John Singleton

• Born: January 6, 1968
• Birthplace: Los Angeles, California
• Died: April 29, 2019
• Place of death: Los Angeles, California

Filmmaker

Singleton was best known for his depictions of the gritty, violent life and economic hardships experienced by many African Americans in urban environments such as South Central Los Angeles. In his films, Singleton examined the struggles of young black men to succeed and survive in America.

Area of achievement: Film: direction

Early Life

John Daniel Singleton was born on January 6, 1968, in South Central Los Angeles. His father, Danny Singleton, was a mortgage broker, financial planner, and a minor real estate agent. His mother, Sheila Ward-Johnson, was a representative for a pharmaceutical company. His parents were not married and he was raised in two separate homes, but both of his parents strived to ensure that he had a good education and to protect him from the crime and gangs that were ever present in one of Los Angeles’s most dangerous neighborhoods.

Singleton found escape from the harsh realities of South Central Los Angeles in films. When he stayed with his father, the two often went to see films and talked about them afterward. Singleton became a devoted student of cinema, watching films made by American directors such as Alfred Hitchcock and Orson Welles. He also took in films directed by foreign masters such as Jean-Luc Godard, François Truffaut, and Akira Kurosawa. Singleton fell in love with the art of filmmaking, and at the age of nine, he told his parents that he wanted to work in the film industry.

In high school, Singleton continued to investigate the entertainment industry and how it functioned. He soon discovered that one of the most important elements of filmmaking was screenwriting. He began writing screenplays while in high school. After he graduated in 1986, he was accepted into the School of Cinema-Television at the University of Southern California (USC). During his time at USC, Singleton won three awards for screenwriting and continued to learn as much as he could about the history of filmmaking and the business practices of Hollywood.

Life’s Work

During his sophomore year at USC, Singleton earned a contract with Creative Artists Agency (CAA). The agency sent Singleton’s script for Boyz N the Hood to Columbia Pictures. Columbia wanted to buy the screenplay and then attach an established director to the project, but Singleton fought for the chance to direct the film himself. Columbia finally agreed and gave Singleton seven million dollars to make the film.

Critics enthusiastically received the film when it was screened at the prestigious Cannes Film Festival in the spring of 1991. The film went on to gross nearly $100 million at the box office. Singleton became the first African American and one of the youngest people ever to be nominated for an Academy Award in the directing category. Singleton’s knowledge of the urban African American experience and his treatment of issues of black masculinity struck a chord with viewers and helped to increase the visibility of the struggles of African Americans in America.

In 1993, Singleton made Poetic Justice, a film that starred Janet Jackson and rapper Tupac Shakur. Additionally, the film featured the poetry of Maya Angelou. In Poetic Justice, Singleton explores young African American women’s struggles to win respect from men and society. The film was a box-office disappointment, earning only thirty million dollars. Moreover, the critics who had once celebrated Singleton as the leader of a new school of gritty urban realism began to question whether he was a polished filmmaker.

Singleton’s third film was Higher Learning (1995). The film explores race relations in connection with education and featured performances by Ice Cube, Busta Rhymes, Omar Epps, and Tyra Banks. The film was well received by critics and filmgoers, in large part because it represented a return by Singleton to examining race in a broader socioeconomic context. Singleton’s next film,Rosewood (1997), incorporates Western tropes into his gritty style to depict the hardships faced by an African American community in Florida in 1923.

In 2000, Singleton began to rework the idea of the blaxploitation film. He wrote a screenplay for an updated version of Shaft (1971). Singleton’s adaptation starred Samuel L. Jackson as the iconic private detective but drew criticism from critics who felt the character had been reduced to a cartoon-like action hero. Singleton followed the film with another study of African American masculinity, Baby Boy (2001). The film was called a companion piece to Singleton’s debut feature and drew praise for singer Tyrese Gibson’s lead performance.

In 2003, Singleton directed 2 Fast 2 Furious, the sequel to the popular action thriller Fast and the Furious. He followed this film with Four Brothers in 2005, a loose adaptation of the classic Western The Sons of Katie Elder (1965). In 2011, Singleton directed the film Abduction, starring Taylor Lautner and Lily Collins. In 2015, Singleton directed an episode of Empire, a musical drama television series. In 2016, he directed an episode of The People v. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story, another television series. His last major project involved Singleton serving as both director (for three episodes) and executive producer for the FX series Snowfall, which he also cocreated. The show, which began airing in 2017, is set in Los Angeles during the early 1980s, when a devastating crack cocaine epidemic plagued the city.

After reportedly suffering a stroke, Singleton had been brought to Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles in mid-April 2019. He failed to recover and ultimately passed away at the hospital on April 29, 2019, at the age of fifty-one.

Significance

With his debut film, Boyz N the Hood, Singleton demonstrated an ability to make films that were socially relevant and at the same time successful at the box office. Singleton, along with Spike Lee, was one of the most successful mainstream filmmakers to depict the complex and often contradictory nature of the African American experience. Singleton used his status as a writer, director, and producer to shed light on issues rarely broached in American films. He explored the harsh realities of economic injustice felt by African Americans in urban America.

Bibliography

Barboza, Craigh, editor. John Singleton Interviews. UP of Mississippi, 2009. This scholarly volume of essays and interviews covers Singleton’s life and career and explores the themes he addresses in his films.

Bogle, Donald. Toms, Coons, Mulattoes, Mammies, and Bucks: An Interpretative History of Blacks in American Films. 4th ed., Continuum, 2001. Bogle’s book is one of the key texts that explores how Hollywood has used stereotypes to frame black performers and characters in films.

Brooks, Justin P. “Will Boys Just Be Boyz N the Hood (1991)? African American Directors Portray a Crumbling Justice System in America.” Screening Justice—The Cinema of Law: Significant Films of Law, Order, and Social Justice. Edited by Rennard Foster, Teree Foster, and Taunya Banks, W. S. Hein, 2006. Insightful essay examining Singleton’s depiction of urban poverty and crime.

“John Singleton.” TV Guide, www.tvguide.com/celebrities/john-singleton/181698/. Accessed 20 Mar. 2017.

Sandomir, Richard. "John Singleton, 'Boyz N the Hood' Director, Dies at 51." The New York Times, 29 Apr. 2019, www.nytimes.com/2019/04/29/obituaries/john-singleton-dead.html. Accessed 3 June 2019.