Originally published by NewsLab
US film distribute Anchor Bay has responded to claims that their DVD release of The Sapphires is “racist and sexist” by re-editing all black women out of the movie, to better reflect the image on the cover.
The new film, called One White Diamond, is the heart-warming tale of an unshaven Irish music producer (played by Chris O’Dowd), who spends about twenty minutes of screen-time being charming to no one in particular.
The cover of the DVD fades The Sapphires into the background, and gives centre stage to Dave Lovelace, a fictional white male character created to give the historical events of the movie a sense of realism. O’Dowd himself has called the US DVD cover “vile” and “misleading” but was also looking forward to Anchor Bay’s edit of his hit British sitcom The IT Man.
One White Diamond will be released concurrently with Unchained, in which Leonardo DiCaprio stars as the wealthy owner of a largely empty plantation, where everybody dies at the hands of an unseen murderer. Other films in this series will include Driven Miss Daisy and Ex-Malcolm.
Dave Bloustien's Grand Guignol 