Production and Release
When the film went into production, Melvin Van Peebles had not made a film since Don't Play Us Cheap. Van Peebles instead worked on theater and television productions, wrote novels and traded on the floor of the American Stock Exchange. His son, Mario Van Peebles, wrote the screenplay for Identity Crisis during the production of Jaws: The Revenge, and offered it to his father. They formed Block & Chip Productions to produce the film. They cowrote a book about the making of the film's production entitled No Identity Crisis. The film was screened at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival. When Melvin Van Peebles was unable to negotiate a theatrical deal at the Festival, it was announced that the film would be released direct-to-video. Mario Van Peebles stated that he never assumed that it would be released theatrically. The film was promoted as a "rap-packed action comedy in the tradition of House Party".
Read more about this topic: Identity Crisis (film)
Famous quotes containing the words production and, production and/or release:
“By bourgeoisie is meant the class of modern capitalists, owners of the means of social production and employers of wage labor. By proletariat, the class of modern wage laborers who, having no means of production of their own, are reduced to selling their labor power in order to live.”
—Friedrich Engels (1820–1895)
“In the production of the necessaries of life Nature is ready enough to assist man.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“If I were to be taken hostage, I would not plead for release nor would I want my government to be blackmailed. I think certain government officials, industrialists and celebrated persons should make it clear they are prepared to be sacrificed if taken hostage. If that were done, what gain would there be for terrorists in taking hostages?”
—Margaret Mead (1901–1978)