Good's time to shine
Note: I didn't intend to write a flippin' essay at first, but it got good to me so that's how this post turned out. Lol. If you don't share my appreciation for Meagan Good, I understand. Hey, we're all entitled to our opinions. I also welcome corrections if any of the facts below are incorrect. But I ask that you be respectful in your replies and that perpetual haters refrain from wildin' out. Cordially, Mr. Dawber
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Hello IMDb-ers,
Meagan Good tweeted on March 21 that her new movie VIDEO GIRL will be out April 29 in select AMC theaters. That's the same chain responsible this year for the small-scale releases of MOOZ-LUM and I WILL FOLLOW, which both expanded thanks to demand and unexpectedly high ticket sales. Here's hoping that similar success will occur for VIDEO GIRL, which will be initially be out in the L.A. area; New York City’s Times Square; Elizabeth, NJ; and Independence, MO.
The trailer has been posted on the YouTube channel VideoGirlMeaganGood and picked up elsewhere on the Net.
Good explained the film’s premise to Vibe.com last year: “It’s about a very unassuming girl from a small town who used to be a professional dancer until she gets a knee injury. So she’s in a place where she’s trying to figure out what she wants to do professionally. She gets hooked into the video-modeling world, develops a drug habit and really gets caught up in the limelight.”
From the preview, it’s clear that the film was also inspired by Karrine Steffans's best-selling memoir CONFESSIONS OF A VIDEO VIXEN. It is neither an adaptation of that book nor a biopic, as Good said elsewhere in the Q&A quoted above, but the influence is apparent. For example, the main character, Lorie Walker, says in a voiceover, “how did I get here?” which Steffans says early in her book.
The director is Ty Hodges, Good's co-star in the film-fest favorite MILES FROM HOME, soon to be on DVD, which he also wrote and directed, and which is available for streaming on the film’s site. The screenwriter is Datari Turner, producer and costar of the upcoming DYSFUNCTIONAL FRIENDS, also featuring Good. He’s a former model who has appeared in several music videos and drew on years of observations as an insider for the story.
Sexual exploitation in music videos, who's to blame and whether its even a problem are still hotly debated topics, so it'll be interesting to see how the movie tackles them. And those of us who enjoy Meagan Good’s work finally have a chance to see her in a movie where she's the main star with top billing! Judging from the trailer, she seems to effectively convey her character’s transition from innocent would-be ballerina to jaded siren to a tortured soul desperate for escape from a treacherous world.
I saw MILES FROM HOME at the Urbanworld Film Festival and found it deeply moving, due especially to Hodges’s harrowing performance and Good’s against-type turn as a quirky yet luminous character. It gives her a chance to display the breadth of her talents, first witnessed by most of us when she played the dangerously complex Cisely in EVE’S BAYOU, filmed when she was only 15.
Hints of her considerable acting abilities have also been displayed in recent years in her supporting role as the imperious high-school play star in the film noir BRICK and as a con artist in WASTE DEEP, particularly in the scene where she tells of a traumatic loss she suffered. But it looks like VIDEO GIRL is a project that will give her that all-important opportunity to prove her talents in a film she carries.
Can’t wait to see the new movie! Who’s with me? As noted up top, fine with me if you're not, but no need to be get rude in your replies, as we've probably all seen way too much of on message boards.
Peace & Love,
Mr. Dawber