April 2009 | blackfilm.com | FIGHTING | An Interview with Terrence Howard

April 2009

FIGHTING | An Interview with Terrence Howard

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FIGHTING
An Interview with Terrence Howard
by Wilson Morales

April 22, 2009

Having been replaced in the next installment of 'Iron Man,' Terrence Howard is comfortably ready for his next vehicle, 'Fighting,' which comes out this week.

Directed by Dito Montiel, the film takes place in New York City, where a young counterfeiter (Channing Tatum) is introduced to the world of underground street fighting by a seasoned scam artist (Howard), who becomes his manager on the bare-knuckle brawling circuit.

In speaking with Blackfilm.com, Howard talks about his role in the film, his thoughts on 'Iron Man 2,' his music and stage career and possibly revisiting his role as Quentin if a 'Best Man' sequel is made.

What attracted you to this project?

Terrence Howard: What attracted me was mostly the incredible work of Channing Tatum that he did with 'A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints' and the insight that Dito Montiel showed as a director on that movie. I would have done anything with them. Both Channing and myself signed up to work with Dito without knowing what project we were going to do and without knowing the characters we were going to play. It was an artistic respect and love for each other's work that made us want to work together.

What was it about the character that intrigued you, having read it after you signed on?

TH: It's like a group of musicians getting together, you don't know what you are going to play. You try to work on a song, but at the end it becomes a completely different song and a completely different story. Dito created this character. Initially the character was written driving a hummer and being decked out in jewels and all that like Sean 'P. Diddy' Combs or someone like that. Harvey doesn't even own a car. Harvey doesn't own a watch. Harvey has one suitcase and doesn't have that wide of a stride as you. Dito created this character.

Were you able to add anything to the character?

TH: Dito writes in such an amazing way that it's real life conversation and people interject in the middle of talking. Dito is like that.

What makes Harvey different from say a Don King?

TH: Harvey doesn't have faith in himself. He has a tree without a trunk. He is a bush down near a vine, just slithering his way and looking for something to crawl upon so he might get a little bit of sunshine. Often times, he will end up suffocating the life out of those that he climbs upon. I think all of us have that bacteria-like nature in us, that viral sense of kill or be killed, eat or be eaten. We are all narcissist in the sense that everyone in our family and everyone in our lives that we allow to remain in our lives serves a purpose for us.

What do you think of the sport? This sort of combat has suddenly become a popular event in and out of the arena, surpassing the sport of boxing?

TH: Yeah, because people were tired of it. They thought boxing was fixed. They felt it had been tainted by someone somewhere along the way. With the ultimate fighters, you can't pay someone to take a beating like that and lose. You can see in their eyes that they want to win with everything they've got. The only people that lose are those who are thinking that they can take a hit, go to sleep for a few minutes and wait for the next fight. To those who win, there is no next fight. It's not about a black eye and bloody nose. It's life or death. People are seeing that in themselves. It's a life-or-death battle. They equate it to their relationships. They wish they could have the ferociousness to run at their opponent with a day's worth of work and kill it.

Do you follow the sport?

TH: I don't have the constitution for it. Remember, what you watch you will do. My character didn't like the sport. He couldn't stand watching any of it. I didn't have to act any of that out. Harvey just watched at times so that no one got hurt.

How was working with Channing Tatum?

TH: Channing is the most energetic and insightful actor I've met in a long time. I can't wait to see him when he's 40. I can't wait to see him when there's this seed of majesty that has grown into an entire empire.

How was shooting the film in New York? You've done film work here before, but was there anything different this time around?

TH: I think that I could appreciate it a little more this time because we were up in the Bronx and not in a secluded area in the Bronx. We were up in Koreatown working by an arcade. I got to feel and be felt by New York.

How was working with Dito Montiel?

TH: I was completely impressed. I would gladly lend myself to him again. That's how incredible he was.

There were a couple of newcomers in the film, including Zulay Henao.

TH: They're all incredible, but every minute, you've got to remember, somebody new is coming in until those that are holding a position are supplanted. I look forward to being supplanted. Brian White has an incredible career ahead of him. He has a sensibility. Columbus Short has an incredible career ahead of him even though he's not in this movie. Evan Ross and Nate Parker. All of those cats, one day hopefully I'll be able to be in one of their films.

Last year was a big year. You had an album released, a few films and Broadway. Then came the news that you replaced in 'Iron Man 2.' Can you share any thoughts on it?

TH: No. I'm looking forward to seeing what Don (Cheadle) creates with that character. I'm just happy that black people are working more than anything. It would've broken my heart if they had put a white person in there, and they could have. They could have done anything that they wanted. Nick Fury was supposed to be white, and they put Sam (Jackson) in there. I'm just looking forward to seeing Don shine like he shines. I remember when I did 'Picket Fences' with Don and he was so encouraging. I remember Don also helping me get 'Crash.' He made the call when Forest Whitaker couldn't do it. He made the call and said, "No. Terrence is the man for this." So I love him. I'm loving what he has.

I read somewhere that you would think about doing the comic book character Black Lightning if it ever came your way.

TH: Black Lightning is an incredible character. I would like to see what DC would want to do with. But the right producers on that project...it depends if this market for sci-fi continues to grow. The only way that's going to happen is if they continue to increase the technology and have better visual stimuli. But with the right medium and format, I would love to try another comic book character.

Maybe with the right producers, the right director and the right market it could happen.

TH: There is so much money out there right now. There are so many hedge funds and money market groups that had initially put their funds into real estate and into individual stocks. Well, both of those markets are unstable right now. But the money that was allocated has still been collected, and the people who own that money are looking to make money on it. So film has always been the best investment. So, John (Singleton) could go and get the money himself. There's $300, $400, $500 million out there for every person really seeking it, and if you've got a good enough game and a good enough project then someone will invest in it. All he has to do is go get it himself. You can't wait for somebody, a studio to sit up and say, "Here's $200 million. Go make this movie."

Are you looking forward to doing 'Red Tails,' the story of the Tuskegee Airmen?

TH: I'm loving it.

What's your role in that?

TH: I play Colonel A. J. Bullard. George Lucas has a passion for telling that story, and I appreciate the fact that he picked a black director (Anthony Hemingway) to tell that story. That was wonderfully conscious of him.

Have you been offered more stage projects since doing Broadway last year?

TH: Yeah. People are asking now, and I look forward to doing something else on Broadway.

If you could pick a show to do, what would it be? A revival maybe?

TH: No. I would like to create something new. I'd like to create a whole new story or do 'Streetcar Named Desire'. 'A Streetcar Named Desire' could be really, really incredible.

With the same team that produced 'Cat on a Hot Tin Roof'?

TH: Stephen Byrd allowed us to tell an incredible story. He didn't beat around the bush ,and he didn't stop our hands any way along the way. He was completely supportive of Debbie (Allen) and her choices. Yeah.

I hear you're working on a second album. What will be different on this one, and did you learn anything the first time around?

TH: Well, the first album was a kid being given an opportunity to go into a room with just a bunch of colors. He painted on all the walls and he painted on the floor. He painted on the ceiling. He painted on the lights. I love the freeness and the autonomy I had with that, but then there's a greater responsibility when it comes to music, especially if you're telling a story that you feel is important and compelling. You learn how to tell a story in a more simple format. It's more impactful. Knowing my audience now, I never had the sensibilities for pop. My sensibilities are for heart. True heart. It's not a pimple. Pimples disappear and leave scars, but a true heart. I want my music to reach the heart. So it has to be more simple to reach the heart.

Are you still working on it? Is there a time frame when you have to get back into the studio?

TH: No, no. I go back into the studio this summer.

How do you balance the music business, the film industry, your family and find time to keep your head straight?

TH: Well, there's an old quote that says, "You do not find life at the end of it. You experience it through it." Everyday, mixing my day. I play guitar with my son. While I'm teaching myself, I teach him and my daughter and my other daughter. I play piano with all of them, and we all work on that together while I'm on working on my stuff. We write songs together. I run with them. I work on my characters with them. I only have friends that benefit me and are creatively matched with me. I only deal with people that are smarter than me, so I'm always learning and at the same time growing and accomplishing my wills and wants. George Wolfe told me that you have to bring all of your personalities into one room, sit them all at the table and see how they can benefit each other. That way you can turn a negative and a negative. By bringing them together, they become a positive. So I think the more challenged I am with opportunities the stronger I can become.

Ten years ago you did 'The Best Man.' Recently I talked to Malcolm D. Lee, who said he's been toying with the idea of a sequel. How would you see that character at this point?

TH: I think he was on his way to wisdom because he had a conscious that bothered him. He was discovering himself and he had found truth. He could be in a really Zen place or he could be in a really sinful place. It depends on how Malcolm sees him as growing. I would revisit Quentin. I liked Quentin.

This week you have a number of films opening up featuring African Americans. Sometimes it's hard when they all come out in the same week, but at least it gives people a choice.

TH: We keep talking about having an equal share in the market, so we have to also be willing to have an equal share in the competition. How many white films all come out on the same weekend? They don't complain about it. They don't complain and say, "Well, why did you put your film out? Why didn't you wait until a black person had his film coming out?" I think it will make us stronger. It gives us an opportunity to see who's going to pull what from where. Unfortunately and fortunately, because Channing is incredible, Channing is the lead of this movie. So Channing will draw that audience in. My job was being there to support him and Dito, which I hope I did to the very best of my ability. I don't know how much this film has been marketed to African Americans, to my own family. I don't know how much it's been marketed to them, but I think if they heard about it they would come.

Why should anyone see 'Fighting'?

TH: Because 'Fighting' is the fairy tale of our lives. It's the blood of our lives that we see everyone struggling between each and every moment, between truth, between honesty, between dreams, between reality. We always know where we should go, but sometimes we don't go there, and to see that summed up in a game called fisticuffs, that struggle to live might help each individual get out some of their own tension and find their own personal humanity.

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