Also in Tuesday morning’s round-up of news briefs, Leonardo DiCaprio , Tobey Maguire and Tom Hardy team up for an anti-poaching project. Ewan McGregor will receive San Sebastian honors. Morgan Freeman and Elizabeth Banks board an animated project. And fire once again hits Tyler Perry ‘s Atlanta studio. Wong Kar-wai Named Jury President of the 63rd Berlin International Film Festival Wong Kar Wai is currently working on The Grandmasters, which features Tony Leung and Ziyi Zhang in the leads. Bron in Shanghai, Wong grew up and is associated with Hong Kong. He made his directorial debut in 1988 with As Tears Go By . Said Berlinale Director Dieter Kosslick: ““Wong Kar Wai is one of the most celebrated filmmakers of our time. His distinctive signature and the poetry of his works have fascinated all of us. For him to become jury president, is a wish come true.” Ewan McGregor to Be Honored at San Sebastian Film Festival The 60th edition of the San Sebastian International Film Festival will bestow a Donostia Award this year on actor Ewan McGregor in a tribute to his career. The Donostia Award will be presented at a ceremony September 27th followed by the European premiere of The Impossible . Around the ‘net… Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire and Tom Hardy Team for Anti-Poaching Pic The three will produce a not-yet named animal-trafficking drama for Warner Bros. Hardy formulated the idea based on friends’ accounts as special forces who engaged as anti-poaching operatives in South Africa and elsewhere. The idea is to make it in the vein of Steve Soderbergh’s Traffic , THR reports . Ron Howard, Brian Grazer On Board to Film Jay-Z Music Festival Howard and Grazer will film Jay-Z’s Budweiser Made in America music festival taking place September 1 – 2 in Philadelphia. The feature will be released next year. “This will not be a concert film; it’s a reflection of the fabric of what it means to be Made in America – what the festival represents, why Jay is doing it and how he relates to each artist,” Howard said in a statement, Deadline reports . Morgan Freeman and Elizabeth Banks to Voice Lego Banks and Freeman will voice lead characters in Warner Bros. Lego , an animated 3-D film that is slated to open in February 2014. The plot revolves around an ordinary Lego figure who is mistakenly believed to be the “Master Builder” and is sent to help stop an evil Lego from gluing the universe together, Deadline reports . Again, Fire Erupts at Tyler Perry’s Atlanta Studio For the second time in several months, a fire broke out at Tyler Perry’s Atlanta studio. The blaze happened this morning on the roof of a three-story building that was undergoing repairs. No injuries were reported and it was brought under control within an hour, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports .
While the GOP gathers in tropical storm-plagued Tampa to Do That Thing They Do, this week’s new DVD selections feature a rallying cry against the status quo and an overblown, flag-waving spectacle based on a board game that, all things considered, is still pretty fun to watch. HIGH: #ReGeneration (Virgil Films; $19.99, DVD) Who’s Responsible: Written and directed by Phillip Montgomery; narrated (and produced) by Ryan Gosling; appearances by Noam Chomsky , Howard Zinn, Talib Kweli. What It’s All About: The film’s marketing suggests it’s a documentary about the Occupy movement, but it’s got a more ambitious agenda than that. #ReGeneration feels less interested in the economic roots of the protests than in the cultural underpinnings of Occupy (mass media manipulation, the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, corporatization, the crumbling educational infrastructure, our interactions with computer and TV screens instead of each other). Interview subjects include activists, intellectuals, high school students, the founder of Adbusters magazine, and just plain folks who feel somewhat helpless about their ability to change the world. Why It’s Schmancy: Packing such ambitious subject matter into 81 minutes leads to a certain lack of focus, but the movie ultimately stands as a rallying cry for the new “Me Generation” to rediscover a sense of community and to fight back against being turned into wage-slave drones controlled by shadowy figures on high. It’s also probably one of the few documentaries you’ll ever see that features critiques of the media from both the legendarily leftist Chomsky and Libertarian Fox News commentator Tucker Carlson . Why You Should Buy It: The bonus features are relatively meager, but the deleted scenes include more thoughts from the late Zinn ( A People’s History of the United States ), some interesting interviews with Japanese teens and their parents (who seem to be dealing with the same cultural issues as their North American peers) and the use of the phrase “Coca-Colonization,” which I kinda love. LOW: Battleship (Universal Studios Home Entertainment; $34.98 Blu-Ray, $29.98 DVD) Who’s Responsible: Written by Jon Hoeber and Erich Hoeber, “Based on Hasbro’s Battleship”; directed by Peter Berg; starring Taylor Kitsch, Brooklyn Decker, Liam Neeson, Rihanna What It’s About: Nefarious aliens follow a beacon signal sent out from Earth — stupid science! — and the planet’s only hope to repel the invasion is a cocky, trouble-making Naval officer (Kitsch) and his plucky crew. Will they save the day? Will Kitsch win the hand of girlfriend Brooklyn Decker over the objections of her dad, the admiral (Neeson)? Will this ludicrous but entertaining action extravaganza find an audience on home video after tanking at the box office? Why It’s Fun: Granted, a big, loud, stupid and expensive movie based on a board game pretty much encapsulates everything that’s wrong with Hollywood these days. But as big, loud, stupid summer movies go (and the fact that it’s on DVD before Labor Day tells you something about its fate in theaters), Battleship is surprisingly entertaining in its silliness. Despite its illogical story line, the hackneyed characters and the movie’s unapologetic, join-the-Navy bursts of jingoism, it never lags. That sounds like damning with faint praise, but how many other elephantine high-concept explosion-fests in recent years can make the same claim? Why You Should Buy It: The DVD includes the requisite making-of and meet-the-cast extras, and the Blu-Ray throws in a few additional ones, including the previsualization of an alternate ending and a look into the special effects and the legendary USS Missouri (which plays a key role in the film). If you’re looking for something to throw into your home theater system to show off the booming sound and the crisp hi-def images, this one will hit the mark. Alonso Duralde has written about film for The Wrap , Salon and MSNBC.com. He also co-hosts the Linoleum Knife podcast and regularly appears on What the Flick?! (The Young Turks Network) . He is a senior programmer for the Outfest Film Festival in Los Angeles and a pre-screener for the Sundance Film Festival. He also the author of two books: Have Yourself a Movie Little Christmas (Limelight Editions) and 101 Must-See Movies for Gay Men (Advocate Books). Follow Alonso Duralde on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter.
Also in Monday morning’s round-up of news briefs, accused Dark Knight Rises killer James Holmes told a classmate he’d intended to kill people ahead of the theater shooting that left 12 dead. Sleepwalk with Me soared atop the new specialty box office releases becoming one of the biggest this year. And Adrien Brody will play a villain in a new role. Jamie Bell, Connie Nielsen Join Lars von Trier’s Nymphomaniac The drama that has been dubbed “pornographic” starring Charlotte Gainsbourg, Shia LaBeouf and stellan Skarsgard begins shooting in Germany Tuesday and now Billy Elliot star Jamie Bell and Danish star Connie Nielsen ( Boss ) have joined the cast, THR reports . Ben Affleck Kills Justice League Rumors The actor-director laid to rest rumors that he’d join Warner Bros.’ Justice League project, saying he isn’t involved in the studio’s planned superhero ensemble. “Justice League sounds really exciting, but it’s not something I’m working on,” he said. THR reports . Sleepwalk with Me Wows in 1 Theater, Samsara Very Strong: Specialty Box Office Sleepwalk with Me as predicted lead the pack of new specialty releases. With $65,000 at only one engagement, the feature nonetheless sprinted into very specific record-breaking territory. Also opening with a strong start in its debut, Oscilloscope’s Samsara averaged a fantastic $37,500, Deadline reports . James Holmes Told Classmate He’d Kill People Ahead of Dark Knight Rises Shooting Four months before he allegedly opened fire in a crowded theater in Aurora, CO, James Holmes told a classmate at the University of Colorado that he intended to kill people before flunking oral exams in his graduate studies program, THR reports . Adrien Brody Joins Motor City He will replace Gary Oldman as the villain in Albert Hughes’ Motor City , which also stars Gerard Butler and Mickey Rourke, Variety reports .
Premium Rush is about speed. So let’s not pussyfoot around and get right to the action. The action flik, which led this week’s box-office newcomers with a reported $6.5 million take, features Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Wilee, a bike messenger being pursued through the streets of New York City on his brake-less “fixie” — fixed-gear — rig. Among those chasing Wilee is corrupt detective Bobby Monday, played by Michael Shannon , who is hell-bent on intercepting the package that Wilee is carrying. In advance of the film’s release, Movieline sat down with director and co-writer David Koepp and his writing partner John Kamps ( Ghost Town ) to talk about writing a white-knuckle action movie without killing anyone and how cyclists are the most responsible travelers on the street. Why did Premium Rush need to be told? David Koepp: It needed to be told because John and I have seven children between us and they’ve got to go to school. [Laughs] I had had this idea kicking around in my head for a while because I live here and see cyclists. I wanted to do a chase movie on bikes, which I hadn’t seen. You follow the idea , and see how long it lasts. I realized at a certain point, Well, I’ve had this idea in my head for a while now. The only way to get it out of there is to just do it. So, for peace of mind, this had to become a film. Did you write this script with Michael Shannon and Joseph Gordon-Levitt in mind? DK: No, we always try to keep the characters the characters at first. Did either of them surprise you in terms of their performances? DK: I was pleasantly surprised by Joe’s fearlessness. Not because I’d heard he was a pussy or something — because, just to be able to be willing to put yourself on a bike in a lot of traffic and in that kind of danger, while acting, is really courageous. So, I was pleased and surprised by how much he wanted to do and how aggressively he was willing to do it. And, Shannon — you’re surprised every day by his performance because it comes out of this Michael Shannon place that only he has. And you just think, I never would have thought to deliver that line that way. That’s fascinating. What are the pros and cons of directing versus screenwriting? DK: I’ll make it succinct. With directing, you have tons of control. But, you have tons of control, which means you have tons of decisions to make and you have to be there. And you have to have an incredible level of input and your life doesn’t really belong to you so much. With screenwriting, you get a lot more quiet. You go to an office every day. Maybe you work with a collaborator. That’s nice. It’s a life that’s in here [pointing to his head]. I like to mix it up. You get crazy being in the room alone for too long and you certainly get crazy directing on the streets of New York. What was it like, logistically, to be filming people on bikes on the streets of New York City? I feel like few filmmakers have approached anything like this. DK : It was one of the most logistically difficult movies of the last 20 years. And I’m not overstating, because it’s not cars; it’s people exposed to cars. But they’re moving at car speed. And, because so much of the action was on the street, we needed total street closures. The city went out of its way to be accommodating. The cops were great. And it still was a mess because people, surprisingly, don’t like to have streets closed. [Laughs] You largely avoided CGI and relied on human stunts, yes? DK: That was important. This movie was about what human beings can do–not about what computers can do. I mean, clearly there’s some computer stuff: like when he’s picturing what would happen if he went to the right and he ends up getting hit by three cars and run over by a truck. Clearly, that wasn’t a person. Everybody knows it’s a joke. So, I’d say 95-96 percent of it is really people doing that. I read about Joseph going through the back of a cab and getting 31 stitches. DK: Yeah, a guy with diplomat plates cut into our shooting lanes right in front of him. Joe had to swerve to avoid him and ended up going through the back of a taxi. It was really scary. There were lots of crashes, but his was the worst. Of course, he’s the star, so he’s got to have the worst crash and get the most stitches. [Laughs] Our biggest fear [while] writing it was: Fuck, I hope somebody doesn’t get killed on this movie. Ya know? Absolutely. So, what was the motive behind Joseph’s character paying little regard to the welfare of other people on the road? DK: I don’t think he’s really out of line. I would say that the most responsible people on the street are cyclists. They may not obey all the rules, but they stay out of the way really well if you just leave ’em alone. Cars are second, because drivers are notoriously distracted. They feel safe inside their bubble and they’re often texting and that’s no good. And then the worst &mdash: the scum of the streets — are pedestrians. We’re awful because we don’t follow logical patterns. We’re definitely texting. Nobody’s looking where they’re going. Nobody . And they make irrational decisions, like in crosswalks. And that’s not good. How does this compare to L.A. traffic? John Kamps : It’s very different. With pedestrians, it’s like: You have the audacity to walk? DK: I think it’s legal to hit them. JK : Pedestrians are completely on the defensive in L.A. because people are flying down the street at 60 miles an hour. So, it’s not like someone’s going to stop and honk at you. They’re going to take you out. DK: There’s a pedestrian attitude in New York, which is, if you’re crossing the street and you cut in front of a car and you don’t look at the car, he has to stop. That’s just not really coherent. What was behind your decision to use a visual mapping element in this film to show where the characters are in relation to each other? DK: When John and I were writing it, we were saying, We want to know where everybody is, exactly, and at what time and how far [Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s character Wilee] has got to go and how he’s going to get there. JK: A lot of the action you see doesn’t make sense geographically. It’s like, he’s on the building. Now he’s over there on the car. You have no idea what his goal is, how he’s getting from point A to point B. DK: Then, you’re editing it. And you think, Well, let’s see. We should move the bathroom scene up a little. And you can’t. You can’t move anything, because you’ve gone to great pains to say who’s where when. So, we cursed the script many times in the edit room. How long did Premium Rush take to shoot? DK: Fifty-one days — with about 30 days of second-unit shooting, concurrent. The wardrobe never changes. How many red shirts do they you through? DK: Dozens! To get the right red shirt was a big deal. That’s the other thing about a movie in contained time: you’re a one-wardrobe movie. You have to really fall in love with what people are wearing. What did you think of The Amazing Spiderman given your involvement in the first iteration? DK: I think they did a great job. It’s hard to do something new that’s just been done, and I thought that they came up with a tone and a look that I hadn’t seen or expected. Great performances. I felt like it was sort of old school—the way the high-school scenes played out and the relationship between Peter and Gwen. It seemed very… DK: John Hughes? Yeah. Nell Alk is an arts and entertainment writer and reporter based in New York City. Her work has been featured in The Wall Street Journal , Manhattan Magazine, Z!NK Magazine and on InterviewMagazine.com, PaperMag.com and RollingStone.com, among others. Learn more about her here. Follow Nell Alk on Twitter. 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Lies, Payin’ People Off, And Leaks to the Press. All this bull and there’s a whole lot more no one is talkin’ about. A source revealed to BOSSIP that the media’s depiction of Tameka, and stories surrounding her, are misconstrued and too often leaked by Usher himself! We got the truth on the Saks “card”, Nannies, and the singer’s volatile relationship with his Mom. Let’s get the facts straight: • Usher filed for Sole legal and Sole Physical Custody January 4th, 2011, after he went back on his “word” and didn’t let the kids go on vacation with Tameka. Instead, he kept the boys in Miami, Florida with him. We’re told it was “preemptive” because he thought Tameka was going to file first…smh • Usher has been responsible for all of the Nanny payments since the divorce (per agreement), and uses them as spies. We hear he doesn’t even pay them on time or at all sometimes. So all that leaves Tameka with are pissed off Nannies who have attitudes with her, but not him. Nice control tactic Big Ush. He even got two of them to testify against Tameka and rifle through her isht; one even removed things from her house as evidence for him…i.e., pictures, deleted emails, etc. • The real reason why Usher’s Mom ain’t managing him has nothing to do with Tameka. Our source revealed that Usher’s Mommy is “controlling, bossy, and would disrespect him as if her were nine years old”. On October 18, 2009, the singer rammed his Mom’s truck with his three times…HEAD ON. His Mom was in the car during the incident. Apparently, he was so angry, cursing her out, and wanted to hurt her. Tameka’s sister actually testified about the dysfunctional relationship with his mother, whom he calls “Jonnetta”, but we guess the media doesn’t write about that since it’s not leaked. •The crazy “family friend”, Linda Brock-White, is actually a friend of Tameka’s first ex-husband Ryan. She was fired from Lockheed Martin after 20 years of employment and traveled with Tameka and the boys; often as a friend or a “play aunt”. We’re told it’s suspected that she was paid off by Usher and his legal team because prior to him filing, she didn’t like Usher one bit. Apparently she also thought he was crazy to file this action and she “despised him”. Her testifying against Tameka just shows his control and how people can be bought! She and Maya Fox Davis were both friends of Tameka’s who Usher ended up manipulating. We hear he screwed Maya too; wonder if he chopped it down with Linda? • That whole Saks card issue was one of many reasons Usher was held in “Contempt” in this case. Per their divorce agreement, Usher was to leave the Saks card open because it has special VIP benefits; he agreed to do so. Tameka makes her own payments so get it straight. The other strikes against him that led to the Contempt smack down were that: He didn’t pay the nannies per their divorce agreement. He fails to give Tameka information on her sons whereabouts. We’re told they’re usually with Grace and Ush tries to hide that fact since the exes have a NO “Overnight Guests”, unless married or family, clause in their Divorce agreement. He has also lied about Grace sleeping in the same room and bed with them. Way to use the Saks card as a way to make Tameka look materialistic Ush. The focus should have been on the fact that he’d already agreed and signed his name to all of this and more in the divorce settlement, only to renege on the Judges Final Order. None of us know what the Judges ruling will be but we see how foul and underhanded Usher has been throughout this whole ordeal. His attempt to take Custody away from Tameka without a clear basis is heartless and ridiculous. We know how smart their boys are. Let’s make sure they stay happy and healthy with all of this going on and can stay with their Mom. Tameka just wants what’s best for her sons and a life on a “tour bus” or in 100 hotels at this age isn’t what they need. Bottom line. This entire case is frivolous and has gotten out of hand. All we can see now is Usher’s peanut head; tryin’ to make Tameka look bad. Stop pittin’ the media and your fans Ush. SMH Photos via Getty Images
In what we’d call the worst defense for Todd Akin to-date, Mike Huckabee spit some ridic statements. Standing by the side of the Republican candidate, former Presidential runner-up Mike Huckabee tried to explain why Women shouldn’t have an abortion…even if the conception of their unborn child was created because of rape! Huckabee used his syndicated radio program Monday to give the embattled candidate a safe venue to express remorse and his determination to remain in the race. Huckabee also took the opportunity to cast the best possible light on Akin’s awkward position. The former Arkansas governor and onetime GOP presidential contender suggested a couple of cases in which he suggested that rapes, though “horrible tragedies,” had produced admirable human beings. “Ethel Waters, for example, was the result of a forcible rape,” Huckabee said of the late American gospel singer. One-time presidential candidate Huckabee added: “I used to work for James Robison back in the 1970s, he leads a large Christian organization. He, himself, was the result of a forcible rape. And so I know it happens, and yet even from those horrible, horrible tragedies of rape, which are inexcusable and indefensible, life has come and sometimes, you know, those people are able to do extraordinary things.” We think this fool needs to check himself so he can come correct on Women’s Issues. We all have a choice but it seems they (repubs) seem to forget that we can make decisions for ourselves. Source Images via WENN
Nas let us know life is real good right now. And a week before his final show at Rock the Bells, he answered a few questions we’ve all been wanting answers to…mainly, “How did Kelis feel about the cover of his Life Is Good album? You’re preparing to hit the Rock the Bells stage. Why are there only a few hip-hop branded festivals out there? Hip-hop brings out America’s youth in ways that scares America’s adults. So when you pack a city or place with those kinds of fans, people get nervous. That’s one reason. Another reason, hip hop is raw, it’s a raw genre. It’s not so shiny, no matter how many chains people wear. It’s still a real streets thing. It has not yet reached the Rolling Stones touring levels like rock ‘n’ roll has. It’s still the word of mouth, did-you-hear-this-song-last-night small crowd that embraces each artist one at a time. We like to own it before it becomes commercial. When it becomes commercial, the core hip-hop fan tends to walk away from it. What is the biggest lesson you’ve learned in the last two years? No matter what, everything will be alright. A lot of people are scared of failure. A lot of people are scared of love and being hurt. A lot of people are scared of taking chances. No matter what, everything will be fine. Was there ever a time you felt even your fans didn’t understand what you were trying to convey in your music? A lot of times. But you never get off your path. Even when I’m doing stuff that I feel isn’t really good, when I feel like it’s off or bad, those are my moments I go back to — my human moments — where I say I was really just a human there, I wasn’t great there, I was just me. That is a great thing to see and feel. Like, ‘Hey, look at me at that point.’ Yeah, people weren’t feeling it, but I was naturally me. What did having Amy Winehouse on the record mean to you? Having Amy on my record … it grew into a different thing. It wasn’t just your typical rap album because she blessed it. It was serendipitous. She was an angel. She is an angel, so she blessed that entire project with just that one song. That was just God. I think God makes things happen that we can’t explain sometimes. She was a gift, a pure artist. I give that to God. Your “Behind the Music” revealed so much about your personal life and your divorce. How hard was it to convince you to do it? Because the media covered it so much — some true stuff, some false — everyone was telling my story for me. Everyone except me. I didn’t want to do “Behind the Music,” and I found out my people told them they can start it and they had already started the production. It took some persuading, but I agreed for a couple of things: It’s not the end of the world to tell your story, and it doesn’t mean anything other than you telling your story. It was hard for me because I was never that kind of guy. I can make music about it all day long but to sit down with you, other than a quick interview, for an in-depth thing … it was out of question. This was the most I’ve ever done as far as telling my story. But I’ll tell you like this, if you can last as long as I’ve lasted so far, there’s nothing wrong with reintroducing yourself to fans and listeners. There are so many artists that come out all the time that could be forgotten or not be appreciated. And these are important stories, and I thought it was cool to let people inside. The “Life Is Good” cover got plenty of ink. What did Kelis think of it? She wanted to know exactly … she wanted to hear from me what it meant. I told her, basically it’s life. It’s wins, it’s losses, but life goes on. And this is a part of my life, a part of her life and she was a part of my life. It’s my story. And I wanted to do this in a way to open up hip-hop music in a way it probably hadn’t been opened up before as far as an artist getting into a personal situation. This particular story has never really been done [in hop hop]. I said this is fresh, this is new, and she really appreciates it and loved the concept. She thought it was pretty dope. You said you didn’t think you’d last this long in the business. Is there something in particular that made you think that? One of the reasons is, man, how [messed up] the business was in the ’80s when great acts like Public Enemy, De La Soul, NWA, and Tribe were around. The record business was a lot worse. My generation benefited from their losses or from their sacrifices … and realize the torch they had in their hands was supposed to stay lit. For me that’s important. My ego is not as big as hip-hop is. Hip-hop comes before Nas. A lot of these guys have egos, and that’s a character flaw, it’s one of the ugliest character flaws … an artist with ego. If Hip-Hop of late has been messed up, we’re hyped to hear Nas is stayin’ in the game and driven. Source Images via Twitter/WENN
‘G.O.O.D. Music has a roster; it’s just not like three or four people,’ 2 Chainz says of Kanye West and his extended G.O.O.D. family. By Rob Markman, with reporting by Sway Calloway 2 Chainz on “RapFix Live” Photo: Natasha Chandel/ MTV News
Introducing Movieline’s ARRIVALS series, spotlighting breakthrough performers enjoying a bit of a “moment.” Today meet British actress Carmen Ejogo, whose scene-stealing performance in Sparkle kicks off a big year in film and TV. As much as Sparkle is about well, Sparkle ( Jordin Sparks ), the shy young singer who learns to come into her own in this weekend’s R&B remake (not to mention Whitney Houston in what might have been her comeback), it’s Carmen Ejogo’s scene-stealing Sister — sultry, ambitious, and tragically doomed — who brings the film’s cautionary lessons crashing home. Ejogo’s offscreen story is even more intriguing: the MENSA member and one-time backing singer for Tricky (she does her own vocals in the film) got her start in the 1986 David Bowie musical Absolute Beginners and tried the leading lady route in her first crossover roles ( Metro , What’s the Worst That Could Happen ), before earning notice in Sally Hemings: An American Scandal , HBO’s Boycott , Lackawanna Blues , and last year’s Away We Go . With Alex Cross and ABC’s Zero Hour on the horizon (“It’s kind of like Da Vinci Code meets Mulder and Scully in The X-Files ,” she laughs), Ejogo, who lives in Brooklyn with husband Jeffrey Wright and their children, is poised for a breakthrough year stateside. She rang Movieline en route to the airport, still buzzing about the film’s crowd-pleasing premiere. How did the Sparkle premiere go? Carmen Ejogo: It was fantastic. I’m still sort of trying to absorb the comments that came afterwards about my performance. I’ve been a mom at home mostly for the past ten years, trying to raise a family, and so to come back with a role like this and then to have an evening like last night, where the movie was received really well and my performance is really noted… you know, I’m kind of a little bit dumbfounded at this moment. I have a soft spot for the original Sparkle so I was really interested to see how the film would differentiate itself from the original, and one element that really does set it apart is the performances. CE: I’m most excited when people say that they’ve seen the original and they really responded to our version cause that was my big fear all along. I’d got a lot of questions along the way when people asked what I was doing next and I’d tell them I’m playing Sister in Sparkle . They were like, “What do you mean?” It’s like the untouchable role in so many people’s minds, so I’m most excited when somebody’s seen the original and they’re really into what we’ve done with this new version remake. What’s interesting about Sparkle the story, in both the original and the remake, is that it’s really Sister’s story for so much of the film. Did you find when you were first considering the project and going for it that Sister was a deceptively needy and nuanced character to play? CE: Oh absolutely. I’ve never, ever, if you look at my body of work – I’ve never played a sexy character, ever. You mean a character that explicitly uses her sensuality? CE: Absolutely, exactly. There’s many a career that’s been built on that in this industry and I’ve stayed away from it wholeheartedly, and the only thing that gave me permission in myself to play it in this role was because I understood that the journey. The arc is such that [Sister] is such a naïve personality and that neediness is so much who she is, and that becomes revealed. Where there’s this bravado and controlled sexuality and charisma that’s based on looks and something exterior, you also get an opportunity in this role to really explore and sort of put forth the inner workings of what often makes this kind of girl tick – and it’s usually and very often out of a real deep-seated neediness and insecurity and the need for validation from others. In Sister’s case, it’s from her mother in some kind of strangely complicated way, but it’s also from men, very evidently, throughout the movie. So that sort of complexity is what drew me to this role and I willingly played it, particularly in this sort of cult-celebrity kind of culture that we’re in trying to rope children into. Right, Sister learns that playing into her sexuality for fame is ultimately her downfall. CE: I have a daughter and I’m so conscious of the fact that she is bombarded with images of women who are celebrated purely because of their celebrity and their sexiness, and women who have sort of academic prowess or have great minds are not really looked upon in the same glory, so I really enjoyed the fact that we had [Tika Sumpter’s character] Dolores in the movie, who I saw like comes out as one of the most awesome honest personalities in the movie who wanted to be a doctor. She has no interest in these silly games. Sparkle you respect because she has real talent, and in the end, Sister is really just pathetic. I thought that was an interesting thing to put forth, the idea of the sexiest girl in the movie being the most pathetic. Do you feel that you’ve had to make that similar choice in your life in your work, to navigate the Sister-esque route in your career? CE: Definitely, definitely. If I had been making certain choices earlier in my career that I actively avoided I probably would be a little up to speed with a lot of my contemporaries. A lot of girls I was coming up with have far exceed me in terms of focus within the business, but I’m still happy and proud and can stand by my body of work at this point and I don’t feel like I’ve compromised my values along the way. One of my favorite tidbits about you is that you are a member of MENSA… CE: [Laughs] I don’t know if I can still pass if I took the test! After having kids I’ve definitely lost a few brain cells along the way. A high IQ isn’t something that Hollywood tends to naturally exploit in actors, unfortunately. CE: There was a point when I was very young where I remember talking with my mom about going to drama school and this was maybe when I was 8, 9, 10 years old – and she knew that I was also academically very capable, and she steered me in another direction. I ended up getting a scholarship to a really academically strong girls’ school that had produced people like Kate Beckinsale; she’s actually another actress in the industry who I feel has really had to grapple with certain choices and I think has a similar take on this. She was in the year above me in the school that I went to. It’s interesting the kind of girl that that place has produced, that have recognized the complexity of being a woman in this industry and made choices out of that. There were definitely forks in the path where I could have gone one way or another, but the academics certainly were something that was more encouraged in my house. Whitney Houston is such a tremendous presence onscreen just watching the movie. What it was like to be in those scenes and on set with her? CE: I actually had to get up from the [premiere] screening after she performed her song. I was just in absolute tears, as were many of the people around me, but I had to go and fix my make up because I knew that the lights were coming up in twenty minutes. [Laughs] Her presence on the screen is just utterly mesmerizing, she’s luminescent. On the set, she was always a presence, but there was a humility about that presence, an approachability about her that is not always what you find in stars, and that’s what she embodied. I have to really thank her so much to some degree for the performance that I was able to give within this movie because knowing that the people at the helm, the biggest name in the movie, are willing to be vulnerable and to be honest in their performance and their work, and their willingness to work with the other actors, sort of set the tone and freed me up to so what I had to do. She was also very open about her life, her past, in whatever way she thought would be beneficial to my work because obviously there are very strong parallels at times between my character’s past and Whitney’s past and life. I thought that was very generous and not asked for but was really offered. You really don’t know who you’re going to be showing up to work with on a project, and you just hope that have really creative endeavors at heart, and that’s absolutely where she was coming from. I read that you used to be in a band, is that true? CE: Gosh, yeah! I mean a long time ago, and that was really just a brief moment in time. I went on tour with a recording artist in the UK around the States, actually. I dabbled a little bit in the whole music thing but I’ve always thought about Bernie Taupin, who is Elton John’s lyricist; Elton John is the great melody and song writer but Bernie Taupin is the one who writes all the lyrics. I don’t write lyrics, and I never wanted to be in the music business if I was just going to be a puppet in it. So I made that choice at some point but I have such a passion for music and I love that whole space – I just had to decide at some point to devote myself to acting. That kind of made Sparkle a bit of a dream job. I got to combine the two and play at being a pop star. Which musician were you on tour with? CE: His name is Tricky, he’s a trip-hop artist. In that moment in time he was definitely a force to be reckoned with musically. But one of the reasons I didn’t ever pursue a career – in the music world if you’re black or mixed, you need to be able to belt a song or else you’re not a singer, you know? Coming from the UK, I can think of so many great songs and musical moments that didn’t require a belter of a voice; my favorite singer is Kate Bush and she’s not a belter, or PJ Harvey… I’m definitely more of an alternative girl. So given the fact that I’m on a soundtrack with Whitney Houston and Jordin Sparks and Cee-Lo, for goodness sake, a performance like mine is probably not going to get a lot of attention, and I’m okay with that. [Laughs] But that’s Sister singing those songs. The way I would approach those songs might be a little different – there’s a sassy, there’s a sultry, there’s a husky going on in that voice that’s not necessarily how I’d perform a song. It’s a performance! I was pleasantly surprised to find that R. Kelly was involved in the music of Sparkle . Did you interact with him much? CE: I learned a lot about R. Kelly from Whitney because they go back forever, and I didn’t know that. Whitney would talk about certain people in her life – she’s very reflective, I found, in lots of ways, and would talk about times with Michael Jackson who she really knew when she was a teen, and R. Kelly who she’s known forever. I never actually got to meet him. He remains in the shadows. Your next film is Alex Cross … CE: It is, and it’s a really small but pivotal role in the movie. It’s funny because it’s destined that it happened, because that’s how I got Sparkle – the make-up artist on Alex Cross said, “Do you sing?” And I said yeah, a little bit, and she said, “You really need to know about this movie that’s happening in Detroit, called Sparkle . And that’s when I decided to self-tape that night to go for the role of Sister. As small as the role is in Alex Cross , it’s a funny thing for that to come out after Sparkle . But I’m so thankful for that because really, one came from the other. What was it like to work with Tyler Perry? He has this niche following but this promises to be a real crossover. CE: I totally agree, and that’s what interested me about the project. Rob Cohen, who directed it, had been a fan of Sally Hemings which I did many, many years ago. So I was very excited to work with him for that reason as much as any, but this Tyler aspect was a bit of an unknown because I’ve never seen any of his movies. Of course I knew who he is, and I know the space he inhabits in terms of film, but I recognized that this was going to be a serious role and a departure for him from what he normally does. And he, I have to say, was as dedicated to the work as any actor I’ve ever seen. To the point that I don’t know if I ever actually experienced time with Tyler. I had never met him previously. I think he’s coming to the premiere so I might get a sense of who he really is, but I felt like I was constantly talking to Alex Cross. He was kind of method in his approach, and he was really full on! Audiences will also get to see you on the small screen, in Zero Hour . What can we expect? CE: I literally start as soon as I get back filming [ Zero Hour ] for ABC with Anthony Edwards, this is his return to network television. It’s really a two-hander; what excites me about the potential of this is it deals with subject matter that I think is going to be quite potentially controversial and titillating for the American audience, because it’s all about religion versus science and faith versus non-faith, and these topics that people don’t like to get into too much. It’s kind of like Da Vinci Code meets Mulder and Scully in The X-Files . [Laughs] It’s funny, I know where I’ve been coming from all these years and my background and I realized as I reflect, I’m a horror/sci-fi buff without realizing it. I was a big Stephen King book reader growing up, and I think I’ve made certain choices over the years based on that taste, and this is definitely one of those moments. Sparkle is in theaters now. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .
