Terrence Howard talks Dead Man Down, Diamonds, Best Man SequelBy Wilson Morales
March 8, 2013
In theaters today is the action thriller Dead Man Down, starring Colin Farrell, Noomi Rapace, Dominic Cooper, Terrence Howard, and Isabelle Huppert.
Colin Farrell stars as Victor, a hitman in the criminal underground of New York City whose true mission in life is revenge against those who cost him everything and left him for dead. He’s soon found out, however, by his neighbor, Beatrice (Noomi Rapace). Scarred across her face in an accident involving a drunk driver, Beatrice has some revenge plans of her own and decides to blackmail Victor into helping.
Howard plays Alphonse, mob boss who’s caught in the crossfire between his wrongdoings and Colin’s thirst for payback.
Since his nomination back in 2006 for Hustle and Flow, the 43-year-old actor has become one of the top African American actors landing lead and supporting roles in studio films. With upcoming projects that include Prisoners with Hugh Jackman and Viola Davis, Ten with Arnold Schwarzenegger, the Lee Daniels film The Butler, and Malcolm Lee’s The Best Man Holiday, Howard will be seen throughout the year in theaters.
When he’s not working on films or with his family, Howard is working with his diamond company called SCIO in the hopes that it changed the industry.
At a special screening to promote his latest film, Dead Man Down, Terrence Howard appeared at the Bryant Park Hotel in NYC for a Q & A after the screening and spoke his film, as well as other topics such as his diamond company called SCIO.
Was it your choice to make your character look debonair as a gangster?
Terrence Howard: The director and the wardrobe stylist gave me the perception in what needed to be accomplished in telling the story. I love the fact that Alphonse is still romanticizing the real gangster of the old days.
How was working with Colin again after doing ‘Hart’s War’ years ago?
TH: I think Colin is one of the most prolific and blessed actors in our generations. He has a presence and stature that reeks of loyalty. I believe him when he works and when he speaks. I love working with Colin. This is our second film and I hope we can work again.
This film was shot in Philly, which is near your hometown. How was it to go back?
TH: It was nice to be home and to leave the comfort of my home and go and do a job and come back home and kiss my children. That’s something that I haven’t had the benefit of doing for the last 20 years. I rarely get to shoot a film near Philadelphia and I love that city, the city of Brotherly Love. They are starting to shoot films there and bring back the mystique that Sylvester Stallone brought there many years ago.
How was working with Niels?
TH: He has a moral story that he’s told in a very placed manner. He’s no longer glorifying guns and the ammo. It’s really that the guns and the ammo are within the human spirit and like Citizen Cope said, “We place ourselves between a bullet and a gun by seeking revenge.” It’s a wonderful way of storytelling.
What can we expect from The Best Man Holiday?
TH: Out of all the films, that’s the most anticipated film for me. What Malcolm Lee created, and what Tyler Perry did a nice little runoff with, but it didn’t quite touch it. I love what Tyler Perry has done. He’s taken these antidotes with films that upbuilds the black community, but Malcolm Lee has shown us what intelligent young black people are capable of the The Best Man 1. With The Best Man 2, it shows where people go, whethet they are doing the right thing or the wrong thing, and how much we need each other within our community. Sometimes we do cut off our nose to spite our face, and we need that nose to smell our way to the next situation. It’s going to be an amazing in it. I get teary eyed thinking about it because there’s a tragedy in it. That’s all I’ll say.
What attracts you to the films that you do? Is it the roles offered to you or you going after certain roles?
TH: There are certain roles that you really go after, but often times, the things you go after, are busy going after someone else. So, you have to wait and be patient. You go into films that you feel you have something to contribute to and something that is going to challenge you. If you know you will be going in and taking from a bag of tricks, something that you have done before, and like Sidney Poitier said, he’s not going to waste the next or the last ten years of his life doing an impersonation of himself. I want something that is going to stretch my artistic ability, the message that I leave behind in my body of work.
