by Maggie | Feb 8, 2011 | The Making of Player Hating
Buy Me An Ocean Half is a talented rapper, and the plan was that his first album was going to be the vehicle that took him and his crew out of poverty. They didn’t necessarily all want out of the projects, because this is where they “kept it real” and if you lose the...
by Maggie | Feb 7, 2011 | The Making of Player Hating
Car Jacked!!! (DVD Extra) For me, bringing my white chick feminist self into the projects was really an act of faith in the Universe, in Half and in racism. I assumed that by virtue of my skin color, my gender and the fact that I was a filmmaker, that I was somewhat...
by Maggie | Feb 5, 2011 | The Making of Player Hating
Life in the PJ’s We set up my first interview with Half in the stairwell of his building in the Albany Projects, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn. This interview became the backbone of the film. While I was interviewing Half, was smoking weed and drinking the entire...
by Maggie | Feb 4, 2011 | The Making of Player Hating
The Mother Fucking Saga Continues… (line from film) Definition: Player Hating- Someone else is about to shine, and you’ll do anything to keep that bastard from getting his cheese — it can be as subtle as negative flow (lyrics) or as extreme as trying to clap...
by Maggie | Feb 2, 2011 | The Making of Player Hating
Day 1 of Shooting For years after James’s death, my hearing was heightened about what was happening in poor black neighborhoods in New York. I’d hear stories in the news, and it was as if I could smell the racism that was inherent in the style in which they were...
by Maggie | Jan 31, 2011 | The Making of Player Hating
Way Backstory (continued) After James died, I spent a lot of time in the mailroom talking to Kevin and Louie. It was really the only place that I could talk about James that felt safe and empathetic. My office administration had moved away from the death pretty...
by Maggie | Jan 28, 2011 | The Making of Player Hating
Way Backstory* Some people might wonder why a white, “feminist” filmmaker would even consider making a movie about a bunch of young thugs from Brooklyn. So I thought it might be interesting to share the beginning of what I think of as me pulling my head...