The Most Important Black Filmmaker You've Never Heard Of

The Most Important Black Filmmaker You've Never Heard Of

F. Gary Gray breaks down his body of work

By Zach Dionne

January 20, 2010

If Spike Lee is the king of black filmmakers, F. Gary Gray is the prince. The tireless, underrated, pure-entertainer prince. In the career retrospective Shooter Series Volume Two: F. Gary Gray, the now-40-year-old director looks into a camera in 1991 and says he wants to direct epic movies—before he's directed even a noteworthy music video. "I was very clear on what I wanted to do, even if it was going to take me 50 years to get there," Gray tells GQ.

Gray distances himself from the Michel Gondrys and Spike Jonzes who went from point A to point B, from MTV to Hollywood. Gray helmed a short film at age 21 before diving into music videos, and has bounced enthusiastically between the two since the early '90s. "Most of music videos were short films—they had dialogue, action sequences. I shot with cranes and helicopters. I wanted to created cinema-like moments."

He considers his first seven movies the beginning, the first chapter. "I'm excited about film more now than ever. I get to apply what I've learned to the next seven films, and the next seven films," Gray says, adding, "I have a hard time looking back unless I'm forced to."

We forced him to. Click here for F. Gary Gray's thoughts on his entire feature filmography and the milestone music videos.

Shooter Series Volume Two: F. Gary Gray comes out on DVD on February 16.

Click the link below for the slideshow:
http://www.gq.com/entertainment/movies-and-tv/201001/f-gary-gray-slideshow