Arts & Entertainment
Dante Brown: The ‘Won’t Back Down’ Interview
B
orn in Chicago on
Oct. 6, 1999,
Dante Brown’s
big break came at the ten-
der age of 5 when he beat
out 500 other children to
be showcased as a
dancer, comedian and
actor on Oprah’s 1st
“Amazing Kids” show. A
self-taught dancer who
learned his moves by
watching Michael Jackson,
Usher and Chris Brown’s
Youtube videos, Brown’s
amazing moves have been
compared to that of a young
Usher.
Dante can also beatbox,
rap, play piano by ear and
make beats. With his
younger brother, Dusan, he
performs as a duo known as
“The Brown Boys.” The
siblings released their first
album at 10 and 8, and have
opened for such notable acts
one of the All-Time Amazing Kids by
Oprah. Did that make it hard to dumb your-
C ELEBRITY self
down
to
play
an
I NTERVIEW academically-challenged child?
DB: No, it didn’t make it hard because as
an actor I’ve learned to pull traits and char-
by Kam
acteristics from friends at school, relatives,
Williams
by watching YouTube videos, other charac-
ters in other movies, etcetera. So, although
I’m not like Cody at all, it took a lot of
preparation and research to prepare emo-
tionally for my audition and scenes as
wanted to be a part of this.
Cody.
But that’s what we do as actors and
KW: What was it like to
that’s
the
gift God blessed me with, an ability
work opposite Viola Davis
as your mother, and with the to relate to people, and to actually become the
rest of such an accom- characters I hope to play. Transforming into
someone else.... I love it!
plished cast?
KW: How would you describe you and
DB: Working with Mrs.
Davis... it was a joy! She your brother, Dusan’s, debut CD, “Here
was funny. She gave me tips Come the Brown Boys?”
DB: Fun! Exciting! Entertaining! Our CD
and also helped me under-
has
11 songs, a little something for every-
stand the importance of
“being in the scene,” so I one. We get calls and messages from family
could hold up to her star and friends all the time
quality. She was very telling us how catchy the
approachable and down to songs are, how our friends
earth, so it made working and cousins enjoy listening
on car rides to and
from school, and just
how proud they are
of this project. Kids
love it and adults,
too. We actually
have some dope
beats on it and some
great lyrics. We love
performing songs
from our CD and
look forward to mak-
ing more music in
the future. We like
with her very easy. She sort
making
the type of music
of reminds me of my Mom,
so I never felt like I had to that inspires people. We’ve
act, but simply be her son performed at schools and
for the time being, while churches. The CD is good,
shooting the movie. When- kid-friendly music that can
ever I’d goof around, she’d be performed anywhere.
have no problem with me
either, in a nice way, of
Read the rest online at
course. [Chuckles] I still
www.theskanner.com
keep in contact with her and
will always look at her as an
amazing actress that I was
privileged to work with and
get to know. As for working
with the entire cast, it was
like I was playing in the
NBA All-Star game. [LOL]
It showed me how great
things can happen when you
apply yourself and believe
in yourself. Being in their
presence taught me that
hard work and dedication
pay off and one day I hope
to be able to share my on-set
experience and knowledge
with newcomers. Overall,
everyone was really nice
and fun to work with and
being a part of such a talent-
ed cast forced me to bring
my
A-game,
too.
KW: How would you
describe your character,
Cody?
DB: My character, Cody
Alberts, is the son of Nona
[played by Viola Davis] and
Charles Alberts [played by
Mr. Lance Reddick]. Cody
has a learning disability
and, during a pivotal point
in the movie, you’ll learn
the cause of his learning dis-
order. He’s sort of a quiet
kid, gets bullied at school,
doesn’t have any friends,
and the kids pick on him by
calling him names and stuff.
KW: You were named
Viola Davis and Dante Brown in ‘Won’t Back Down’
It showed me how great things can
happen when you apply yourself
and believe in yourself. Being in
their presence taught me that hard
work and dedication pay off ...
as the New Boyz, DJ Tha
Pope and Trey Songz.
Here, he talks about star-
ring opposite Viola Davis in
“Won’t Back Down,” an
inspirational tale of female
empowerment about a
teacher and a single-mom
who join forces to improve
a grammar school.
Kam Williams: Hi, Dante,
thanks for the interview.
Dante Brown: Oh, no
problem, Mr. Williams.
Thanks for interviewing
me.
KW: What interested you
in “Won’t Back Down?”
DB: When my agent sent
over the sides for my audi-
tion on the tape, the project
was originally named “Still
I Rise.” I immediately
thought of Maya Angelou’s
poem and was very interest-
ed in getting to know my
character more, as well as
the story. My name means
poetic, so it’s ironic that I
love poetry, and I was like,
“Wow, interesting movie!”
[LOL] Then I read the sides
and the character was very
different than me. But since
the movie is a drama, and I
love drama, I wanted to nail
my audition to make sure I
got a callback and be
strongly considered for the
role. So, it was a combina-
tion of all those things that
initially interested me in
“Won’t Back Down.” And,
oh yeah, for callbacks, I had
to read the entire script
before auditioning with the
director, Mr. Daniel Barnz.
By then, I knew that the
message would be very
powerful and I definitely
October 3, 2012 The Portland Skanner Page 7