For such an intimidating presence, Curtis Jackson (otherwise known as 50 Cent) has a rather shy and unassuming demeanor.  His soft voice and friendly smile serves as a nice counterbalance to the villainous thugs or hard-knocks anti-heroes, he is wont to play.  In Freelancers, Jackson stars as Malo – a former street thug turned police officer – torn between the criminal underworld and ‘the law’ he’s sworn to protect.  In the bleak nihilistic view of the film – there may not be much of a difference between the two: the cops just as corrupt, if not more so, than the criminals they’re sworn to catch.  Jackson’s two-sided demeanor serves him well here – as for pretty much the entirety of the film, you’re unsure if he’s the hero or the villain of his very own film.

In the following interview with Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson, he discusses the difficulty in playing both hero and villain, his screenwriting career and his role in the upcoming Schwarzenegger/Stallone film The Tomb, among many other topics of conversation. For the full interview, hit the jump.  Freelancers is now out on DVD and Blu-ray.

Select Highlights from the Interview

Jackson on The Tomb and his role within:

"I play a computer [expert].  I was incarcerated for cyber crimes and I end up developing a relationship with Stallone’s character.  He brings me back once he gets out of jail to work for him and nobody else is happy with that except Stallone."

Jackson on his screenwriting process:

"I like the story writing process.  I usually use someone who has been trained for structure to take the story that I actually want, place those elements in the right places.  [Afterwards] I’m able to go back and re-fix things. Once it’s set, I can rework the dialogue."

Jackson on what future projects he’s working on writing:

"I have a pet project that I’m working on…  It’s crazy.  I want to make something that’s really difficult for me to reach.  All Things Fall Apart – I play a cancer patient – so I’m looking for something to challenge myself to even more an extreme than having to lose sixty pounds for a role in the film."

Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson Time Index:

  • How do you balance being the both the hero and villain of Freelancers?
  • 01:00 – What is it about gritty inner city cop films (Jackson’s resume includes: Freelancers, Gun, Righteous Kill, Streets of Blood) that attracts you to them?
  • 01:30 – Jackson on working with Jessy Terrero (who directed Freelancers and over fifty of his music videos)
  • 02:06 – Jackson discusses his screenwriting career/process (he had previously written the gun-running action film Gun and the heart-tugging cancer drama All Things Fall Apart)
  • 03:10 – The differences between writing a rap song vs. a screenplay
  • 03:39 – Why does the subject matter of cancer interest Jackson?
  • 04:31 – Jackson talks of his role in the Schwarzenegger/Stallone film The Tomb

 

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