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• Mr. Fishburne's official site
• Mr. Fishburne for UNICEF

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Tavis: I am delighted to welcome Laurence Fishburne to this program. The Academy Award-nominated actor has enjoyed a tremendous career in Hollywood with roles in seminal films like 'Apocalypse Now,' 'Boyz N the Hood,' and the blockbuster 'Matrix Trilogy.' His latest film is 'Assault on Precinct 13,' which opens nationwide this week. The film is a remake of the 1970s cult classic. Here now, a scene from 'Assault on Precinct 13.'

Marion Bishop: We're not gonna make it till morning. Marcus Duvall will not allow it.

Jake Roenick: We've got 8 people covering 6 entry points. If we work together, all right, we will make it.

Bishop: Look at it this way. That's me out there. You think I'd let you survive until the morning?

Roenick: We don't have a lot of options here.

Bishop: Well, we got to figure somethin', ‘cause I'm not gonna stay here all night waitin' to get killed.

Roenick: If you use this situation to try and escape, it's about me and you. 'Cause when this is over, you're goin' back to jail.

Bishop: Relax, sergeant.

Roenick: Relax.

Bishop: This ain't about me and you--not yet.

Tavis: Don't get it twisted.

Laurence Fishburne: How you doin'?

Tavis: How you livin', Laurence?

Fishburne: I'm well, man. I'm well.

Tavis: Nice to see you.

Fishburne: Actually, I'm not completely well. I'm a little under the weather, but I'm happy to be here to talk to you.

Fishburne: Well, I'm glad to have you here, and I appreciate you coming here, especially being under the weather. Happy New Year to you.

Fishburne: To you, too, man.

Tavis: So you still at this thing. Still at it.

Fishburne: Yes, still swimmin' upstream. The Fish Man still swimmin' upstream.

Tavis: You don't mean that, though. You're not swimmin' upstream these days.

Fishburne: Always swimmin' upstream.

Tavis: You don't mean that.

Fishburne: Of course I do.

Tavis: You might have started that way. But tell me why--you done started already. I was tryin' to ease into it. You just gonna jump. So I'm gonna jump with you. How does Laurence Fishburne at this point swim upstream?

Fishburne: I never--I have never made choices based on what's popular. I've always done things that speak to me, and my taste doesn't always run to what's popular. My taste is very eclectic and somewhat intellectual, I think, for people's tastes. So, for example, I have, you know, been producing movies, and I've directed one film. I've been writing, and these areas of my career have kinda opened up, and I've manifested these things probably for about 10 years now. But it's new territory, and it's a place where I'm challenged because I don't know everything, and I've gotta learn, and I've got to grow, and I've got to shift and adapt. So that's what I mean when I say I'm swimmin' upstream. You know, I wanna make more films as a director. I wanna write, and I have to learn new skills to do those things, you know, to do those things well.

Tavis: Your answer now may inform in advance the question I wanna ask. But let me ask it anyway. You swim upstream in part because you choose to swim in that direction.

Fishburne: Absolutely.

Tavis: You could turn around and go the other way.

Fishburne: Yeah, sure.

Tavis: So by your own admission, you choose to swim upstream. What, then, is the joy that you get out of swimming in the opposite direction?

Fishburne: You know, I don't know. I just--it's my instinct. My instinct is to go that way, you know? I don't know. Maybe it's something to do with my own survival as an artist, and maybe it has to do with my integrity as an artist. Maybe it has to do with wanting to do stuff that challenges people a little bit more than the average fare, you know?

Tavis: Mm-hmm. I've heard people come on this program any number of times over the last couple of years in my radio shows and other TV programs and talk about and use the phrase or a similar phrase "integrity as an artist." For you--for Laurence Fishburne--what does it mean for you as an artist to have integrity? When you use that phrase, what does that mean for you? What do you mean by that?

Fishburne: It means, simply, that I remain true to my own sensibilities. I remain true to the things that really speak to me, you know? For example, 'Assault on Precinct 13.' Like, why do a movie like this? It's a remake of a cult classic movie. When I read the script, I was, like, "Oh, wow." For this particular genre of film, this script is really first-rate quality.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: And this character is someone that I've never had the opportunity to play before.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: The character, in fact, was called Zombrano, and I think Focus Features was looking at, you know, Italian-American actors to play this character. The director, Jean-Francois Richet, when asked who he would like to play this part, mentioned my name. So it's, you know, it's not "highbrow" stuff.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: But it's smarter than the average action movie.

Tavis: Yeah.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: Yeah. Let me--speaking of movies, and I've never done this before with anybody on my program. But I'm fascinated by this line of conversation that we're engaged in at the moment about your integrity as an artist. Let me throw a few of your films at you if I might.

Fishburne: Sure.

Tavis: 'Cause I'm curious from your perspective what you got out of doin' these films...

Fishburne: OK.

Tavis: What these opportunities to play these roles meant for you. We all sit back as critics and say what we loved you in. But what did you get out of it?

Fishburne: Yeah, right. Because everybody has their favorite.

Tavis: Exactly. So speakin' of favorites, next year, the 15th anniversary of 'Boyz N the Hood.'

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: 15 years since that film was released with John Singleton. What did that do for Laurence Fishburne?

Fishburne: Uh, personally?

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: It made me realize how fortunate I was to be a working actor in this business, and by that, I mean, you know, I was able to look after my family.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: I made my living. I had not yet become a leading man or a star or however you wanna describe that thing. But I was a working actor, and as a working actor, I was capable of providing for my family, and I understood that I'd be able to work, you know, for years.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: And I understood that I had something of value and that I was truly blessed to be working.

Tavis: Speaking of the remake now that you--we were just talkin' about which is a remake of a 1976 cult classic.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: 'Boyz N the Hood' has become a classic.

Fishburne: Yeah. It was an instant classic.

Tavis: An instant classic. Did you have any idea when you all were doin' this what you were creating here, what you were molding?

Fishburne: Like I said at the outset of our conversation, I knew that this material was powerful material. I got John's script. I had met him 2 or 3 years before I got the script. He sent it to me, and as I turned the last page, I was weeping.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: So that's what I knew, you know.

Tavis: And that was enough.

Fishburne: Yeah. That was plenty for me, yeah.

Tavis: I guess so. If you read a script and you cry, I mean, as long as you're not cryin' because it was just that bad...

Fishburne: Right, exactly.

Tavis: I guess you got somethin' to work with.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: What's love got to do with it?

Fishburne: Personally, you know, that's a tough one. But I think I took the most joy out of being able to be the leading man for one of America's finest actresses. I took my greatest joy out of being in partnership with Angela Bassett in that role. That was where I took my greatest joy.

Tavis: Mm-hmm. To your point, and this may be an unfair question. But, I mean, you know, you can slap me if you want to.

Fishburne: OK.

Tavis: I wish you wouldn't. But...

Fishburne: OK.

Tavis: I'm sayin' it to you anyway. Angela Bassett is a fine actress, a fine actor. What is it about this business that has kept us from seeing more of her? She got nominated for that movie, and I love Angela. But I don't see Angela.

Fishburne: No, we don't see Angela as much as we should. However, all I can tell you, the good news is that she and I are gonna be making a movie this year together called 'Akeelah and the Bee.'

Tavis: That's good. I didn't even know that.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: That's good. I'm glad to hear that.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: 2 more, and then we'll move onto some other stuff I wanna talk about. Can't talk to you without asking what you think--I'm not even sure you know the answer yet. Maybe you do. 'Cause it may be too soon. This 'Matrix trilogy'...

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: That's, like, status.

Fishburne: It's very, very heady. I mean, again, this was something. I read it. I was, like, "This is the most original idea I've ever seen, and I really wanna be a part of this." I don't think anybody really understood what kind of, you know, "pop culture" phenomenon it was gonna be.

Tavis: Uh-huh.

Fishburne: It has made me iconic, particularly with young people, and my hope is that the young people who can only identify me as Morpheus today, tomorrow, perhaps, if I'm lucky, they'll discover 'Othello.' They'll discover 'For Us the Living,' they'll discover 'Tuskegee Airmen,' they'll discover 'Miss Evers' Boys,' 'Cornbread, Earl and Me,' 'Apocalypse Now,' and all the other work that I've done over the years and be, you know, moved and entertained by some of that.

Tavis: See, I'm crackin' up on the inside. Because to one generation you're Morpheus.

Fishburne: Sure.

Tavis: But to me, I still love you for being cowboy Curtis--Cowboy Curtis on 'Pee-wee's Playhouse.' That's just a whole 'nother thing, man.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: So you know you've been workin' a long time when you're spannin' that kind of...

Fishburne: It's been a while.

Tavis: It's been a while, man. God's been good to you.

Fishburne: Amen.

Tavis: Um, let me--When you say that the 'Matrix Trilogy' has made you an iconic figure, indeed it has. Is that something you appreciate, something you have embraced? I ask that because, to the extent that I know you and have gotten to know you over the years, you're such a private person.

Fishburne: I'm a very private person, yeah.

Tavis: You're so private.

Fishburne: I've tried to embrace it--I've embraced it as much as I can, and I will be at the effect of it for many, many years, you know. It's no secret that I will probably be most--best remembered by a lot of people for that character, and I've made my peace with that, and I recognize that it is a tremendous blessing and a responsibility in its own right. So I'm just, you know, a human being who's got this particular set of circumstances that I have to learn how to deal with, and, you know, every day, I learn a little bit more, you know, if I'm payin' attention.

Tavis: Well, help me learn something. 'Cause I wanna ask a real stupid question here. This is one of those 'Inside the Actor's Studio' kinds of questions, and I apologize for it in advance.

Fishburne: No, it's all right.

Tavis: All right. But if I were Laurence Fishburne--we'd all love to be Laurence Fishburne--but if I were Laurence Fishburne and I had become an iconic figure because of the 'Matrix Trilogy'...

Fishburne: Mm-hmm.

Tavis: And even though I made my peace with that, but I did not wanna be trapped by that, I did not wanna be forever bound by that particular character, how would I go about embracing that on the one hand and making my peace with it but picking and choosing other roles and other opportunities to not be...

Fishburne: Well, exactly. I mean, this is why I did the Direct TV commercial that came around, I guess, a year and a half, 2 years ago.

Tavis: And that was good, by the way. It was very good.

Fishburne: 'Cause it was very funny, and it was, you know, it was me sort of presenting the, you know, very serious, pompous kind of actor guy and then taking, you know, making fun of that. So that was one way in which to do it, and then also the character that I played in 'Mystic River' was another opportunity to be a part of a tremendous ensemble of some of the best actors of my generation and to play a supporting role in that that had nothing to do with science fiction or kung fu or computers. I mean, it was an old-fashioned drama. So I found ways, I believe, to just move in another direction. I mean, I've just done a picture called 'Five Fingers' with Ryan Phillippe and my good wife Gina Torres...

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: That deals with terrorism. This picture I'm gonna do with Angela Bassett, 'Akeelah and the Bee,' I'm gonna be playing a professor, a linguist, you know, a professor of linguistics, and the 'Assault on Precinct 13,' 'Biker Boyz,' all very different things. So I just try to keep mixing it up, and, you know, changing things slowly and subtly and not too abruptly.

Tavis: I'm glad you mentioned 'Biker Boyz.' 'Cause I was gonna go there. When did you develop this love for motorcycles that I didn't know existed?

Fishburne: Well, I had the good fortune of learning how to ride properly in Atlanta when I made 'Fled' with Stephen Baldwin in 1995, and, um--I just--I was instantly smitten with the machines, and I've been riding, and, you know, God bless it. I've been riding safely for 10 years now, and I just enjoy it.

Tavis: Mm-hmm. What do you--it's a silly question. But I'm just trying to...

Fishburne: Mm-hmm.

Tavis: Some people like to--you know, John Travolta flies airplanes.

Fishburne: Right.

Tavis: Paul Newman races cars. You like ridin' motorcycles. What do you get out of that? You love the machine. But what do you...

Fishburne: I get about an hour and a half of anonymity where I'm just a guy on a motorcycle.

Tavis: Mm-hmm. That's enough, too.

Fishburne: That's, you know, sometimes an hour and a half, sometimes 2 hours of anonymity sustains me for--can sustain me for, you know, a year.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: If it's the right 2 hours, you know? I just did, um...voice work for Tiger Woods' life story. This is one of those ways in which you use the iconic thing and you embrace it. You know, Michael Jordan loved Morpheus as a character and asked for me to narrate his IMAX movie. Tiger Woods did the same thing. So that's where you go, "OK, I can use this thing, embrace it, you know. It's the quality of my voice that people appreciate, and it's one of my gifts. So I can't ignore that. But at the same time, you know, I know that both of them like to dive, and I wanna dive with them when I get to actually sit down and meet Tiger and maybe spend a minute with Mr. Jordan. I would love to go, "Hey, let's go diving."

Tavis: Yeah.

Fishburne: Can you imagine diving with Michael Jordan and Tiger Woods and not having to say anything? And no one could ask you for your autograph, and we can't even talk to each other.

Tavis: Yeah.

Fishburne: That kind of anonymity, 30 minutes like that, those 30 minutes would carry me for 3 years.

Tavis: Yeah. Ha ha. To the point of you not just being blessed with this wonderful thespian flair that you have. But you do have this voice. James Earl Jones, great actor, but also has a voice. What have you learned over the years about this instrument that you have and what it has done to help you elevate your game? What if people just don't have that?

Fishburne: Well, it's always been a part of my sort of arsenal, my bag of tricks if you will. I have a very good ear, and I can impersonate people, and I can do different accents and voices quite easily, and the actors that I appreciated as a young man were all people who had really beautiful speaking instruments.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: You know, one of my dearest friends and mentors is Roscoe Lee Browne who has the most beautiful voice...

Tavis: It don't come much better than that, yeah.

Fishburne: In the world.

Tavis: Yeah.

Fishburne: The most beautiful voice in the world belongs to my friend Roscoe Browne, and, you know, James Earl, Richard Burton, Peter O'Toole, Richard Harris. There are actors who use their vocal instrument very well, and I just, for some reason, paid attention to that, and I've tried to use mine well as well.

Tavis: Yeah. I wanna talk about your UNICEF work in a second. Before I shift to that, let me ask a very impolitic question. But now's a good time as any. When I first met you--this is a dramatic shift of gears here. When I first met you years ago--and I've since learned, being in this business, to not judge people.

Fishburne: Yes.

Tavis: And I work really hard every day at not judging.

Fishburne: Yeah, it's important.

Tavis: It's a tough thing to not judge people, and I work really hard at that. When I first met you, though--and I was so excited to meet you.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: But when I met you, I was, like, "Wow, he's really king of stand-offish," and I was all geeked about it, man, and you know, just--your style was just kinda, you know, and I was, like, 'Man.' I kinda walked away a little let down.

Fishburne: Oh, I'm sorry.

Tavis: No, no, no, no, and I'm not tryin' to embarrass you. I'm tryin' to go--as the black preacher says, "Stay with me. I'm goin' somewhere with this."

Fishburne: OK, beautiful.

Tavis: "I'm goin' somewhere with this."

Fishburne: Let's go.

Tavis: All right. So I met you, and I'm thinkin', man, this guy Laurence is a little stand-offish. But I saw you again a year or two later, came at you again, got a little different vibe, you know?

Fishburne: Right, right.

Tavis: So over the years, I've come to learn a bit more about your style.

Fishburne: Right.

Tavis: But do you ever think about--does it matter to you how people view you when they walk away from you? Because all you can be is who you are.

Fishburne: Yeah.

Tavis: But you're not--you're just not a...

Fishburne: You know, ultimately, Tavis, what that is, my stand-offishness, my aloofness, my...

Tavis: That's a better word. Aloofness.

Fishburne: My aloofness, my lofty thing...

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: I'm shy, Tavis. I'm a tremendously shy individual, and I don't--it takes me a while to really get comfortable with people.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: And I love what I do, and I love people. I love people. My work is the way in which I express my love to people, and when people are excited to see you because you're famous...

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: It's them showing love to you. But my shyness...

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: Is--it's just who I am. I'm very shy. So even though somebody's really happy to see me, and they're, like, "Hey!" I'm, like, I'm always, like...

Tavis: Yeah.

Fishburne: Because I'm shy. I don't know you. I'm glad you're happy to see me.

Tavis: But I don't know you.

Fishburne: But until I, you know, until we sit down and we break bread and we really, you know what I mean?

Tavis: Right.

Fishburne: I'm over here, man. I don't know you.

Tavis: Yeah.

Fishburne: I love you.

Fishburne: I love you.

Tavis: Yeah, I got you.

Fishburne: But, you know, I just--I need a minute, and people misread me. They think I'm--they think I'm arrogant. They think I'm lofty. They think I'm--I'm shy.

Tavis: Well, I say that only because I wanted to make the point that I did misread you.

Fishburne: Yeah, I'm shy.

Tavis: And I apologize for misreading you in that way. How do you get over that then? Here's the irony here, and you know where I'm goin' with this. As shy as you are as an individual, you give all of this and then some on the screen.

Fishburne: That's what I do, that's not who I am.

Tavis: Yeah.

Fishburne: That's what I do.

Tavis: Right, OK.

Fishburne: That's what I do, and I do that for people. My work is not for me.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: I've got a gift, and I know how--I'm a communicator, and I communicate through the craft of acting--through writing, through storytelling. That's what I do.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: But Laurence the individual is a very shy, very sensitive, very internal person.

Tavis: Mm-hmm.

Fishburne: And, you know, I won't ever get over that. It's part of my duality. I'm a human being. I'm a lot of different things. So I'm always gonna have a little bit of that. I've had to learn how to do this, for example, you know? I've had to learn--I mean, even when I was a kid, and, you know, 'Cornbread, Earl and Me' came out and this thing came out and that, and people would ask me for my autograph. I was never really into it. But I realized that at some point I was gonna have to do it sometime. So I practiced signing my autograph so I could at least do it quickly when I was able to do it, you know?

Tavis: Let me ask you right quick before my time runs out. Your UNICEF work. You've been doin' this for many--and you love this work, don't you?

Fishburne: Yeah, this is important work. Working to help alleviate some of the emergencies that go on around the world that affect children profoundly is important work to me, and I've just come back from Atlanta where I did a fundraiser for the U.S. fund for UNICEF to raise money not for the tsunami victims in South Asia, but for the people who are suffering from the AIDS epidemic in South Africa and Sub-Saharan Africa. Because this thing is affecting millions and millions and millions of people.

Tavis: You think we get that, though, here, because it's so far away?

Fishburne: I don't know. All I know is that I'm about the business of trying to call people's attention to it and trying to remind people that this, too, is an issue that needs to be dealt with and that we can deal with it. The people in South Africa are dealing with it. They need our help, and we should do anything that we can to help them just like we've had this outpouring of relief and emotion and support for the people who've suffered from the tsunami. We mustn't forget the people in South Africa who are battling AIDS.

Tavis: Mm-hmm. Man, I can do this for another hour. But Laurence is too shy to stay for another hour.

Fishburne: But now that we know each other, we can talk.

Tavis: Yeah, OK. You're too shy to stick around for another hour. The new film, the remake of the 1976 cult classic starring one Laurence Fishburne is 'Assault on Precinct 13.' Go check that out. As always, we wanna share with you ways you can be enlightened and encouraged and empowered and learn more about our guest. So we invite you, as does Laurence, to visit Laurence-Fishburne.com.

Fishburne: It's really cool.

Tavis: Really cool, he says. Laurence-Fishburne.com, and I really encourage you to go on that website. Because he is so shy, you won't talk to him on the street. 'Cause the brother loves you. But he don't know you. He loves you, but he don't know you. So you better go to the website to learn more about Laurence-Fishburne.com. Laurence, I'm proud of you, man. Nice to see you. Hope you feel better, too.

Fishburne: Thank you, Tavis. I will try to do that.

Tavis: Thanks for comin' on.

Fishburne: You're welcome.

Tavis: Welcome back any time.

Fishburne: Thanks.

Tavis: That's our show for tonight. I'll see you back here next time on PBS. Until then, good night from L.A. Thanks for watching. As always, keep the faith.