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News Celebrity Interview continued from page 2 You’re obviously comfortable on stage and also doing great work on screen. How do you approach each as an actor? AM: First, let me say thank you, Harriet. It’s great that you saw and enjoyed that play. Stage and screen are completely different. Stage is like a marathon. It’s more of a physical muscle because you have to do eight shows a week. With a movie, you do it once, it’s in the can, and you move on. On the stage, you have to recreate that moment every night. You have to figure out a way, mentally, to find yourself in the same place every performance. You have to believe that whatever’s happening in that world is actu- ally happening every night, whereas with film you just have to believe it once before you move on. So, stage is really difficult but, at the same time, it’s much more gratifying than film. So many people have a hand in your screen performance whereas, when you step on the stage, no one tells you what you can and can’t do. more. Now, it’s “Do as little as you can to achieve as much as you can.” KW: Richie the intern says: You have played Tupac KW: Did you meet Shakur twice, once, Off-Off naysayers before your first Broadway, and also in the big break as an actor. There film Notorious. Did you listen are people who do not give to a lot of his music growing Anthony Mackie themselves permission to up? pursue their dreams. What AM: Definitely! The very first CD I ever owned, was a Tupac CD. advice do you have for them? AM: [Chuckles] I still meet naysayers He’s one of my all-time favorites. I have every CD and bootleg CD of his. He was a every day. This business is funny. It’s all about your journey and the road that you’re on. There are so many peo- ple who like to comment on my career and on what I am or am not doing. But I know that it’s my path, and I’m going to decide for myself which direction I want to go. When I meet naysayers, I just thank them politely for acknowledging my career and I wish them many bless- ings on the success of their own huge inspiration of mine. Since my parents careers. didn’t allow me to hang out on the streets as KW: Marcia Evans says: I have been fol- a child, my way of experiencing the streets lowing your career and I appreciate the was by listening to Tupac. choices you have made as an artist. Do you KW: Patricia says: I loved your perform- have any interest in bringing any historical ance in Desert Flower, which brings to mind or cultural stories about Louisiana to the this saying: “There are no small parts, only screen? AM: Of course! One of the biggest proj- small actors.” AM: Thank you, Patricia. I agree. That’s ects I’ve been working on, for about six one of the reasons I did Desert Flower. I feel years now, has been a movie about the jazz very strongly about that picture’s subject- musician Buddy Bolden. Louisiana is near matter [female circumcision]. So, I did the and dear to my heart. I moved back to New When I meet naysayers, I just thank them politely for acknowledging my career and I wish them many blessings on the success of their own careers. KW: Harriet also asks: Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? AM: [LOL] That’s a great song! KW: Larry Greenberg says: It seems to me like the film actually has a message about the growing distance between classes in America. Or am I asking too much from a spring blockbuster? AM: I think the movie deals more with The American Dream, and the skewed per- ception of it in our generation. The idea used to be that you worked hard to achieve film even though I knew I wouldn’t get any fanfare or recognition from it, because its message was important to me. Orleans five years ago, because I realize that New Orleans is what made me into something that I cherish. KW: Are you attached to any post-Katri- na rehabilitation project in New Orleans? AM: No, I’ve been staying away from the revitalization of New Orleans, because it’s not New Orleanians who are behind it. And that’s the problem. Every time a New Orleanian tries to get behind a project, it gets shot down. But you have all these folks from outside the state trying to change the culture. That’s what the backlash is all about right now. We want to keep the city the way it was. New Orleans is not New York, L.A. or Las Vegas, and we want to push all the outsiders out in order to get back to where we were before Hurricane Katrina. KW: Marcia then asks: Do you know how to make noise in the kitchen? AM: I’ll say this: I’ve never met a woman who wasn’t somebody’s momma who could cook better than me. KW: What is your favorite dish to cook? AM: My #1 killer dish is stuffed prawns with crabmeat dressing over teriyaki rice with pan-fried asparagus. That’s my game- over, you know you’re in for the night, you’re in trouble situation dish. KW: Mike Pittman asks: What was your wisest career move? AM: Not doing a TV show. Read the rest of this story online at www.theskanner.com WE’RE ONLINE WWW.THESKANNER.COM BIDS & JOBS LOCAL NEWS FILM REVIEWS NATIONAL NEWS BOOK REVIEWS EVENT LISTINGS AND MUCH MORE! Page 8 The Seattle Skanner May 1, 2013
