Forest Romps
Academy Award-winning actor Forest Whitaker gets serious on acting, interracial love and finally letting loose

by DeMarco Williams

Babyface’s quiet storm classic “Soon As I Get Home” is the basis of a running joke in the March comedy Our Family Wedding. If you can recall the ’89 hit, the sensitive crooner proudly tells his woman that he’ll buy clothes, cook dinner and pay the rent just as soon as he gets home from work. It’s been the unofficial whopped man’s anthem for the past 20 years.

“I love Babyface,” laughs Forest Whitaker, who plays the Viagra-popping, one-night-standing cynic of a father to the whopped groom-to-be in the interracial romance. “I know that song really well. I worked with him really closely on Waiting to Exhale. He did all of the music for me. I was a fan before.”

Hold the phone. What’s this about actor/director Forest Whitaker and music and sounding jovial? We can’t really be talking about the same stern, disciplined actor who’s won an Oscar, an Emmy and audiences’ hearts over the past 30 years, can we? Yep, we sure can. And based on a few hints given during our recent sit-down with the 48-year-old Texas native, we actually might see him smiling even more in movies in the future.

Forest, what’s your musical Viagra?

I don’t really have a theme song. I guess it would be something old from the 70s.

This is kind of a different role for you. You wanted to stretch and do something different?

I liked this story. I liked this character. It was a great opportunity to get a chance to experiment with myself. I keep trying to see what I can do. With this one, I was thinking, “Well, if I could maybe stay a little closer to myself, what does that mean if I’m just here reacting and behaving?” It was great for me. It was very freeing for me.

And you were playing a sort of ladies man character.

Yeah, I liked it. It was fun. He’s a lil’ damaged because his wife left. He raised the kid. He doesn’t really believe in relationships and stuff. He’s just trying to get with the girls—the younger girls mostly ‘cuz they’re not looking for deep relationships and stuff. He kinda grows out of it when he realizes that right next to him is this amazing woman.

Would you have a problem with your child marrying outside the race?

No. I’m sure I would think about it. I’m not acting like I wouldn’t think about it or anything. But I have three daughters and a son. I’m sure if they make that decision, I’m happiest with whatever makes them happy. It depends on the quality of the kid that wants to marry them. I kinda have my ideas of where it might go, but we’ll see.

What aspects of you do you hope your daughters look for in a husband?

I’m very loving with my daughters. I let them be who they are. I try not to let my fears infringe on what they’re trying to do. I hope they will be able to find a man that would allow them continue to grow and be who they are—even if what they want to do isn’t necessarily where he is going. I know that they love themselves and are very strong. They’re not going to let someone not treat them well. I think they get that part from me. I instilled that in them to not accept certain things.

Let’s talk about Oscar season a bit. In what ways did the big win change your career? And if you could offer advice to someone going through the process for a first time, what would you say?

I think it did. People took me pretty seriously as an actor before, but for sure that particular character and award probably made me a stronger figure on the [international] scene, I guess. If somebody’s going through it, they should try to make sure they stop and not worry about the results, but worry about the moment, to live in the moment and experience it. There are people around them that are going to be giving them praise and love. They should embrace the love, embrace the moment, look at the glitter and realize that it’s magic. It’s a special thing and they should grab a hold of it.

Do you have any favorites this year?

The Hurt Locker and Precious [were good]. Jeff [Bridges’] performance [in Crazy Heart] was really strong. Sandy [Bullocks’ role in The Blind Side] good. I haven’t been caught in it all.

If someone were new to Forest Whitaker, what are three roles you’d tell them that best exemplify who you are as an artist?

Ghost Dog, Bird and Last King of Scotland. They were pivotal of my career, just in the way I even approach my work. Bird was the first movie I had where somebody gave me a character to play. I was frightened. My philosophy on work was developed there, which was to walk through fear because I was really afraid. Being afraid doesn’t mean that you can’t dance in the fire. That’s what I understood. Ghost Dog was a part of a spiritual journey in my life that I continue on. That character taught me about silence and vibration. He doesn’t say much. Sometimes he’d just sit in the car for, like, five minutes. The camera would be on my face [so] I could just put my energy across the screen. That helped me on the next journey to Last King to totally transform and use vibration to create a character. You can’t do it with every character, but it taught me how to do it. I’d always see myself in the films that I was doing, but I was finally understanding that I could change myself enough to where it’s not me. I’d create the energy and the vibration that the universe wants to put there.

Repo Men looks really interesting. What are you going to do in that?

I play a… well, he’s not a bounty hunter. He works for the union. He works for this company that sells body parts in the future.

And you take them back?

If the person doesn’t pay!

Does he enjoy it?

Yeah, he loves it. He loves the job. He loves inflicting pain. It’s an action movie. It’s cool because most of my stuff is with a baton that a cop brought, which means I get to use a lot of stick work. I get to hit people more than shoot them, which is fun.

Is it easier to pull yourself back more from roles we know you for?

I think the bravest part for me now is to expose myself more, to see if I’ll do great work if I [do]. I use a lot of transformative things and shields. In this movie, you probably see a little more glimpse of who I am. You kinda see parts of it, but not really.

Is your approach to a movie of lighter fare like Our Family Wedding different from one like Last King of Scotland?

The requirements are different. I try to live in the universe that the character is in. In this universe, I didn’t need to do all of the back story stuff. I could have went more into a DJ’s [world for my character]. I’ve been in DJ booths before many times. But I decided not to even do that. I was just trying to break down the character, how he feels, my relationship with my son, my relationship with Regina [King’s character], my OCD elements. All of those things I put in the character. But I’m still in character. It’s not like I’m playing me. It’s so much more weight and work to do certain things. I played a schizophrenic in a movie (My Own Love Song) with Renee Zellweger. I don’t know if it’s coming out. It was really hard for me. It wasn’t until recently that I felt like I got rid of the buzz in my brain. I re-wired the circuitry in my brain to play the part, by thinking differently and by doing certain things over and over again. You don’t have to do that for [Our Family Weddding’s] Brad Boyd.

Does being in a video like “Blame It On the Alcohol” give you a chance to relax the brain?

It’s fun. Jamie [Foxx] asked me if I’d do it. We were in Washington and he said, “Will you come and do the video?” I was like, “All right.” Then he really called. I was thinking that he might get all caught up. It was fun though.

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