Controversy surrounds American actor Danny Glover’s (“Lethal Weapon’) latest project, “Toussaint’. Studio Briefing reports that Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez has granted Glover $18m to shoot the film, about 18th Century Haitian freedom fighter Toussaint L’Ouverture, in Venezuela.
Not surprisingly, Glover has been under pressure to shoot “Toussaint’ in Haiti. In defending his decision, Glover referred to Haiti’s political instability and its lack of film infrastructure. Meanwhile, Venezuelans are reportedly unhappy about their government investing so much in a foreign movie, when the money could be used to develop their indigenous industry.
“Toussaint’ was once tentatively scheduled to shoot in South Africa, the country where Glover took the starring role in the screen adaptation of Athol Fugard’s “Boesman and Lena’.
