Dear Ms. Epps,
No no no no no no no. That’s what kept running through my head as I read that you — who just last month so quietly broke my heart as an inner-city junior high school student who bonds with her freebasing history teacher in Half Nelson — have joined the cast of Alien vs. Predator: Survival of the Fittest. Setting aside for a moment that AVP:SOTF is a sequel that no one asked for to a videogame-movie that no one asked for, what I’m more worried about is whether you actually realize exactly how talented — and, more importantly, how impressionable — you are right now. The makers of Half Nelson knew to treat your subtle, expressive face and ease in front of the camera with a light touch, never asking you to plunge into some melodramatic ”Crack is wack!” confrontation with your teacher (Ryan Gosling). Call me cynical, but I’m not all with the confident that the dudes behind this new project will have the same sensitivity, and your acting, still so fresh and wonderfully raw, could suffer for it.
So why not wait a while? You could finish high school, maybe even start college somewhere, and when your inevitable trip to next year’s Independent Spirit Awards comes around, get to know every director and producer there. Sofia Coppola, Gus Van Sant or Catherine Hardwicke could do wonders with you, I’m sure of it.
Just, please, don’t make any more junky horror sequels. It breaks my heart, but not in a good way.
Hopeful,
Adam
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OH NO SHE DI’INT! I mean really! Girl is way too good to be schlocking around in an ill-conceived sequel to an overcooked, under-creative pseudo-sequel of two (currently) tapped-out franchises. I can’t imagine how this can be good for her career. Can’t she just follow Gosling around in his next movie, too? Whatever it is–it can’t hurt, right? Right?
Dear Adam,
I loved Shareeka in HALF NELSON, in which she had a very prominent role that she took on with alot of spunk & integrity. However, there aren’t too many projects in Hollywood that give children proper roles with which to stretch their legs & their acting chops. I mean I’m sure Shareefa doesn’t expect to make any headway in the sequel to AVP, but that movie was pretty successful when it came out…and since its pretty much ensured Shareefa will be niether an Alien or Predator, she’s not going to be the star, BUT A PAY CHECK IS STILL A PAYCHECK! So let the poor girl WORK ALREADY!!!
Love,
Phil
Hey whaddyaknow another “Dear So-and-So” article!
Adam – Thank you for bringing this to the discussion. I just saw Half Nelson last weekend and was blown away by it (I’ve walked out of the last two movies I thought I wanted to see). She definitely has a tremendous presence on the screen. I would love to see her be the next Parker Posey, but at the same time, I would love for her to get more name recognition and credibility so she can go back to doing the indie flicks for the love of acting. Is AVP the right vehicle? Probably not. She’s hardly committing career suicide by doing it, though.
Dear Adam
as a latin actor, i am appalled that you told her to wait. and I say exactly the oppossite, she gave a performance that only a person who has experienced poverty and hard times could brign to the surface with that much depth. Let her make the money, let her make the sequels and the crap hollywood product that will make sure that she can escape poverty and allow her to be creative full time. TAKE THE MONEY, if not YOU then someone else. You can always make independent films, and do good work, hell, you may even win an OSCAR.
I think Woody Allen casts more black people than Sofia Coppola, Gus Van Sant or Catherine Hardwicke. I am just saying.
I’m not so much mad that she’s doing the movie as much as am that they’re MAKING the movie. Why oh why? Did that many people see the first one? Oh poor thing. Well, it is hard out there for black actresses so if she waited for another role like Half Nelson she’d do better to go to school for screenwriting and create it herself.
Phil, ShareeKa not Shareefa, you were close though……….i think she is still growing up and this seems like a fun role for her at her age. If she were lets say late 20’s/30’s, it would be a different story. Let her have her fun now while she can.
I like Jasper’s retort better than my own.
Adam, just where do you think she’s going to get this money to “start college”? Are you offering to help her with tuition while she waits for a better role to come around?
Someone should write a script for a movie starring ShareeKa and that girl from “Akeela and the Bee.” Or else give them their own tween series. They’re way more deserving than Raven Simone.