2 minute read
BACKSTAGE 5 WITH
Forest Whitaker
By Jack Smart
Forest Whitaker spent decades acting before he called himself an actor. His character-building process was so exacting that it took his Academy Award–winning turn as Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland” for him to finally feel that he could justify the label. He’s now bringing two other domineering historical figures to the screen: mob boss Ellsworth “Bumpy” Johnson on Epix’s hit drama “Godfather of Harlem” and C.L. Franklin, father of Aretha, in the upcoming film “Respect.”
How did you get your SAG-AFTRA card? Was it “Fast Times
at Ridgemont High”? I guess so. I was thinking it was this movie called [“Tag: The Assassination Game”], where I had a line or something. But I don’t think that was a union film, so I think it probably was “Fast Times.” Pretty cool!
What’s one project or performance every actor should
see and why? I think everyone should see “Raging Bull.” Performance-wise, I remember Daniel Day-Lewis is great in “My Left Foot.” Daniel is a really powerful actor; he’s really transformative.
Do you have an audition horror story to share? I was auditioning for “He’s the Mayor,” the TV show. And I had worked on the script, and I had memorized all the lines. But it just didn’t work. And so I changed them when I went and auditioned…and they gave me the part! But then I come to work, and I’m doing it. And now I’m saying, “Wait a minute— now this just doesn’t work.” They said, “What? These are your lines from your audition!” I was like, “Oh, but now they’re not right [for the character]!” It was crazy. “I just need to talk to him.” Because they were casting, and it was between me and one other guy to play the lead, and I didn’t get it. And I wanted to say to him, “Look, it doesn’t matter to me if I play the lead; I just want to do this movie about Vietnam.” And they were like, “OK, that’s great. We’ll get to that.” But I wouldn’t leave the lobby. I was sitting there for hours. They kept saying, “He’s not there; he’s not there.” And I was like, “No, I’ll wait.” And then he didn’t give me a part! He didn’t even give me the smaller part. I was up for the lead! It was kind of a bummer, you know?
What’s the wildest thing you’ve ever done to book a role? I forget [the director’s name], but he was doing this movie on Vietnam. And I would just wait, just sit in the lobby, saying, What advice would you give your younger self? What’s jumped [into] my mind is: Just try to have more fun. You know? Enjoy it! Look around!
