Fifteen years ago, a 24-year-old screenwriter-director named Theodore Witcher created one of the definitive romantic dramas of the 1990s, Love Jones. Laying Chicago’s hip spoken-word set against a backdrop of rain-soaked scenery and a tumultuous courtship, the story of characters Nina Moseley and Darius Lovehall, played by Nia Long and Larenz Tate, became legendary.
Unlike the gritty black films opening the 1990s like 1991’s Boyz n the Hood and 1993’s Menace II Society, 1997’s Love Jones depicted an artistic niche of African-American life. Instead of having his characters struggle with “the man,” Witcher wanted them to wrestle with themselves and their careers, as humanistic beings trying to get over their personal shortcomings. In hindsight, the first-time director created a mold from which many black romantic dramas draw and presented an idea of love that still lingers, like America’s undying affection for Cliff and Clair Huxtable.
On making a black love story
Theodore Witcher: I wanted to do something that was closer to my dating experience — there was a lot of game playing. Also, I was a part of a similar world in Chicago in the early ’90s and thought it was an interesting backdrop on which to paint this young romantic story.
The movie’s look came through a confluence of ideas by myself and my team, and the month we shot was the wettest Chicago had seen in years. Rain was written into the script, but then every other day was raining so, out of my control, the movie ended up looking like Seven.
On the casting of Larenz Tate and Nia Long
TW: I’d originally written the film with Jada Pinkett in mind, and she liked it but passed. I met Nia Long through executive Helena Echegoyen, who recommended her. The studio was keen on Larenz because he’d done Menace II Society, but he didn’t want to work with a first-time director, which I was, and I thought he was O-Dog [his character in Menace], which was not what I wrote.
He liked the script, and once I realized he wasn’t O-Dog, the only question was, could he act enough to be Darius Lovehall? Then I screen-tested he and Nia together and showed the tape to my female friends, and they all said the couple had a spark.
Read the interview by Hilary Crosley at The Root
