Three months of shooting in South Chicago for the forthcoming Robert Teitel- and George Tillman-produced film comedy “Barbershop” wrapped March 4, but not before arching a few eyebrows on the set at 79th Street and Exchange Avenue.
Playing the lead role of a South Side barbershop owner, Ice Cube ended up thrice shooting a scene where he chases a nonpaying customer because MGM/UA-distributed films prohibit swearing. The story follows several barbers who attempt to figure out clues to a heist by the haircuts they give in a day so that they can claim a $50,000 reward offered for information that would help police solve the crime.
On another occasion, Cube star powered first-time feature Director Tim Story into writing a part for Chicago Bulls forward Ron Mercer into the script and instantly issuing the athlete a Screen Actors Guild contract without reviewing his acting skills or experience. The few Chicago-based actors in featured roles complained that the droves of Asian and white extras shot walking gave “Barbershop” the appearance of a Los Angeles film set in Chicago (outside of Hollywood, large numbers of those ethnicities strolling through that heavily African-American hood are either selling insurance, recruiting souls for Jesus, boldly slumming, or hellified lost). In the original “Barbershop” screenplay by Mark Brown that Teitel and Tillman optioned through their production company State Street Pictures, the story was set in New York City.
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“They filled an entire studio with a block of 79th Street,” said one cast member, who asked not to be identified. A building at the shoot location was renovated to look like a barbershop. “They should have kept their black asses back in Hollywood for that.”
Brown co-wrote Def Jam’s “How To Be A Player” and directed the 2001 romantic comedy “Two Can Play That Game” starring Vivica Fox and Morris Chestnut. Marshall Todd and Don D. Scott share screenwriting credits for rewrites.
Before “Barbershop,” Story directed music videos for R. Kelly, Ginuwine, and Master P and two mid-1990s movies that went direct-to-video.
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Also starring veteran actor Carl Wright and Eve in her feature-acting debut, shooting for the $8 million-budgeted “Barbershop” began Jan. 15. The picture is scheduled for release Jul. 12.
