How Yellowman Almost Became a Movie Star — Basil Wallace Reveals Untold Hollywood History

In a World Music Views exclusive, veteran Jamaican-American actor Basil Wallace — known for his chilling portrayal of Screwface in Marked for Death — revealed a piece of Hollywood history few have ever heard: the film was originally titled “Yellow Man”, and the real-life dancehall legend King Yellowman was the first choice for the villain.

“When I went out to California, they were casting this movie called, at one point, they called it Yellow Man, at one point they called it some other thing,” Wallace told WMV about the 1990 film. “And it ended up being Marked for Death.”

Wallace, who also starred on Blood Diamond was born in Jamaica and raised in the U.S., said producers were initially drawn to the idea of casting the unmistakable albino DJ who had become a global symbol of Jamaican music and rebellion.

“Yellowman, as you know, is a Jamaican legend on his own,” Wallace explained. “They wanted him to play the villain because visually Yellowman sticks out — he had certain things that he was working with that already created a certain fear in the American consciousness.”

The film, starring Steven Seagal, became a box office hit grossing $11.8 million its first weekend and over $58 million worldwide from a $12 million budget — but as Wallace revealed, its Jamaican imagery and mythology were rooted in how America feared the rise of Caribbean identity.

“The movie fed into a phobia that, at the time, white people had about us — about Jamaicans running over and taking over their suburbia with supposed ganja and drugs,” Wallace said. “It wasn’t really about us. It was about their fear.”

Basil Wallace as Screwface

While Hollywood ultimately cast Wallace as the villain instead of Yellowman, the story took liberties with Jamaican culture which at the time had already pierced American pop consciousness by 1990 — often through distortion or stereotype.

“They needed someone who could pose a physical threat as well as being able to work in the medium,” Wallace said. “And so I got the job.”

Still, the actor made clear that his goal, even then, was to portray Jamaicans with depth and dignity in an industry that often reduced them to caricature.

“One had to be very careful — what things I did visually on film, and certain things that I said,” Wallace noted. “Because Jamaicans were hardworking people. Our locks were not dreads — they were locks, in terms of Rasta. But in terms of a bad man, we used to call them a dreadie. There’s a big difference.”

35 years later on reflection, Wallace says the “Hollywood is about perpetuating an idea that doesn’t always include you and I in a winning position. We can’t wait for somebody else to tell our stories.”

Yellowman has surpassed 100 million streams on Spotify.