Alex Cross writer 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 acquired a seven-figure provide from Hollywood to make media based mostly on his Alex Cross novels; nevertheless, Patterson rejected the provide since they wished to whitewash the character.
What did James Patterson say about rejecting Hollywood’s Alex Cross provide?
“Right here’s an fascinating factor in regards to the Hollywood Cross stuff,” Patterson mentioned. “Once I wrote the primary Alex Cross e-book, I didn’t have some huge cash and Hollywood got here calling — knock, knock, knock, knock, knock. They provided seven figures, and I didn’t have some huge cash. They mentioned, ‘We simply need one change; we would like Alex to be a white man.’ And I mentioned, ‘F— you.’ It was painful, however I did it. So we didn’t promote it straight away. However a number of years later, Paramount got here, so we did a few motion pictures 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 best way, which was actually terrific, after which clearly, Aldis got here in a bit of later.”
Morgan Freeman beforehand performed Alex Cross in two motion pictures: 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 had been canceled after Alex Cross underperformed on the field workplace.
Cross Season 1 is now streaming on Amazon Prime Video.