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In a day and age when box office flicks -- like 'Lottery Ticket' and 'Takers' -- star rap elite such as T.I., Ice Cube and Bow Wow, one acclaimed Hollywood actor is disgruntled about how rappers are ruining his profession.Juilliard-trained Anthony Mackie, who starred in the Academy Award-winning film 'The Hurt Locker,' isn't biting his tongue about how he feels about today's movie casting.
"I don't go into the hospital and let the janitor perform surgery on me, you know what I mean?" Mackie told Details magazine.
He continued, "If you look at what Ice Cube, LL Cool J, and Queen Latifah have been able to do, it's ridiculous to say their talents should be disregarded because they started out in music. At the same time, you'd be hard-pressed to find a Sam Jackson these days, because young actors wouldn't be given those roles now."
Jackson was one of the first leading African American actors to take a staunch stand against rappers being cast in movies over trained actors.
Back in 2002, despite starring in films alongside many mainstream rappers, including Tupac Shakur ('Juice'), Latifah ('Sphere'), Eve, Ice Cube and Xzibit ('XXX'), and David Banner ('Black Snake Moan'), the 'Star Wars' actor was vocal about his feelings on rappers.
''To take people from the music world and give them the same kind of credibility and weight that you give me, Morgan Freeman, Laurence Fishburne, Forest Whitaker -- that's like an aberration to me; you just can't do that,'' Jackson said.
"'It's not my job to lend credibility to so-and-so rapper who's just coming into the business," he continued. "I know there's some young actor sitting in New York or in L.A. who's spent half of his life learning how to act and sacrificing to learn his craft but isn't going to get his opportunity ... because of some actor who's been created -- and you can use the word 'actor' loosely,''
Mackie, who early in his career was Don Cheadle's understudy in the off-Broadway show 'Topdog/Underdog' but quit when Mos Def replaced him, echoed Jackson's sentiment.
"The film business is destroying itself by not breeding talent or nurturing young actors -- and that's why all movies suck now."
In a 2009 interview with Britain's Pride magazine, Nia Long also discussed her thoughts on pop singers and rappers taking roles from trained actors.
"It's just not about how talented you are anymore. It's about how much box office revenue will this person generate," she said.
"When you see certain people – we won't name names – they just don't have the skill and no one in their team has said, 'You need acting classes.' If you're a singer, not an actress, you should sing. If you're a rapper, you should rap."
Mackie was so frustrated with the film business, he took a break and retreated to his hometown of New Orleans.
"I took a hiatus. I went back home to New Orleans and chilled out, enjoyed a few daiquiris and built a house. I got a mask and some dirty old clothes and rebuilt an 1865 Victorian bed-and-breakfast. Sheetrock and plastering -- that's my thing. If the acting don't work out, I'll have a future in construction.
But now, he's back and in large part due to his star turn in 'Hurt Locker.' And he's certainly not hurting for work.
In addition to opening up a new bar in Brooklyn called NoBar, the 30-year-old thespian, who just wrapped a Broadway run in 'A Behanding in Spokane' with Christopher Walken, will soon star as a bad-guy promoter in 'Real Steel,' which he describes as "like Rock 'Em Sock 'Em Robots for adults."
Mackie is also set to star in 'The Adjustment Bureau' with Emily Blunt and Matt Damon and 'Bolden,' a story about New Orleans jazz musician Buddy Bolden.
And he's still finding humor in getting recognized more for his 'Law and Order' episode than the Oscar flick he appeared in.
"You know, it's funny...with all the movies I've done, I still get recognized from my episode of 'Law and Order' more than anything else. It never fails. I always know when my episode comes on. I'll walk out my door and someone will be like, 'Hey. It's the guy!' I'm like 'Law and Order,' right?'"
Comments: (74)
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By: Inyourface on 8/19/2010 3:15PM
There are entertainers that are multi talented. Why not act and sing and do whatever you can. It's all about money..No actor acts for free..Some of these rappers have financed their own movie projects...If these bitter actors feel that rappers are taking their jobs, put your money where your talent is. FInance your own movies and star in them. Some of these rappers are acting on life long dreams, some people never do that..Some of the rappers turned actors are good actors..Who cares where you were trained, if you have talent, you just have talent..Are some of these actors mad because they haven't been offered any new acting roles?
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By: GB on 8/20/2010 12:49AM
But a lot of them DON'T have talent; that's the problem. And not a lot of struggling actors have the funds to pay their rent, let alone finance their own movie projects.
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By: Paul K on 8/20/2010 8:43AM
This isn't about talent. Most rappers and popstars get roles in movies because their record labels are connected to the movie studios or the studio has a deal with the label to add the performer's music to the soundtrack. The movie gets more attention from the public which works out for the box office receipts and the rapper or performer. But you don't see rappers trying to act in independent films which is a desire for many real actors. There's less money in independent films so anyone looking to be in one is in it for the art. Rappers get into the movie game for fame, exposure and money only. The majority of them are one-dimensional performers who only know how to act gangsta, minstrel or ghetto. But they won't play cops or the regular guy. They always want the hard gangsta, pimp, drug dealer, crazed crackhead, inmate/ex-con or hood roles where they go against authority so they pretty much want to play themselves or how they want their fans to perceive them. Alot of these dopes are even willing to have their character die in a hail of bullets before playing a role that they feel makes them look "soft". That's not what acting is about. They wouldn't have the courage to portray themselves as emotional or show their frailties and vulnerabilities.
That's not to say they don't have talent. Anybody who gets up onstage for a living has to have some kind of talent. Doesn't mean they have acting talent but without proper training and a proper auditon, we'll never know. Just because you can show your anger on camera doesn't mean you're talented. They should have to audition like everybody else to an objective audience without coercion from record companies. That doesnt just go for rappers and singers but comedians as well. If Chris Rock wasn't already famous, I doubt he'd get movie roles like he does. Unfortunately, alot of these wanna-be actors are able to "buy" their roles in movies.
The other problem is this shows how racist the industry can be. To think that a rapper embodies blackness better than a regular black actor smacks of prejudice. The Hollywood casting perception sometimes seems to be that trained black actors aren't "black" enough because they're too "learned" and too cosmopolitan and unable to summon up black rage while the rapper is straight off the streets and seen as raw, able to give performances borne of his/her life experiences. Which often shows, movie people are only looking for black characters to act in a limited way. But casting people wouldn't go to a poor white neighborhood, the Appalachians or the trailer park to find a white actor with poverty and strife issues. They just assume a white actor can jump into any role. Why not black actors who've shown they can do multiple nights on Broadway and theater as well as play roles that were written as unspecific character types.
Sam jackson and Anthony Mackie are right to speak against it because there are actors who study and train hard in college and embody their roles in a way rappers don't have the capacity and emotion to achieve. Then the biggest slap in the face is to see some undeserving rapper or pop singer get a role because of their popularity when most actors have to actively audition for the same roles.
Will Smith is the only rapper to successfully make the transformation but then his acting has always been bigger than his rap career. Mos Def also has alot of talent to make the change. LL has had some success. Ice Cube has talent but he and Ice T (and Tupac when he was alive) are still too caught up in the machismo to let their true acting emotions come forth or they've pretty much hit their limitations. The farthest Cube seems able to go outside of thugland is slapstick comedy and that's no stretch. Queen Latifah is good. 50 Cent?? Forget it. He can barely rap over those big teeth much less say his lines clearly. T.I. ?? Looks good in a suit but can he act?? Nada!!
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By: No1'sname on 8/21/2010 7:18AM
GB who fault is that but their own. How many Black actors/actresses do you know of actually can have a box office hit everytime they do a movie (only a handful) Hmmm lets take Jamie Fox for instance he can act, sing & he does stand up comedy so are you saying that he should only pick one of these talents & stick with it. Its called entertainment people. If you have to depend on getting casting for a role in order to pay your bills then you need to find another profession especially if you are black!!
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By: TG on 8/21/2010 6:11PM
Mr. Mackie has a valid point! There are some enteratainers who have made a sucessfull transition from rapping to acting and there are others that are only casted for the box office revenue. Unfortunately, it is not just rappers, to many of these no talent singers are acting as well. If I never see Puffy or Beyonce act again I would be okay with that.
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By: larryec293 on 8/24/2010 5:10PM
I agree totally. It is all about capitolizing on one's opportunities and using leverage to your best advantage. Maybe Anthony Mackie should offer some of his creativity to the music industry as a video director, if he hadn't done it already, and just share ideas with that industry. He shouldn't be so critical because it is all creativity and ideas being expressed through varying forms of talant. PEACE
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By: Kboogie on 8/19/2010 9:10PM
I understand his rant. Yes, there is or seems to be a monopoly of rappers starring in movies now a days. Some can act and some most certainly cannot. But, just for that statement Mackie has made, I don't want to see him on the silver screen next to any rapper or singer, EVER, for that matter. I'll remember this article. And I say this with partial humor. Peaaaaccce.
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By: Li Wright on 8/20/2010 4:37PM
Like the above stated, rappers know their time is up. They're not like Mick Jagger or Tina who can rock until they're 80 yrs old. Who wants to hear a 40 y.o. rapper rap? So they go into clothing, into movies, to continue the flow. I don't like to see rappers "star" in movies. They're ok as sidekicks or cameo roles.
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By: Frank Talk on 8/20/2010 9:12AM
And I have a problem with actors NOT taking on "HymieWood?" Look what it did and does to our Blackfmales--like Josephine Baker, Dorothy Dandridge, others--and you all never check them?
It's all a JOB thing in the U.S. The actors are just scared and see they're losing their selective..."ni%#er" JOBS. But like ALL things in this Slavocracy made nation, it's the Jewry few who control and select who gets what.
JewryWood has never had a well known, pretty, famous white actress in roles like they pimp around whorify our Black young girls, but the men say nothing. If you've already gotten your "dough" and residual movie income, why the cowardly silence? If a "bad" name and image mean more to you than your people's lives, God has a Wrath for you.
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By: Babygirl on 8/20/2010 9:59PM
You ever notice when actors/actress name rappers turned actors- none of these trained actors and actress list Will Smith? Is that because they want to star with him on the big screen (Nia- wants another shot). Some people go to school and are trained to be wonderful cook (chef)- and some people it just comes natural and no training is needed. They need to get over it or find another profession.
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