Director John Singleton is known for casting his movies, like his powerful Academy Award-nominated Boyz N the ‘Hood (1991) and Poetic Justice (1993), with solid black actors such as Laurence Fishburne and Cuba Gooding Jr.
Now it’s singer, model and popular MTV VJ Tyrese Gibson‘s turn.
In Baby Boy, the third in Singleton‘s series of films about life in South Central Los Angeles that he calls his “hood trilogy,” Tyrese makes his big screen debut as Jody, a young black man who has yet to embrace the responsibilities of adulthood and leave his mother’s nest despite the fact that he has two babies of his own with different women.
A musician popular with the under-18 set (his second album, 2000 Watts, is currently number five in the charts), the 22-year-old Tyrese was born and raised in the heart of South Central Los Angeles and has said that he connected immediately with the role of Jody. Hollywood.com caught up with Tyrese and talked to him about the movie that hits so close to home.
Working with director John Singleton is a good start to a film career. How did you hook up with him?
It was an audition, like everybody else.
You had said that Singleton wanted to work with you before, but you were slightly reluctant?
Yeah, he wanted me to be in Shaft, but I didn’t want to do it then.
What part in Shaft?
Not sure, but it was somebody who got killed. It wasn’t that I didn’t want it ’cause I got killed. It was just I wasn’t interested in acting at the time.
So, what made you do Baby Boy?
Because Jody is Tyrese. I just don’t have any kids. That’s a side of me that I put to rest, but I had to wake “Jody” up to do this movie and as soon as they yelled ‘That’s a wrap’ I put him back to bed.
Hmmm, the “Jody” in Tyrese… how did you come out of that?
Started thinking beyond my years. Tried to be more responsible and tried to prioritize. Rather than thinking for the moment, I was thinking about the future. It’s really easy to get mad and do stupid things for the moment. Or if you meet a girl, she looks good and you might just want to be spur of the moment, not thinking of the consequences. I tried to be more conscious and not just lollygag through life.
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I think the movie has a universal look on life too. It’s not just an African-American movie, but it’s about how a certain group of African-Americans interpret the same problem that everyone else deals with. I mean, how I dealt with having my mom’s boyfriend living at the house. And we all go through that. Your mama isn’t with your daddy no more, but she still wants to get some affection. And it’s something that none of her kids could give her. But then it’s like your mama has to get permission from you, her kid, to go out with a man.
Sort of like your relationship with Ving Rhames in the movie. Working with Rhames, who is the seasoned actor of the cast, did you observe him around the set very much?
The first two weeks of filming I couldn’t stand him ’cause I wasn’t looking to like him or get along with him ’cause that’s what Jody did in the film. I didn’t want to be in the same room with him or breathe the same air. I guess that’s what you’d call “method acting.” He reminded me of my friend’s stepfather that he couldn’t stand. So all of that pain all contributed to Jody not feeling Ving at all. Once I got to know him after we started talking real sporadically, very, very sporadic conversations we would have, we got to know each other and he became my hero. He’s my new hero now.
So the look of horror on Jody’s face when he sees Ving‘s character cooking in the kitchen naked–that’s authentic?
Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. It’s like, how comfortable can you get with being in my space? And that’s due to how comfortable my mama can make a man feel in the house.
It’s a big deal for you to take on a leading role in your first big movie like this. What kind of pressures did you put on yourself?
I went through a lot of changes…. I knew a lot of people were gonna criticize me because I was another singer turned actor. “Oh lord, here we go again, somebody else trying to sing, trying to act.” As well as me having the lead role, there’s a lot of egos in every aspect of entertainment. And I didn’t want nobody to treat me like I had the lead role. So I went out of my way to crush whatever egos existed. Because I needed everybody to get me through this film because I had no experience whatsoever. And just stuff like that. I went out of my way make sure people knew–I am here and I need you. I’m not coming in here like I’ve got all this experience and I know what I’m doing. I had to beg them for information.
The one thing that was going to get me through this movie is that I know what everybody stands for. I know about mom being desperate for love almost. When she starts putting her man over her kids–I know all that. I just couldn’t miss out on this story.
Did you have any insecurities about doing it or did you know it was in you?
John [Singleton] made me feel like I was the man for the job every single day. And if you come into it thinking that you’re not, you eventually are gonna feel like you are after somebody like John. But I felt like I was the man for the job. I felt like, “Here I am. Let’s make it happen.”
Tell me about your audition for that Coke commercial.
They called my high school and said they were looking for male, black, 16-18 for a commercial. It was a general cattle call and I went out to the audition but I was two and a half hours late. And had to beg the lady to whip her filming equipment back out. And the only reason she wasn’t gone was her ride was stuck in traffic. So by the grace of God I got that, and it really changed my life.
What tactic did you use to convince her?
Just had to throw a little charm. “Come on, baby girl, throw out the equipment, you know, baby girl, bring the equipment back out.”
And what made you decide to go for the commercial in the first place?
I figured that this girl that I’ve been trying to talk to forever that lived up the street, I’d finally be able to get her number and get her to like me if she’d see me on TV. And as well as I would probably be able to go shopping and spend over $50 on things I wanted to buy. And I knew about all the residuals, so I was looking forward to that.
What was your first big purchase with that paycheck?
My biggest check back then, I bought a house when I was 16. Four bedroom. That was beautiful. I just had to get out.
And was that your ticket out of Watts, California?
It was my ticket, but I lived maybe 15 minutes from Watts, in Hawthorne.
What are looking to do now that Baby Boy is done?
I don’t really want to do another movie right now. But if I did, it would probably be this one story called The Antwone Fisher Story Denzel Washington‘s directorial debut [titled Finding Fish]. I know how big Denzel Washington is, but I’m not looking to do the movie because it’s Denzel or because you could win awards. I just want to be able to tell that guy’s story.
What inspires you?
What turns me on is what I didn’t have access to before. To go and do and be who I want to be, you know, when the money wasn’t there. The saddest thing I learned about life is that you can have a heart of gold but you won’t be able to show people what your heart is truly made of when you’re broke. I’m doing what I’m doing for my community, and it feels good [2000 Watts is an organization Tyrese founded to help inner city children]. But that’s just another interpretation of where my heart is at. It’s just something that I have to do. I could make money, get famous and just worry about me. Buy a big house on the side of the hill and never look back at the people that are still struggling. But I’m not about that. I’m about going back in there and trying to make a difference in their lives.
Baby Boy opens wide on June 27.
—Hollywood.com’s celebrity writer Ellen Kim contributed to this report.
