You Put Me Out in Hollywood: The Reliable Source says a Marion Barry biopic starring Eddie Murphy is in development by HBO. Also attached to the made-for-TV film, the column reports, are Spike Lee as director and John Ridley as writer. Um: whoa. I don’t even know what to say, other than don’t screw this up, D.C. Film Office. This thing better not shoot in Baltimore.
The King of 14th Street: David Montgomery profiles Busyboys & Poets/Eatonville owner Andy Shallal in Washington Post Magazine, cycling through the restaurateur’s background (Iraqi-born son of a diplomat, worked in a pizza shop as a kid) and the emergence of his art-cum-activism-cum-culture business model. Montgomery engages and more or less diffuses two of the criticisms frequently lobbed against Shallal—-that he’s misrepresenting or even exploiting the imagery of the Harlem Renaissance that drives his Busboys chain, and that his restaurants at 14th and V streets NW is both a holdout against gentrification and a driver of it. Read the article. And then read Tim Carman‘s award-winning, slightly gonzo Washington City Paper profile of Shallal from 2009—-in which Shallal attempts to hire a top toque for Eatonville via a Top Chef-like contest. Things end not swimmingly.
Today on Arts Desk: More reviews from Capital Irish Film Fest. More Sleigher!