Nia Long’s new Netflix movie “Fatal Affair” has received mixed reviews online, and the actress is speaking out about her disappointment over the lack of diversity amongst the film’s crew.
According to Long, the movie was initially written for an all-white cast but was picked up once it was switched over to a Black-led cast.
She says that it was only then that Black screenwriter, Rasheed Garner was brought in to rework the script.
“Rasheeda and I have since become friends and I think she’s a wonderful writer,” Long told Insider.
“The flipside of that is I hope and pray that she gets the opportunity to be in the forefront and not brought on because the lead of the film is Black. She should be able to write and tell stories as an African-American woman in this industry.”
The movie centers on Long’s character, Ellie, who tries to mend her marriage with her husband Marcus (Stephen Bishop) after a brief encounter with an old friend, David (Omar Epps). Following the accounter, Ellie discovers that David is more dangerous and unstable than she’d realized.
The movie has been slammed by critics for being predictable lazily written. The movie was written by Peter Sullivan — a white male.
“I understand and respect our director, who is a white man,” she says. He wanted to be respectful of my voice and I appreciate that. And that’s why he hired Rasheeda. So although it gave her an opportunity, I want more. I want more for her, I want more for myself, I want more for Black female writers and directors in this business to not be used to fix something but to be used to tell our stories in a really authentic way.”
Long says the diversity issues are commonplace in Hollywood.
“In all honesty, I was disappointed that there were maybe three people on the crew that were Black, but that really is the production company’s responsibility, not the network,” Long said. “By the time I arrived, they were a happy family that had done several films together. My next production will be different.”
She added, “This isn’t about ‘Fatal Affair,’ this is about a system. This is a systemic issue in Hollywood that has yet to be addressed in a fair way.”
Long is committing herself to produce more projects to ensure that the numerous failures of “Fatal Affair” are not repeated.
