On WNYC's "Here's the Thing" - Chris Rock Tells Host Alec Baldwin How Black Film is Manufactured Like Potato Chips

Chris Rock says he “wanted [his] acting to grow.” So what did he do? He took a job on Broadway.

In the fourth episode of Alec Baldwin’s new interview podcast, “HERE’S THE THING” from WNYC, Alec goes backstage with Chris after a matinee of The Mother F**ker With The Hat to hear about what it was like for Chris to make his theater debut.

The interview covers Chris’s experiences on stage, on film, and in the stand-up comedy world. Chris also offers his opinion on African American film.

Chris makes a good point about the movie industry. He could just as well be talking about the music and radio industry. They might as well be making... potato chips.

---

ON HOW BLACK FILM IS MANUFACTURED LIKE POTATO CHIPS

CHRIS ROCK: [PAUSE] Most movies suck, man, really suck. See, I’m – I’m messed up ‘cause I like to see somethin’ I haven’t seen or I haven’t seen with a black person. Black people in film is still at its — really at its infant stage. And —

ALEC BALDWIN: Why do you think that?

ROCK: I don’t know. You know what, here’s the thing. You know, you hand a studio person a script, and sometimes the studio people are good. Ninety-nine percent of the time when you hand somebody a script, they pick a person in the movie that they identify with. So if you hand a woman a script, if the woman’s got nine lives in the movie, the first person she gives you notes about is the woman.

And if you hand the boss the script, he’s gonna give you notes about the main character. And if you hand his assistant the script, he’s gonna give you notes about some other. Everybody figures out who they are in the movie. Now, when you hand somebody a black script, they don’t relate to anybody in it.

BALDWIN: And when you have an executive who does relate to a black person in the script, what does that mean to you? You've struck gold?

ROCK: They’re making a product, all of a sudden. That’s what I’ve - experienced. And - when you do — the — because I mean, there’s no black studios or whatever, so you end up — you always end up with just a person trying to make a piece of product. They might as well be makin' —

BALDWIN: Potato chips.

[Click Here] to hear the podcast from WNYC radio