Brown Is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream

Last updated
Brown Is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream
Directed byPhillip Rodriguez
Produced byPhillip Rodriguez
StarringGeorge Lopez, Hector Orcí, Bill Dana, Arlene Dávila, Alex Nogales, Bruce Helford
Release date
  • 2007 (2007)
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Brown Is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream is a 2007 American documentary directed and produced by Phillip Rodriguez. [1] The film examines the ways in which efforts to profit from Latinos are shaping the Latino identity. Comedian George Lopez is the focus of the film, offering the viewer a behind-the-scenes look at the comedian's life and career and the ways in which he has advocated for Latinos in media and entertainment.

Contents

Production

Phillip Rodriguez is a documentary filmmaker and veteran content provider for PBS. [2] His last four films for public television have been broadcast in primetime to wide acclaim. He is the founder of City Projects, a production company whose films and educational programs challenge ideas about race and diversity in America. [3] Rodriguez' documentary films bring to light the complexities of Latino culture, history, and identity at a time when our nation’s demographics reflect unprecedented growth in the Latino community and the concomitant demand for relevant storytelling. [4]

Casting

George Lopez is an American comedian, actor, and talk show host who often examines race, class and other social issues in his work. Lopez, who is Mexican-American, often challenges the stereotypes of Latinos that persist in media and popular culture. Brown Is the New Green also features other Latino leaders and industry executives, including Hector Orcí , Bill Dana, Arlene Dávila, Alex Nogales, and Bruce Helford.

Synopsis

Brown Is the New Green examines the ways in which the media and entertainment industry shape America's perception of Latinos. [5] The documentary’s focal point is comedian George Lopez, an icon and advocate for Latinos’ move into the mainstream.

Brown Is the New Green offers rare behind-the-scenes access to Lopez’s life as he shares his struggles to represent Latinos in a manner true to their realities and aspirations. Lopez normalizes the image of Latinos in a way that delights and entertains. In contrast to Lopez's endeavors are the efforts of marketers intent on spinning Latinos as a wholly distinct subculture. The show also features conversations with members of the much-coveted Latino youth market, whose tastes and interests are far more eclectic than the marketers would have us believe.

Awards

Brown Is the New Green' won the Best Documentary for Television Imagen Award, 2008. [6] The Imagen Foundation is an organization dedicated to promoting and encouraging positive and accurate portrayals of Latino characters and production storylines in film and television. The film was also nominated for a 2008 Alma Award. [7]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Edward James Olmos</span> American actor (born 1947)

Edward James Olmos is an American actor. He is best known for his roles as Lieutenant Martin "Marty" Castillo in Miami Vice (1984–1989), American Me (1992), William Adama in the reimagined Battlestar Galactica (2004–2009), Detective Gaff in Blade Runner (1982) and its sequel Blade Runner 2049 (2017) and the voice of Mito in the 2005 English dub of Nausicaä of the Valley of the Wind. For his performance as high school math teacher Jaime Escalante in Stand and Deliver (1988), he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actor.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Benjamin Bratt</span> American actor (born 1963)

Benjamin Bratt is an American actor. He is known for playing Paco Aguilar in Blood In Blood Out. He had supporting film roles in the 1990s in Demolition Man (1993), Clear and Present Danger (1994), and The River Wild (1994). From 1995 to 1999, he starred as Detective Reynaldo Curtis on the NBC drama series Law & Order.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">George Lopez</span> American comedian, actor (born 1961)

George Edward Lopez is an American stand-up comedian and actor. He is most known for starring in his self-produced ABC sitcom George Lopez. His stand-up comedy examines race and ethnic relations, including Mexican American culture. Lopez has received several honors for his work and contributions to the Latino community, including the 2003 Imagen Vision Award, the 2003 Latino Spirit Award for Excellence in Television and the National Hispanic Media Coalition Impact Award. He was also named one of "The Top 25 Hispanics in America" by Time magazine in 2005.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eva Longoria</span> American actress and producer (born 1975)

Eva Jacqueline Longoria Bastón is an American actress, producer, director, and businesswoman. After several guest roles on television, she became recognized for her portrayal of Isabella Braña on the CBS daytime soap opera The Young and the Restless (2001–2003). Her breakthrough role as Gabrielle Solis on the ABC television series Desperate Housewives (2004–2012) netted her two Screen Actors Guild Awards and a Golden Globe nomination. She has appeared in the films The Sentinel (2006), Over Her Dead Body (2008), For Greater Glory (2012), Frontera (2014), Lowriders (2016), and Overboard (2018), winning an Imagen Award for the latter. She guest-starred on the Hulu mystery comedy-drama series Only Murders in the Building (2024).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Constance Marie</span> American actress

Constance Marie Lopez is an American actress. She is best known for her roles as Angelina "Angie" Lopez in George Lopez (2002–2007), and Marcela Quintanilla in the film Selena (1997). She portrayed Regina Vasquez in the ABC Family/Freeform drama series Switched at Birth (2011–2017). She also portrayed Camila Diaz in the Amazon Prime Video drama series Undone (2019–2022).

<i>Real Women Have Curves</i> 2002 comedy-drama film by Patricia Cardoso

Real Women Have Curves is a 2002 American comedy-drama film directed by Patricia Cardoso, based on the play of the same name by Josefina López, who co-authored the screenplay for the film with George LaVoo. The film stars America Ferrera as protagonist Ana García. It gained fame after winning the Audience Award for best dramatic film, and the Special Jury Prize for acting in the 2002 Sundance Film Festival. The film went on to receive the Youth Jury Award at the San Sebastian International Film Festival, the Humanitas Prize, the Imagen Award, and Special Recognition by the National Board of Review.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Paul Rodriguez (actor)</span> Mexican-American stand-up comedian and actor (born 1955)

Paul Rodriguez is a Mexican-American actor and stand-up comedian.

Moctesuma Esparza is an American producer, entertainment executive, entrepreneur and community activist. He is the chief executive officer of Maya Cinemas, a theater chain servicing to the United States Latino audience. He is also a partner with Carolyn Caldera in the company Esparza/Caldera Entertainment. He founded film distribution and production company Maya Entertainment in 2007.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Roberto Orci</span> American screenwriter and producer (born 1973)

Roberto Gaston Orcí is a Mexican-American film and television screenwriter and producer. He began his longtime collaboration with Alex Kurtzman while at school in California. Together they have been employed on television series such as Hercules: The Legendary Journeys and Xena: Warrior Princess. In 2008, together with J. J. Abrams, they created Fringe. In 2013, they created Sleepy Hollow alongside Phillip Iscove. Orci and Kurtzman's first film project was Michael Bay's The Island, and due to that partnership they went on to write the scripts for the first two films of the Transformers film series. Orci first became a film producer with 2008's Eagle Eye and again with 2009's The Proposal.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gregory Nava</span> American film director, producer and screenwriter (born 1949)

Gregory James Nava is an American film director, producer and screenwriter.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Roday Rodriguez</span> American actor (born 1976)

James Roday Rodriguez is an American actor, director, and screenwriter. He is best known for portraying Shawn Spencer, a hyper-observant consultant detective and fake psychic, in USA Network series Psych and the subsequent Psych film series, also writing and producing for Psych. He also starred in A Million Little Things which debuted in 2018, playing Javier "Gary" Mendez.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Kamala Lopez</span> American actress and director

Kamala Lopez is an American filmmaker, actress, writer, director, and political activist. She has had starring roles in Black Jesus, Medium, 24, Alias, NYPD Blue, Hill Street Blues, Miami Vice, and 21 Jump Street. She has been a featured actress in films including Born in East L.A., Deep Cover, The Burning Season, Clear and Present Danger, Lightning Jack, and I Heart Huckabees.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Al Madrigal</span> American actor and comedian

Alessandro Liborio Madrigal is an American comedian, writer, actor and producer. He is a co-founder of the All Things Comedy podcast network, alongside Bill Burr. He rose to fame on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart as a regular correspondent for five seasons. Outside of the standup world, he is known for his co-starring roles in the film Night School, Showtime's dark comedy I'm Dying Up Here, NBC's About A Boy, as well as CBS sitcoms Broke, Gary Unmarried and Welcome to The Captain. He has also performed on Conan and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. He is currently developing multiple projects for TV within his current deal at CBS Studios.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Yvonne DeLaRosa</span> American actress

Yvonne DeLaRosa is an American actress. Born in Los Angeles, California, DeLaRosa has starred in theater, film and television and is an activist and philanthropist. She began her career starring in the Fox series "Señor White" and has since risen to fame as a respected actress and film maker. DeLaRosa holds a BA and MFA in theater, film and television from UCLA Film School in Los Angeles, California. Heralded as the "...new wave of Latino talent" by Jimmy Smits when she was honored as a rising star at the National Hispanic Foundation for the Arts in Washington, DC and accepted the honor by then president Bill Clinton.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">John Leguizamo</span> American comedian and actor

John Alberto Leguizamo Peláez is an American stand-up comedian, actor, and film producer. He has appeared in over 100 films, produced over 20 films and documentaries, made over 30 television appearances, and has produced various television projects. He has also written and performed for the Broadway stage receiving four Tony Award nominations for Freak in 1998, Sexaholix in 2002, and Latin History for Morons in 2018. He received a Special Tony Award in 2018.

<i>Makers: Women Who Make America</i> 2013 American documentary film

Makers: Women Who Make America is a 2013 documentary film about the struggle for women's equality in the United States during the last five decades of the 20th century. The film was narrated by Meryl Streep and distributed by the Public Broadcasting Service as a three-part, three-hour television documentary in February 2013. Makers features interviews with women from all social strata, from politicians like Hillary Clinton and television stars like Ellen DeGeneres and Oprah Winfrey, to flight attendants, coal miners and phone company workers.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gina Rodriguez</span> American actress (born 1984)

Gina Alexis Rodriguez is an American actress. She is known for her leading role as Jane Villanueva in The CW satirical romantic dramedy series Jane the Virgin (2014–2019), for which she received a Golden Globe Award in 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Phillip Rodriguez</span> American documentary filmmaker

Phillip Rodriguez is an American documentary filmmaker and veteran content provider for PBS.

Latinos '08 is a PBS documentary that examines the political influence of Latinos through the lens of the 2008 presidential election. Since 2008, shifting demographics in the United States are reshaping elections, changing the political landscape, and impacting policy at the federal, state, and local levels. Latinos and other racial/ethnic groups are challenging the ways in which politicians, academics and other cultural influencers consider and discuss race by upending this country's black/white racial binary paradigm.

References

  1. ↑ "Brown Is the New Green". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  2. ↑ Rodriguez, Phillip; Lopez, George (2007). Brown is the new green: George Lopez and the American dream. www.worldcat.org. OCLC   173507518 . Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  3. ↑ "About". City Projects. Archived from the original on 3 March 2016. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  4. ↑ June-Friesen, Katy. "Latino voters: a story of 'high hopes and dashed hopes'". Current.[ permanent dead link ]
  5. ↑ "Brown is the New Green". PBS. Retrieved 17 May 2016.
  6. ↑ "The 23rd Imagen Awards is ready for its close-up". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
  7. ↑ "Brown Is the New Green: George Lopez and the American Dream". itvs.org. Retrieved 9 May 2020.
    This page is based on this Wikipedia article
    Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
    Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.