I grew up watching Soul Train. I used to like watching the live acts, and the dancer’s erotic movements taught me a thing or two (any of my exes reading this, let me know if you thought there was a decided Soul Train aspect to my technique), but I never imagined it as a movie.
This is why I am not a Hollywood executive, I guess. If had the chops of a Hollywood executive I’d see the filmic potential of an Ikea catalog. Or a dance show. But someone did, and now Soul Train is headed towards a theater near you.
Before I get too snarky, let me say that this is one non-narrative deal that I actually get. Soul Train is a well-known brand (that I don’t think has been tarnished by Soul Plane), and using it as a real world version of say John Waters’ The Corny Collins Show from Hairspray. Here’s the plot of the proposed movie, according to Variety:
Protag comes from the L.A. hood, and his ticket out is his gift for
“popping,” a street dance that became popular in the period. [Soul Train disco godfather Don] Cornelius
told [writer Malcolm] Spellman he’d always wanted to mount a tour with bands and
dancers, and the writer will make that fictional tour a centerpiece of
the film.
So a kid from the streets who can do serious popping goes on tour with Soul Train? I’ve heard worse ideas. The fact that the film will be an 80s period piece intrigues me, because 80s hip hop culture is the only 80s culture I think is even partially worthy of being nostalgic about.
Don Cornelius is producing the film, which is being written right now.