Terrence Howard is on the cusp of becoming a movie star. Some could argue that heâs already there with his Oscar nomination on Hustle and Flow. I would say that while some know who he is, most do not. But thatâs going to change soon and
From the synopsis (provided by the studio):
The year is 1973, and Jim Ellis (Terrence Howard), a college-educated African-American, canât find a job. Driven by his love of competitive swimming, Jim converts an abandoned recreational pool hall in a
Yes the film is another in the long line of feel good sports movies, but thankfully due to the performances and the story itâs a welcome addition to the genre.
And if you have been reading the site regularly you have already read part of this interview. I posted the juicy Iron Man comments the day I did this interview. But Iâm sure a lot of you havenât read them so itâs going to be new for some people⦠He talks about why he took the role and what character he plays. He also confirms that heâs not going to be in Luke Cage.
The interview with Terrence Howard was conducted in roundtable form and if you would rather listen to it - click here
Question: Whatâs that on your lapel? Is it something special?
Terrence Howard: When I was in school, I learned about those asteroids in the Kuyper Belt that is made up of diamonds. Itâs a complete diamond â over a mile and a half in diameter thatâs in the asteroid belt and I was wondering how diamonds were formed in space and over the years Iâve been looking up companies and I found a company that makes it called Apollo Diamond. They actually grow diamonds through a process called CVD which is Chemical Vapor Deposition and the diamonds are single crystal. They grow a one carat diamond in a week â 24 of them inside of an incubator and youâre talking about⦠In order to pull one diamond out of the ground, for mine diamonds, you have to move on average 250 tons of earth so â not to mention the destruction of land but the destruction of the ecosystems â you know, the little ants and the boll weevils and all of that. So these are now the compassionate diamonds and I would encourage people to look to the future and no longer destroy anyone.
Did you know about Jim Ellis before you took this movie?
I knew about Jim Brown. I knew about James Brown. I knew about his nature, but I didnât know his work, you know, his personal work until I sat down with him in this little café off of
What kind of training did you do for the role?
The question is what kind of training didnât I do. (Laughs) I mean it felt like I was training to be an astronaut or something because I spent anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 yards a day of swimming. To put that in perspective, itâs 25 yards across the pool, so youâre talking about 150 to 200 laps a day. Your shoulders are dead tired. Your spirit is tired. You hate water. Youâre all wrinkled up like youâre 95 years old. It was hard and then on top of that, I still had to work with this guy named Darrell Foster whoâs Will Smithâs trainer, and Darrell trained Sugar Ray Leonard so he demanded an hour of lifting and at least 45 minutes of running every day. No matter what time we started running â at 5AM and we ran another 3 miles every evening if we got off at 12 oâclock at night. There was no going to bed. âI donât care if youâve got a 5AM wake-up call. We have to put the time in.â And if you missed the time today, you had to put the time in tomorrow. So who wants to have to run 10 miles tomorrow? But he would make you do it. He would make you do it, but he would run with you and lift with you.
Did you keep it up?
Yeah, Iâm still there. Still there, but itâs a team effort, you know. Anyone inside of Willâs camp runs with him every day or theyâre no longer in his camp, anyone thatâs got an association with him. Like right now, Pierce, his hairdresser, cuts my hair now and Pierce asked Will, âIs it OK if I go and work with Terrence?â And he said, âTerrence is part of my camp and you are my connection to him. If I need to reach him, youâre there and youâre there to keep him running. (Laughs) So this morning I was exhausted. I had the benefit of being in an art gallery last night and I was talking to⦠Hugh Hefner was there and some of his Playboy girls and I was having a good time (laughs) and then I got at 12 oâclock and got up at 5 oâclock this morning and had my run, you know, so I felt like Iâm doing my job. I still gotta do my hour of lifting.
Can you talk a little bit about working with Bernie Mac in this? He was doing a dramatic role and doing something different. Were you able to help him in any way?
No, you donât need to help Bernie. (Laughs) See, thatâs the thing, to have that comical wit, it means you must be smarter that everyone else around you, and he understands the dramatic pauses and thatâs the beautiful thing about him. You donât know if heâs playing or if heâs dead serious about what heâs doing, and he can make light of a heavy situation. So, for me, him and Tom Arnold together⦠I mean wait âtil you see the DVD outtakes (laughs) because they would just go on and on and on and off of each other. Bernie did just what was necessary. He brought the film home for us. Me, Iâm a drama king. I talk in this mellow, melancholy way and you know thatâs just my nature. Bernie kept it honest. Bernie kept it honest and I love that about him.
Can you talk about going into Iron Man which is a total fantasy world compared to this picture?
Well, not when youâre working with Robert Downey Jr. There ainât no fantasy there. (Laughs) Youâre talkinâ about gettinâ ready for some action. You know what I love about him and Jon Favreau is you cannot predict who they are and what theyâre thinking. And then you add Jeff Bridges to the mix. I still think heâs on that film that he did with Kevin Spacey, you know. Heâs from another planet because heâs present but then heâs ahead of you at the same time and youâre trying to conversate with him. And then we got Gwyneth Paltrow, so thereâs nothing fantastico about it. Itâs like, âAlright, you said you wanted to be an actor?â Every single one of these people has been nominated for or won an Academy Award. âSo now letâs see what youâre made of.â
Whoâs your character in Iron Man?
I play a guy named James Rhodes who becomes a war machine. Iâm a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force and Iâm liaison between Starks Enterprises and the military in the Department of Acquisitions.
We also talked to John Singleton recently. Heâs a little frustrated with the development on Luke Cage.
Iâm not in that.
Youâre done with that involvement?
[shakes head in the affirmative]
I heard there were some costume fittings on Iron Man recently. Have you seen any of the costumes and what do you think?
We didnât do the costumes yet. I didnât see them do any of Tony Starkâs costumes. But the outfits that these people had on for testing was amazing. They looked beautiful in them. I took this role and I wanted to work with Robert Downey because he has a spontaneity and a fearlessness that I get close to, but Iâm still very conservative and reserved in the choices I make. He doesnât care. He just does it. He believes in jumping out of the air craft at 25,000 feet in the air and just go âwhooooooooâ all the way down. (Laughs) I want to learn that. I want to learn that.
The character in this was a complicated person. It was nice to see somebody who had been through some stuff. The things he goes through would drive him to the extremes that he went to. Could you talk about playing somebody like that who is sort of a hero but heâs also got a past too and heâs fighting through something like everybody else is.
Yeah, well thatâs what makes him a hero. Heâs able to lift off of the things that would normally hold us all back and, for the greater good, extend himself and not care about the personal loss because he thought of the mutual gain of everyone and, to this day, he still smiles. He still wants to get one of his swimmers on the Olympic team. Heâs had a number of them try out on the Olympic trials. But you know heâs always looking to the future and thatâs what helps us overcome our faults. We all make mistakes. Man, I make mistakes every day. He makes mistakes all the time. Heâs a divorced man like a lot of us here may be divorced people. But he hasnât allowed any of those faults to stop him. Heâs got a quick temper and he could have gotten a lot further if heâd been nicer to the people inside of City Hall and all of that, but he has a determination to do things his way, which is the right way.
What was it like working with Sunu Gonera?
Sunu gave me complete autonomy. We started off with 73 pages and a table reading that sucked. I went up to my room and I called my agent and my manager and I said, âGet me out of this.â And they said, âWeâre exec producers. We canât get out of it.â And so I went down to Sunu and I asked him. I said âThe only way Iâm going to be able to do this is you have to keep the camera on me, keep a camera on the boys going through there, and Iâm just going to talk to them honestly. The script was an outline. They finished writing another 40 something pages, but most of the stuff we did in there was literally just honest communication and me being Jim Ellis talking to them, and I thought it worked. I thought it was a wonderful trip in improvisation.
How hard is that for you to come in and know that you canât get out of something that possibly could have gone wrong and have to come in and fix it?
I guess itâs what I like. Then you know youâre needed, you know, when itâs on your shoulders. If I had been third or fourth lead, Iâd have been still upstairs drinking my coffee and saying, âOK, what you got on the script?â but knowing that itâs on my shoulders, knowing that its my legacy at stake â no, youâre not going to make me look bad because it may not have been prepared properly. And it was just what we needed and now the kids all had â I gave them the same autonomy that Sunu gave me and they responded naturally to where there was very little acting in there, so it was great.
Iâve got a quick question: 1970s plaid suits, love them or hate them?
Love âem. Love âem. Love âem.
You really do?
Love âem, as long as you donât mix it with stripes.
How did you become executive producer?
I demanded it.
Have you finished The Brave One?
Oh my God, The Brave One is incredible. Itâs really, really great. I got a call from Alan Horn at Warner Brothers and Joel Silver and they were beyond themselves and Iâm happy because Jodie Foster personally recommended me and said âI want himâ and I didnât want to fail her. Thank you guys.
Thank you.