Actor Danny Glover has branded Hollywood studio bosses racist after failing to secure financial backers for a biopic of revolutionary Haitian leader TOUSSAINT L'OUVERTURE.
According to the New York Post, Glover's project has yet to move forward due to financial woes - despite Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez offering half of the $36 million (GBP18 million) budget to finance the film.
Glover was reportedly banking on the other $18 million (GBP9 million) from a distributor, but claims he faced rejection from financiers unsure of producing a film based on L'Ouverture, who helped to abolish slavery in Haiti in the late 1700s.
Glover recently told a Paris film seminar: "Producers said, 'It's a nice project, a great project'... Where are the white heroes?'"
The Pan-African Newswire reports that Glover added: "I couldn't get the money here. I couldn't get the money in Britain. I went to everybody... The first question you get is, 'Is it a black film?' All of them agree, 'It's not going to do good in Europe, it's not going to do good in Japan.' Somebody has to prove that to be a lie."