A Movie Deferred

If all goes well, Arthur Mitchell and the Dance Theatre of Harlem will be coming to a theatre near you--a movie theatre, that is.

It should be interesting to see what Hollywood does with a dramatic version of Mitchell's life story which producer Francine LeFrak, who bought the screen rights, has been trying to bring to the silver screen for years.

Ms. LeFrak, the daughter of New York real estate developer Sam LeFrak, recently hit pay dirt when she struck a deal with Jon Peters and Peter Guber to make the film in association with their production company, the Guber-Peters Entertainment Company. (Some of Guber-Peters's past films include Batman, The Color Purple, and Gorillas in the Mist.) During the shooting of the as-yet-untitled movie, Guber and Peters plan to be remotely involved.

The creative team, which includes Guber-Peters Executive Vice President Stacy Snider, sees the film project using one of two storylines: the rise of Arthur Mitchell at the New York City Ballet to become its first black principal dancer who would later create the Dance Theatre of Harlem (after Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s assassination) or a look at Mitchell in the 1990s and how he has influenced a new generation of dancers. The second approach would have multiple stories interspersed with numerous dance numbers a la the movie Fame.

The primary choice to play Mitchell is Denzel Washington, one of the hottest young black actors in Hollywood, who is presently appearing before the cameras as Malcolm X in Spike Lee's movie about the controversial black leader. According to Ms. Snider, Washington is interested in participating in the project, set to begin production sometime next year. The movie, which will be shot in New York and abroad, will take ten to fourteen weeks to shoot. Concludes Ms. Snider, with enthusiasm: "I'm sure we'll all be thrilled with the finished movie."

This unpublished article was written in November 1991.

( Note: The Dance Theatre of Harlem movie was never made.)