{"id":8246,"date":"2016-07-29T07:00:31","date_gmt":"2016-07-29T15:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/?p=8246"},"modified":"2016-07-29T06:47:21","modified_gmt":"2016-07-29T14:47:21","slug":"was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/legendsrevealed.com\/entertainment\/2016\/07\/29\/was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film\/","title":{"rendered":"Was Shaft Nearly Played by a White Actor in the First Shaft Film?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Here is the latest in a series of examinations into urban legends about movies and whether they are true or false. Click here<\/a> to view an archive of the Movie urban legends featured so far.<\/p>\n

MOVIE URBAN LEGEND<\/span><\/u>: Shaft was originally going to star a white actor.<\/p>\n

Shaft, directed by Gordon Parks and starring Richard Roundtree as the titular private detective, was a massive box office smash upon its release in 1971 and became the face of what was later referred to as “blaxploitation” films (I’ll let you judge whether you feel it qualifies as “blaxploitation”). The film, which won an Academy Award for Best Song for its theme (written and performed by Isaac Hayes), was selected for preservation in 2000 in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”<\/p>\n

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