'Cover' To Expose Down Low Brothers

Most recently, and currently out on DVD is 'Dirty Laundry', a film that exposes homosexuality in the closet, and coming out on Feb.22 is 'Cover', another film that presents another angle to being gay.

It's about a young woman who comes from Atlanta with her daughter and husband. They come to LA and he's a young doctor. He has his own practice and she helps him. After a certain point, the practice grows beyond their wildest dreams. They move to the Palisades and have a great house and in the middle of this, she finds out that her husband just betrayed her. The story is how she deals with it and her redemption and also his redemption. It's also a murder mystery and who killed a certain person. It's very Hitchcockian style-wise. As the story goes along, she tells her story in a police station and we go back and forth between interrogation and the real story that happened. The screenplay is by Aaron Rahsaan Thomas.

Directed by Bill Duke, the film stars Vivica A. Fox, Aunjanue Ellis, Razaaq Adoti, Lou Gossett Jr., Richard Gant, Patti LaBelle, Leon, Mya Harrison, Paula Jai Parker, Roger Gueneveur Smith, Victoria Platt Tilford, and Clayton Prince.

When I spoke to Bill Duke, and then Vivica A. Fox, each talked about their desire to do this project.

What led you to this story?

Bill Duke: Well, a couple of things. AIDS is a very, very, very vicious disease, particularly in the black community. Black women are the number one victims of AIDS in our country right now. It's like an epidemic proportion and surely after I got involved in the project, my goddaughter came to the family and told us that she was HIV positive and she's been married for 12 years. So, that's the betrayal we're talking about.

Vivica A. Fox: The main reason I was attracted to 'Cover' was Bill Duke to be very honest with you. I worked with Bill Duke on 'Missing'. He directed an episode of 'Missing', which was a series for Lifetime that I starred and executive produced and he came on and worked as a director and we just had a great time. We clicked and I always respected him as an actor, and when he directed me, I had even more respect for him because of his style of directing. He's an actor's director, which I just love and when I found out that Bill was doing the project and they got me the script, I was like, 'Wow! This is great.' When me and Bill got together to discuss it, he started breaking down this information about how 50 % of the new cases presented every year African American women and that he had a personal connection with a family member and which is the story needs to be told.

Have you known anyone in this position?

Vivica: I definitely know a lot of people that are affected by the H.I.V virus. I have a lot of people in my life that have died over the years and some are still surviving as members of society, but yes, I know people that have been affected by it.

This is a subject matter that's almost taboo in the black community, specifically in the film industry. We don't see so much about it and we certainly don't see a lot of stories. Why do you think this is so?

Vivica: I just think that the African American culture is a little homophobic and we like to think that AIDS was a gay disease and we've tried to sweep it underneath the rug and that it affects other people. Since the 80s, the only person we thought was affected by it was Magic Johnson, and he's still alive and we're all good. I just believe it's just a little bit of us that are homophobic and we need to address the issue and more importantly we need to practice safe sex.

Do you think there's an audience that wants to see this film?

BD: I think we as creators have to think larger in terms of the messages and also the content of our movies and not take the easy way out. I also think the distributor and marketing people have to experiment in that field, although it a very difficult time these days. Everyone's very nervous about having their guns to their throat, so there's a lot of fear out there, but if a black director were given some leeway in terms of creative process, I think we would have some wonderful new ideas that could be profitable.

Vivica: Oh, absolutely! We had a screening up in Sacramento once and a lot of people showed up and I was like, 'Wow'. Besides Black people, there were White people there as well as Asians and it's because of the names that are attached to the film. Even without that, if it's a good storyline, they will stick around. If it's well directed and a quality project, people will enjoy it and not look at color. This has been a passionate thing for Bill Duke. He really wanted to get the story out. He really, really has applied himself and has ask for us as his co-stars and leading ladies to help him with this and because I believed so much at what he delivered that he brought it over to my home for me to see and I was like, 'Great job. I will support you.'