Five Hotbed Issues from 'Lakeview Terrace'
By Hollywood.com Staff
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Friday, September 19, 2008
#2 The Police Issue
Samuel L. Jackson: Um, OK, let me see: the evolution of me and security with the police. I'm a product of the ‘60s, so you know if you weren't down with what I was down with you weren't knocked so I didn't trust cops. Like I said, I grew up in the segregated South. There were two black policemen in Chattanooga, Tennessee when I was growing up and they were very dangerous for black people because they had to prove to the white cops that they were good cops. All my friends who were really bad kids got jacked up by these cops a lot so no I didn't trust those cops. I moved to New York and I became a professional actor. No wait a minute I came to California. When I got kicked out of college, I came to California in '69, '70. Phew La Police. A whole new breed of cop there. Very different. I remember getting snatched out of my car because I had a Free Angela Davis t-shirt. He was like, 'Oh you think she ought to be free?'. Getting harassed about that and the guy who was in the car with me actually got arrested because he had a jaywalking ticket. So L.A. cops were pretty much like the Gustavo then. If you had a big afro, you were told to put your head down. And then I got to New York and it was a different kind of cop. You know you could walk up to a cop in New York and ask them for a light for your joint and they'd light it for you. They didn't want to be bothered. If you weren't bothering them, they didn't bother you. That was the New York I moved into in the ‘70s. I guess with a level of fame and doing specific kinds of movies and representing police in a specific kind of way, the respect that I get from policemen is very interesting these days. I don't think I'm better than other people and I don't do things to break the law. I've gotten jaywalking tickets in L.A. which is kind of weird and then the cop will say something to you like, I need your autograph. Sign the ticket.
Kerry Washington: “One of the things that really attracted me to the part is the misuse of authority. I had this friend in college from Vermont and we used to laugh a lot about the fact that when the cops were around when she was a little girl, she felt safe. For me, as a little girl growing up in the Bronx, when the cops were around, I did NOT feel safe. I was nervous, what the hell is going on? I was taught from a young age how to behave in the presence of the police because you never know what’s going on, if it’s a trustworthy experience. I’ve had cousins locked up for no reason. Now I live in L.A. and of course the cops are not known for their benevolent reputation. I do think there are incredibly responsible and conscientious cops out there. But I grew not believing that’s what I was always going to get. So, that was a lot about the movie was for me. What happens when this person who is supposed to be your savior, your security, is actually the person who is causing you the most harm?”