Don Cheadle

Interview: Taraji P. Henson of ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’ on Playing Brad Pitt’s Mother

HollywoodChicago.com — Thu, 25 Dec 2008 00:11:14 -0700

CHICAGO – It turns out that skipping a “blowout” garage sale she was planning paid off for up-and-coming actress Taraji P. Henson after all, she told HollywoodChicago.com’s Adam Fendelman in a Chicago interview. Not being there netted an even grander sale for her acting career: Henson was cast as Brad Pitt’s surrogate mother in the Oscar-buzzing film “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” star Taraji P. Henson in Chicago on Dec. 5, 2008.
Photo credit: Adam Fendelman, HollywoodChicago.com

Rating: 4.0/5.0

The film, which was adapted for the screen by Eric Roth and is based on the 1920s short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, stars Brad Pitt opposite Cate Blanchett with Taraji P. Henson and Tilda Swinton. It’s a curious film indeed about Benjamin Button (Brad Pitt) who ages backward. He’s born old and grows youthful.

For Henson, auditioning for the part of Queenie (Benjamin Button’s surrogate mother) was as long of a shot for her as the Earth is to Pluto. But prior to the audition, the film’s casting director already had her in mind based on Henson’s 2005 performance in “Hustle & Flow”. That film won her a Black Movie Award for her supporting role as well as a Black Reel Award for the same. She won a BET Award in 2006.

Even if the industry still hasn’t recognized Henson for her “Hustle & Flow” performance, her 18 episodes of “Boston Legal” from 2007 to 2008 as Whitney Rome or her role in 2007’s “Talk to Me” with Don Cheadle, Henson says after this press tour and upon release of “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button” “you will surely know me now” and know how to pronounce her Swahili name, too.

Matthew Henson, by the way, is the co-discoverer of the North Pole and is Taraji P. Henson’s great great cousin. She jested: “That’s where I got my survival skills.” Henson has been talked about as a potential nominee for the upcoming Academy Awards in a relatively weak category for actresses in a supporting role.

Once Henson overcame the incredulity of landing a role she viewed as a moon shot, she describes the adapted script from Eric Roth (who also wrote “Lucky You,” “The Good Shepherd,” “Munich,” “Ali,” “The Horse Whisperer” and “Forrest Gump”) and the direction from David Fincher (“Zodiac,” “Panic Room,” “Fight Club” and “Se7en”) as having come to fruition through “bold choices”.

“It was very bold for Eric Roth to choose to make Queenie an African-American woman who was the surrogate mother to Benjamin Button – a white character – which would have been very unusual at the time with what was happening in the country with race,” Henson said.

Taraji P. Henson (left) stars as Queenie with Brad Pitt (right front) in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.
Photo credit: Merrick Morton, Paramount Pictures

She added: “It was a bold choice for David Fincher, too, as it was something very different from what we’re used to seeing him direct. It was even a very bold choice for Brad Pitt in that it’s a not-so-glamorous role for him (even though some how he pulls it off).”

“That’s what intrigued me most,” Henson said. “I consider myself an artist who takes chances and risks in my work. I like to surround myself with people who do the same. I honestly didn’t think I had a chance to get this film.”

Taraji P. Henson stars as Queenie in “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.
Photo credit: Merrick Morton, Paramount Pictures

Her “serious” garage sale had jewelry and racks of clothes with hangars she bought to hang up the garments. Henson even turned her tae bo kickboxing bag into a mannequin. While she initially was upset about having to stop what she was doing to audition for a role she thought she’d never get, after the audition Henson learned the film’s casting director had her in mind for this character from the beginning.

Still, she thought Fincher wouldn’t take her seriously, and even if he did, the studio certainly wouldn’t and would want a “bigger star”. Henson describes the all-too-common situation of a film and its studio seeking choices that’d most likely lead to financial gain for the picture rather than riskier choices that can help to assure a quality film.

“I’ve been in this game for a minute now. I’ve been down this road before. Big feature film. Big names. Big director. They want big names all across the name. They think I don’t have an audience because I haven’t been in a big blockbuster film. There are people in the industry who aren’t so creative. They’re number crunchers.”

She added: “You have not-so-creative people making creative decisions. I didn’t think I had a chance because I know the industry doesn’t consider me to be a name and I don’t have box-office draw.”

In describing the work ethic of Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett and her conversations with them between takes, Henson said she didn’t talk much with them about work. She added: “We’re all parents and we live in between takes. We talked about normal stuff then like kids and life. We didn’t talk about our acting processes.”

In terms of Henson’s preparation for her role, she said she didn’t do much research.

“I already am a mother and have always been a nurturer. Even when I was a child, I never played with Barbie. I couldn’t stand Barbie because she had too much,” Henson said. “But I liked playing with the baby dolls and being the mother. The animatronic baby I’m acting with in the beginning of the film was right up my alley because I was doing that as a little girl. It took three puppeteers to operate it.”

RELATED SLIDESHOW
27-image slideshow for “The Curious Case of Benjamin Button”.

RELATED READING
More writing from critic Adam Fendelman.

In terms of why we’re seeing so many adapted movie scripts these days based on beloved stories and fewer original screenplays, Henson again tags the reason as one that’s “safer” financially.

“They feel safer with best-selling books – like ‘Twilight’ and the Harry Potter films – because they already have an audience. They’re already seeing audience money. It’s harder for an original idea,” she said.

Henson added: “They don’t see money because it hasn’t been done before. You have to go in the back door and be the little engine that could to prove it – like ‘Hustle & Flow’.”

In retrospect, the opportunity cost of Henson’s audition paid off in spades. She concluded: “Thank god I canceled that garage sale.”

“The Curious Case of Benjamin Button,” which is directed by David Fincher and was adapted for the screen by Eric Roth based on the 1920s short story by F. Scott Fitzgerald, stars Brad Pitt, Cate Blanchett, Taraji P. Henson and Tilda Swinton. The film opens on Dec. 25, 2008.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com

Blu-Ray Review: ‘Traitor’ Betrays With Exploitation Over Genuine Drama

BrianTT — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 11:23:52 -0700

CHICAGO – “Traitor” walks a fine line between escapism and exploitation and essentially falls in the cracks in between, working as neither a thriller nor a topical drama. Great performances from Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, and Jeff Daniels almost make Jeffrey Nachmanoff’s film worth a rental, but the lackluster Blu-Ray presentation doesn’t help a film that already had some serious problems become more than a marginal recommendation.

The great Don Cheadle plays Samir Horn, a former U.S. Special Operations officer who appears to be involved with international terrorism. Is Samir so deep undercover than even the government has started to suspect him or has he really turned to the dark side of the war against terror? That’s the question on the mind of FBI agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce), who first stumbles across Samir during a prison escape in Yemen and then suspects his involvement in a bombing in Nice and a raid in London. All clues lead back to Samir. Clayton tracks Samir around the world trying to get the truth, while the possible traitor stays one step ahead of the law and finds himself getting deeper and deeper into a truly deadly game.

Writer/director Nachmanoff (who wrote the similarly surface-deep “The Day After Tomorrow”) has bitten off way more than he can chew with “Traitor”, a movie that tries to blend politically sensitive issues with a Bourne-esque thriller and ends up only feeling like exploitation. There are undeniably complex issues at work in “Traitor”, ones that have been more successfully turned into drama in a film like “Syriana” or escapism in a film like “The Kingdom”.

Nachmanoff makes the classic mistake of wanting to have it both ways. He peppers his script with lines that I’m sure he considers deep like “I answer to God. We all do.” The cover of “Traitor” claims that “The truth is complicated.” But Nachmanoff doesn’t have an ear for dialogue to make that statement have the depth that he thinks it does.

Dramatically blurring the line between terrorists and the people that chase them is too ambitious of a goal for a screenwriter like Nachmanoff. The thriller elements of “Traitor” work more than the melodramatic ones but even they left me with a slightly sleazy feeling. With people dying due to terrorist acts just recently in India, watching an action movie about international bombings can be a tough sell.

Anchor Bay Entertainment (the home video company handling Overture Films) does nothing to make that tough sell any easier. The video and audio on “Traitor” are average for Blu-Ray. There’s not much to complain about but not much to praise either. The best thing about the “Traitor” Blu-Ray release is the commentary track from Cheadle and Nachmanoff. With just a few minutes with Cheadle, it’s easy to see why he’s so well-liked in Hollywood.

The problem is that the commentary is the beginning and end of the special features, as the two featurettes - “Action! The Stunts And Special Effects of ‘Traitor’” and “International Espionage: An In-Depth Look at Traitor’s Exotic Locations” - run less than ten minutes combined and don’t offer much insight into the production at all. In theaters and on Blu-Ray, “Traitor” fails to deliver.

Traitor is released by Anchor Bay Entertainment on DVD/Blu-Ray and stars Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce,Jeff Daniels, Neal McDonough, Alyy Khan, and Said Taghmaoui and was written and directed by Jeffrey Nachmanoff. It was released on December 19th, 2008.

By BRIAN TALLERICO
Content Director
HollywoodChicago.com
brian@hollywoodchicago.com

Hookup: 40 Admit-Two Passes to Chicago Screening of Don Cheadle’s ‘Traitor’

HollywoodChicago.com — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 12:08:46 -0600

CHICAGO – In our latest edition of HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film, we have 40 admit-two passes (note: this was increased on Tuesday from 25 due to popular demand) up for grabs to the Chicago screening of “Traitor,” which stars Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels. The movie was filmed in part in Chicago.

To win your free pass to the advance screening of “Traitor” in Chicago courtesy of HollywoodChicago.com, all you need to do is be one of the first 40 people to submit a comment in this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup. That’s it!

The screening will be held on Aug. 25, 2008 at 7 p.m. in downtown Chicago. Directions to enter this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup and immediately win can be found beneath the graphic below.

“Traitor” features Don Cheadle, Guy Pearce, Jeff Daniels and Neal McDonough.
Image credit: Overture Films

Here’s the “Traitor” plotline (source):

When strait-arrow FBI agent Roy Clayton (Guy Pearce) heads up the investigation into a dangerous international conspiracy, all clues seem to lead back to former U.S. special operations officer Samir Horn (Don Cheadle).

A mysterious figure with a web of connections to terrorist organizations, Horn has a knack for emerging on the scene just as a major operation goes down. The task force links Horn to a prison break in Yemen, a bombing in Nice and a raid in London, but a tangle of contradictory evidence emerges.

This forces Clayton to question whether his quarry is a disaffected former military operative or something much more complicated.

Obsessed with discovering the truth, Clayton tracks Horn across the globe as the elusive ex-soldier burrows deeper and deeper into a world of shadows and intrigue.

To secure your free tickets now, make sure you’re logged into your HollywoodChicago.com account. If you don’t yet have one, you can quickly register here. Having an account with a valid e-mail address is required.

Then, simply add a new comment in the form below. You must also include your name in your comment. Your name will be on a pre-approved list at the door that will be checked against your valid photo ID. In your comment, include an answer to this simple question:

What was the last dishonest thing you did?

Like all Hookups here, this HollywoodChicago.com Hookup: Film is simple: The first 40 people to comment below win! We will be in touch with the 40 winners to confirm your passes. “Traitor” opens on Aug. 27, 2008.

By ADAM FENDELMAN
Editor-in-Chief
HollywoodChicago.com
adam@hollywoodchicago.com