Join or Sign In

Continue with Facebook Continue with email

By joining TV Guide, you agree to our Terms of Use and acknowledge the data practices in our Privacy Policy.

SNIPES BLASTS SHAFT

Wesley Snipes is giving the shaft to, um, Shaft. The actor insists that, contrary to rumors, he turned down the title role in the big-screen remake  not the other way around. "I was offered the film and the script was terrible," the actor told Access Hollywood. "It was an insult not only to African-American culture, but it was an insult to the icon of what Shaft was. [The studio] didn't care and I told them to find somebody else." Snipes, who says he hasn't seen the movie, added that he has no beef with Samuel L.Jackson, who eventually won the role made famous by Richard Roundtree. "Sam knows I'm not dissin' him," he said. "I'm dissin' the people who made the movie." For the record, that includes writer/director John Singleton, producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures.

TV GuideNews Aug. 16, 2000 at 1:00 a.m. PT

Wesley Snipes is giving the shaft to, um, Shaft. The actor insists that, contrary to rumors, he turned down the title role in the big-screen remake — not the other way around. "I was offered the film and the script was terrible," the actor told Access Hollywood. "It was an insult not only to African-American culture, but it was an insult to the icon of what Shaft was. [The studio] didn't care and I told them to find somebody else." Snipes, who says he hasn't seen the movie, added that he has no beef with Samuel L.Jackson, who eventually won the role made famous by Richard Roundtree. "Sam knows I'm not dissin' him," he said. "I'm dissin' the people who made the movie." For the record, that includes writer/director John Singleton, producer Scott Rudin and Paramount Pictures.