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• "Jurnee Smollett, Denzel Whitaker and Nate Parker: Young Guns"
• "No argument, Nate Parker's goal is to be a star"
• "A passionate champion for justice"
• The Great Debaters

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The Great Debaters actress explains what she learned from her role in the film. (1:21)
 

Tavis: "The Great Debaters," of course, stars Denzel Washington and Forest Whitaker, but much of the film focuses, of course, on three college debate team members played by Nate Parker, Jurnee Smollett and Denzel Whitaker. This talented trio has helped "The Great Debaters" earn a Golden Globe nomination and more NAACP Image Award nominations than any other film of 2007. Here now a scene from "The Great Debaters."

[Film Clip]

Tavis: Nate, Jurnee, Denzel, nice to have you all here.

Jurnee Smollett: Thank you for having us.

Nate Parker: Great to be here.

Denzel Whitaker: Thank you.

Tavis: First of all, congratulations on the Golden Globe nomination and the Image Awards nominations, plural. I hope that this writer's strike - it'd be nice if this were over by the Image Awards because I'd hate to see the Image Awards go the way of the Golden Globes, which is to have a film like yours be so heavily nominated and not get a chance for you to take the stage and share with the country what it meant to do a project like this. But we have this conversation to at least talk about it in advance of that program, whatever might happen to it.

Nate, speaking of Image Awards, when you think of a film like this being nominated by the NAACP for an Image Award, image where Black folk are concerned with, what do you make of that?

Parker: Oh, man, it's powerful to me because it's a testament of the film we did. Like it was a very special project. I mean, from concept to finished product, you know, when we all received the script, I knew from page one this was something that was going to move people.

It's funny because we've screened this film all over the country and it's had such great response. Even before this, I knew. I said, "Man, people are seeing it. People are responding." It was so much bigger than awards, you know. Something Denzel says, you know, "Man gives an award, God gives a reward."

So all of us could work without the pressure of it having to be this certain type of film, but when I got the news that we were all nominated and that the film did so well, I was excited because that means more people are going to see it and they're going to see the message in the film and it's going to change their lives like it's changing everyone else's.

Tavis: Let me ask you to unpack that a little bit more. When you saw the script for the first time, to your point, and you read it and you knew that there was something there, what did you see?

Parker: I saw truth, I saw honesty, I saw courage, something that you don't see in everything you read in Hollywood especially when you're dealing with, you know, a film that deals with a lot of people of color, Black people. So I saw a stance. They were saying, "We're going to be honest. We're going to tell it like it is. This is what has happened. Regardless of how it's been kicked under the rug, this is what it is."

Tavis: Denzel, everybody is just still taken aback. Now that everybody knows your name, just taken aback by the uncanny irony of Denzel and Forest being on the same project and your name, Denzel Whitaker, brings both of them together. Is that just irony or do you think -

Whitaker: - it's (laughter) complete coincidence, complete coincidence. My parents wanted to give me a D name. You know, my dad's name is Dale Whitaker. So they just wanted to give me something with a D, something that's powerful. My father admired Denzel Washington and they were like, "You know what? Denzel. That's a cool name."

Tavis: (Laughter) Let me throw both names at you. When I say Denzel Washington, what do you think of? What comes to mind if I say a guy like Denzel Washington to you?

Whitaker: Whoo! Well, coming off of this movie, you know, I'd say mentor. Before that, I'd say powerful, strong Black figure.

Tavis: And Forest Whitaker?

Whitaker: Forest Whitaker. Humble, generous, but, you know, don't take him lightly (laughter).

Tavis: (Laughter) Good point if you know Forest. Very good point. For those who haven't seen the movie, tell me about your character in it.

Whitaker: Well, my character is James Farmer, Jr. He's fourteen and goes to college, which is something, you know, unheard of in today's time. But back then, you know, they really strived about it. If you had academic excellence, they didn't mind bumping you up.

It was one of those things where James Farmer is now in college, you know, he sees a beautiful girl, he sees new father figures such as Melvin B. Tolson, Jr. and Henry Lowe and he's taking all these. Then he's dealing with his father as well. There's a lot of things hitting him like racism and stuff that he knows is out there, but he hasn't really experienced it.

Tavis: When you're working with a guy like Denzel and Forest, I wonder, your character specifically, whether or not you were at all frightened or intimidated by the complexity of your character. Back to the point that Nate made earlier or intimated at least, I love when we get a chance to see a Black cast, but I love more when we get a chance to see the complexity of Black character.

Of everybody in this movie, I thought your character had such complexity to it. Was that intimidating? I mean, you pulled it off, but were you intimidated by it when you first read it?

Whitaker: You know, I was intimidated. When I first read it, I was wondering, you know, how I would pull this off. I was very intrigued by the role, like you said, about the complexities, about a story that none of us have never heard of, and that just like sparked my imagination. Then I was like, "Well, how am I going to pull this off?"

When I went on that first audition, you know, I just wanted to show Denzel what I had brought to the character. You know, he was accepting to that and he was like, "You know what? There's such an innocence about you." I think that's one of the things that he liked and seen in me as far as James Farmer, Jr. goes.

Tavis: So, Jurnee, how many times - the movie's been out for a few weeks now and I suspect you are probably tired of hearing, maybe you're not, that Jurnee Smollett is all grown up now. People act like they saw you and ease by you and they ain't seen nothing else (laughter). But now we see and everybody says, "Jurnee has grown up." You tired of hearing that?

Smollett: No, no. It's refreshing every single time. I mean, one of the things that was beautiful for us was going around the country and bringing the film to the people. It was amazing to be that close with the people and, you know, they come up to you with tears in their eyes.

You know, one of the things when people said to me about me "growing up," they expressed this feeling of happiness to see me in something like this and it was almost like they were cheering for me. You know, that was really, really nice to see that there are people who knew my work before and were happy to see me doing and being a part of something that was as meaningful.

Tavis: What do you take beyond the character that you play, Jurnee? What do you take away because everybody who goes to see the movie, I think, takes something away from the film? As an actor, you have to play this character, but what do you end up taking away from the film on a personal level? What do you learn from it? What do you take away from it?

Smollett: There are so many things. I mean, because this experience was so complex for all of us. We were able to meet some of the people who were alive back then. You know, I was able to meet Henrietta Wells who my character is based on and I spent so much time with her. I lived with her at her house and my mom and I went to visit her. I still speak with her on the phone often.

There were so many things that she said to me, like she really, really wanted me to get the fact that how important education was for them. Education, she said, was the death of mental slavery. That, to me, was such a powerful statement. Mental enslavement, meaning we could be emancipated for a while, but if we are still buying into the propaganda that we're fed on a daily basis and we don't ask why - you know, my mom always says you got to ask why. Got to ask why. What are you doing this?

So for me, it's about that. It's about asking why. It's about putting yourself in a position where you're forced to grow. You know, where it's like out of your comfort zone. I mean, through this film, we all grew as actors. We grew as human beings because this wasn't something that was in our comfort zone, you know.

Tavis: I wonder whether or not, Jurnee, you think that - and I want to get Nate and Denzel's take on this as well if they want to chime in - I wonder whether or not you think that's a lesson, though, that your generation can embrace, that your generation can learn from?

I mean, the movie is set, of course, many, many years ago, but it's played by young people who live in a contemporary culture and the lessons that your mother and the character you play are trying to get us to learn is the value of education.

One could look at the society that we live in, though, and argue persuasively that a lot of folk in your generation aren't getting that lesson. So I guess the question is whether or not you can take a film like this and have your generation extract lessons from it.

Smollett: I think they can, once they see the film. I mean, I don't know if it's something that you just get from the trailer or something like that. But there's something about this film where we're not beating the message over anyone's head, that there's just a natural truth that's just displayed out there and you take from what you can. I mean, I don't think we should underestimate our generation. You know, I think a lot of us are out there and a lot of us are hungry for knowledge and are asking why.

Tavis: The Obama campaign, Nate, seems to underscore this point. Whether you like or loath Barack Obama, supporting him or not supporting him, one thing that is not debatable - pardon the pun - is that a lot of young people are being turned on for the first time to the political process because of his candidacy.

So where this film is concerned, I ask you the same thing that I asked Jurnee, whether or not you think that this generation can be empowered in this way by a film like this.

Parker: Absolutely. Something Denzel says, he says, "Success and failure is a reflection of leadership" and I think that, before we condemn our generation, we must look at ourselves and see what we are doing to help them get a better understanding, whether it's of this film and how to break it down or, you know, the curriculum of this film or the things that were discussed, the topics, the social and economic discrepancies.

All those things are important, but I think that sometimes to digest things of that magnitude, we need to look to ourselves to help younger people.

Tavis: We'll give the youngest member of the panel, Little D, the exit question here. I lost track at like four or five times. I lost count, Denzel Whitaker, at the number of times I heard the phrase in this conversation, "Denzel says, Denzel says, Denzel says, Denzel says," so I take it there was a whole lot of learning from this guy, Denzel Washington, on this journey?

Whitaker: A whole lot of learning.

Tavis: What do you take away most from the experience of working with -

Whitaker: - I'd have to say, well, first of all, he taught me a lot about acting, directing, life lessons. I'd just like to say that he always would drop quotes with me. So one quote that he always said is, "Less is more. Stay humble and keep it simple." That applies to anything you do.

Tavis: Well, we'll take that as our thought for the day. Jurnee, nice to see you. Nate, nice to see you. Denzel, nice to see you. And congratulations on the awards. We will see what happens, but I just have a sneaky suspicion that this is going to clean up at the Image Awards. Just a sneaky suspicion. "The Great Debaters" in a theater right now near you.