Source: ALECIA Renece
Tonight Hot 104.1 has the chance for you to
see the new Tupac biopic “All Eyez On Me” before it hits theaters nationwide tomorrow at tonight’s premiere screening.
But before you head to the Moolah Theatre tonight at 5 p.m., get the scoop on what it was like behind the scenes, why producer LT Hutton chose to the tell Tupac’s story the way he did, the chemistry between actors Demetrius Shipp Jr. and Kat Graham from this exclusive interview with the “All Eyez On Me” cast.
Our Online Editor and Entertainment Reporter Bobby Pen sat down with the cast last week in Washington, D.C. in an intimate press junket. For an hour, a room full of 8 bloggers and writers discussed the ins and outs of LT Hutton’s first featured film. The music producer, turned filmmaker had several run-ins while navigating Hollywood, pushing him to the point of flipping tables and even threatening to cancel the project altogether! In the very candid discussion both Demetrius and Kat share their experiences on set, what it was like to prepare for their roles, what this film will mean to their careers moving forward and what they hope moviegoers will takeaway:
Here’s what Bobby Pen came back with from:
An Intimate Conversation with the Cast of “All Eyez On Me” Demetrius Shipp Jr., Kat Graham & LT Hutton [INTERVIEW]
was originally published on
hot1041stl.com
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Demetrius Shipp Jr. on becoming Tupac
Q: Was there one scene that you couldn’t wait to film because you knew, “I’m going to kill it!” ?
A: The concert scene. (laughs)
It’s so funny because, LT– the day before I was rehearsing, and LT was like, “Man, your energy ain’t there. You got to take it up. You got to be like…” We was just rehearsing. It wasn’t nobody in the crowd, but I know the whole time, “bro, don’t even trip. (laughs) I got you. It was a good time, so that’s the one scene.
Q: Because you have such a striking resemblance to Tupac, do you feel like that put on an extra pressure for you to perform this role?
A: No. Not the resemblance. To me that’s just the foot in the door for me, because obviously– it might not be hard to believe, but there were a lot of people that had the look. Honestly, some videos LT showed me– there were people coming in there… I was like, “Damn! That’s close right there!” (laughs) So, I do think that was like a foot in the door, but LT said, “You know, at the end of the day you’ll get the acting down. You’ll get the chops up, and you can have a great run at this.
An Intimate Conversation with the Cast of “All Eyez On Me” Demetrius Shipp Jr., Kat Graham & LT Hutton [INTERVIEW]
was originally published on
hot1041stl.com
Kat Graham on portraying Jada Pinkett-Smith
Q: I read a lot of his poetry, and you did a lot of research. You actually talked to Outlawz and a lot of close people so we saw the real side. Even just the mannerisms of you guys as actors, you guys nailed it! (To Demetrius) I got chills when I saw you. I thought I was looking at Pac. (To Kat Graham) and you looked just like Jada. So you guys as actors, what did you take away from your individual characters in the movie?
A: Well, I think for me… I think it’ great to embrace being an empowered black woman in this industry. For me, those roles just– as Kat talking– are few and far between, and I think we have to fight for those and fight to see more of those in Hollywood and in scripts and directors and projects. So, to know that not only do they exist, but you can be celebrated for that. And I’m hoping that through this film there will be more empowered roles for black women and a lot of young girls we see. Because maybe a lot of young people didn’t grow up watching Jada or even watching Janet in “Poetic Justice” with Pac, and they didn’t grow up watching these strong– like I feel like now we have amazing artists like Janelle Monae, we have Taraji, we have all these other women now that they’re growing up with, but me. When I was growing up I had Jada, you know what I’m saying? So, it’s really great to not just pay homage to this woman, because she’s still very much relevant, but it’s also amazing for people to get educated on– kind of, the beginning of the successful black actress movement that really flourished in the 90’s with the Jada’s and the Janet’s and the Queen Latifah’s and the list goes on and on.
Q: Since your character is still living, what was the process to become Jada Pinkett and Tupac’s muse?
A: Well, I worked with this coach Ivana Chubbuck. She’s been my partner in crime. We’ve done a lot of work. She worked with Halle [Berry] in [Monster’s Ball]. She’s someone who understands the complexity and wonders of this woman and this time in her life. And it’s also important to show who she was, even as a young girl, you don’t just become Jada Pinkett. And how does this relationship– how do we capture the dynamics? So it was important that we– me and Demetrius, we didn’t just want to be like imitating, you know, these very prolific, ahead-of-their-time friends. We wanted to embody their energy, and we wanted to capture their dynamic to see why they inspired each other. Lucky for us, we have a really great friendship and we’re super close so it came easy for us and we had each other’s back. But there’s definitely a lot of work that was done in finding the parallels between he and this woman. The losses I’ve had in my own life and finding ways to connect my soul to the energy of this character, and doing the work and having LT on set for every single scene. I’ve worked on a lot of different shows and films and, you know, sometimes the producer just ain’t around! (laughs) It’s like, “Um, I have a question!” but he was like with us and he held our hand through this entire process, and if I had a question he was there and Benny [Boom] was so trusting and so giving. To have that kind of support, and to be supporting each other– like, there were no nerves, because we have each other’s back. I mean, whatever you need, I’ve got you. And that kind of camaraderie, you felt that when you walked on set and you feel it now.
Q: Now, you actually talked on the phone to Jada. At what stage was that? During filming?
A: Yeah. Well, I had texted– I know Willow and Caleb, her brother– the second I found out that this was happening I was like, I wanted her to know and if there was anything that she wanted. Out of respect, anything she wanted me to know, anything she wanted me to stay away from, anything like that. I wanted to protect her. This is her life. This isn’t a movie, for her. This is a portrayal of her life. Specific instances of someone she deeply cared about. She wasn’t aware of our shooting schedule so by the time she text back we had literally just wrapped the final scene. But I believe in God and destiny and believe that this is the way that it was meant to be. She was incredibly supportive and she was like, “Yeah, you got this.”
An Intimate Conversation with the Cast of “All Eyez On Me” Demetrius Shipp Jr., Kat Graham & LT Hutton [INTERVIEW]
was originally published on
hot1041stl.com
Director LT Hutton on The Making of “All Eyez On Me” and why now?
Q: (to Demetrius) I really enjoyed the Interscope scene when you got into it with the record execs…
A: Can you believe they tried to make me take that scene out?! (press gasps)
Q: Why?
A: Because Pac– the thing is, a lot of times people are scared of educated young black men. And even with the control of the perception– they say, “perception is reality.” The biggest definition of perception is a visual. He who controls the visual controls perception. So they want to perceive us in a certain way, and to some of the people that are supposedly quote-unquote “in Tupac’s life” they didn’t like the fact that Tupac came across in that scene very intelligent. I said, “That’s what he’s supposed to do. You know? That’s why we’re making the movie about this guy. So they felt that they would be depicted as dummies, because “Oh, Tupac is just the smartest person in the world.” In this instance, he is. And that’s what it was supposed to be so, they tried to get me a little– they really tried to take that part out. That was one of my fights.
Q: One thing I noticed: it seems like it was very purposeful to showcase the different parts of Tupac’s personality. Where he only kind of got angry a few times, especially towards the beginning. And those few times led to bad instances where when something good happens, something bad always happens. How important was that for you to kind of show those specific points in his personality to portray?
A: In most interviews you’ll hear me, I’m pretty consistent and I’ll add a little color to it. With Tupac, people have this over personification of what they thought he was. If you like sports, if you don’t watch the whole game you can’t really say how good of a game it was if you’ve only seen the highlights. So with this film, you know, the trajectory was to give you insight to see how he came and arrived at these certain scenarios. He didn’t just walk in upset. There were things that triggered that. And like I often say, we criticize people for the choices they make, never understanding what we had to choose from. So, what I wanted to do was give you an understanding of the things that he had to choose from so now you can say, “Ohhh! Wow! That was a decision now that I know what he had to choose from.” You follow what I’m saying? So it was very important to flush out that Tupac had multiple sides and he wasn’t… If you ask your mother who you are, then you ask your friends who you are, and then you ask your boyfriend who you are you’re going to get three different stories. Which one is wrong? None of them! They’re all right. It’s just different complexions of you. So with Tupac, people tend to think he had one side and one button which was on 11 at all times, but that wasn’t going to get you close to Tupac so I wanted to give you an intimate look at him so you can really humanize him and understand he was a man also. He was a person. This guy was human and he’s liable to make certain mistakes. Not saying that we forgave him in the film. As you guys saw, he had to answer for everything he did. Whether it was good or bad. And he had to think about it. So, it was important to showcase that.
Q: You were very intentional with making a movie, going through interviews, even with the directors, producer, the actors you chose. What would you say was your one biggest challenge in telling Tupac’s story?
A: It was so many challenges. That’s what you got to understand. Just understand, this is Hollywood. And in Hollywood, we’re still talking about “The First Black.” In 2017, we’re still talking about “The First Black.” Let’s be clear on that. So, when looking at Kat Graham, Demetrius Shipp, when you see the portrayal on screen you would think that it was a shoe-in. I had to fight for both of them. I had a huge argument. I almost– when you hear the story: Well, LT was crazy and he was this, I just wasn’t going to let Hollywood make me do something that I didn’t believe in. And like I said. I’m fighting for “New Hollywood,” to give new opportunities and new situations. So, you know, Demetrius– I had had him all the long, the entire way, but he didn’t physically get hired on the job. Production was up and he was getting nervous and I told him, “I got you.” But, you know, he didn’t physically come on until… (Demetrius: November 18th) We started shooting December 17th. (press: Wow!) You see what I’m saying? On that day, people understand, you know, I turned over a few tables. Said I was deleting the project. I’m done. I’m packing up. I’m doing this somewhere else. I’m not going to do it with this particular company because this is the guy. I don’t want to see another… It got so bad to the point where, you know, no disrespect to Atlanta, but we had Tupac auditions coming in from Atlanta and it’s like, you know, there’s a certain dialect that you have to have. You know? Tupac couldn’t be like, ” Yo shawty, yeah…” It just wasn’t there, so I was like I’m not going to keep going back and forth. So like I said, with Kat, for me– Jada:She sounds like Jada. She looks like Jada. She’s got Jada’s bubbly spirit. She brings everything that we need. They still want to give me a usual suspect. And it’s like that’s not going to happen. So whatever I had to do– this was a vision I had since day 1. So you couldn’t share the vision and come in and be not self-serving, and you didn’t come to serve Tupac. And Tupac’s mission. And Tupac’s voice. And Tupac’s goal. If you came in thinking that it was going to be the “Tupac & I” story, or “I had a long walk with Tupac,” or “Tupac Was My Friend” story, it wasn’t going to happen. Certain things we had to fight for to keep that integrity and that’s pretty much what I did. So it wasn’t just one. I’m still fighting right now. You see me walking around here on the phone, and the movie comes out next week, [June 16] and I’m still screaming. (laughs)
An Intimate Conversation with the Cast of “All Eyez On Me” Demetrius Shipp Jr., Kat Graham & LT Hutton [INTERVIEW]
was originally published on
hot1041stl.com
