A Raisin in the Sun (2008) (TV)

Director:

Kenny Leon

Writers (WGA):

Paris Qualles (teleplay)
Lorraine Hansberry (play)

Release Date:

25 February 2008 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Plot:

An African-American family struggles with poverty, racism, and inner conflict as they strive for a better way of life. Based on the play by Lorraine Hansberry.

Plot Keywords:

Family | Based On Play

Awards:

Nominated for 2 Primetime Emmys. Another 1 nomination

Cast

Paula Boudreau
Alexandra Cheron	...	Anna
Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs	...	Walter Lee Younger
Elle Downs	...	Cocktail Waitress
Ron C. Jones	...	Willy
Sanaa Lathan	...	Beneatha Younger
Justin Martin	...	Travis
Audra McDonald	...	Ruth Younger
Bill Nunn	...	Bobo
David Oyelowo	...	Asagai
Phylicia Rashad	...	Lena Younger
John Stamos	...	Carl Lindner
Paul Stephen	...	North Shore Businessman
Emily Swiss	...	Priscilla
Sean Patrick Thomas	...	George
Morgan Freeman	...	Narrator (uncredited)

Directed by
Kenny Leon

Writing credits (WGA)
Paris Qualles		(teleplay)
Lorraine Hansberry		(play)

Produced by
Susan Batson	....	executive producer
Royce Bergman	....	co-producer
David Binder	....	executive producer
Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs	....	executive producer
John M. Eckert	....	producer
Neil Meron	....	executive producer
Carl Rumbaugh	....	executive producer
Vivek J. Tiwary	....	producer: Broadway Revival
Craig Zadan	....	executive producer

Original Music by
Mervyn Warren

Cinematography by
Ivan Strasburg

Film Editing by
Melissa Kent

Casting by
James Calleri

Production Design by
Karen Bromley

Art Direction by
Rory Cheyne

Set Decoration by
Clive Thomasson

Costume Design by
Gersha Phillips

Makeup Department
Veronica Ciandre	....	key hair stylist
Patricia Keighran	....	makeup department head
Fina Khan	....	hair stylist
Burton J. LeBlanc	....	makeup artist (as Burton Leblanc)

Production Management
John M. Eckert	....	unit production manager
Pasia Schonberg	....	assistant production manager

Second Unit Director or Assistant Director
Michael Johnson	....	assistant director
Raj Singh	....	third assistant director

Art Department
Jamie Burke	....	construction coordinator
Ric Fernandez	....	head carpenter
Rex Fields	....	leadman
Paul Greenberg	....	graphic designer
Jonathan Kovacs	....	assistant property master
Matthew Lammerich	....	key scenic artist
Erin Leslie	....	assistant scenic artist
Russell Moore	....	set designer
Vic Rigler	....	property master
Jaclyn Shoub	....	set decoration buyer

Sound Department
Susan Cahill	....	adr supervisor
Alan Decker	....	sound re-recording mixer
Douglas Ganton	....	sound mixer
Frederick Howard	....	supervising sound editor
Amy Kane	....	foley artist
Jason McFarling	....	boom operator
Jim Thompson	....	boom operator

Special Effects by
Dave Hill	....	key special effects
Martin Malivoire	....	special effects consultant

Camera and Electrical Department
Pierre Berube	....	electrician
Dave Bouskill	....	key rigging gaffer
Jayson Clute	....	first assistant camera
Ciaran Copelin	....	first assistant camera: "b" camera
Gilles Corbeil	....	camera operator: "a" camera
Gilles Corbeil	....	steadicam operator
Christopher Dean	....	key grip
Anthony Ellis	....	camera operator: "b" camera
Jim Holmes	....	best boy grip
Marcel Janisse	....	assistant camera
Mike Ohorodnyk	....	grip
Ron Schroeder	....	grip
Peter Stranks	....	still photographer
Franco Tata	....	gaffer

Casting Department
Jane Rogers	....	extras casting

Costume and Wardrobe Department
Roslyn Hanchard	....	assistant costume designer
Karen Lee	....	costume truck supervisor
Trelawnie Mead	....	costume dyer/breakdown

Editorial Department
Craig Drikis Barnikis	....	assistant telecine colorist
Trudy Yee	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Joanie Diener	....	music editor

Transportation Department
Brian Harney	....	picture car coordinator
Roland 'Buddy' McGrath	....	transportation captain
Bruce McLean	....	transportation coordinator
Steve Russell	....	transportation co-captain
Marco Sousa	....	picture car captain

Other crew
Laurel Bresnahan	....	set teacher
Scott Brophy	....	assistant production coordinator
Connie Contardi	....	assistant to executive producer
Wayne Godfrey	....	on-set supervisor
Cynthia Graves	....	production coordinator
Mark Logan	....	location manager
Mark Nicholson	....	production associate
Esther Scannell	....	construction accountant
Warner Strauss	....	assistant location manager
Michalla Petersen	....	voice-over artist (uncredited)

Production Companies

• Sony Pictures Television
• Storyline Entertainment
• Bad Boy Worldwide Entertainment Group

Distributors

• American Broadcasting Company (ABC) (2007) (USA) (TV) (original airing)
• Sony Pictures Home Entertainment (2008) (USA) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Hand Prop  props supplied by

Runtime:

131 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Stereo

Filming Locations:

Toronto, Ontario, Canada

Company:

Sony Pictures Television

Trivia:

TV version of the Tony award-winning 2004 play revival, with same director and most of the lead-cast: Kenny Leon, 'Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs' , Phylicia Rashad, Audra McDonald, Sanaa Lathan and Bill Nunn.

Goofs:

Continuity: When they are packing up the apartment, Momma is working on putting sticks around a small plant to protect it to wrap it. The number and location of the sticks are not in sync with the timing.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Dreams Worth While: The Journey of 'A Raisin in the Sun' (2008) (V)

Poitier emoted, Diddy twitched

There is nothing wrong with remaking and recasting the Lorraine Hansberry masterwork; we shouldn't pay undue fealty to the original cast. I'm sure Olivier's, Jacobi's, and Branaugh's Hamlet would suffer in comparison to the original Burbage performance. Plays are meant to be inhabited by different people as the generations pass. Therefore, there is nothing wrong, in theory, to the making of this version.

This rendition is superior to the 1989 "American Playhouse" performance, which was poorly paced and largely overacted. The female parts are perfectly cast and performed. The same cannot be said, unfortunately, for the male parts.

P. Diddy, or Sean Combs, or whatever name he is going by these days, simply does not have the acting chops to bring out the complexities of the Walter Younger character. Where Sidney Poitier and, to a lesser extent, Danny Glover, were able to grasp hold of the anger and frustration of the man, Mr. Diddy twitches and frowns. He performs as if a lowered head and furrowed eyebrows are the makings of a great performance. I was reminded of Hayden Christianson taking the complex evil of Darth Vader and turning him into a naughty teenager. Combs plays Walter like a street punk.

Sean Patrick Thomas, as George Murchison, fares a little better. He does what he can with what is essentially a superficial and somewhat stereotyped character.

The greatest error is the miscasting of John Stamos as Lindner. He gives the character a harder, more outwardly racist edge than John Fiedler, who created the role. Stamos drips hatred and prejudice just a little too much -- it is easy to ultimately say no to him just to tick him off. Fiedler, working with Hansberry, had a much better grip on the role -- not a man who is outwardly racist, but as one who is sadly misinformed, ignorant (meaning, simply, not understanding), and afraid. Stamos tries to chew up just a little too much scenery.

David Oyelowo, as Joseph Asagai, is the most well cast male in the film, hitting every note required by the character.

The female cast fares far better. Phylicia Rashad recreates and improves upon the role of Lena Younger, breaking the "Mammy"-isms of the earlier performers. Audra McDonald certainly will not usurp Ruby Dee as the definitive Ruth Younger, but does an excellent job in a part that requires an extreme range of emotion.

The greatest revelation in the film by far is Sanaa Lathan as Beneatha. Beneatha is a key character in the play and is relatively ignored in the original, and not particularly well played in the 1989 version. Playing a character substantially younger than she is in real live, Lathan is able to exhibit the hope, anger, childish "know-it-all" attitude and sadness of a young woman in her position. Unfortunately, the screenwriters chose to omit her lovely, sad second-act monologue about her desire to become a doctor; this section was excised in the original film and restored in the American Playhouse version and should have been present here.

Overall, this is a worthwhile film, but imperfect in many ways.