Sam Moore, half of the singing duo Sam & Dave, who had some hits in the seventies, split up for a few years and reunited for a comeback in 1982, thinks the plot of Soul Men (trailer) sounds a little too familiar.

Moore claims that key areas of the film’s plot dovetail with his own career. It co-stars Isaac Hayes, the late actor who worked as Sam & Dave’s producer in the 1970s, and its soundtrack features one of their hits, “Hold on … I’m coming”.

“The Weinstein Company says the film’s fiction. In that case, I’d like them to tell me what part’s supposed to be fiction,” said Moore. “I’d like them to tell me which two black soul musicians, signed to Stax Records, who worked with Isaac Hayes, it’s meant to portray.”

“The film is sexist, racist, and embarrassing, and that’s not what Sam & Dave were about,” said Moore, who is seeking “significant” compensation, together with a disclaimer distancing him from the narrative.

“It’s so amateurish, so stupid, and I’m surprised that Samuel L Jackson is involved in this. But when you read the script, all you see is vulgarity. Every other word is the ‘N-word’ or ‘M-f’ and it’s just not right. They have bastardised my whole story.”

I’m prepared to litigate on this and I’m prepared to go all the way. So I hope these guys are prepared to go all the way with me.”

Moore’s lawyer, Arnie Lutzker, said his client considers litigation to be a “last resort”. He added: “Clearly, the film takes from Sam Moore’s life without getting permission.” [Independent]

It’s a last resort because he has no case. Even if the movie was about this guy, you don’t have to ask permission.  And you definitely don’t have to pay someone just because your movie sounds kinda like their life.  Just ask Nick Nolte.  Candyman didn’t pay him anything.  He’s puked bees lots of times.

Bernie Mac seemed like a cool guy, so I’d hate for him to go out like Raul Julia.  But I can’t ignore the fact that the new Red-Band trailer for Soul Men has both a guy getting hit in the face and a guy getting hit in the nuts.  Either one is the kiss of death (see The Rocker and Love Guru for other examples of this).  Lines I enjoyed:

“Skip on these muthaf-ckin nuts!”
“How you gone hit a nigga inna nuts?”
“I don’ like boy pussy no way.”

More for the rest of us, I say.

In a recent interview (video after the jump), MTV asked Sam Jackson his favorite memory of working with Bernie Mac on Soul Men.

“The funniest day for me was a day when I didn’t even work. I actually went over there to see [noted pornstar] Vanessa del Rio,” Jackson said of a brief scene in the film where Mac’s character has casual sex with his neighbor, played in a cameo by Del Rio.

“And I looked over and saw Bernie and I was like ‘How’s it going man?’ and he was panting, ‘She’s killing me man. She’s bouncin up and down on me… She’s killing me!

And I’m like, “Dude, this is like the fantasy of every kid that grew up in the ‘60s! In a bedroom with Vanessa del Rio? Titties bouncing in your face? It’s Vanessa del Rio!”

So there you have it folks, Vanessa Del Rio’s titties killed Bernie Mac.  I’ve also heard Madonna’s breast milk turns you into one of those wolf kids.
Read the rest of this entry »

Malcolm Lee has been tapped (like your mom, BOOSH) to direct Soul Men, starring Samuel L. Jackson and Bernie Mac.

The pair will play bickering backup soul singers who haven’t spoken in 20 years but reluctantly travel cross country together for a tribute concert to honor their famous former band leader. Jackson and Mac will do their own musical and dancing performances for the film, which will begin production on Jan. 21. [Variety]

You might remember Malcolm Lee for directing Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, which is basically the black Sweet Home Alabama, starring Martin Lawrence, who will soon be appearing in College Road Trip, the black RV. 

Hey, remember when blaxploitation genre had cool stuff like Pam Grier and Shaft?  Apparently now it’s just rehashed plots from crappy white movies with an uninspired title slapped at the top.  Soul Men?  College Road Trip? This Christmas? With these people naming stuff, Titanic would’ve been Boat Trip, Jaws would be Fish Movie, and Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark would be Professor Hat. 

Still, as a drunken Kiwi once told me at a bar, Bernie Mac is the funniest man alive.  New Zealand is weird.