With a gentle manner that contradicts his imposing physique, Forest Whitaker has a special ability to elicit audience empathy even when he’s playing a bad guy.
The 47-year-old ‘gentle giant’ made his onscreen debut in the 1982 coming-of-age teen-comedy flick ‘Fast Times at Ridgemont High,’ but received critical recognition for his role in the Martin Scorsese flick ‘The Color of Money.’
His first leading role as musician Charlie Parker in the jazz biopic ‘Bird’ earned him the Cannes Best Actor Award and since then the highly respected actor who chooses roles from all parts of the spectrum has played in a series of projects from ‘Good Morning Vietnam,’ ‘The Crying Game’ to the television police drama ‘The Shield.’
Last year, Whitaker earned the highest accolade in the movie industry – an Academy Award for his portrayal of former Ugandan dictator Idi Amin in the movie ‘The Last King of Scotland.’ He talks to Samantha Ofole-Prince about his latest gritty drama ‘Street Kings.’
Have things changed since you won the Oscar? Are you getting better scripts and more movie offers?
I have greater opportunities and people are trying to put me in more movies so I think it’s changed and that’s a big shift.
Emotionally, how did wining the Oscar change your life?
It was a nice acknowledgement that was really positive especially after that role, because I had done everything I could and you never know how something is going to be received and when it’s received positively then you are pleased.
Is there anything that you want to do now that you feel you can because the door has been opened with garnering the Oscar?
I still want to work with good filmmakers on projects that have something to say and that can make me keep growing as an artist. I don’t have any pet projects or a need to play a specific character.
You have directed several movies including the warmly received ‘Waiting to Exhale’ in 1995, but you haven’t directed anything since 2004. Has directing taken a backseat?
Yes, it took a back seat because I had been directing and producing for about five years and I hadn’t acted or done anything hardly so I just shut my company down just before I did ‘The Last King of Scotland’ because I just wanted to act again.
‘Street Kings’ is your latest project with Keanu Reeves and in it you play a rather brutal but charismatic police captain. What else can you tell us about the character and your preparation for the role?
I play Captain Jack Wander. He’s like a King Pin with his own code and his own sense of how he controls his world. I read a couple of books on some different corrupt cops and just started to find the spirit of the character which is to figure out the way he moves and deals with the world.
Where did you get that accent we hear in the movie? Did you tape yourself to get it perfected?
I didn’t tape myself. I just started working on the character and that’s the voice that came. It was a certain attitude.
The director David Ayer took many of the cast members to several seedy parts of South Central Los Angeles, were you part of that entourage and what was that experience like?
They were going to set it up for me to go, but I didn’t really need to. I know what South Central looks like as I grew up there and I have talked to so many cops so it was really more important for me to focus on my character.
Did this movie come before or after you won the Oscar and was this one of the first things you picked?
After. I did ‘Vantage Point’ before ‘The Last King of Scotland’ came out on theatres. This is the first movie that I signed on to.
You have quite a few other projects coming up like ‘Powder Blue’ ‘Winged Creatures’ and ‘Repossession Mambo.’ Can you talk a little about those projects?
‘Powder Blue’ I produced and we are still editing. I play an ex-priest whose wife has died in an accident and he loses his sense of faith and so he tries to kill himself and all of a sudden he realizes he can’t and he tries to get someone to kill him. ‘Repossession Mambo’ is with Jude Law. We are best friends and become repossession guys repossessing body parts and ultimately something happens to him and he becomes someone in need and he has to get a heart and he starts to question his morals. ‘Winged Creatures’ is about a shooting that happens in a dinner and it’s about all the people who survived and how they go about their lives. My character thinks that all of a sudden that he’s lucky and starts going to Casinos. Jennifer Hudson plays my daughter.
You did an amazing job playing Lt. Jon Kavanaugh on the racy TV drama ‘The Shield.’ Will we see you on television again or are you strictly focusing on films?
If it’s the right part I will do it. Maybe I will do something funny like a sitcom. I just think it will be nice to explore that part. Many people who know my work from when I was younger think that comedy is one of my fortes.
How does winning the Oscar play in picking roles?
I think the goal for me is just to try and work with really good film makers on really good projects that have something to say and keep me growing
