Arts & Entertainment
Anthony Mackie: The ‘Pain & Gain’ Interview
Kam Williams
Special To The Skanner News
B
orn in New Orleans on Septem-
ber 23, 1979, Anthony Mackie
attended the Julliard School of
Drama. He was discovered after
receiving rave reviews for playing
Tupac Shakur in the off-Broadway
play “Up Against the Wind.”
Immediately following, Mackie made
an auspicious film debut as Eminem’s
nemesis, Papa Doc, in Curtis Hanson’s
“8 Mile.” His performance caught the
attention of Spike Lee, who subse-
quently cast him in “Sucker Free City”
and “She Hate Me.” He also appeared
in Clint Eastwood’s “Million Dollar
Baby” as well as in Jonathan Demme’s
“The Manchurian Candidate.”
Mackie had five features on movie
screens in 2006. In addition to “We
Are Marshall,” he starred in “Half Nel-
son,” with Ryan Gosling, adapted from
director Ryan Fleck’s Sundance-win-
ning short “Gowanus Brooklyn;” in
Preston Whitmore’s “Crossover;” in
Frank E. Flowers ensemble crime
drama “Haven,” opposite Orlando
Bloom and Bill Paxton; and in the film
adaptation of Richard Price’s “Free-
domland,” starring Samuel L. Jackson.
Besides an impressive film career,
the gap-toothed thespian has per-
formed both on and off Broadway,
making his Broadway debut as the
stuttering nephew, Sylvester, along-
side Whoopi Goldberg in August
Wilson’s “Ma Rainey’s Black Bot-
tom.” Next he was seen as the lead in
Regina King’s modern retelling of
Chekov’s “The Seagull,” in Stephen
Belber’s “McReele,” and in the
Pulitzer Prize-winning “A Soldier’s
Play.”
More recently, Mackie participated
in the Kennedy Center’s presentation
of “August Wilson’s 20th Century.” As
one of more than 30 renowned stars of
stage and screen, he performed in three
readings of Wilson’s cycle of ten plays
chronicling the African-American
Pain & Gain
experience, each set in a dif-
ferent decade of the 20th
century. A true aficionado of
live theatre, he hopes to
return to the stage soon.
In 2009, he played Sgt.
JT Sanborn on the big
screen
in
Kathryn
Bigelow’s “The Hurt Lock-
er,” a film which won the
Academy Award for Best
Picture. That same year, he
reprised his role as Tupac
Shakur in “Notorious,” the
biopic of Notorious B.I.G.
In 2010, he took a break
from film to return to
Broadway where he starred
in “A Beheading in
Spokane.” He subsequently
returned to Hollywood to
appear opposite Kerry
Washington in “Night
Night Catches Us, etcetera,
etcetera...
AM: Thanks a lot, Kam.
I’ve been very fortunate to
land all the projects that I’ve
done. I have a great team of
people working with me.
KW: So, what interested
you in “Pain & Gain?”
AM: It was the script. I
was really psyched about
Michael [director Michael
Bay] doing a story with
three-dimensional charac-
ters like these who you
could real delve into to see
what makes them tick.
KW: I have a lot of ques-
tions sent in to you by
readers. Editor/Legist Patri-
cia Turnier asks: How
... it’s exciting to see people
react positively to your work, to
something you’ve invested so
much time and so much of
yourself into.
Catches Us.” Then he
appeared in “The Adjust-
ment Bureau” and “Real
Steel.” Last year, he made
several movies, including
“Man on a Ledge,” “10
Years” and “Abraham Lin-
coln: Vampire Hunter.”
2013 is proving very pro-
ductive for Mackie, with the
horror thriller “Vipaka,” the
coming of age drama “The
Inevitable Defeat of Mister
and Pete,” the crime thriller
“Runner, Runner” and
“Bolden” being among his
offerings. Here, he talks
about his new movie, “Pain
& Gain,” a fact-based crime
comedy co-starring Dwayne
Johnson
and
Mark
Wahlberg.
Kam
Williams:
Hi
Anthony, thanks for another
interview.
Anthony Mackie: What’s
going on, my man?
KW: Nothing much,
brother. What an impressive
resume you’ve compiled for
someone so young: The
Hurt Locker, The Manchuri-
an Candidate, Notorious,
We Are Marshall, Half Nel-
son, 8 Mile, American
Violet, The Adjustment
Bureau, Gangster Squad,
would you describe your
character, Adrian? Are you
anything like him in real
life?
AM: [Chuckles] That’s
funny! No, I’m not anything
like him at all. The thing
that I enjoyed about doing
Adrian was that he never
backed down. He admired
Daniel [played by Mark
Wahlberg] so much and just
wanted his friend to suc-
ceed. And he also wanted to
achieve The American
Dream.
KW: I saw you on several
talk shows over the last cou-
ple of weeks, and between
being pumped up from the
weightlifting and the way
you trash-talked like you
were shot out of a cannon,
you seemed almost like a
different person, or as if you
were still in character.
AM: [LOL] I really
enjoyed this character and
talking about him. I’m
lucky because I get to do
projects I like and believe
in. And it’s exciting to see
people react positively to
your work, to something
you’ve invested so much
time and so much of your-
self into.
KW: How much time did
See MACKIE on page 10
Page 6 The Portland Skanner May 1, 2013