E-mail a friendTerrence Howard
original airdate July 19, 2005
With a chemical engineering degree, Terrence Howard didn't initially set his sights on Hollywood. Raised in Cleveland, he started on the small screen and has since appeared in more than 30 films, including Dead Presidents, The Best Man, Mr. Holland's Opus, Ray and Crash. His TV credits include Sparks, Lackawanna Blues and ABC's Muhammad Ali biopic. Howard triumphed this year at Sundance with his lead role in the festival's hottest film, Hustle & Flow. He's also a self-taught musician and plays the piano and guitar.
Terrence Howard
Tavis: Hollywood studios spend millions of dollars every weekend promoting their latest movies, but every now and again a movie comes down the line that needs almost no promotion simply because word of mouth among critics and those who screen the movie create such a tremendous buzz. This year I would argue that film is "Hustle & Flow." The gritty drama set in Memphis took the Sundance Film Festival by storm earlier this year, winning the coveted Audience Award and cashing in on the most money ever paid for a film in Sundance history. That was good news for producer John Singleton and writer/director Craig Brewer, on this program not long ago, and certainly good news for two of the talented stars of the film. Here right now, Terrence Howard and Taryn Manning. Terrence, how you living?
Terrence Howard: I'm good, man. My publicist didn't give me my socks.
Tavis: You know, you can rock suede shoes without the socks, all right? Don't step on your brown suede shoes. Taryn, how are you?
Taryn Manning: I'm good. How are you?
Tavis: I'm well, thank you. Nice to meet you. Nice to have you here. You know, I love you like a fat kid loves cake, but I'm not--well, for you, more than the devil loves sin, but I'm tired of seeing you already, man. First of all, I got this, the new issue of "Essence" with your gorgeous mug on the cover of it. Two Sundays ago, the cover of the "Arts and Leisure" section for "The New York Times." I wasn't joking earlier, Terrence, when I said this movie has created a buzz the likes of which I haven't seen in a while.
Howard: I don't know how it happened. I mean, I was just trying to support Craig and Stephanie Allain's vision. They had so much passion. It was like, come and do this little project for us. Please hold on and do this thing for us. I made $12,000 doing the whole project, you know. It was like a work session, you know, a workshop. And we all poured our heart into it, and I think the community really appreciates when the community looks after the community, you know? If that's not goofy.
Tavis: No, it's not. Tell me in your words what the film is about. And I want to hear it from you, because I want to follow up on that.
Howard: To me, the film is about lost dreams, about lost hope. You know, you have DJay, a young man who has spent his entire life--
Tavis: DJay, the character you play.
Howard: DJay, the character I play in this film, who has spent his entire life allowing it to be molded and shaped by the unfortunate circumstances that he grew up in, and at one particular point he decides I'm going to take part and participate in my own destiny, despite of where I come from. I'm going to create my own ceiling and remove the ceiling that's been placed upon me by my environment. And that's something that relates to so many people. My beautiful co-star, Taryn Manning here, she'll tell you when we started this project, I didn't know what I was doing. I was asking, how do I do this scene? How do I we do this? I was so nervous and so uncomfortable. And we just all had a similar dream, you know? And it's about accomplishing that dream.
Tavis: Before I pull Taryn into this conversation, it seems tome, and this is the follow-up I wanted to offer, it seems to me, Terrence, that one could look at this project in a couple different ways, and isn't that the case with everything, because art is in fact subjective. But one could look at it and say that here's another story about another brother who's playing the role of another pimp. Or one could say that here's a story that underscores the fact that if a pimp can be redeemed, then there's hope for me.
Howard: Well, I appreciated the fact that he was a pimp. I mean, initially I was
trepidatious about it, but by him being a pimp, you know, he is the lowest of the low as far as sinking into this quagmire, this moral quagmire, and being at the very bottom of that, taking advantage of someone else's humanity and their innocence. If he can find, in your words, if he can find redemption and can find humanity in himself again and his conscience again, then it means that there's hope for anybody in the world that may have made big mistakes. I'm playing someone who lives inside the community. These people exist. I talked to 123 pimps in two and a half years in researching this--
Tavis: Are there still 123 pimps around?
Howard: There's thousands.
Tavis: I like that. "I talked to 123 pimps."
Howard: In two and a half years, but the question I kept asking them, all of them seemed to have been born with that proverbial gift of gab. They were all possible statesmen or scholars, you know, who seemed to have had a dream deferred, and we know what happens when you have a dream deferred.
Tavis: Does it dry up like a raisin in the sun or fester like a syrupy sweet and run? What happens to a dream deferred? I remember that from fifth grades. I still ain't forgot that. Anyway, Taryn, nice to have you here. You play a character named Nola?
Taryn Manning: Mm-hmm.
Tavis: Tell me about Nola.
Manning: Let's see. In a nutshell, Nola, she's like this lost young girl who probably came from, like, an abused home and she kind of runs away, and he discovers her at a truck stop turning tricks. But she's very brave, extremely brave and, like, that's why he kind of like swoops her up and takes her under his wing. And she kind of like, she's always in the mix, like in the family, but never gets to really speak her mind or do anything. And like, because of it she's just like, there's all this stuff going on inside of her, and finally she, like, bursts and takes a stand for what she wants and kind of becomes the one in charge.
Tavis: You referenced earlier, while Terrence was talking, both of you were a little nervous trying to figure out how to play these characters. So one, how does one prepare, research to prepare to play a character like yours? And number two, were you at all timid about playing this kind of character?
Manning: Yeah. Like, number two first, I was definitely timid, and I was really nervous to meet Terrence and so work so closely with such an amazing actor. I was pretty nervous. But we had rehearsal for, like, two weeks so we were able to really get to know each other and work through the scenes. It started to feel better definitely. And then, like, the research part was just actually talking to some prostitutes and strippers and stuff and then watching, like, great old classic films like "Taxi Driver."
Tavis: Tell me about this guy, speaking of research, that you hung out with. Was it Juicy J?
Howard: Juicy J.
Tavis: I love the name. So Juicy J is this cat in Memphis, this is the guy in Memphis that took you around. Tell me about Juicy J.
Howard: Juicy J is--this is Juicy J. He runs Three Six Mafia, so you hear that Three-Six Mafia, but they actually control all the music that's allowed to be aired in Memphis. They control the radio stations. They control who gets signed and who doesn't get signed. And he's such a loving, sweet guy seemingly on the surface, but Juicy has a lot of juice and he--
Tavis: Hence Juicy J?
Howard: Yeah. He has me at his studio. Craig says, OK, I want Juicy J to pick you up. Now, I don't know much about crunk music, and I go to his studio and he brings 13, 14 cats with him. Now everybody doing their thing, drinking a little bit, and they're getting their little crunk thing, and they look like they're trying to hit somebody, and I'm the only person nobody knows. So I tell them I've got to go to the bathroom, and I break out. And John Singleton calls me an hour later. Why aren't you in the studio? They're looking for you. I was like, I'm not going back there unless you give me a gun. That's how I'm going back to the studio. Finally Juicy came to my room at 2:00 in the morning, had a long talk with me, and he drove me around that city for three months, for three months, and showed me the real life of Memphis. He's the one that explained to me that Memphis stood for making easy money, pimping hos in style. That's Juicy J. That's his mentality, and that's the mentality of so many young people in that place. It's like the only thing that they have as commerce is to sell, you know, some humanity. And I wanted to expose these pimps as what they were: chauffeurs. Because that's all they really are doing. I wanted an opportunity to try and break that stereotype and the glamour that's been attached to them.
Tavis: Right. I wonder if, speaking of your exposing that and how well you do it, whether or not you are ready for what may come out of this? I said to you off-camera--
Howard: Like a backlash? Like Bishop Tutu going to come knock me out?
Tavis: No, the exact opposite. You may get some of that, but I think right along with some of that backlash is going to come the--your career is about to really, really explode. You ready for that? You ain't been doing bad, but this could be the moment.
Howard: Well, my blood vessel in my eye exploded.
Tavis: That was Beyoncé that did that. I saw the BET Awards. Beyoncé did that to you. I saw that.
Howard: I mean, I could barely handle that. Beyoncé does a lap dance for me. I'm this close to the most beautiful thing in the world, and I wake up the next morning and half my eye don't want to pop open.
Tavis: So what happens if "Hustle & Flow" blows up?
Howard: Then I'll probably lose my head. An aneurism or something. This might be the last time y'all see me.
Tavis: Get a good look at him. Get a real good look at him. This may be the last time. As a matter of fact, speaking of his head blowing up, it may be the last time it fits in our studio. So anyway, the new movie "Hustle & Flow" opens July 22. I ain't got to tell you about it. The buzz is everywhere. Taryn, nice to have you on. Thanks for coming by.
Manning: Thank you.
Tavis: Terrence, proud of you, man. Glad to have you here.
Howard: Thank you, brother. I love you, man.
Tavis: I love you back. That's our show for tonight. You can catch me on public radio this weekend and every weekend on PRI--Public Radio International. Check your local listings. See you back here next time on PBS. Until then, thanks for watching, good night from L.A., and as always, keep the faith.
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