Anthony Anderson really blew me away with his work on this past season of The Shield. I only remembered him from his comedic work in films like Me, Myself & Irene, Exit Wounds and Scary Movie 3. But he was just amazing as the gang leader who wants Michael Chiklis cop character, Vic Mackey, dead.
I got a chance to talk with Anderson because of the release of Hustle & Flow. Its the story of a low rent pimp in Memphis who discovers he has a talent for rap. Anderson plays Key, a sound engineer in a church who puts some of his moral beliefs aside to work with the pimp because he believes he has some talent.
Check out the official site for Hustle & Flow
Daniel Robert Epstein: Are you coming back to The Shield next season?
Anthony Anderson: Theyve asked me a couple times, so well see.
DRE: Is it about money?
AA: No its not. Its just a matter of how theyre going to do it and when theyre going to do it.
DRE: Does Michael Chiklis leave the series and Glenn Close take over?
AA: No.
DRE: What made you want to be in Hustle & Flow?
AA: I felt it was time for me to take my career in a different direction. Ive made 26 films and 24 of them have been comedies. Yeah, check IMDB, yeah, over a billion dollars already. It was getting to that point where I was just The Funny Guy. So I wanted to really just show the world what I could do. Ive trained at this since I was nine years old and I want people to see what I can do on the dramatic side. I was willing to pass on projects until a project like Hustle & Flow came across my desk. I read it and I was on board and then the struggle to make the film came. John Singleton got attached and we still couldnt make the film so John put his money where his mouth was and made it happen. He sold and mortgaged his house to make this happen.
DRE: Your character in Hustle & Flow is religious, how do you think he reconciled working with this pimp and making this kind of music?
AA: It wasnt the fact that he was a pimp. We all have our stations in life. What my character recognized in him was his vision and his dream because my character had a vision and a dream. I see in that instance what [Hustle & Flow writer/director] Craig Brewer saw in me. The commonality that we had, that were both dreamers and we both basically were going through a mid-life crisis trying to figure out what were going to do or what we need to do.
DRE: How did doing all the comedy help you find your dramatic voice in things like this and the Shield?
AA: Im not going to say it helped me find it. Comedy is second nature for me. I can do it in my sleep. Thats how I was raised. I get it from my mother and my family. I went to the high school for performing arts. I went to Howard University on a talent scholarship. I got accepted to UCLA on the talent scholarship and things like that. But I attribute finding that dramatic voice to my professors. Ozzie Davis, Ruby Dee, Hal Freeman Jr., Avery Brooks, Carol Singleton and Mike Malone and Bill Gill. These were people that I studied under for years so they helped cultivate and mold that dramatic voice for me at a very early age.
DRE: You got accused last year of a terrible crime.
AA: I was falsely accused of something while filming Hustle and Flow in Memphis. Its unfortunate that certain people are targets of that. I happened to be the one with the deep pockets in that room so I was the one they went after. But we didnt even have our day in court because it was thrown out based on the merits of the lies. We were fully exonerated of all the charges that were brought against us. We all have speed bumps in life and its really how you recover after that.
DRE: What part are you playing in The Devil Wears Prada?
AA: Andre Leon Talley.
DRE: Are you going to use stilts because hes a giant?
AA: I might wear my Herman Munster boots.
DRE: I asked [Shield creator] Shawn Ryan and Glenn Close if they would want a cop like Vic Mackey out there, would you?
AA: There are cops like Vic out there. I dont know it depends on how effective they are. Rafael Perez was a cop like Vic Mackey and you see the scandal that he brought down on the Rampart division of LAPD. That makes their work a bit more difficult to do now. We dont need cops like Vic Mackey on the force. If the showdown would be allowed I think thats what would bring Close back but you didnt hear that from me.
DRE: What do you play in The Departed?
AA: Im a cop named Brown.
DRE: Why did Martin Scorsese say he wanted you for this movie?
AA: I had my meeting with him and found out that I was the only guy that he wanted to see. I left his suite at the Bel-Aire Hotel and as soon as I walked out the door, the casting director walked out behind me and was like, You got the job. Its exciting. When you get a call from a person the stature of Martin Scorsese whos the best in the business, you get excited. You have tears of joy and youre on cloud nine for days on afterwards.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
I got a chance to talk with Anderson because of the release of Hustle & Flow. Its the story of a low rent pimp in Memphis who discovers he has a talent for rap. Anderson plays Key, a sound engineer in a church who puts some of his moral beliefs aside to work with the pimp because he believes he has some talent.
Check out the official site for Hustle & Flow
Daniel Robert Epstein: Are you coming back to The Shield next season?
Anthony Anderson: Theyve asked me a couple times, so well see.
DRE: Is it about money?
AA: No its not. Its just a matter of how theyre going to do it and when theyre going to do it.
DRE: Does Michael Chiklis leave the series and Glenn Close take over?
AA: No.
DRE: What made you want to be in Hustle & Flow?
AA: I felt it was time for me to take my career in a different direction. Ive made 26 films and 24 of them have been comedies. Yeah, check IMDB, yeah, over a billion dollars already. It was getting to that point where I was just The Funny Guy. So I wanted to really just show the world what I could do. Ive trained at this since I was nine years old and I want people to see what I can do on the dramatic side. I was willing to pass on projects until a project like Hustle & Flow came across my desk. I read it and I was on board and then the struggle to make the film came. John Singleton got attached and we still couldnt make the film so John put his money where his mouth was and made it happen. He sold and mortgaged his house to make this happen.
DRE: Your character in Hustle & Flow is religious, how do you think he reconciled working with this pimp and making this kind of music?
AA: It wasnt the fact that he was a pimp. We all have our stations in life. What my character recognized in him was his vision and his dream because my character had a vision and a dream. I see in that instance what [Hustle & Flow writer/director] Craig Brewer saw in me. The commonality that we had, that were both dreamers and we both basically were going through a mid-life crisis trying to figure out what were going to do or what we need to do.
DRE: How did doing all the comedy help you find your dramatic voice in things like this and the Shield?
AA: Im not going to say it helped me find it. Comedy is second nature for me. I can do it in my sleep. Thats how I was raised. I get it from my mother and my family. I went to the high school for performing arts. I went to Howard University on a talent scholarship. I got accepted to UCLA on the talent scholarship and things like that. But I attribute finding that dramatic voice to my professors. Ozzie Davis, Ruby Dee, Hal Freeman Jr., Avery Brooks, Carol Singleton and Mike Malone and Bill Gill. These were people that I studied under for years so they helped cultivate and mold that dramatic voice for me at a very early age.
DRE: You got accused last year of a terrible crime.
AA: I was falsely accused of something while filming Hustle and Flow in Memphis. Its unfortunate that certain people are targets of that. I happened to be the one with the deep pockets in that room so I was the one they went after. But we didnt even have our day in court because it was thrown out based on the merits of the lies. We were fully exonerated of all the charges that were brought against us. We all have speed bumps in life and its really how you recover after that.
DRE: What part are you playing in The Devil Wears Prada?
AA: Andre Leon Talley.
DRE: Are you going to use stilts because hes a giant?
AA: I might wear my Herman Munster boots.
DRE: I asked [Shield creator] Shawn Ryan and Glenn Close if they would want a cop like Vic Mackey out there, would you?
AA: There are cops like Vic out there. I dont know it depends on how effective they are. Rafael Perez was a cop like Vic Mackey and you see the scandal that he brought down on the Rampart division of LAPD. That makes their work a bit more difficult to do now. We dont need cops like Vic Mackey on the force. If the showdown would be allowed I think thats what would bring Close back but you didnt hear that from me.
DRE: What do you play in The Departed?
AA: Im a cop named Brown.
DRE: Why did Martin Scorsese say he wanted you for this movie?
AA: I had my meeting with him and found out that I was the only guy that he wanted to see. I left his suite at the Bel-Aire Hotel and as soon as I walked out the door, the casting director walked out behind me and was like, You got the job. Its exciting. When you get a call from a person the stature of Martin Scorsese whos the best in the business, you get excited. You have tears of joy and youre on cloud nine for days on afterwards.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 6 of 6 COMMENTS
deceptiviewfilm:
great interview.
flatspin:
He was the shit in Hustle & Flow. I was not expecting it to be that good of a movie so I never saw it but then I caught it on Show Time and loved it. I watched it twice and I usually cant stand watching movies twice.