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Black Dynamite was one of the funniest movies to come out of 2009. Scott Sanders, the man responsible for this “blaxpoitation” film, talks about how it came to be.

Scott Sanders wrote and directed one of the funniest movies of 2009, and a major cult hit, Black Dynamite. But he said the idea for the “blaxpoitation” film came from the mind of Michael Jai White, the star and co-writer of Black Dynamite. They worked together 10 years ago, but Sanders said he always wanted to do another movie with White. When Sanders approached him about embarking on another project together, White had already taken a picture of himself as the title character in what would become their newest movie.

“He had the afro wig, the mustache, the gun, the nunchucks and the suit,” Sanders said. “I was like OK, let me just drop everything. This just seems like something we need to work on together.”

The dynamic pair grabbed a camera and started taking pictures of White running around as Black Dynamite and then they made a fake trailer. Based on that trailer, which still can be found on Youtube.com, they raised the money for the movie.

“Then we actually had to write a script,” Sanders said, laughing. “But that’s how it started.”

The writing process included watching a lot of “blaxpoitation” movies. Sanders said a lot of what is in Black Dynamite are reworks from scenes from other “blaxpoitation” movies. There’s a pimp council in both Black Dynamite and Willie Dynamite, a movie from 1974. And a lot of the plot came from the 1974 movie Three the Hard Way, which Sanders said is a great film.

But Sanders personal favorite “blaxpoitation” is 1973’s The Mack.  “It’s actually just a good movie,” he said. “It’s really coldblooded, so that’s what I like about it.”

Sanders said Black Dynamite is sort of influenced by Disco Godfather, although he isn’t sure why. All he knows is that he and White just love that movie.

After writing the script, it was time to actually film the movie, which required casting actors to portray the characters. Black Dynamite features a lot of famous black comedians, thanks to White.
“He’s friends with those guys,” Sanders said, “and so once we got in to motion and it looked like it was really going to happen, he would just get on the phone and be like, ‘Hey, do you want to be a pimp for a day?’”

For Arsenio Hall all it took was having a scene with Captain Kangaroo Pimp and he was in.
Sanders said it was remarkably easy.

He said, “I’m obviously really grateful to have all of those people in the film. They’re fun to work with. And on a short schedule and a low budget, I feel like we have a really great cast. So, it was really fun.”

One thing fans of Black Dynamite are really hoping for is a sequel, especially with rumors swirling that there is already one written. Sanders said it’s all about how well the DVD does.

“I think we’d like to take Black Dynamite international,” Sanders said. “Hopefully it works out. If people get the DVD, then we’ll definitely make a sequel.”

If fans can’t wait long enough for a sequel, they do have one in-development project to look forward to. Carl Jones, from The Boondocks, is writing and producing a Black Dynamite pilot for Cartoon Network, Sanders said.

And he said it’s going to be hilarious.

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