sanders and featured interviews conducted by former 'New York Times' film critic and award-winning journalist Elvis Mitchell.

The film, which originally debuted at the "Sundance Film Festival" (and won the Audience Award at AFI-Dallas), has drawn rave reviews across the board amongst an array of media outlets.

It was more than music to the ears of Mitchell, who is also NPR's 'Weekend Edition' entertainment critic.

"Shocked, I think, is the word you're looking for," he told BlackVoices.com earlier this week about his reaction to the reception of 'The Black List.' "My heart told me that African Americans would respond to the film," he continued, "because we so rarely get anything like this -- about professionals taking pleasure in their hard work and success. That's been an almost uniform reaction to the film. And the support of HBO for the film – and [book publisher] Atria for the book -- showed that both entities were down with all of this."




According to Mitchell, the book actually came before the film – which is a simply beautifully shot opus where heavyweights address the camera directly offering their own unique personal stories and insights on the struggles, triumphs and joys of black life in America.

"Initially, Timothy's idea was a coffee table on African American life," he explained. "Conceptually, 'The Black List' grew out of that. I suggested that we a get together a group of cool black people from various walks of life and call it 'The Black List.' The idea of the reclamation of a negative and overpowering through sheer force of ideas is what black American culture is all about, from jazz to rap...It's funny, too, because a few of the people we approached to do this were put off by that title. And one publisher -- with whom we're obviously not in business -- loved the pictures and the interviews, but was mortified by the title."

"I was going to suggest we call it 'Oprah' instead, but the name was taken, I think," he quipped.

Mitchell, 50, is a Detroit native who reviewed films at 'The New York Times' for six years (1998-2004). A graduate from Wayne State University , where he majored in English, he worked the film beat for other newspapers including the 'Fort Worth Star-Telegram,' the 'Los Angeles Herald Examiner' and 'The Detroit Free Press' before bringing his brand to the 'Times.'

Becoming a boldfaced name himself, he recently fronted 'Elvis Mitchell: Under the Influence,' a Turner Classic Movies (TCM) channel program where he interviews actors and directors about their favorite classic films.

Revered and beloved by many, the Harvard University visiting lecturer doesn't mind sharing the glory with his partner, Greenfield-Sanders, whose work has been featured in 'Vanity Fair' magazine.

"His skills and mastery came into play beautifully," Mitchell noted. "In a couple of instances, [Timothy] had five minutes to do a portrait shoot. And I don't mean as in, 'I'll meet you in five minutes'; he -- and I hate to use this word -- literally had five minutes for the shots. I challenge to tell which ones they were, because the compositions were so gorgeous."

A museum exhibition of the photographic portraits was mounted earlier this summer; a 10 city tour starting with Museum of Fine Arts, Houston launched August 3) and a national interactive curriculum based educational program follows.

And there's also talk of a part two, too.

"We're in talks about that now," Mitchell confirmed, adding, "I'm amused about the attention that the words 'Volume One' get, because it was the result of conversations with the HBO folks."

"There was a concern that some viewers would be angry about the film -- "why is this person in it, and not that person?" he further explained.

"[That's] the kind of question that I was prepared to answer; this was never meant to be anything definitive, but rather a beginning and a catalyst for conversation -- both things materialized, by the way," he said.

"So there was a suggestion for an addendum to the name, like 'a work in progress,' which... well, gives the suggestion that the film was unfinished. I said, 'Why don't we call it 'Volume One'?' which made everyone happy. I'd hoped it would provoke the question, 'When's volume 2?'"

It has indeed, and while there isn't anything on deck at the time, many eagerly await what's in store.