Dougherty, a Director’s Guild Award winner who began his professional career working with John Singleton in Boyz N the Hood and Poetic Justice, returned to his beloved Detroit from Los Angeles to make the hometown project he refers to as “a love letter to Detroit.” Here’s what the unassuming and deeply introspective director told rolling out about moviemaking and the Cornerstore.
–roz edward
How did you make the transition from working for someone like John Singleton to making your own movies?
It takes tenacity and it takes not accepting no, after that it takes money … and someone to match your passion with the money [investment] to do it. I had proven that I could do it on a short subject [film] basis, but I hadn’t proven it with a full-length film and that was the challenge.
How did you decide to make Cornerstore?
I wanted to do something that would reflect my background. … There are a few debates in the film that you’ll recognize, like how come every time there is a black character in charge it’s when the world is ending — like Morgan Freeman in Deep Impact and Joe Morton in Terminator 2 … which is an easy out and an easy way to comfort white people. This film is about social commentary and these are the conversations that are going on at the corner store.
How well was the idea of filming in Detroit received?
People in L.A. thought it was crazy but Detroit offers great incentives, which are a thing that states and inner cities have done to increase the volume of [movie] production. Atlanta has been huge in that, hence your Tyler Perrys and your Rainforest [Productions]. But Detroit offers higher percentages … like 42 percent [rebate on production costs]. So Michael Bey has been there from The Island, Transformers 2 and 3, Harold and Kumar are there, and Scream 4 just left … so the landscape for movies is changing in Detroit.
