As an actor, you always dream of having material that showcases what you can do.
Definitely, as I get older and my taste buds change, I want to do different things. I'm not ready for directing yet, you know, maybe when I get my big boy voice; I don't have that yet, but right now definitely producing for sure.
L.A. is cool. If I could have the rest of my family out there, I think it would make it that much better for me. As far as work and the weather, you can't really beat it. I just wish they had the New York social life out there. That would make it perfect.
The fact that there aren't an abundance of African-American males that are getting lead roles [and] that are getting roles that have prominence on the big screen. [It's] the same thing from behind the camera; maybe even worse. Coming up, when you're black and you want to direct somebody says, "Oh, you're Spike Lee" or "You're John Singleton."
I think every guy that's dated a girl or hasn't been straightaway into a relationship has had that 'so...' moment where a girl is like, 'Hey what are you doing?'
That's probably why my face was looking so crazy when I was crying [in "Hardball"] because it was some real.
Chicago PD has a rule that if you work in Chicago you have to live in Chicago. Some areas don't have that rule.So oftentimes you get people from different environments that get thrown into environments with people that they never spent time with before in they life. On a daily basis or in their personal life. The only access they had to these type of people was through the media.
In terms of experience with the police, everybody got those. It's such a reality.
Working with [Kyle Chandler] in the scene was like playing tennis. You work with really talented actors, I think they make other actors look really, really good.
Now if I cry on screen I think it's mint. Because I think that's how that person would feel at that time. And if it doesn't, then it just doesn't happen.
I can't sing worth a lick, so I don't know if I would be allowed in the ["The Mickey Mouse Club"].
We were shooting this movie called "Hardball," with Keanu Reeves. We shot in the city, and I just remember I couldn't really do too much. At 13 or 14, you couldn't go out to any nightlife.
When I hear people comparing Mike's [Jordan] work to Denzel [Washington] I think it's amazing.. Because Denzel is such an amazing, textured actor. And I think that that comes with Mike too. I'm not thinking about how they look, though; I'm thinking about what they're able to accomplish.
I really want to have a really, really strong, one-sided opinion on something, and be connected to it and tell that story. Until I find that thing or that topic or whatever it is, I don't want to direct.
As an actor, you never want to feel like a tool. You never want to feel like, "Hey, just come here, say this, stop here, look this way," and that's it. You want to have a little input.
Honestly, I'm a firm believer in the next generation of filmmakers. It's very important to keep things fresh, new, current. They have a pulse on what's important today.
In many ways for black actors there's been two leading guys: It's Will Smith vs. Denzel [Washington].
I'm just looking forward to doing these videos with AXE. Doing more directing, collaborating with them, finding ways to kind of like tap into temptation with their market and their audience and mine and find cool, creative ways to get the brand out to people. And I think they're doing a really, really good job. So we've got some cool stuff coming up.
[Ryan Gosling] just got by because he's a cute kid? Yeah. I was an ugly kid; "The Mickey Mouse Club" wasn't for me.
[Chris Evans] is doing an amazing job with "Captain America." I really enjoy those films as well so that's kind of pretty much where that was.
Watching a really good movie excites me, because it makes we want to get up off the couch and go shoot something and act in a scene.
You start at a young age, going on auditions, and you think you did a good job and expect to get that role, and you don't, and it's a letdown, a disappointment. So you tell yourself to just do the work and disconnect, because you have no control over the outcome.
The douchiest thing a guy could do on a date is to make a girl pay. If you invite her out and then make her pay.
We all use texting as a crutch because it's so easy and it doesn't really stop our day for the most part but I think to assure a woman you want to go out, to see that you're serious, you take the extra effort to pick up the phone and make a phone call.
I want to look at my audience and see all walks of life. I want to do something for everybody.
