I had been working on it for five or six years and I think I had other people who were more on the ground floor in terms of being my cheerleader. But with him, I think he really did encourage me so much as an actor that I think it gave me confidence for the rest of my life that I wouldn’t have had without him.
Can you elaborate on why you chose Mike Epps to play the role of Cal? He’s a comedic presence that doesn’t really get the credit he deserves a dramatic actor too, similar to Marlon Wayans.
Well, it’s funny because Mike Epps is someone who is so famous and such a big comedy icon, but I hadn’t really seen much of his comedic work. I saw him in Bessie, about Bessie Smith, and I thought he was just spellbinding and amazing. Then I saw him in Sparkle where he played this pimp and I just thought he was so soulful and I saw something in his eyes that was so fragile and funny. Also, he really listens as an actor. He’s so open to me and he listens better than a lot of people I’ve seen. So I just kind of fell in love with him as a dramatic actor from those two movies.
It was only after I started speaking with him that I realized this guy is a huge comedian, even though I really mostly just seen him as a dramatic actor. So it’s kind of kismet. That’s what’s great about doing a lot of different kinds of work. People can see you \ a certain way, just because of what they’ve seen of your work, so they can kind of say, “oh no, he does mostly comedies or he does mostly dramas” so a director might say “let’s put him in a comedy”. I see him as this certain thing. So you kind of project your own vision, I saw him as a super open, super fragile dramatic actor and I was right. To me, he’s kind of a genius.
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