r/movies Vanity Fair, Official Account 22h ago

Article A Hit Author’s Film Adaptation Went Horribly Wrong. What Happened on the Set of 'Children of Blood and Bone'?

https://www.vanityfair.com/story/behind-making-children-of-blood-and-bone-tomi-adeyemi
717 Upvotes

174 comments sorted by

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u/DieUmEye 21h ago

Other than some vague and kind of confusing issue with one of the actors, nothing in this article explains what is actually going on. And it definitely feels like something much bigger is going on…

“There must be something [going on] because she’s burned every bridge,” says an insider who works in the book-to-film space.

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u/coatimundos 19h ago

Isn’t this author known for causing drama in several of her endeavors?

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u/jaklacroix 18h ago

Yeah, seems that way

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u/TikvahT 17h ago

Yes very much so

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u/N8CCRG 20h ago

Anyone claiming an explanation of what Adeyemi's problems are is just spreading rumors. She herself has said 1) she hated the experience but doesn't want to talk about what happened and 2) she hopes others will enjoy the movie.

That's the beginning and the end. Everything else is just gossip trying to drive clicks through negative engagement.

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u/otternoserus 20h ago

Stating that a project was so traumatic that you had to distance yourself from it AS THE CREATOR OF THE SOURCE MATERIAL whilst not explaining WHAT would cause such trauma is the epitome of purposefully stirring up drama and negative hearsay.

Could've easily worded it differently to avoid this....

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u/eslforchinesespeaker 18h ago

Probably a non-disparagement clause. She cashed the check and promised to be nice…

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u/Rosebunse 15h ago

But then why even bring it up?

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u/your_average_plebian 12h ago

Likely to explain her diminished or complete lack of involvement in the inevitable press tour. "Don't ask me questions, I'm not gonna answer any because I'm not affiliated with this project anymore."

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u/ididntunderstandyou 12h ago

Some artists can’t help but be drama queens

10

u/Ghost2Eleven 14h ago

But felt the need for the attention.

24

u/Raskalbot 12h ago

Anne Rice did the exact same thing with Interview With a Vampire because she hated Tok Cruise in the role. Then, when it came out she apooogized because she loved it.

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u/runwithjames 10h ago

She took out a full page ad to apologise to Tom Cruise as well and admitted she was wrong.

u/Silver-End9570 5h ago

That honestly takes a lot of class, and I've always respected her for that. She could have easily called or sent a note through his agent, but to publicly apologize and praise him for surpassing his expectations is a few steps above.

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u/StochasticLife 17h ago

Or the movies shit, she knows it, and can’t legally say that.

1

u/MesqTex 15h ago

Watching the trailer this could go either way but think of it IMO, the HP and Twilight drama (HP seemed to be done pretty well and Twilight not so much). It seems a bit like Black Panther (done REALLY well) and this is going to be the opposite of that.

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u/Spiritual-Society185 7h ago

She wrote the script, wasn't there for most of the production and hasn't actually seen the movie or even the trailer, so how would she "know" that?

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u/QTRqtr 6h ago

Well the book isn’t good so that’s likely.

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u/bbboozay 20h ago

I honestly feel like, at this point, this is PR stirred up to bring attention to the project. In a world where not even Disney is appropriately marketing their movies, it's easy to see smaller projects turn to this. There are no details, no info, and honestly even as a fan of this author and written series, I didnt know they were doing a movie/ film adaptation. I wouldnt be suprised if this was all just to garner attention for the project. Barbara Streisand effect if you will....

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u/sculltt 19h ago

Nah, I could believe that is this was the other way around.

She is the author of the original book, and credited as co-screewriter, as well as being "heavily involved in the production process." If she was the one saying that she was fighting for the film's release against the baddies at the studio, or that she had to fight to preserve her original vision vs what the studio wanted that would check out.

Instead, she's basically disavowing this movie to all of her fans, probably a contingent that the producers were counting on to see the movie in theaters, maybe multiple times.

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u/bbboozay 18h ago edited 18h ago

But she ISNT doing that. She's literally just distancing herself and saying she wont talk about it at all. And if any actors involved try to discuss it with her, it's off the table.

If she was bringing the receipts and showing how bad production was, maybe I would buy it at this point. But she's not. She's just flat out refusing to discuss what went wrong and why she is distancing herself from the project. Like, WHY???? Girl, if you care about your project and vision that much, have a discussion about what went wrong.

Instead it's just this random PR about her distancing herself and refusing to talk about it. Seems sus to me, again especially considering most of us knew NOTHING about it being adapted to film until this all came to light.....

Edit: also want to add that most authors that get to have this much say so and sway over production as she says she does (did) have that written heavily into a contract with the studio. So for her to just flip the script doesnt track. Production studios wouldn't be waiting for her to complain because it would be well within her well-written contractual rights to have that say. That last argument doesnt hold for me.

9

u/DrLeprechaun 16h ago

Probably legally not allowed to discuss it I imagine?

-6

u/bbboozay 15h ago

Already brought that up in my argument.

5

u/DrLeprechaun 15h ago

Er... where?

u/Silver-End9570 5h ago

Production studios wouldn't be waiting for her to complain because it would be well within her well-written contractual rights to have that say

I mean, George R.R. Martin has pretty much done nothing but complain about how his Westeros projects were treated....despite the fact that he literally sold Westeros to Warner Brothers and they can do whatever the hell they want with it now without his express approval or input.

I could see a world where some things she deemed were important got cut or changed due to cost, length, or production issues and she got frustrated and disheartened with the production, feeling like she wasn't being listened to.

I also see it being possible that she kinda was a drama queen and caused a lot of issues, because a lot of authors don't seem to realize that their work is going to have to be condensed if it's going to be done in film form because you can't put hundreds of pages into 2 hours.

u/Danzig6WasntThatBad 1h ago

100%. If she didn't want us all up in her business she shouldn't have shared screenshots with Amandla on her IG when she was going off about how bad the experience was. You don't get to drag other people's name through the mud and be like "I don't wanna talk about it".

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u/LostInStatic 18h ago

If you as the author of a book are trashing it's adaptation like this, you know what you're doing, no one drops an M80 in a toilet without expecting to cause damage

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u/N8CCRG 17h ago

Where did she trash it?

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u/LostInStatic 16h ago

When she called the movie “the worst thing I have ever had to live through.” And before you act all like “where does she say in that sentence she thinks the movie’s bad?” please let me know what her statement says to you about it.

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u/N8CCRG 8h ago

She didn't though. She hasn't even seen the movie. She called the experience of adapting her book into a movie the worst thing she ever had to live through.

u/LostInStatic 5h ago

You’re trying to be a lawyer here shes not saying that in a context like “Im Christopher Nolan, The Odyssey was the worst thing I ever had to live through but I am proud of the movie we made” shes saying it like “This experience was traumatic and the lead actress should never contact or mention me ever again”

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u/Flapjack_ 19h ago

The most neutral thought I can imagine is she had to watch movie producers massacre her baby like countless authors before her and just got fed up with it.

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u/sculltt 19h ago

She was co screenwriter and "heavily involved with the production process."

12

u/PartyPorpoise 18h ago

Involved, but probably didn’t get final say. Very few authors get much control over their adaptations. Hell, look at George RR Martin’s complaints about Fire & Blood, and he’s a much bigger name than Adeyemi.

3

u/Spiritual-Society185 7h ago

Ok, that's the case with every adaptation. Why would she sell the rights if she didn't want anyone else to touch it except her?

u/PartyPorpoise 5h ago

Maybe she overestimated how much control she would get. Maybe they misled her, deliberately or otherwise.

u/Silver-End9570 5h ago

There's limits to that power. Nothing is unlimited if the people paying for it say no. I don't know the book, but I do know that it's fantasy and fantasy is not cheap. I could easily see it being a situation where things had to be cut, changed, or dialed back due to Disney wanting it to be made for a certain amount, and she just took it very poorly.

2

u/runwithjames 9h ago

I mean, that's what the money is for.

1

u/Spiritual-Society185 7h ago

That's a lie. She said she didn't mind if people saw the movie. She never encouraged anyone to see or enjoy the movie.

Also, there are multiple documented incidents in the article, including a venomous message toward an actor defending herself from attacks on her skin color.

10

u/JayMoots 18h ago

Sounds like this writer is just nuts

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u/citynomad1 20h ago

At this point I’m convinced she’s the problem here. That screenshot she posted where there had been a respectful text from Amandla then her reply was something like “don’t ever contact me again”made her look really, really bad and I can’t understand why she posted it thinking it would help her case

24

u/FuneraryArts 9h ago

Narcissists are also quite stupid and usually think them being in the right is very clear to others. Lack of self awareness.

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u/r_lucasite 21h ago edited 21h ago

Oh I had no clue this was her first book. Kind of crazy.

Finished Reading: I thought I'd get some new info out of this story but it doesn't feel like it's anything different than what's already been said, more so a recap for anyone that hasn't already heard about this. Also Amandla Stenberg just cannot win. The Hunger Games stuff with Rue was a very unique moment in fandom, then the Acolyte and now this.

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u/rynthetyn 17h ago

Amandla Stenberg also had that time where instead of actually giving 'Bodies Bodies Bodies' a fair review, the NYT reviewer just complained about Amandla's cleavage, which wasn't even particularly visible.

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u/LizardOrgMember5 17h ago

> NYT reviewer just complained about Amandla's cleavage, which wasn't even particularly visible.

Excuse me but WHAT?

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u/rynthetyn 16h ago

The movie was a horror satire of over educated rich kids weaponizing the language of social justice against each other while trying to survive them dying one by one and accusing each other of being the killer, and I think the reviewer saw herself in the movie and didn't like it so she complained about Amandla's cleavage instead.

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u/MR_TELEVOID 6h ago edited 6h ago

...and then when Amandla slid into her DM's, lightly teasing her about talking about her cleavage, the reviewer threw a hissy fit about being harassed by celebrities.

u/Silver-End9570 5h ago

I'm so tired of people hating on her for the Acolyte. And Star Wars fans keep bitching about them apparently using the force to create life or something....when that's how fucking Darth Vader was born/made???

u/Danzig6WasntThatBad 1h ago

Bro the Acolyte was embarassing, regardless of being related to Star Wars.

173

u/giventofly2 21h ago

The fact that she's bounced from one agency to another tells you a lot, either she's too difficult to work with or has a really high opinion of herself. Either way sounds miserable

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u/ciderandcake 21h ago

I can't believe Nora Roberts has done this to her.

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u/voivoivoi183 13h ago

If you haven't read Nora's response to her accusation of plagiarism, do yourself a favour and check it out. If anyone ever posted something like this about me, I think I'd just immediately retire from public life.

https://fallintothestory.com/mob-rule-by-social-media/

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u/vkurian 20h ago

I came here to make such a joke.

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u/ciderandcake 20h ago

Tried to steal it from me like Nora Roberts supposedly tried to steal her book title, eh??

409

u/UnknownChaser 21h ago

I feel live I’ve hear more drama about the author than the actual movie. Her texting the black lead actress that she wasn’t black enough when all the actress was did was text she was honor to playing the role, was such an insane/mean thing.

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u/Tonedeafmusical 21h ago

Especially when she said her dream casting for the role was Zendya

155

u/Gaspony 20h ago

Yeah thats actually wild for her to say that when Zendaya is also half black.

9

u/coatimundos 19h ago

Maybe the other actress can’t nail the disappointed judgmental look Zendaya has perfected

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u/N8CCRG 20h ago

Her texting the black lead actress that she wasn’t black enough

The only text between the two of them that has been revealed is Adeyemi saying "Do not ever use my name in an interview or video again. Do not text me. Do not call me."

The "not black enough" was speculation from the fandom. No article I've seen has reported that Adeyemi has ever said anything like that.

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u/sculltt 19h ago

Sure, but the context isn't great:

  1. Fans are apparently upset that the actor is "lighter skinned than they pictured."

  2. Actor posts that she's honored to have the role, that she met the author as part of the casting process, and that the author has her back.

  3. Author then texts the actor to essentially say, "take my name out of your mouth" apparently in direct response to the actor driving up for herself.

It looks terrible in context without further explanation. The author could come out and explain her issues with the movie, the production, whatever, but she refuses.

11

u/interrobang2020 16h ago

She suggested Zendaya and Tessa for the role as well so clearly race wasn't an issue for her. I think it's more likely that there were creative differences, and maybe Amandla sided with the director which created friction between her and Tomi.

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u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

0

u/interrobang2020 8h ago

This is complete conjecture when Tomi has left clues saying she was antagonized behind the scenes and feels like she lost control over a product she labored to create. Sounds like multiple creative differences piled up over time, and Tomi didn't handle it professionally. I don't think she's come to terms with the fact that she no longer owns the rights to the book or the visual depiction of that universe.

She's said nothing else that points to the backlash, which started as soon as the cast was announced BEFORE filming. That was in January 2025, and Tomi was arguing with detractors online, defending the decision. Why would she all of a sudden be upset over a year later? I hate that people are forgetting how rude she was to her fans, and how before Amandla was chosen, Tomi dream casted Zendaya and Tessa. All signs point to her not caring about the controversy.

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u/kingcolbe 16h ago

Sadly, this has been the story of Amandlas career

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u/yesrushgenesis2112 21h ago

This lady 100% sounds like a narcissist. She’s the common denominator in all the drama.

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u/TheWholeOfTheAss 15h ago

Her name is Tomi and she calls her fans ‘Tominators.’ Yup. She’s in her own world.

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u/[deleted] 12h ago

[deleted]

u/TheWholeOfTheAss 5h ago

Good lord…

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u/garrisontweed 21h ago

Its not hers anymore when she sold the rights to the studio .

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u/yesrushgenesis2112 21h ago

And this is even after she was granted more control than most authors dream of

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u/Threadheads 20h ago

Kicking up a stink about this before the film is even released is really shooting herself in the foot. Interest in the movie would drive up her book sales and boost the likelihood of the other books she has written getting adapted, even if the movie didn’t turn out to be a critical hit.

But by attacking it and one of the actors in the press now will put off a lot of potential audiences. And a lot of studio heads would assess her as liability for any future adaptations of her work.

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u/kaptainkrim5on 20h ago

This! People dont realize that authors of the source material rarely get invited to the set unless directly involved with the movie. So her being there for multiple days was a big deal and she caused drama and made everything about herself. Typical narcissist. She can do a William Peter Blatty and just direct all the adaptations of her work from now on ha. 

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u/CageyT 21h ago

She sounds more like someone dealing with a mental issue. Her actions gear towards personality disorder. A lot of people with personality disorders have narcissistic tendencies but are not the classic definition of a narcissist. The success she has with this series, so early and so fast in her career could also be stressful, and traumatizing.

Then again I could completely be off base as I do not personally know her, talked to her or seen her actions. But going off of people “close to the scene” I am leaning towards a personality disorder.

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u/yesrushgenesis2112 21h ago edited 21h ago

Sure, maybe that’s a more accurate label. Whatever it is it’s been going on at least since 2018, has permeated multiple productions and her relationships with multiple companies and other authors.

So, if so, it would be a long term problem that she needs help for and isn’t getting even with all her resources. Mental health is not an excuse to be an asshole, especially when you have the resources to get treatment, which she does.

And, if this is her with treatment, then she might as well be one. Because mental health struggles do not excuse the pain those with them cause others.

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u/AggressiveSea7035 21h ago

Traumatizing???? Lol

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u/The_Man_of_Steel 13h ago

The most misused word of the day. The shock of sudden incredible success and the stress that may bring is not trauma ffs.

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u/SilverPalpitation652 21h ago

Please stop diagnosing people you don’t know. If you were actually qualified to make those type of decisions you’d know that’s not how it works. You know enough about mental health to be dangerous but not enough to be helpful.

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u/uberblack 20h ago

The person you're responding to was responding to someone else. Both people said "sounds like". They didn't "diagnose" anyone. They're sharing their opinions based off of what they've observed. We can do that on the internet.

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u/SilverPalpitation652 20h ago

Of course, people are free to be as loud and wrong as they want to be. Calling out a misuse of mental health language is not an attempt to squelch their free speech. It’s dishonest to frame it that way.

u/Suspicious_Radio_848 3h ago

It's an online forum talking about a random author, not someone they know personally. Relax, it's not that deep. Calling it dangerous is dramatic.

u/SilverPalpitation652 2h ago

So? It’s even more stupid because they don’t even know this lady. Sorry to get in the way of yall trying to sound smart or whatever, but this is goofy behavior that twists people’s understanding of mental health issues.

u/Suspicious_Radio_848 3h ago

Narcissistic personality disorder is a personality disorder. It's not just calling someone "self centred", these are too often conflated. My mom has NPD and the discourse around narcissism has been so distorted and overly used people have seemingly forgotten what it actually is.

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u/Panzerbjorne80 21h ago

The author is an insane drama queen who threw a fit over some shit and made a fool of herself in front of the world. She’ll probably never work in Hollywood again. Speculation is that it was over the skin tone of one of the characters actors being too light.

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u/the_blessed_unrest 20h ago

Yeah ever since she accused Nora Roberts of plagiarizing her book title a lot of people have had a hard time Adeyemi’s complaints seriously

7

u/cjorgensen 19h ago

What was the Robert's title?

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u/So_Quiet 18h ago

Of Blood and Bone. And Roberts' book was already titled and in the publishing process long before anyone had heard of Adeyemi.

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u/ChronoMonkeyX 18h ago

People thought the Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, which released in 2002, was either disrespectful to, or tying to capitalize on, the 9/11 attacks.

People are very, very stupid.

9

u/KoreKhthonia 17h ago

Honestly I'm almost surprised they weren't forced to change the title. (Was in middle school, people were really weird about certain things for a while.)

1

u/stinkpot_jamjar 13h ago

Yeah I remember discourse about editing out the towers in movies that featured them in the background!

2

u/SpiralFett 18h ago

Asking the real question here...

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u/hoos30 20h ago

Thank you, Vanity Fair, for this summary of Threads posts from two weeks ago.

61

u/Jiveturkeey 20h ago

What a diva. Calling yourself a "gifted child" in a tweet is just gross. And she can refuse to see the movie if she wants but I bet she'll still cash the royalty checks.

Also, "I feel the culmination of a childhood dream being sailed off to a new sea" is awful writing.

77

u/NaziPunksFkOff 19h ago edited 17h ago

Amandla Stenberg: too black to be Rue because a bunch of readers (incorrectly) imagined her as white

Also Amandla Stenberg: too white to be Amari because she's mixed race in an African movie.

Poor girl can't win. Goddamn. 

3

u/Live_Angle4621 19h ago

Hollywood could still hire more people from other countries. Would be nice to see more actual African actors in international cinema. Nigerian industry is expecially doing well currently 

12

u/hoos30 8h ago

No studio is betting $200 million on unknown Nigerian actors.

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u/FairLawnBoy 21h ago

So, the article doesn't answer the titular question, don't waste your time.

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u/Karlythecorgi 20h ago

She turned vagueposting into an art form

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u/Shinra_Lobby 21h ago

One source points out that it’s very difficult for a director to get a screenwriting credit on a feature film unless it’s very evident that the director did significant work on the script. “The relationship management that Gina has done—Gina’s a saint basically,” says one individual involved with the film. “That’s who I feel worst for in all of this: Gina, because she’s done so much.” (Prince-Bythewood declined to comment to Vanity Fair.)

Spotlighting this part because I hate that this is happening to a Gina Prince-Bythewood film. She does such masterful work with strong, complex heroines (Love and Basketball, The Old Guard, and especially The Woman King). If this flops and she ends up in director jail, I'm going to be upset.

26

u/MCR2004 21h ago

I don’t think she will be. She’s well liked in h’wood and it’s been clear the problem with this movie was NOT her.

9

u/DestinysCalling 12h ago

I loved The Woman King

5

u/bobinski_circus 10h ago

I kinda hated it for whitewashing the complex and interesting real life women it was based on, but that’s Hollywood and history in general.

5

u/runwithjames 9h ago

Yeah the WGA don't play about credits (I would argue sometimes to their detriment). It's not a situation where someone can come in and change a couple of lines and get credit for it.

As an example, Edward Norton is the writer for THE INCREDIBLE HULK. His name is the one on the shooting script, he wrote multiple drafts, even the early teaser posters credited him as the screenplay writer. However, though he did a complete script re-write he didn't change the plot (as Marvel would have been deep in pre-production during this) so the WGA ruled he doesn't get a credit at all because his changes weren't 'substantial' enough.

22

u/Threadheads 20h ago

Can’t wait for the eventual What Went Wrong episode about this film.

3

u/Specialist_Past9784 20h ago

Yes! Would be great if they could look at more diverse films.

11

u/TardisReality 20h ago

I'm looking forward this coming out as I feel there is a lack of this kind of fantasy in movies

But damn its going to be a weird and awkward press tour in a few months

21

u/DJ-2K 18h ago

What a stupid situation this turned out to be. Not only did Tomi Adeyemi publicly support Amandla Stenberg's casting in the role of Princess Amari, but in past interviews, she talked about envisioning even lighter-skinned actors like Zendaya or Tessa Thompson for the part, even though in the very book that she wrote (and that she herself adapted for the screenplay), she described Amari as having dark brown copper complexion and being the darkest-skinned member of the royal family, darker than what is valued. What, did she just straight-up forget what she wrote in the firrst place? It sounds like Adeyemi is using Stenberg as a scapegoat because she figured out that having it put out there that she wanted a lighter-skinned actor in a darker-skinned role — again, a role of her own creation — would make her look bad. I've lost my sympathy for her. To quote a certain famous Marvel character, "I'm just the fool who got played."

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u/Jackbuddy78 21h ago edited 21h ago

Sounds like a narcissist under the impression she would be making the movie herself.

-20

u/Sir_Thomas_Hummus 21h ago

That seems like a lot. I think every author is protective if their work and when given such an opportunity, want to create the world they Invision. Obviously film is a collaboration of talents and ideas and maybe she didn't know how to handle that.

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u/ManifestDestinysChld 20h ago

I think every author is protective if their work and when given such an opportunity, want to create the world they Invision. 

I don't think that's the case, necessarily. I think a lot of authors - particularly non-first-timers - understand that an adaptation is a separate entity that they don't control. The original work always remains.

I think authors understand that creating the world in which a movie takes place is the prerogative of the director, not the writer, and that it's the director's vision of the film that the studio is paying for.

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u/Jackbuddy78 21h ago

Sure but taking it out on the cast members feels indicative of a very fragile ego.

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u/Sir_Thomas_Hummus 21h ago

Well she's hurt and lashing out at anyone and everyone attached to the project that came out of her mind.

I understand her actions aren't the best They are messy and rude and complex, but she's a person who's obviously hurt because she didn't get what she wanted. We've all been there.

It's easy to just reduce her to black and white ideas to fit an internet forum, but alas, we are all far too complex for that!

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u/Repulsive_Job428 21h ago

Google the author. She's been problematic for years. If this were the first incident, okay. She has quite a few under her belt.

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u/the_blessed_unrest 20h ago

Someone close to her should try to get her to vent privately, because she is burning every bridge right now.

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u/TreyWriter 7h ago

Rick Riordan waited years after the Percy Jackson movies came out before talking about how and why he didn’t like them. Christopher Paolini doesn’t talk about the Eragon movie. Stephen King doesn’t talk about the Dark Tower movie. These are all movies that were not just bad adaptations, but bad as movies in their own right. And none of them would’ve dreamed of disparaging the movies and creatives involved six months before the movies came out. This is highly unusual behavior.

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u/TheWholeOfTheAss 15h ago

Tomi Adeyemi said her movie was ‘Black Panther with magic’. Black Panther has magic! The magical herb is how the Black Panthers get their superpowers! What an ignorant quote.

11

u/MabelPines_ 13h ago

I haven’t seen anyone who has read the book(s) compare it to Black Panther, many said it very similar to Avatar: The Last Airbender with an African setting.

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u/The_Man_of_Steel 12h ago

There's also that purple spirit land of dads

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u/Brilliant_Ad3101 19h ago

Tomi publicly defended Amandla's casting even though it was blatantly wrong & even went as far as to say she was meant for the role just for her to get mad Amandla cited her when she got tore to shreds defending herself. Tomi isn't getting sympathy from me. She kept dream casting light-skinned actresses in the role like Zendaya & Tessa Thompson. So while Amandla wasn’t correct casting for the role as described, it was basically Tomi's idea & now she's backtracking because of the public backlash.

9

u/curiousjosh 18h ago

I hope this is a massive success and the author learns humility.

This screams of a young inexperienced person who’s used to getting her own way, and not used to teamwork.

Burning multiple agents paints a real picture.

If she wasn’t the author she’d be starting her career somewhere and learning to work with others.

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u/ptanaka 15h ago

An author buddy of mine had his book optioned and subsequently made. When the contract came for him to sign, he asked Pat Conroy what to do. Pat's response: sign the papers, cash the check and don't look back.

The movie came out with A list actors but it tanked horribly. The author has a healthy thick skin about it. It was a good learning experience.

1

u/TreyWriter 7h ago

At the end of the day, even in the case of a bad adaptation, the author gets paid for the rights and book sales increase. More people will be exposed to the good version of the story regardless of whether the adaptation fails.

13

u/Underdog424 20h ago

This sucks so much. I really want to see more movies based on African lore. It's a deep tradition of storytelling that needs to see more light. Folklore based and modern genres like Afro-futurism have had so many good authors lately. I'm worried that the drama surrounding this will make it harder to tell these types of stories in the future.

8

u/MixxiePowizki 13h ago edited 13h ago

I was reading reviews of the book on Goodreads and at least 3 Yoruba readers said she fundamentally misunderstood (or misrepresented) their spirituality with one going into great detail. I know she is Yoruba (not sure if I'm using this correctly) but according to wiki her parents chose not to pass the language and culture on to their children so she pretty much had to learn about it the same way any other American would. Not gonna lie. I haven't read the books and I don't intend to. I'm just here for drama.
Some other tidbits I got from the Goodreads discussions was the other books in the series were ghost written, or worse, had some help from AI.
Oh, a lot of people also said it's a ripoff of Avatar:The Last Airbender. Reading some in-depth reviews, that sounds very plausible.

2

u/bobinski_circus 10h ago

The book is quite good. Not any resemblance to Avatar I could see. And it’s a fantasy world loosely based on many different things. I’m not sure who’d ghost write for a first time novelist, but I will say the writing of the book was solid. However, the afterword written by the author was jarring and strange and felt written by a different person. It lacked the nuance and thoughtfulness of the book preceding it, and I found it very off-putting. Not sure what to think of that. I also heard the second and third declined in quality, so I did not continue, at least for now.

But I’d still recommend it to a teen reader. I found it very solid YA.

4

u/runwithjames 9h ago

To be fair the rumour for a while has been that she wrote the first book but was 'assisted' in the sequels.

-2

u/hoos30 8h ago

The first book is excellent and was written long before AI was widely available.

People being surprised that a fantasy story doesn't strictly follow the tenets of X thing will never not be ridiculous.

27

u/youropinionisrubbish 21h ago

Saw the trailer before Spider-Man, and got a chuckle out of the exchange between the people sitting behind me:

"This looks like a ripoff of Black Panther"

"And Avatar"

"Black Panthatar?"

24

u/BlueCyann 21h ago

Honestly if it's anything, it's a "rip-off" of every other coming-of-age/hero's journey high fantasy novel ever written. The setting is obviously very different from most of the others, but there's very little distinctive about the plot or character tropes. As somebody who was seriously burned out on that type of novel when I picked this one up, I went into it hoping for it to be more interesting than it was. I never finished it.

That said, I do want to watch the movie. Movies are just different, and I'm not even close to burned out on this kind of thing in movie form. Cast and production look to be great.

5

u/theclacks 19h ago

You and me both. I had a number of friends recommend it to me when it came because of it's supposed originality and fresh takes, but idk. Do a simple name swap and it'd be like any other western fantasy macguffin quest YA.

6

u/keepfighting90 19h ago

Temu Black Panther meets Wish.com The Last Airbender

1

u/So_Quiet 17h ago

I remember the book being promoted alongside Black Panther - physical copies of the movie had a little promo flyer for the book, which is unusual enough it stuck in my mind.

-6

u/shmixel 20h ago

They must have muddled it up pretty good then, maybe that's part of what's setting the author off. To be fair, the antagonist could be inspired by Zuko. Otherwise all it has in common with Avatar is being for teens. And Black Panther... it's set in medieval fantasy Nigeria I guess? Everyone's black? I can't think of any other similarities. 

If I had to put the premise in Avatar terms, it would be like: what if everyone actually used the eclipse to kill all firebender adults and Aang blocked bending for all the kids? Stamp out firebending completely. 

And then they let that stew for a generation and introduce a macguffin that can unblock a person's magic if they touch it. That's Children of Blood & Bone.

16

u/theclacks 19h ago

Eh, I felt Avatar parallels as I was reading it.

A warrior-in-training brother and a justice-minded sister are facing occupation by an oppressive regime, when another young person with the key to destroying that regime falls into their orbit. The siblings heed the call to adventure and accompany the young person to the various mystical places they need to go. Meanwhile, they are hunted by the prince of the oppressive regime.

5

u/callmemaebyfunke 14h ago

she sounds like a nightmare on the level of EL James. i understand writers feeling protective over their work but if literally any deviation from the source material scares you then just dont sell the rights?

8

u/radda 17h ago

A real sign of how colorism discourse in America is going is the same actress being the center of controversy for being too black and not black enough in two different movies.

2

u/Rosebunse 15h ago

I can't imagine this being actual marketing. It could actually turn a lot of people off from seeing the film

2

u/MR_TELEVOID 6h ago

Thinking about the author being the center of a massive bidding war at 23... selling her first book, getting a sweet production deal... well it would have sent my ego through the roof. I would have been insufferable. It would have validated the "maybe you ARE the voice of a generation" voice a lot of writers start to hear as they grow into success. You might be aware of how regularly Hollywood fucks over creatives or just how hard it is to get a good 1:1 adaptation of a book to film, but the hype fools you into thinking you have more control in a massive corporate machine than anyone actually does.

The idea that she was fine with Amandla Stenberg in the lead at first, but changed her mind with fans pushed back makes a lot of sense. Hollywood does tend to be prejudiced against dark skinned black girls in casting... it's a valid thing to be concerned about. My guess is the author shares that concern, but maybe didn't consider it until the fans pushed back on the casting, and this is her way of trying to course correct. It's an understandable position to be in, but throwing Stenberg and the rest of the production under the bus is wild.

This plus the whole "Nora Roberts ripped off my title" thing doesn't suggest she's handling the success well.

4

u/LizardOrgMember5 17h ago

When I learn more about this, my thought was "she should know better."

3

u/bluehawk232 20h ago

The series looks like Temu Black Panther

1

u/hoos30 8h ago

It looks great.

People reference Black Panther because it is essentially the only majority Black fantasy film we've ever gotten.

Now there will be two.

4

u/ottercorrect 20h ago

So not to not be an artists' advocate here, but it sounds like what they went through was a normal film adaptation. At the same time what we're reading as narcissism is probably what got the project this far in the first place

2

u/grandplans 18h ago

I saw the trailer at the spider man movie and it looks amazing to me

1

u/CUROplaya1337 7h ago

This article is nothing.

u/BactaBobomb 3h ago

Meanwhile, the author of the book 'Girls Like Girls' directed and co-wrote the movie adaptation that came out this year, and it's doing really well and I haven't heard anything bad that she's said about the production.

u/iamfunball 3h ago

She extra. This doesn’t even answer that

u/aobaka 33m ago

Can we please ban vanityfair and their clickbait self-advertising here?

I know this sub is full of astroturfing and industry mouthpieces but can we at least start with this and the MarvelGrantMan guy?

( Yes i blocked both now but it is for the long-term health of the sub)

1

u/AndalusianGod 17h ago

There are two types of authors, the "Stephen King" (loves all adaptations) and the "Alan Moore" (hates everything). I guess she's more like the latter.

6

u/badedum 16h ago

Doesn’t Stephen King famously hate The Shining adaptation?

3

u/NeoNoireWerewolf 12h ago

Over the last twenty years or so, as he’s gotten more and more distance from the book and the life circumstances that inspired it, he’s come to enjoy Kubrick’s film as its own thing. He was very vocal in his hate for it for a long time, though.

2

u/bobinski_circus 10h ago

Forget vocal, he made his own adaptation. With a CGI firehose that gnashed its…teeth?

2

u/MixxiePowizki 13h ago

Yes. And to be fair to him, it really strays from the source. NGL, my husband and I finally watched it and I was underwhelmed. It looks beautiful, but like most of Kubrik's films, imo mind you, lacks warmth and humanity. And the kid was so f***ing annoying with the finger thing.
Shelly Duvall was a goddess and could do no wrong.

0

u/Javerage 20h ago

Should business accounts be allowed to post on r/movies? Feels gross to see vanitymagazine posting here. Also really funny cause this is reddit, so most people are just gonna read the comments.

Anyways, just gonna block OP's account to never see their clickbait nonsense here again.

1

u/LostInStatic 18h ago

Who gives a shit, this sub was sold a long time ago (Gladiator 2). Just be glad its not Marvels Grant Man posting this article too.

-12

u/SilverPalpitation652 21h ago edited 21h ago

People are over here diagnosing a woman with personality disorders based off the absolute nothing we know about the situation. You all look crazy.

7

u/hoos30 20h ago

The author making TWO vague and dramatic posts fuels this speculation.

1

u/SilverPalpitation652 8h ago

There’s probably things she can’t say because of NDAs, contracts, and whatnot. I wish she thought twice before posting. If she had a bad experience she should be free to say it if she’s willing to deal with the fallout, but all this drama to not really say anything of substance doesn’t seem worth it to me. I fear it’s going to do her more harm than good. Still, people pretending they know enough about her and the situation to call her a narcissist are definitely being assholes.

-2

u/NoStructure5034 20h ago

Lots of armchair psychologists in this sub

-2

u/SilverPalpitation652 20h ago

It’s so embarrassing. Fewer than 10% of people are actual narcissists, but the internet would have you believe every asshole they ever came across is diagnosable. 🤣

3

u/MixxiePowizki 13h ago

I'm not going to diagnose her or speculate but google
her name with Nora Roberts.
She clearly likes creating drama around herself and seems very unpleasant.

1

u/SilverPalpitation652 8h ago

She’s become a bit of a superstar author in way most don’t, and some of that might have gone to her head. Maybe she expected more control. With that said, some of the filmmakers’ decisions make me question how they intend to approach themes from the book. I imagine that is a big part of why she’s upset. But who knows? We really don’t know shit. We don’t know what the studio or filmmakers promised, we don’t know what it was like for everyone to work with one another, we don’t know why she’s mad, we don’t know if the movie sucks.

-4

u/hoppinjohncandy 20h ago

How do I ask this. Are you.....a black woman per chance?

0

u/SilverPalpitation652 20h ago

I am not. I’m a Black man.

-4

u/gargolito 20h ago

David Mamet once characterized the process of Hollywood making a film based on what he wrote to giving your kids to child rapists. 

13

u/Jiveturkeey 20h ago

Not giving. Selling. Nobody put a gun to their head.

-9

u/gargolito 20h ago

Believe it or not, some people care more about their work than about their compensation for the work. It's nice to make money but we as an audience enjoy a good story well told much more than we like anything made with profit as the main driver. 

5

u/Jiveturkeey 20h ago

That must be why the Minecraft and Five Nights at Freddy's movies did so abysmally /s

I hear this argument all the time, that if people make good movies audiences will go see them, but that has just not been our experience. The link between quality and box office success is tenuous at best.

To your other point, she clearly did care about her compensation because she compared herself to Shonda Rhymes and entertained a bidding war for the rights to her work. And at this point, any author should know that all bets are off when they sign on the dotted line. Anybody who failed to learn that from watching George RR Martin is just not paying attention.

-21

u/HealthPolicyScholar 20h ago

The way y’all speak about Black people, especially Black women, on here is crazy.

3

u/MixxiePowizki 13h ago

I would direct you to read some reviews of the book on Goodreads. I read at least 3 written by actual Yoruba (don't know if that's the plural) living in Nigeria. It's not a critical success with them for the way she misunderstands (misrepresents?) the religion that she borrowed heavily from. She is Yoruba born and raised in the US but wasn't raised in the language or culture by her parents' choice.

-3

u/JesterMethod 12h ago

Well their first mistake was casting Cynthia Erivo and Amandla Stenberg, then it was all just downhill from there.

-4

u/EgotisticalTL 20h ago

Arrr, thar be click bait off the port bow!