Alicia Keys Recounts ‘The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete’By Max Evry
October 10, 2013
Multiple Grammy-winning singer/songwriter Alicia Keys has had a charmed film career in such hits as “The Secret Life of Bees,” and reunites with her co-star Jennifer Hudson in a producorial capacity on “The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete.”
This touching look at inner city life casts newcomers Skylan Brooks and Ethan Dizon as two poor children living in a Brooklyn project trying to survive on their own when the young Mister’s mother Gloria (Hudson) is taken away by police. Their survival amid the concrete jungle of New York is remarkable and as often funny as it is harrowing.
Keys helped director George Tillman Jr. (“Soul Food”) guide this unconventional project to the screen, and sat down in New York to discuss her role as producer.
Why do you think it’s important for audiences to see this film?
ALICIA KEYS: I think it’s important for audiences to see this film because it breaks the stereotypes. A lot of the times we see a film like this and make immediate judgments on how it’s going to be or what it’s going to be about and how it’s going to pan out. That’s one of the best things about this movie is it really eliminates the clichés you imagine it might have and really gets to the heart of the matter and human emotion. It really taps into it in such a way that you are riveted by the characters and taken to this place rooting for them, wishing things were different for them, believing at the end of it that maybe they made it. There’s a lot of hope in this piece, a lot of triumph, but also a lot of despair and struggle. It pays off when you finally get there, like in our own lives when you get there you really worked for it. There is something powerful about that so you gotta go see it because nobody is going to go see it that’s not going to feel it 100%.
When did you find out Jennifer was cast in the movie?
KEYS: We worked through it. I’m trying to remember when it actually came to life. We had spoken about this piece and then the potential of Jennifer being Gloria just felt so right and fresh and exciting. George said, “You wouldn’t quite expect Jennifer in that role,” which is what makes it so shocking. The first time you see her face on camera you’re shocked, like “Whoa!” There’s a real commitment that she makes. It was really exciting as this piece started to formulate, George and I would see people connecting to this piece the way we connect to it and wanting to be a part of it and all of the incredible actors: Jeffrey Wright, Anthony Mackie and Adewale Akinnuoye-Agbaje who plays the police officer. Each role is filled with a unique, powerful interesting individual. That was the exciting part, seeing it all come together. It fills it with this purpose and that’s powerful.
How did this film actually come about for you?
KEYS: When we first started talking about this five-years ago we were in this little Italian spot when we started talking about if we could pull this together and how we could work on it. I wasn’t a mother at that point but I was still really taken by these kids, by Mister, what he makes it through. You can’t help it, mother or not, you’re affected. Time passes, five years, fast-forward, now we’re here. I actually do have a son, and Jennifer has a son too. You feel so much more deeply the injustice to these kids and what they have to then layer on top of themselves to try to make it through a day. I definitely cry a lot more now, especially with this film when you see these parts you can relate. Imagine that was my son going through that, you know?
What sort of social concerns does the film raise about children in peril?
KEYS: I think it’s tough. You start thinking about all the ways the world is set up, so many ways we’re set up to fail. It’s very interesting and we’ve talked a lot about the Big Brothers Big Sisters project which I think is a really good one and a powerful one because a lot of times it’s just about association and recognizing that there’s other options which we just don’t see, no matter where we live. Most of the times we don’t get a chance to see other options, once we do then our mind is open like, “Wow, I can do that? Really? I didn’t know that ’cause I never saw that before.” That’s a very powerful organization. I think a lot about social business, that’s one of the things I want to evolve in and continue. I also think about schools and what types of schools and charter schools and opportunities for kids in different places so they can have different options. Hopefully that’s the kind of thing it will do to us. Then you start thinking about the system of actually where kids go when they don’t have anywhere else to go.
Were you inspired to contribute to the movie’s soundtrack and help George select the songs?
KEYS: That was a mixture of George being very clear about the music he loves, and we had to fight very hard to get some of those songs. It’s not easy with licensing, and good lord! Along the way the music, from a score perspective and the licensed songs, all had a character and I really believe that Gloria’s music was a strong emotional tie to what she wished for, which is what music does for us. For the guys creating the score it was the complexity of the Mister and Gloria relationship, how did that feel? There was a different musical emotion for Mister and Pete’s relationship. It really helped build the character. At one point I wanted each person to have their own song, “Jennifer’s gonna have her song and then Skylan would have his song, ’cause Skylan sings too… that didn’t really work out! (laughs)
“The Inevitable Defeat of Mister & Pete” opens in limited release Friday.
