Theres Never Been a Better Time for a Remake of Super Fly

A vulgar, truth allergic man is president. America is hamstrung by governmental scandal, unwinnable war, epidemic drug abuse, and racist police brutality. The year is 1972. The movie of the summer is Super Fly: the story of Youngblood Priest, a cocaine dealer trying to make one last score before quitting the life for good.

Fast-forward nearly half a century, and it might appear that not much has changed. And fittingly, on Friday, Sony released a new Superfly, helmed by Julien Christian Lutz (a.k.a. Director X).

X treated his source material with reverence—any changes, he said, had to be prompted by the needs of bringing the story into the 21st century. “I went through the original film looking for the elements that made it work,” X said in an interview. “The hair, the cars, the music, the women—I didnt want to leave anything out, and then find out that was the most important part.”

The most obvious change is a matter of production value. Superfly is a glitzier affair than the original, which had such a small budget that cast members had to outfit themselves in their own clothing. For X, making a sleeker film was more than just a stylistic decision. He was inspired by the way Curtis Mayfield famously used his soundtrack as the films conscience, and he decided to use his visuals to do the same. “Curtis juxtaposed what was going on the screen with what he was doing lyrically,” X said. “I tried to do that visually by making it a big, fun action movie. It goes a bit over the top. Were not interested in making a gritty, grimy, realistic drugs tale. Theres enough people doing shit like that, enough people rapping about it. I didnt want to make a drug-dealer story so deeply rooted in the hood that you get kids looking at their lives and thinking theyre not gangster enough. I didnt want people thinking this should be real.”

The films most significant change, meanwhile, moves its setting from Harlem to Atlanta, a necessary reflection of how the center of black culture has shifted. In 1972, as X said, Harlem was that societys nucleus: “New York City was the epicenter. If you were doing big things in Harlem, you were doing big things in the world.” Its location wasnt arbitrary, either; the 1970s came after the Great Migration, when six million African-Americans fled the South for northern cities. Racist federal housing policies, racist banks, racist realtor associations, and racist labor unions forced many of them into the lowest paying jobs and the most squalid living quarters, while charging them the highest rent. Superflys new setting is the logical outcome of the New Great Migration, when descendants of African-American migrants began moving back south. Atlanta became the hub of this cultural shift, and, perhaps as a result, is now the center of the hip-hop universe.

Youngblood Priests strut, his jive patter, and his flowing hairstyle (called the “Lord Jesus”) presaged artists like Ice-T and Snoop Dogg; Mayfields soundtrack was just as influential. (His song “Pusherman” made the Super Fly soundtrack the first No. 1 album to feature the n-word.) Its no accident that Snoop would later sample Mayfield on a track for his debut album—as did Notorious B.I.G. and Ice Cube—or that both X and screenwriter Alex Tse got into Super Fly through their love of hip-hop.

X sought someone with a singular vision to tackle the new films soundtrack and landed, naturally, on Future. While no one could have re-created the cultural moment of Mayfields soundtrack, the adventurous Atlanta rapper makes an admirable effort; songs like “Walk on Minks” and “No Shame” define the film, running through it much like Mayfields “Freddies Dead” did in the original. “Future became that guy,” X said. “His team worked with us as well. In the original film, there wasnt a whole lot of music in the world; they walk into a bar, and Curtis is playing with his band. This one, the music is in the world.”

X and Tse also kept Super Flys depiction of police brutality. (Caution: spoilers ahead.) Tse cited 74 Seconds, a podcast about the police killing of Philando Castile, as an influence, and it can be felt in a scene that cuts particularly close to the bone: Freddy is driving with his girlfriend beside him when he gets pulled over. Freddy keeps his hands on the steering wheel the whole time, but still gets shot to death after the cop accuses him of reaching for a weapon. X does his best directing in this scene. “Theres no way you could do this kind of movie and ignore that,” Tse said. “It feels like its the worst now that it has ever been in my lifetime.” Perhaps the most important line in the new film comes from Priests partner, Eddie. When Priest is looking for a safe escape, Eddie says, “Were black men. Aint nowhere safe on this fuckin planet.”

And perhaps thats why Superfly resonates in a way that previous blaxploitation reboots—such as the 2000 remake of Shaft—havent. Like the original, it comes during an era of regression, of resurgent white supremacy. Tse confirmed that these issues were “100 percent” in mind while making the film: “People are emboldened, like, O.K., Ill show my face in this fucking Nazi march,” he said. “I cant tell you why, exactly.”

Superfly is the first in a new wave of blaxploitation remakes; reimagined versions of Shaft, Foxy Brown, and Cleopatra Jones are also in the works. (One hopes these films will also feature complex female roles, unlike Superfly; well done as the movie is, it uses its female characters as little more than window dressing.) And whatever the reasons for Nazi marches, or Donald Trump, or police brutality, there is a compelling reason why these films are coming back. We live in the age of superhero movies, and characters like Priest are nothing if not urban superheroes. Tse even credited Black Panther as a reason for Superflys existence. “Theyre making money on this,” he said. “People want to see it.”

Get Vanity Fairs HWD NewsletterSign up for essential industry and award news from Hollywood.Travis AtriaTravis Atria is co-author of Traveling Soul: The Life of Curtis Mayfield, written with Mayfields son Todd.