Charles Lane
About
Biography
Filmography
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Biography
A highly enterprising black filmmaker and actor, Lane played the leading role in his own low-budget comedy-drama, "Sidewalk Stories" (1989), which he also wrote and edited. An unusual effort in that it was silent as well as black and white, it paid overt homage to the great silent comics of yore and garnered critical acclaim for its sensitive, Chaplinesque portrayal of a homeless man who cares for an abandoned little girl. Lane followed up with the decidedly more expensive and mainstream comedy "True Identity" (1991), based on an Eddie Murphy "Saturday Night Live" sketch about a black actor who disguises himself as a white man to hide from the underworld. Despite containing some interesting satirical insights into the social construction of race and racial identity, the film did less well with critics than his initial effort and, lacking any big names, did very poorly at the box office.
Despite this setback, Lane continued to develop his own, very personal projects. He made his TV directorial debut with a well-received original production for PBS's "American Playhouse" series, "Hallelujah" (1993), about a young black minister assigned to a church in Washington, DC. Lane also acted a role in Melvin Van Peeble's angrily revisionist but slickly superficial black Western, "Posse" (1993).
Filmography
Director (Feature Film)
Cast (Feature Film)
Writer (Feature Film)
Producer (Feature Film)
Editing (Feature Film)
Director (TV Mini-Series)
Life Events
1976
Wrote, produced and starred in award-winning student short, "A Place in Time", filmed silent and in black and white
1989
Feature directing debut with the low-budget, independently made black-and-white film, "Sidewalk Stories", which he also produced, wrote, edited and starred in
1991
Directed first Hollywood feature, "True Identity", partially produced by Touchstone Pictures
1993
TV directorial debut, "Hallelujah", a feature-length original production made by PBS's "American Playhouse"
1993
Acted in the feature, "Posse", which he did not direct
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