From KCRW Santa Monica and KCRW.com, it's The Treatment.

It's The Treatment.

I'm Elvis Mitchell.

My guest is somebody who 35 years ago created a film that changed the course of popular culture

and also asked the most provocative question I can imagine, which is, can a black bat from Detroit find happiness of the white suburban family?

The movie we're talking about is Hollywood Shuffle.

My guest is its director and co-writer, Robert Townsend. It is a thrill

to have you, Robert. It's always great to talk to you.

But let's talk about what the world

was like in 1987 because there's so

much in that movie that still makes

sense now. I mean, you have, during that

audition sequence in the beginning of the movie,

two guys are talking about being

fair skin, light skin,

and how they can't get cast

because white people don't believe light skin blacks can be,

and I look at this phrase, street tufts.

A phrase we haven't heard probably since 1987,

but there's so much of that movie that still feels contemporary.

Well, first off, thank you so much for having me and good seeing you. We'd have to go

1979, starting there. That's when I got into showbiz. And so the roles that were available for

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