Alex Cross creator James Patterson turned down seven figures from Hollywood to whitewash his titular detective character.
The primary Alex Cross novel, Alongside Got here a Spider, was revealed in 1993. The sequence of books, that are written by Patterson, follows the Black protagonist as he solves crimes and addresses threats in Washington, D.C.
Amazon Prime Video has simply premiered its brand-new present centered across the character, Cross, which stars Aldis Hodge.
Talking with The Hollywood Reporter, Patterson revealed that, shortly after Alongside Got here a Spider was revealed, he obtained a seven-figure provide from Hollywood to make media based mostly on his Alex Cross novels; nevertheless, Patterson rejected the provide since they needed to whitewash the character.
What did James Patterson say about rejecting Hollywood’s Alex Cross provide?
“Right here’s an attention-grabbing factor in regards to the Hollywood Cross stuff,” Patterson stated. “After I wrote the primary Alex Cross guide, I didn’t have some huge cash and Hollywood got here calling — knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. They supplied seven figures, and I didn’t have some huge cash. They stated, ‘We simply need one change; we wish Alex to be a white man.’ And I stated, ‘F— you.’ It was painful, however I did it. So we didn’t promote it straight away. However a couple of years later, Paramount got here, so we did a few films with Morgan. One of many items right here is David Ellison with Skydance. David’s been concerned early, after which Amazon received concerned, which was nice, and I met Ben [Watkins] alongside the way in which, which was actually terrific, after which clearly, Aldis got here in just a little later.”
Morgan Freeman beforehand performed Alex Cross in two films: 1997’s Kiss the Women, which was directed by Gary Fleder, and 2001’s Alongside Got here a Spider, directed by Lee Tamahori. Tyler Perry then portrayed the detective in a 2012 movie titled Alex Cross, directed by Rob Cohen. There have been initially plans for a sequel to Cohen’s film, although they have been canceled after Alex Cross underperformed on the field workplace.
Cross Season 1 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.
