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Jeffrey Wright Explains How He Created Dominican Gangster “Peoples” In “Shaft”

Dr. Brenda M. Greene, Executive Director, Center for Black Literature organized another great event that kept the long great tradition of literature alive and well in Brooklyn. It was an honor to see one of the greatest African American actors pay tribute to one of the greatest African American writers.

I got a chance to interview Jeffrey Wright about some of his most famous roles including the artist Jean Michel Basqiuat in “Basquiat” and the Dominican gangster, “Peoples” from “Shaft.”

From The Huffington Post:

TMZ has released the incredible video of Josh Brolin’s arrest outside of a Shreveport bar last summer, along with his “W” costar Jeffrey Wright.

In the video – click the link to watch – viewers see Brolin and Wright standing hugging as they are sprayed with pepper spray and then separated by cops. Brolin is made to kneel and is handcuffed while Wright gets laid out on the street and repeatedly tasered, as the cellphone camerawoman screams in protests.

Other video from patrol cars was also recorded by cop cars last July but not released.

Coinciding with the video’s release, today charges in Louisiana against Brolin stemming from the brawl are being dropped.

Reports the Associated Press:

“An attorney for actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright says prosecutors have agreed to drop all charges in an incident at a Louisiana bar last year. An attorney for actors Josh Brolin and Jeffrey Wright says prosecutors have agreed to drop all charges in an incident at a Louisiana bar last year. Brolin, Wright and five crew members of the Oliver Stone film “W.” were arrested on misdemeanor charges at the Stray Cat Club on July 12. Brolin and Wright were charged with interfering with police officers after a disturbance involving a crew member broke out.

Los Angeles attorney Blair Berk, who represented the actors and five others, says prosecutors in Shreveport have agreed to drop all charges against the group within 60 days. She declined to comment further.“

Helmer Darnell Martin makes music with the percolating and scintillating ’50s biopic Cadillac Records mostly because of the rich, righteous and mythic sensibility out of the story of Leonard Chess, Muddy Waters and the birth of the Chicago blues.

For those unfamiliar with the story of Chess Records, the main crux is between Leonard Chess,played by Adrien Brody, and Muddy Waters, brilliantly played by Jeffrey Wright. The duo’s relationship provides the back story to the legacy of the Chicago record label. This is the second film dealing with the same artists, yet Cadillac Records takes a far broader approach than Jerry Saks Who Do You Love.

Brody does a bang-up job as the man who founded Chess Records and compliments Wright’s simmering dignity and eloquent performance. Martin does a great job of establishing the foundation of what blues meant to those all across the U.S. during the 1950s. The cast was well-assembled and did a great job of blending up into their roles. Columbus Short (Stomp The Yard) becomes Little Walter – the only Rock ‘N Roll Hall of Famer to be inducted for his work as a harmonica player.

But it’s with the story that things get convoluted. Chess and Waters relationship becomes strained the more money gets involved the more successful Chess Records becomes. New additions such as Chester “Howlin’ Wolf” Burnett – powerfully played by Eamonn Walker, Chuck Berry (Mos Def) and Etta James (Beyonce Knowles) make-up the blueprint of black music that Motown and more recent labels like Roc-A-Fella get their inspiration from.

With all these players, the star is Jeffrey Wright. His portrayal of Muddy Waters from sharecropper to superstar details the ups and downs of everything going around him. Weighty emotions for his labelmates and his bad financial habits find him needing support from Leonard Chess and leaves Waters in a vulnerable place. Furthermore, his competition with rival Howlin’ Wolf played a subtle part in developing not only the sound, but the movement of Chess Records.Walker makes you believe that he was a fierce blues competitor and their clash had the makings of an on-wax rap battle.

But still trying to find her voice in all of this was Beyonce Knowles. Whereas Mos Def and Jeffrey Wright modified their voices to fit their roles, Knowles’ ability to mimic the great Etta James is just not there. Simply put, it’s Beyonce singing Etta James – which does not bode well for Ms. Knowles.

On the very basic level, this is a solid story. Most of the details are right-on in Cadillac Records, although Martin’s approach sometime blurs the lines of realism and fan-worshipping. With unforgettable performances, plenty of bottoms should be in the seats groovin’ to the blues on this one.

This is the biggest opening ever for a James Bond title and a major victory for a film franchise nearly a half-century old. The previous record-holder for a Bond flick was the $47.1-million dollar take for Die Another Day. But Marc Forster’s Solace played in 3,451 runs and opened 74% higher than the 2006 critically acclaimed Casino Royale.

Both films gave Bond a new look and feel and gave Daniel Craig a major platform to jump into the spotlight from. Competing studios applauded the Quantum of Solace performance as a sign that the box office is withstanding the current economic crisis.

The International Box Office total for Solace is estimated at $251.6 million for a worldwide total of $322. Craig’s second outing as Bond has signaled money in the bank.

For those who missed out on Casino Royale, it marked a serious change in the James Bond legacy. With Daniel Craig running roughshod throughout the extended footnote to Royale in Quantum of Solace, the players involved continue to radically reshuffle the series traditional elements to bring Bond into the 21st Century.

First things first, the run-time for Quantum of Solace is shorter and the action has been turned up to its highest decimal. Producers Michael G. Wilson and Barbara Broccoli allowed Marc Forster to turn Bond into a cold and calculating, revenge-driven spy du jour. With no rest for the wicked, Quantum finds solace in high speed chases, witty repetoire, beautiful girls and a storyline that has well-deserved its place in the Bond legacy.

Daniel Craig once again shows his physical prowness by dropping some muscle to be more lean as the sixth actor to don the 007 codename and he manages to prove that he is more than qualified to be the leading man. Picking up where Casino Royale left off, the differences in tone, look and tempo are instantly apparent. Camera zooms and quick cuts find Bond being chased in his Aston Martin by armed villains leaving Royale’s director, Martin Campbell and his vision in the dust.

Craig is still in control in his role as Bond and facing the death-slash-betrayal of his love, closure is the first thing on his mind. After traveling between Latin America and Europe, the plot is finally made clear that there is more than what meets the eye and a mysterious new power only known as ‘Quantum’ is behind a series of power plays that have made the U.S. in league with them and the Queen Mum and MI6 curiously suspicious.

At 40-minutes in to the flick, Bond has terrorized, chased down assassins, became the enemy within his own organization and tops it all off with meeting the beautiful, if incredibly vapid, Ukrainian model-turned-actress Olga Kurylenko. The Bond girl turns in a phoned-in performance, yet is fiesty in her relentlessness to avenge the murders of her family by an ousted ruthless dictator.

The action sequences were well-staged and choreographed, but seemed to echo The Bourne films with their fast-paced, quick-timed shots. In the end, it leaves little to distinguish Ian Fleming’s internationally known agent from any other franchise hero and it leaves a bad taste in the mouths of those who only see Bond as a man with a taste for fine hotels and women. Even worst that the reshuffling of the franchise did away with gadgets in favor of a showcasing the hard-edge brutality of Bond was the fact that staples in the series fell short. Vague references to his favorite drink and absolutely no, “Bond… James Bond,” introduction leave the flick devoid of any smoothness.

Quantum of Solace falls flat on style, humor and elegance with the plot more in the line of the Roger Moore pics of the 70′s and 80′s which is a step back from Casino Royale’s unique take on the early days of Bond. Fans of the flick will have no problem distinguishing from the pros and cons of this flick, but while it may be Bond-lite, the pace and time of Quantum of Solace will leave you anticipating the next installment of one of the best film series of all-times.

The music-inspired movie, set in 1960′s Chicago, chronicles the rise and fall of Chess Records and co-stars Adrien Brody, Gabrielle Union, Mos Def, Cedric The Entertainer, Jeffrey Wright, Columbus Short and Emmanuelle Chirqui. Watch the trailer below: