History Trivia / Shaft

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: There is a surprisingly durable legend that John Shaft was a white man in the original novel, until Gordon Parks cast Creator/RichardRoundtree. This seems to be a jumbled retelling of Melvin van Peebles' claim that the success of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' changed ''Shaft'' from a "white film" to a "black one." In fact, ''Shaft'' was already filming when ''Sweet...'' was released. There ''may'' be some truth behind this, because there is a rumour MGM originally wanted to adapt the novel with a [[RaceLift white lead]] instead, but given that the unique selling point of the Shaft novels was that they starred a black detective, this seems unlikely.[[labelnote:More details here]]''Legends Revealed'' has an entry on it [[http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2016/07/29/was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film/ here]].[[/labelnote]] One prominent book on detective movies took Peebles' statement to mean the novels' Shaft was white, meaning the myth now has a citation on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} the Other Wiki]] despite being patently untrue. The fact that the novels were [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]] until TheNewTens didn't help.

* CreatorCameo: Gordon Parks plays one of the people who Shaft goes to to ask about Ben's whereabouts (specifically, the landlord).

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: There is a surprisingly durable legend that John Shaft was a white man in the original novel, until Gordon Parks cast Creator/RichardRoundtree. This seems to be a jumbled retelling of Melvin van Peebles' claim that the success of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' changed ''Shaft'' from a "white film" to a "black one". In fact, ''Shaft'' was already filming when ''Sweet...'' was released. There ''may'' be some truth behind this, because there is a rumour MGM originally wanted to adapt the novel with a [[RaceLift white lead]] instead, but given that the unique selling point of the Shaft novels was that they starred a black detective, this seems unlikely.[[labelnote:More details here]]''Legends Revealed'' has an entry on it [[http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2016/07/29/was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film/ here]].[[/labelnote]] One prominent book on detective movies took Peebles' statement to mean the novels' Shaft was white, meaning the myth now has a citation on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} the Other Wiki]] despite being patently untrue. The fact that the novels were [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]] until TheNewTens didn't help.

* FranchiseKiller: ''Shaft in Africa'' came out amidst a glut of FollowTheLeader {{Blaxploitation}} films, the preceding two films having ironically been the leaders in question, and between that and its mixed reviews, it bombed at the box office. Afterwards, the series was shunted to [[MadeForTVMovies TV movies]], and it took until 2000 for a new, theatrically released ''Shaft'' film to be made after that.

* FranchiseKiller: ''Shaft in Africa'' came out amidst a glut of FollowTheLeader {{Blaxploitation}} films, the preceding two films having ironically been the leaders in question, and between that and its mixed reviews, it bombed at the box office. It took another twenty-seven years for a new ''Shaft'' movie to be made after that.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: There is a surprisingly durable legend that John Shaft was a white man in the original novel, until Gordon Parks cast Creator/RichardRoundtree. This seems to be a jumbled retelling of Melvin van Peebles' claim that the success of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' changed ''Shaft'' from a "white film" to a "black one". In fact, ''Shaft'' was already filming when ''Sweet...'' was released. There ''may'' be some truth behind this, because there is a rumour MGM originally wanted to adapt the novel with a [[RaceLift white lead]] instead, but given that the unique selling point of the Shaft novels was that they starred a black detective, this seems unlikely.[[labelnote:More details here]]''Legends Revealed'' has an entry on it [[http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2016/07/29/was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film/ here]].[[/labelnote]] One prominent book on detective movies took Peebles' statement to mean the novels' Shaft was white, meaning the myth now has a citation on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} the Other Wiki]] despite being patently untrue. The fact that the novels were [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]] until TheNewTens didn't help.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: There is a surprisingly durable legend that John Shaft was a white man in the original novel, until Gordon Parks cast Creator/RichardRoundtree. This seems to be a jumbled retelling of Melvin van Peebles' claim that the success of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' changed ''Shaft'' from a "white film" to a "black one". In fact, ''Shaft'' was already filming when ''Sweet...'' was released. There ''may'' be some truth behind this, because there is a rumour MGM originally wanted to adapt the novel with a [[RaceLift white lead]] instead, but given that the unique selling point of the Shaft novels was that they starred a black detective, this seems unlikely.[[labelnote:More details here]][[http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2016/07/29/was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film/ ''Legends Revealed'' has an entry on it here]].[[/labelnote]] One prominent book on detective movies took Peebles' statement to mean the novels' Shaft was white, meaning the myth now has a citation on [[Wiki/{{Wikipedia}} the Other Wiki]] despite being patently untrue. The fact that the novels were [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]] until TheNewTens didn't help.

* AFIS100Years100Songs:
** #38, "Theme From Shaft”

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: There is a surprisingly durable legend that John Shaft was a white man in the original novel, until Gordon Parks cast Creator/RichardRoundtree. This seems to be a jumbled retelling of Melvin van Peebles' claim that the success of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' changed ''Shaft'' from a "white film" to a "black one". In fact, ''Shaft'' was already filming when ''Sweet...'' was released. There ''may'' be some truth behind this, because there is a rumour MGM originally wanted to adapt the novel with a [[RaceLift white lead]] instead, but given that the unique selling point of the Shaft novels was that they starred a black detective, this seems unlikely.[[labelnote:More details here]][[http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2016/07/29/was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film/ ''Legends Revealed'' has an entry on it here]].[[/labelnote]] One prominent book on detective movies took Peebles' statement to mean the novels' Shaft was white, meaning the myth now has a citation on TheOtherWiki despite being patently untrue. The fact that the novels were [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]] until TheNewTens didn't help.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: There is a surprisingly durable legend that John Shaft was a white man in the original novel, until Gordon Parks cast Creator/RichardRoundtree. This seems to be a jumbled retelling of Melvin van Peebles' claim that the success of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' changed ''Shaft'' from a "white film" to a "black one". In fact, ''Shaft'' was already filming when ''Sweet...'' was released. There ''may'' be some truth behind this, because there is a rumour MGM originally wanted to adapt the novel with a [[RaceLift white lead]] instead, but given that the unique selling point of the Shaft novels was that they starred a black detective, this seems unlikely.[[labelnote:More details here]][[http://legendsrevealed.com/entertainment/2016/07/29/was-shaft-nearly-played-by-a-white-actor-in-the-first-shaft-film/ ''Legends Revealed'' has an entry on it here.[[/labelnote]] One prominent book on detective movies took Peebles' statement to mean the novels' Shaft was white, meaning the myth now has a citation on TheOtherWiki despite being patently untrue. The fact that the novels were [[KeepCirculatingTheTapes out of print]] until TheNewTens didn't help.

** #38, "Theme From Shaft"
* AbilityOverAppearance: In the original novel, John Shaft was white, but Gordon Parks decided to cast a black actor anyway.

* PopCultureUrbanLegends: The film was rumored to be written as just another detective movie, with a white detective in the lead, but, after the success of ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'', the film was rewritten and recast as a blaxploitation movie. This story has been told several times by Creator/MelvinVanPeebles. However, it is probably apocryphal. The Ernest Tidyman novel which was the basis for the film is about a black detective and not a white one. Furthermore, ''Shaft'' began filming in January, 1971 - months before Van Peebles' film was released in April.

* ColorblindCasting: Shaft was white in the novel. Gordon Parks decided to cast a black lead and the rest is history.

** #38, "Theme From 'Shaft"

* FollowTheLeader: ''Shaft'' essentially was the UrExample for {{Blaxploitation}}, with ''Film/SweetSweetbacksBaadasssssSong'' as the genre's TropeMaker, though not an example.
* PlayingAgainstType: Richard Roundtree was a ''model'' before he was cast as Shaft.

* PlayingAgainstType: Richard Roundtree was a ''male model'' before he was cast as Shaft.

* ActorAllusion: Shaft's uncle in TheRemake was played by the original John Shaft, Richard Roundtree.

* FakeNationality: In the 2000 film, Christian Bale plays his customary FakeAmerican role, and Jeffrey Wright plays a very convincing fake Dominican.

* ThrowItIn: In the 2000 film, when Peoples goes to see Wade and leaves after making his threat. The actor nearly slips on the broken glass and gets caught by his henchman. This wasn't scripted but they left it in as a little joke.
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: The trailer for the 2000 film [[MissingTrailerScene had a fight between Shaft and Wade]], but unfortunately, ExecutiveMeddling gave Peoples Hernandez the more antagonistic role and [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome the fight didn't make the final cut]].