There is a very interesting documentary coming out by Chris Rock called “Good Hair” that I’ve got to admit has me very interested. The film revolves around the world of black women and their obsession with “good hair”. To me it’s looked really fascinating.
However… it looks like Rock completely ripped the idea off from another filmmaker who made an identical film, showed it to Rock, and then a few years later Rock makes this.
Here is a clip from the press release:
Yesterday filmmaker Regina Kimbell filed a $5 million copyright infringement lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Los Angeles against Chris Rock, HBO, the domestic and foreign distributor theatrical distributors for soon to be released documentary “Good Hair.”
The complaint alleges Kimbell’s movie, “My Nappy ROOTS: A Journey Through Black Hair-itage” was copied by Chris Rock after he and his production team viewed the film in June 2007. After hearing the buzz about the film, Rock requested a private screening at Paramount Studios. Unaware that Rock had a deal to produce a black hair documentary for HBO, Kimbell agreed to let him see the film.
When Kimbell saw the trailer for “Good Hair,” she immediately saw the similarities and was stunned.
“This was an important story for me to tell, which is why I poured over five years of my life researching, traveling, and, shooting this film,” explains Kimbell. “I had a feeling of disbelief and disappointment, so overwhelming that all I thought was I am seeing my film with a different title.”
It will be interesting to see how this turns out.
For those of you who haven’t seen it yet, here’s the trailer for Rock’s “Good Hair”
alright i just came back from the movies with my wife enjoying the interesting truths about nappy hair. whatever i dont give a shit about it but it makes my wife happy. ok there was a empty theatre and the only people watching were these 3 black girls with 2 kids, kids screamed all throughout the movie and at the end after many “shut ups” we thank them for ruining the movie. they got all ghetto and started getting defensive calling names. ok i wanted to stab these girls in front of their kids, i dont wanna be mad or racist or anything. i just hope these girls read this and get a normal education.
Howard Stern has always claimed Chris stole his idea about making a tv series about his boyhood ie Everybody Hates Chris
It would be nice to see a documentary about how the term ‘good hair’ really got its roots–it’s was not straigthened hair, it was so called good hair because it was naturally wavey and usually long. Complexion did not matter as there were women of various shades of blackness that had it–it was all in the natural ‘waveyness’ of the hair.
Check with your grandmothers, great aunts and older ladies–there you can get the true meaning of what having ‘good hair’ was all about; however, over time the meaning has changed and what was once very natural and adored for its natural beauty has now become a billion dollar+ business.
There are many documentaries about Black hair however, in the case of “My Nappy Roots” the filmmaker, Regina Kimble has documented 12 specific creative choices that are identical in Chris Rock’s film “Good Hair” and her own film. There are thousands of love songs but using specific notes in a specific order to make a melody would be a thef of the song that is what she is saying is in this film. Clearly, Chris Rock had access to her film and may have been “inspired” to make certain choices. Her lawsuit is based on the film not the trailer. She became aware of it when she saw the trailer.
Ultimately, experts will be brought in to view the films and determine if there was copyright infringement.
ROFL @ thematticus & 46and2
um actually i cant remember the name of it but it has been done before in the 90’s…i remember cause at the time a lot of female artists where just coming out like jill scott and a couple others….i have no clue about this case but i can tell u that she wasnt the first one with this idea….the hair of a african american is a important thing for them…..i remember when i was getting a fade and was having my lines done at a famous spot here in san jose and charley murphy walked in and got a cut too.
There can be multiple documentaries on the same subject without it necessarily being the case that one copied the other. There have been tons of docs on women’s eating disorders. They are all very similar in their message (eating disorder, bad), and still they are all different documentaries.
I think the key to this whole thing is that Chris Rock already had a development deal for his documentary before he saw the other film. But even if he hadn’t, I would not have a problem with his making this documentary even if the first documentary had inspired his own.
Look. I made a band tour documentary in 2003. Leading up to my going on the road with the band, I probably watched 100 similar documentaries. I considered it research.
Furthermore, I would be really surprised if these two documentaries were really all that similar. Yes, they have the same essential subject, but I doubt the other documentary has either Chris Rock’s wicked sense of humor or the apparent infusion of high-level celebrity reflection that Chris Rock’s seems to have.
In the end, Regina Kimbell’s documentary was made in 2005 and has five votes on IMDB. A quick Google search dug up another film from a couple years ago called “My Joy, My Tears, My Hair” on the same subject. I’m sure there have been others.
And while Chris Rock’s documentary might not be the first on the subject, I’ll bet my rather sizable ass that it’s the best.
I think the case this director is trying to make (which seems a legitimate issue). Is that:
1. Despite Chris Rock having a deal to make a black hair film he had not started to make the movie and it had no form
2. Chris Rock specifically requested to SEE this film and viewed it
3. Chris Rock stole story arch’s, perspectives, motifs directly from the other documentary…
If they can map the “copied” sections between the films correctly then maybe they have a case. BUT There is no way she can have a case based on the trailer.
How can Chris Rock Rip Off a reality that has been in our community for longer then my 27 years of existence. Most black people (like my self) are desensitize when it comes to our hair. We even have crazy jokes about how Nappy or hard your hair ‘cuz “you got you some bad hair”.
Listen, like or not we live in a society where millions of Black women and girls still feel inadequate. These woman are still battling with identity issues, because of this country’s (and some parts of the world) standard of beauty often does not include their body types, their skin colors, their hair textures…”nappy headed ho’s” rember those words from Don Imus?????
Chris can’t rip this off if he tried, I’ve seen my ex-girlriends, sisters & mother go thru relaxers, weeves etc.
great quote
Arrrh… It bothers me to see the woman read her lines.
if he had a pre existing deal, then that means h didn’t steal the idea. However, if he did copy segments of her film, that is INFRINGEMENT. What will probably happen here is a settlement, complete with a producer credit.
You have no idea what you’re talking about.
Nope. Not a clue.