January 2009 | blackfilm.com | NOTORIOUS | An Interview with Derel Luke

January 2009

NOTORIOUS | An Interview with Derek Luke

(January: Main Page * Features * Reviews * Screenings * Teen ) Current Issue * Archive

NOTORIOUS
An Interview with Derek Luke
by Wilson Morales

January 12, 2009

From Antwone Fisher (‘Antwone Fisher’) to Boobie Miles (‘Friday Night Lights’) to Bobby Joe Hill (‘Glory Road’) and to Patrick Chamusso (‘Catch a Fire’), Derek Luke has played a handful of real-life individuals in his film career, but none of those compares to playing someone who is currently active in the media and reinvents himself everyday. For his latest film, ‘Notorious’, Luke has the task of playing Sean ‘P. Diddy’ Combs, the guys who brought Biggie Smalls in the music business and was with him when he died.

In speaking with blackfilm.com, Luke talks about how the role came about.

Did you have to audition for the role or did Sean Combs select you to play in the film?

Derek Luke: The process to making this film was very unique. First, I had met Puffy in Beverly Hills and he was interesting because he said to me, ‘I like your work.’ Then I saw him at a party and I was starting into him at different places. I saw how organized he was. I saw him in New York and I was about to leave and interesting enough it was a few hours before I got the call from Spike (Lee) to do ‘Miracle at St. Anna’. I saw Puff and he was like, ‘Derek, I want to holla at you about something.’ I thought that maybe he wanted me to do a Sean John ad or something, but he said that he had been watching me and thought that I would be the right person to play him. I was like, ‘What!’ At first I didn’t want to touch the story of Biggie because of the political content that would arise. I also didn’t want to play Puff because he was a known figure and so I bowed out. I did so three to four times. I got a cal from Fox and they wanted to go forward but I said, ‘No thank you.’ I spoke to Puff again and asked him what did he see in me? I told him that in my heart I really want to be a part of the film but I felt that the equations were off. Once I said yes, I instantly got a call from him and I was shocked that he called so quickly. ‘How did you get my number?’ That was the process of how I got hired. I’m excited that I got a chance to know the man, Sean Combs, versus the iconic P. Diddy.

What are we going to on-screen in watching you portray Puff Daddy from that time period that we hadn’t known before?

DL: What I got from it was that I didn’t know that Puffy got fired from Uptown Records. Everyone knows Diddy now, but they didn’t know Puffy at that time. Puffy was the artist and he had struggles. He had lost someone near and dear to him in his life; him and his mom. He lost his dad and to me, that made him more human. I also learned that Biggie wasn’t perfect and neither was Puffy. What made them human is that they both rose above the situation, and what Puff doesn’t get credit for is creating a whole new flavor in this world. When you don’t understand something, you don’t embrace it. I’m hoping that what I saw, other people will understand. When I saw ‘Making the Band’, I said to that I didn’t want to play that dude, because I see every week. Then when I met him, I understood him more.

Puffy had Craig Mack before Biggie came along, but he was really close with Biggie. Why do you think that was the case?

DL: There is a scene in the movie where Puffy says, ‘I’m betting on you just as much as you are betting on me. They both knew that they had everything to lose and everything to gain at the same time. Puffy realized that he was the greatest rapper at all times and he put all into him and when Big got shot it took the love out of hip hop. I don’t know how the relationship was between Puff and Mack, but between him and Big, it was true.

You said that Puff was only on the set twice, so who spoke to you more about his persona?

DL: I spoke mostly with Lil’ Cease and Money L, who was Big’s hype man. Cease was the one who recommended that I take it up a notch because he saw how much I was portraying Puff and it brought back memories to him. When Puff got on the stage, he went into his own. That’s when I found out that Puff wanted to be Biggie and Biggie wanted to be Puff.

What do you want people to get out of this film?

DL: I don’t know what others will get out from it, but what I got was visionary. I got manhood. I got that from your environment, there is no excuse for not making it. I got from the film a work ethic. If you want to change the world, you have to change yourself. That’s what I got and I hope that’s what people take away.

With ‘Madea Goes To Jail’ coming up next for you, how was working with Tyler Perry after completing this film?

DL: Working with Tyler Perry after finishing this film was complete business entrepreneurial boot camp. That’s one of the reasons whey I wanted to play Puff. I was playing a man that birthed a dream. He was an ordinary dude from Harlem. Tyler Perry is just like me and all the success that he is experiencing I wanted to get to close to and see where is the magic behind it? I felt like I went through a leadership camp and I’m excited about that.

NOTORIOUS OPENS ON January 16, 2008

(January: Main Page * Features * Reviews * Screenings * Teen ) Current Issue * Archive