Not only is Something New making audiences cheer, it's also making history. Sanaa tells Oprah that this is the first studio film to be directed by a black woman (Sanaa Hamri), produced by a black woman (Stephanie Allain), starred in by a black woman (Sanaa Lathan) and written by a black woman (Kriss Turner).
Simon, an Australian actor, admits that he knew very little about African-American women and culture when he first arrived on the set. During filming, he says he asked his co-stars to "fill him in" on important cultural differences. Simon says these lessons taught him that his on-screen relationship was not simply a "biracial" romance...it was "bicultural."
Both Sanaa and Oprah say they have dated white men in the past and that they took it upon themselves to "school" their boyfriends about African-American women. Lesson number one? Hair.
