Forest Whitaker
“The Butler” Interview
with Kam Williams
This Forest’s on Fire!
Forest Whitaker is a distinguished artist and humanist. He is the founder of PeaceEarth Foundation, co-founder and chair of the International Institute for Peace, and the UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador for Peace and Reconciliation. A versatile talent, Forest is one of Hollywood’s most accomplished performers, receiving such prestigious honors as a Best Actor Academy Award for his performance in The Last King of Scotland, as well as a Best Actor at the Cannes Film Festival for Bird.
Over the past decade, he has dedicated most of his time to extensive humanitarian work, feeling compelled by his social awareness to seek ways of using the film medium as a means of raising peoples’ consciousness. To that end, he produced the award-winning documentary Kassim the Dream, which tells the touching story of a Ugandan child soldier turned world champion boxer; Rising from Ashes, which profiles Rwandan genocide survivors’ attempt to qualify for the Olympics riding wooden bicycles; Serving Life, which focuses on hospice care for prisoners at Louisiana’s Angola Prison; and the Peabody Award-winning Brick City, which offers an unvarnished peek at inner-city life in Newark, New Jersey.
Whitaker was the 2007 recipient of the Cinema for Peace Award, and he currently sits on the board of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities. In addition, he serves as a Senior Research Scholar at Rutgers University, and as a Visiting Professor at Ringling College of Art and Design, too.
Besides the aforementioned films, Forest’s impressive resume’ includes The Great Debaters, The Crying Game, Panic Room, Platoon, Ghost Dog, Mr. Holland’s Opus and Good Morning Vietnam. Here, he talks about his latest outing as the title character in Lee Daniels’ The Butler, a decades-spanning sage chronicling the life and career of an African-American who served eight presidents in the White House.
Kam Williams: Hi Forest, I’m honored to have this opportunity.
Forest Whitaker: Oh, no, it’s a pleasure just to talk to you, Kam.
KW: What interested you in The Butler?
FW: It’s an amazing story. And the script was beautiful in the way it followed this man who served eight presidents and portrayed his love for his family, as well as the love between him and his son. So, I saw it as offering a great challenge and opportunity. And I thought that Lee [director Lee Daniels] would do a wonderful job with the script as a filmmaker, so that was an attraction as well. And I had wanted to work with Oprah, so all of that came together to afford me this tremendous opportunity.
KW: Did the film’s father-son relationship resonate with you when you reflected upon your relationship with your own dad?
FW: Yes, it’s hard to always understand and appreciate your father when you’re coming up, especially since my dad had three jobs when we moved to L.A. So, he was always working. Plus, coming from the South, from Texas, he had a certain way of disciplining that made it hard for me to appreciate, at the time. You don’t fully appreciate the reasons why or the sacrifices that were being made until a later age. In some ways it did parallel the journey of ultimate appreciation that we see in the movie of me towards my son and my son towards me.
KW: How did you prepare for the role of Cecil Gaines?
FW: I trained with a butler coach for quite some time. And I studied the history and, of course, tried to make that a part of my own emotional understanding of the time period and the presidency. In terms of the aging process, I particularly had to work on movement and mannerisms. I also tried to understand the dialect and speech patterns. And I worked on how I could communicate my thoughts more clearly without words. I wanted to fill myself up enough so that you would be able to feel my thoughts, even in scenes where I would say nothing.
KW: That hard work paid off. I cried about a half-dozen times during the film.
FW: It’s very moving because it deals with so many primal issues: loss, degradation, even joy. Lee painted a picture that allows you to get in touch with many different emotions.
KW: True. Attorney Bernadette Beekman asks: What was it like acting opposite Oprah?
FW: Oprah just really committed completely to the movie. She was startling, at times, in how deeply she was into the authenticity of the scenes. For instance, there was a big emotional moment that wasn’t shown completely in the film where she screamed and fell to the ground, letting out a piercing wail that went through my bones. It had me trying to figure out how to comfort her, because it’s hard to find the proper emotion to respond to pain that overwhelms.
KW: Editor/Legist Patricia Turnier says: You are a great director, in addition to of course being an excellent actor. Personally, I love biopics, like where you played Charlie Parker in Bird. Is there a story about an icon that you would like to direct and star in?
FW: Yes, there’s a film I’ve been developing about Louie Armstrong that I’d like to direct and star in. I wrote the script and really believe in it. I think it’s something I’ll probably do next year, although I haven’t made a final decision about whether I should direct it or not. It’s a really special story.
KW: Leah Fletcher asks: How did it feel, when you were just breaking into the industry, to receive such a glowing acknowledgment from a seasoned and respected actor such as Sean Connery for your work in The Crying Game?
FW: Leah, I didn’t even know ‘til now that Sean Connery had commented about my work in The Crying Game. A lot of Brits believe that I was British for quite some time after that film. So, I can see how Sean Connery might have said something. That’s nice.
KW: Harriet Pakula-Teweles says: You produced the extraordinary Fruitvale Station. Is this a new role you see for yourself?
FW: The truth is, I produce one or two movies every year, both independent and studio films. I’ll continue to produce. In fact, I have a documentary that just came out about the Rwandan National Cycling team called Rising from Ashes.
KW: I loved it!
FW: Oh, you already saw it. Great!
KW: You can check out my review at Rotten Tomatoes. Bernadette also says: You are a true Renaissance Man. Besides acting, you write, direct, narrate and produce. You’re like a latter-day Oscar Micheaux.
FW: Oscar Micheaux reshaped the Black Film Movement. Those are some great shoes to fill. I can only take that as a compliment. Thanks, Bernadette. That gives me something to live towards, because it’s a lot.
KW: Director Rel Dowdell, who has made two low-budget films, including Changing the Game last year, would like to know how he can pitch you about a project.
FW: I have my company, Significant Productions, in Los Angeles. And I also have a company called JuntoBox Films Select, a crowd-sourcing film site which we produce movies out of. We just finished one with a first-time filmmaker, called Sacrifice. And we’re about to do another one in a month or so. Rel can reach out to either one of those companies.
KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?
FW: [Chuckles] I can’t think of one.
KW: The Sanaa Lathan question: What excites you?
FW: Two things: The success of my children, and the work for social justice that I do with my foundation.
KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?
FW: I see someone who is continuing to try to build his connection with the rest of the world.
KW: If you could have one wish instantly granted, what would that be for?
FW: That everyone could recognize themselves in the face of the other people that they see.
KW: The Kerry Washington question: If you were an animal, what animal would you be?
FW: Either a leopard or an eagle.
KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?
FW: My dad teaching me to ride a bike at about 5 or 6.
KW: The Anthony Mackie question: Isthere something that you promised to do if you became famous, that you still haven’t done yet?
FW: No, and my goals have expanded.
KW: The Viola Davis question: What’s the difference between you are at home as opposed to the person we see on the red carpet?
FW: I’m the same person, just with different clothes on. I’m the same.
KW: The Anthony Anderson question: If you could have a superpower, which one would you choose?
FW: I’d be a spreader of love.
KW: The Gabby Douglas question: If you had to choose another profession, what would that be?
FW: I’d either be a natural healer or a teacher.
KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?
FW: Solutions Focus. http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/1904838065/ref=nosim/thslfofire-20
KW: The Judyth Piazza question: What key quality do you believe all successful people share?
FW: Passion!
KW: Harriet also asks: With so many classic films being redone, is there a remake you'd like to star in?
FW: The Audrey Hepburn-Albert Finney film, Two for the Road.
KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?
FW: Always tell yourself that you want to continue to grow, and you’ll be more connected to growth.
KW: The Jamie Foxx question: If you only had 24 hours to live, how would you spend that time?
FW: With my family.
KW: Thanks again for the time, Forest, and best of luck with The Butler, and I hope to talk to you about your upcoming independent project.
FW: Sure, Kam, and thanks again for supporting Rising from Ashes.
To see a trailer for Lee Daniels’ The Butler, visit:
Lee Daniels’ The Butler
Film Review by Kam Williams
Forest Whitaker Delivers Oscar-Quality Performance in Emotionally-Searing Civil Rights Saga
Eugene Allen (1919-2010) served eight presidents over the course of an enduring career in the White House during which he rose from the position of Pantry Man to Head Butler by the time he retired in 1986. In that capacity, the African-American son of a sharecropper felt privileged to be an eyewitness to history, since his tenure coincided with the implementation of most of the landmark pieces of legislation dismantling the Jim Crow system of racial segregation.
Directed by two-time Oscar-nominee Lee Daniels, The Butler is a father-son biopic relating events in Allen’s life as they unfolded against the backdrop of the Civil Rights Movement. This fictionalized account features Academy Award-winner Forest Whitaker in the title role as Cecil Gaines, and his A-list supporting cast includes fellow Oscar-winners Cuba Gooding, Jr., Jane Fonda, Vanessa Redgrave, Robin Williams and Melissa Leo, as well as nominees Terrence Howard and Oprah Winfrey.
The point of departure is a plantation in the Deep South, where Cecil witnesses his father’s (David Banner) murder on the cotton field for protesting his mother’s (Mariah Carey) rape at the hand of an overseer. Because the perpetrator was never brought to justice, the youngster gets the message at an early age that “Any white man could kill us at any time and not be punished for it.”
Therefore, eager to avoid the same fate as his dad, he skips town as a teenager, settling in Washington, DC where he lands steady work as a bartender in a hotel catering to an upscale clientele. There he also meets Gloria (Winfrey), the maid he would one day marry and start a family with.
Cecil’s sterling reputation as a polite and deferential black man eventually reaches the White House, where he takes a position on the express understanding that “You hear nothing. You see nothing. You only serve.” Although he manages to maintain an inscrutably apolitical façade on the job, the same can’t be said for the home front, where current events are freely debated.
There, Cecil finds himself increasingly at odds with his elder son, Louis (David Oyelowo), a civil rights activist inclined to participate in voter registration marches, sit-ins at segregated lunch counters and freedom bus rides. The simmering tension between the two builds over the years to the boiling point when Louis derisively refers to his as father an Uncle Tom.
At that juncture, Cecil’s protective spouse intervenes to slap her son before uttering the moving line likely to land Oprah Winfrey another Academy Award nomination: “Everything you have, and everything you are, is because of that butler.” However, Forest Whitaker is even more deserving of accolades, delivering a nonpareil performance as a humble provider understandably reluctant to rock the boat.
Kudos to Lee Daniels for crafting such a gut-wrenching tour de force which never hits a false note while chronicling critical moments in the African-American fight for equality.
Excellent (4 stars)
Rated PG-13 for violence, sexuality, smoking, profanity, ethnic slurs, disturbing images and mature themes
Running time: 132 minutes
Distributor: The Weinstein Company
To see a trailer for Lee Daniels’ The Butler, visit:
Elysium
Film Review by Kam Williams
Sick Seek Help at Utopian Space Station in Futuristic Sci-Fi Thriller
It’s 2154, a time when the Earth has become so polluted and overpopulated that all of the idle rich have abandoned the planet to loll in the lap of luxury on a state-of-the-art space station. Their decadent enclave, Elysium, looks suspiciously similar to Beverly Hills, being dotted with palm trees, mansions and built-in swimming pools.
Down below, the teeming masses of poor people struggle to survive, with escape to Elysium being their only hope for a decent existence. Of course, that’s easier said than done, since you have to be able to afford a ride aboard an expensive rocket ship just to get there. And, even after arriving, you have to provide the authorities proof of citizenship in order to stay.
The job of preventing illegal immigrants from entering Elysium falls to its steely Secretary of Defense Jessica Delacourt (Jodie Foster), a heartless ice princess who has no qualms about shooting unauthorized space shuttles right out of the sky. She ostensibly does the bidding of John Carlyle (William Fitchner), the nefarious CEO of Armadyne Corporation, much to the chagrin of the orbiting outpost’s president (Faran Tahir).
For, it’s impossible for any politician to reign in the powerful defense contractor, a fact which humble everyman Max Da Costa (Matt Damon) is about to learn the hard way. He only has five days to live after being exposed to a lethal dose of radiation in an industrial accident.
After his request for medical treatment readily available on Elysium is summarily denied, he becomes determined to breach the border of the remote oasis by hook or by crook. He also wants to bring along his childhood friend, Frey (Alice Braga), and her young daughter (Emma Tremblay) who is suffering from acute leukemia. Standing in their way, however, is Kruger (Sharlto Copley), a blood-thirsty, heavily-armed mercenary deputized by Delacourt to patrol Los Angeles make sure no unworthy earthlings ascend to her exclusive abode.
Directed by Neill Blomkamp, Elysium is a distinctly disappointing sophomore effort from the South African wunderkind who‘d made such a spectacular splash in 2009 with the sleeper hit District 9. This film feels like he’s all out of ideas, between the exploration of similar themes revolving and a cliché-ridden script filled with hack, action flick lines like: “That’s what I’m talking about,” “You have no idea,” and “I’m just getting started.”
An underwhelming, sci-fi adventure more akin to After Earth than District 9.
Fair (1.5 stars)
Rated R for pervasive profanity and graphic violence
Running time: 109 minutes
Distributor: Tri-Star Pictures
To see a trailer for Elysium, visit:
When Comedy Went to School
Film Review by Kam Williams
Borscht Belt Documentary Revisits the Rise of Legendary Jewish Comics
What do such legendary comics as Danny Kaye, Jerry Stiller, Sid Caesar, Jackie Mason, Don Rickles, David Brenner, Buddy Hackett, Henny Youngman, Lenny Bruce, Mort Sahl, Woody Allen, Jerry Lewis, Mel Brooks, Joan Rivers, Alan King and Rodney Dangerfield have in common? They all got their start in showbiz doing stand-up in the Catskill Mountains at any number of the lush farm region’s hundreds of hotel resorts.
Starting in the late Thirties, the so-called Borscht Belt began catering to a clientele predominantly comprised of Jewish immigrants in need of a summer retreat where they could get a break from the sweltering tenements of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. After all, they had little interest in vacationing in Europe, a place most were lucky to have escaped.
So, they instead made an annual exodus to upstate New York for fresh air, good food and some fun in the sun. Each establishment there also had a nightly stage show where aspiring entertainers could ply their trade, including the aforementioned icons.
What made working the Catskills unique was that it served as a proving ground allowing a comedian to hone his or her skills en route to the big time, namely, movies and TV. As narrator Robert Klein puts it, “It was a laboratory. Comics had a place to be bad.”
This slice of Jewish history is the focus of When Comedy Went to School, an alternately informative and hilarious documentary co-directed by Mevlut Akkaya and Ron Frank. The film features reflections by surviving greats, as well as the insights of some members of the next generation, most notably, Jerry Seinfeld.
Sprinkled in amidst the enlightening history lessons are lots of one-liners preserved on vintage footage of yesteryear’s stars of tomorrow. To wit, Alan King: “My wife takes 40 minutes to lipstick her face because she has a big mouth.” And Joan Rivers: “I was the last girl in Larchmont to get married. My mom had to put up a sign saying, ‘Last girl before freeway.’” And Woody Allen: “This watch I’m wearing is a family heirloom. My grandfather, on his death bed, sold me this watch.”
Priceless!
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated
Running time: 77 minutes
Distributor: International Film Circuit
To see a trailer for When Comedy Went to School, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rwr-U1z1F60
Race, Philosophy, and Film
Edited by Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo and Dan Flory
Book Review by Kam Williams
Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group
Hardcover, $125.00
250 pages, Illustrated
ISBN: 978-0-415-62445-9
“This collection of original essays investigates one of the least-explored topics in the philosophy of film and the philosophy of race: the nexus of our ideas and attitudes toward race and how they arise in cinematic narrative and viewership… As the first anthology to focus on this intersection of topics, its chapters explore issues in epistemology, aesthetics, moral philosophy, social and political philosophy, and technology and the body.
The essays… aim to illuminate not only the philosophical perspectives employed but also the cinematic examples analyzed. This anthology offers a timely… consideration of race, including ethnicity and whiteness and their connections to sex, gender, and the body, through a variety of film genres.”
-- Excerpted from Foreword (pg. i)
Would the Batman trilogy have been as popular with mainstream audiences had the title character been portrayed by a black man instead of a Caucasian? In Monster’s Ball, Halle Berry played a wanton woman so desperate for sex and affection that she slept with her husband’s executioner. Why was that performance the first ever by a black female to win an Oscar in the Best Lead Actress category? Did it have anything to do with the role’s feeding the patriarchal fantasies of the Academy’s predominantly white male membership?
These are the sort of intriguing questions tackled in Race, Philosophy, and Film, a fascinating collection of essays compiled by Mary K. Bloodsworth-Lugo and Dan Flory, professors at Washington State and Montana State Universities, respectively. The other fourteen contributors to this enlightening opus are also professors, whether teaching film studies, philosophy, literature, critical culture, gender and race studies, or other disciplines.
The timely tome arrives on shelves at a propitious moment, for 2013 has proven to be a banner year in African-American cinema, with historical dramas like 42, Fruitvale Station, Big Words and Lee Daniels’ The Butler already garnering critical acclaim for avoiding stereotypes in favor of fresh perspectives of the black experience.
But this book focuses on how Hollywood has handled race in the past.
For instance, in a chapter entitled “What’s So Bad about Blackface?” the author explains that the problem with that outmoded practice is that it has a tendency to misinform audiences by reinforcing false beliefs about race that are only true in a fictional world.
By contrast, in a chapter called “Hardly Black and White,” the movies Manderlay and Black Snake Moan are assailed for embodying every last racial cliché, from black men embodying sexuality, to all blacks looking alike to whites, to black Southerners singing the blues, to white Southerners being beer-drinking rednecks.
Other pictures analyzed include Avatar, The Help, The Matrix, The Princess and the Frog, Twilight, and Trading Places, to name a few. Because the writers are all academics, the sophisticated material might have you reaching for the dictionary occasionally. Still, making the effort will be richly rewarded since it’s in service of an in-depth analysis of the images disseminated by a very powerful, belief-shaping medium.
To order a copy of Race, Philosophy, and Film, visit: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0415624452/ref%3dnosim/thslfofire-20