Mario Van Peebles Plays Famous Father
42 minutes ago
BERLIN - More than 30 years after his father made a revolutionary black-power film, director Mario van Peebles also wanted to have an ethnically diverse crew on the set — but he didn't have to go to the lengths his father did.
Van Peebles, at the annual Berlin Film Festival to promote "Gettin' the Man's Foot Outta Your Baadasssss," said it was sometimes "bizarre" to play his father, Melvin, in the raucous account of how his dad made the 1971 "Sweet Sweetback's Baad Asssss Song."
"It was exciting, because we wound up making it in the spirit of the original," said the younger Van Peebles, who co-wrote, directed and stars in the film. That included having a diverse crew.
But the older Van Peebles gave a glimpse of the difficulties in making the original.
"The unions in Hollywood were all white and I wanted to use a crew of 50 percent minorities," said Melvin Van Peebles, 71. "But the unions would not allow me to do that."
His trick: He told them he was making a porn movie. 
"The unions will leave you alone if you tell everyone you're doing a porn," he told a news conference at the festival.
Mario Van Peebles (news), 47, was shopping for European distributors at the festival, where his film is not competing for the top Golden Bear award. Its U.S. release is expected in May
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