Fails succeeds on silver screen
May 23, 2019
Jimmie Fails ’11 started his acting career at Archbishop Riordan, which included a role in “Jesus Christ Superstar,” and has produced and starred in two films.
His first film was “American Paradise,” released in 2017.
This summer, his latest endeavor “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” is set to hit theaters.
THE LAST BLACK MAN IN SAN FRANCISCO is one of the most beautiful films that I’ve seen in forever. I just got out of the theater, and I am pulled over by the side of the road, awestruck. Please go see this film when it comes out. June 7 in San Francisco, NYC, and L.A.; more later. pic.twitter.com/AfbbH4SKIA
— Jamil Smith جميل كريم (@JamilSmith) May 22, 2019
The movie, which also stars another African American San Francisco native, Danny Glover, also includes Tichina Arnold, Mike Epps, Jonathan Majors, and Thora Birch.
The plot focuses on one family’s struggle to remain in a city that seems to have abandoned them in the midst of the tech industry boom, when those who have lived here for generations are pushed out due to the exceedingly high cost of rent and everything else.
Black Student Union President Darien Thomas ’19 said, “When the BSU heard about Jimmie Fails and his success in the movie industry, we were extremely elated to see a Riordan alumnus successfully pursue his dreams, because it showed us that if we work hard for the things that we believe in, then we can achieve them.”
