‘Number One on the Call Sheet’ Doc Looks at How Black Actors Rise to Top

Will Smith, Jamie Foxx, Angela Bassett, Halle Berry and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson are among the prominent Black actors leading AppleTV+’s two-part documentary “Number One on the Call Sheet.”

“Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Men in Hollywood” was directed by Reginald Hudlin, while Shola Lynch directed the second film “Number One on the Call Sheet: Black Leading Women in Hollywood.” The roster of stars is a who’s who of Hollywood, all of whom made themselves available for the documentary.

In their respective films, Will Smith, Whoopi Goldberg, Daniel Kaluuya and more come together to share frank insights about the challenges and opportunities they have faced in their careers. The two-part documentary serves as a reflection on how far Black Hollywood has come while ultimately serving as a celebration. Producer Datari Turner explained it was always the goal to make two separate films. “We have a lot of movie stars…but we’re in a great time where we can even say we have that many number ones.”

Turner was speaking at a press conference for the films, and was joined by Hudlin, Lynch and executive producer Byron Phillips. Discussing the genesis, Turner explained that it began out of curiosity. He said, “It was seeing Black actors and actresses come out of the gate, have a big opening, they’re a leading man, they’re doing two to four, films, and something happens where they end up on a TV show where they’re not able to sustain their leading man or leading woman status.” He continued, “I was always very curious about what happened to this person’s career.”

It became a case study for Turner to find out what was happening. In contrast, he wanted to know how actors like Jamie Foxx (Turner’s producing partner) and Denzel Washington “were able to sustain their number one status.”

Each film uses talking heads as well as archival footage of Black Hollywood history to thread the…