Vibe.com, October 4th, 2006
Brewer has reunited with Howard to chronicle the life of country
singer Charley Pride in a Paramount Pictures biopic that is to be
filmed in Memphis, reports The Commercial Appeal, a Memphis daily
newspaper.
Howard, a long-time country fan who admitted to liking country more
than rap while he was filming Hustle & Flow, will star in the film. In
fact, Howard was the one who introduced the idea to
Brewer in the first place according to the paper.
"Everyone's been speculating as to what my and Terrence's next project
would be, and I'm ecstatic that this came out of Terrence's passion,"
Brewer told The Commercial Appeal. "Charley Pride is a character,
man."
Pride was born into poverty in Sledge, Mississippi and was a star
player for the Memphis Red Sox, a Negro American League baseball team,
before finding fame as a country singer in Nashville - one of the few
Black singers to do so. He achieved his first No. 1 hit in 1969 with
the song "All I Have to Offer You (Is Me)" and went on to sell over 70
million albums.
Pride has remained one of the Top 20 best-selling country artists of
all time and is second only to Elvis in album sales on RCA Records,
according to his website, charleypride.com.
"I think the thing that's very interesting about Charley Pride is
when he ascended to country fame, it was a time of civil rights, of
activism, and I imagine he felt rather alone to some extent and had to
internalize a lot of feelings," said Brewer. "He had to shake a lot of
hands, the hands of people who adored him and also the hands of fans
who were true racists."
Meanwhile, Brewer's next film Black Snake Moan, starring Samuel L.
Jackson, Christina Ricci, and Justin Timberlake will be released in
February of next year.
