Out On The Town With Lee Daniels

By Keith Boykin, in movies
Thursday, July 20 2006, 6:45AM

Lee Daniels is sitting on the front steps of his Harlem office holding a laptop computer and holding court. As I approach him, it seems he's engaged in a business transaction with a man on the street. The man is carrying a cache of bootleg DVDs. Lee gives him instructions and sends him on his way. "What was that all about?" I ask. "I told him I would give him some money if he sees any copies of Shadowboxer (Lee's new film) on the streets," Lee explains with a grin. That scene says a lot about Lee Daniels.

If it seems shocking to find a big-time movie producer negotiating a deal with a small-time bootleg distributor, it's not. At least not for Lee Daniels. He can be gangsta, guerrilla, intellectual, artistic, political, romantic, sexual and creative all at once. The New York Times appropriately describes him as an "iconoclast" in today's paper. With his reputation for candor, widely recognizable hairstyle and larger-than-life personality, Lee Daniels is a charismatic and persuasive film maker. This is the guy who convinced me, a small-time slot machine devotee, to plop down $100 as the entry price for a blackjack game in a Bahamas casino last winter.

To watch Lee move around is like watching creative genius at work. You can almost see him processing the next idea or next conversation while he's busy engaged in the current one. He's unafraid to take on the most difficult and challenging topics and he manages to convince A-list Hollywood actors to join him on the journey. That's what moviegoers will find on Friday when they step into the theaters to see Lee's new film, Shadowboxer, with Cuba Gooding Jr. and Helen Mirren.

I've discussed Shadowboxer on this site before when I interviewed Lee a few months ago. But now the movie is set to make its theatrical debut on Friday, and Lee is on the move. But Lee Daniels is more than just another producer. He's a black gay man who brings a black sensibility and a gay sensibility to his work. More importantly, he's unapologetic and unashamed about who he is as a person and as a film maker.

In his interview with the New York Times, he frankly acknowledges he's on the cutting edge. "People don’t understand my movies or they love my movies. There’s no gray area here. And that’s O.K., because if everybody did get it, I would think I was doing something wrong." That sounds like Lee Daniels. Pushing the envelope through his life and his art.

I count myself among those who love Lee's movies, and I loved Shadowboxer as well. It's a gritty, disturbing, entertaining, well made piece of art. It's not the standard, formulaic Hollywood summer action flick. And that's a good thing.

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