Auteur Watch - Whoopi Goldberg

No, seriously... EVERYONE wants to direct, but more especially if your debut was with a total hack like Steven Spielberg.  Sure, technically it was 1982's Citizen, but this is the kind of detail that doesn't seem to matter, even to biographers of one of the world's lucky few.  The ones that, with the help of exposure from television and the movies, that we decide collectively as a people and as a planet, that these people are the superstars of this life.  Celebrities.  Those couple hundred people or so in the public limelight that help us make sense of all the other 7 or so billion people in total on this planet.
So how did Whoopi come to directing in addition to acting?  Well, like most actors that do it for a living, right away she knew that being the director's the thing.  The thing to be and the thing to do.  Her big chance, of course, was during one of the first "Comic Relief"s.  But if you look at the cast list, you'll notice that it was kinduva group effort, li'l bit.  I mean, how hard is it to tell four or five video cameras what to point at?  A few on the stage, a few in the audience... floor managers and bellhops for that.  Still, it was a traumatic experience, even with four co-directors, so sticking to acting and hosting the Academy Awards it was.  UNTIL..... until the right project came along, and the stars and planets sort of lined up, like just before the psychedelic trip in 2001 gets up and running.  And Whoopi decided that what better subject to do a documentary about than someone in a similar predicament as she?  How about Moms Mabley?  Perfect... but somehow it doesn't seem right that the documentary about her is one of her IMDb Top 4.  Oh well.  'Twas a different era.