Hey Bitch Ass…Where’s your star?

It was an honor to attend the Bitch Ass premier which recently took place in Beverly Hills. The whole cast turned out and there was a red carpet. Speaking with the various cast members, I understand why this film has gotten the attention it deserves, there was a lot of heart put into the film by the cast. In watching the film it is easy to ask yourself, why did it take so long for a black serial killer movie to be produced. This film is shot in that old 80’s/90’s style.

The film was written by Jonathan Colombo and Bill Posley, it stars Teon Kelley and Tunde Laleye. In reporting on Hollywood for as long as I have, I was curious about the film, since I noticed the recent positive press about it. Many of the horror blogs cheer the film and its performance by the stars Teon Kelley and Tunde Laleye. The film deservedly won an award at this years SXSW film festival.

All the fan fair and accolades aside one couldn’t help to notice there was something odd about the promotion of the film, which started for me at the LA premier, continued on through the NY premier and through the release of the film. Curious to this reporter was the fact that it seems Kelley, for what many of the blogs both pro and con of the film cheer his stand out performance, is vacant from the promotion of the film.

He did make an appearance briefly at the LA premier, however you could tell that there was more of a focus and push for us reporters to interview the other cast members. I did notice Kelley give an interview, but it was off the red carpet almost pushed to the side of the red carpet. Those running the event, encouraged us to interview the other supporting cast members instead. I want to make it clear that no one said we couldn’t interview him but there was a clear push in that direction. I was also directed by someone to go over to Laleye, because they organized for him to sign movie posters. Another person said to me that I should get one, so there was definitely a push to get his signature. However, I did not see anything being organized to have the other star Kelley sign posters as too. Which when I attended premiers in the past there is always a push by those running the event to get us in front of both stars in the film and interact with them. Now before I go any further, I do want to say that Laleye gave a great performance in my opinion and the chemistry between him and Kelley carried the film for me. I can see why it won an award from a prestigious film festival, such as SXSW.

So when the showing ended at the LA premiere, I did note on my way out that the people who attended, I assume they were the public who where admitted to the premier, crowded Kelley to congratulate him and did notice that staffers from what I assume was his management team, that were there, where having trouble accessing him during that time. Which stood out to me as odd since much of the focus was on Laleye during the red carpet by those running it. Again, I am not trying to discount Laleye’s contribution, as he is an actor and he should take every bow and applause for the film.

However, I can only report on what I observed and from what I can see the studio and Quiver, the distributor of the film, have decided it seems to promote just one of the stars and the supporting cast for some odd reason, more so than the other star of the film. I also attended the NY premiere, hosted by Den of Geek, which had cast members there, but curiously Kelley was missing. I did see an online video Den of Geek did with Laleye and Posley, but again curiously Kelley was missing from that interview too. Another example of a possible snub, is when you go to Apple TV where the film is available for advance purchase, Kelley isn’t even mentioned in the paragraph listing the starring roles, Laleye is listed (and he should be) but the supporting characters are too there to, which is odd, but not Kelley. It’s not until you go to the bottom where all the characters are listed with their profile picture and scroll through to finally find Kelley, who by the way has no head shot, while the other actors do, so why this snub? After all he equally carried the water for the film as much as Laleye did.

In speaking with my fellow reporters who have been reporting on the film, they are beginning to asking this question too “Where is Kelley?” and why are they promoting cast members that are not the stars of the film and played supporting parts in the film. Why are they not utilizing the actor who gave a standout performance? Also since, “Spoiler Alert”, Kelley and Laleye are the only two that survive the film, why would this be the marketing strategy? I mean if you are gonna do a sequel wouldn’t you want to promote both stars equally that carried your film?

My fellow reporters and bloggers are seeing what I’m seeing and again have begun to ask the question, is there some sort of politics at hand or are the powers that be playing favorites.

It is curious to this reporter and my colleagues who are covering this film, why wouldn’t they be pushing Kelley as much as they are pushing Laleye, granted he is the serial killer. But why only the Antagonist (Laleye) and not the Protagonist (Kelley). Also, why are they oddly pushing the other supporting actors, who played minor roles in the film. Even my colleagues at Deadline and Variety who are reporting on the film are asking this question. I mean, Deadline called Kelley and Laleye the next generation of Hollywood’s Black Actors. So it is reasonable that they would be and should be.

Maybe this is typical Hollywood, where for a Hollywood award winning film, playing personal favorites of actors, who are not the stars of your film is what you do. However, in the world of business, this in my opinion is a losing strategy and one potential future investors in the franchise may take note of.

So if Kelley helped win the award for them at SXSW and carries the film equally with Laleye. Then, I am with my colleagues in asking the question: “Hey Bitch Ass….Where is Teon Kelley?” and “Why isn’t he part of your promotion of the film?” For me, I will look for Kelley’s next film, hopefully they will give him the promotion he deserves.

Bitch Ass was released today on most streaming, purchase and rental services.