Gemini One Films in association with Private Side Media

presents WE REMEMBER RAINES , a documentary about the history and legacy of William M Raines High School, Jacksonville, FL

Film Screening: We Remember Raines February 22, 2012 7:00p

University of North Florida Andrew Robinson Theater Jacksonville, FL Parking $3

RSVP: http://www.facebook.com/events/323152844396195/

Exclusive Premiere: WE Remember Raines February 25, 2012 8:00p

William M Raines Auditorium Jacksonville, FL

http://www.facebook.com/events/324810967557072/

Director: Emanuel Washington
… Executive Director: Andrew Wright
Narrators: Ben Frazier and GeneDotCom
Photography: Tamica Jackson and Donnell Bennett
Assistant Director/Producer: Diallo Sekou
Film Editor: Maxie Coleman
Music Director: Tony White
Theme Song: Tru.Ski The Transmitter
Graphic Design: E. Street Paperie

For more information contact ewashington@nokturnalescape.com or call (904) 465-6891

sponsored by
Nokturnal Escape Entertainment, LLC http://www.nokturnalescape.com/
Eartha MM White Legacy Fund http://www.jaxcf.org/NetCommunity/Page.aspx?pid=530
Jacksonville Free Press http://jacksonvillefreepress.com/
“Still Raines”
William M Raines High School National Alumni Association
Blinkvirtualbuzz.com http://blinkvirtualbuzz.com/

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Born in Knoxville, Tennessee on March 27, 1963 to an Italian father and a mother of Irish and Cherokee extraction, Quentin Jerome Tarantino took a most unorthodox approach to showbiz. He dropped out of high school at 15 to pursue moviemaking but it would take some time to realize that dream. The closest he got to Hollywood for years was a minimum-wage gig as a clerk at a video rental store in L.A. where he became known for making recommendations to appreciative customers.

He finally began his meteoric rise in 1992 with the release of Reservoir Dogs, following-up that impressive directorial debut a couple of years later with Pulp Fiction, the seven-time Academy Award-nominee for which he won an Oscar in the Best Original Screenplay category. Since then, his storybook career has included such critically-acclaimed films as Jackie Brown, Kill Bill 1 & 2, and a couple of collaborations with Robert Rodriguez, Sin City and Grindhouse.

Here, Quentin talks about his new film, Inglourious Basterds, which is based upon a screenplay he started writing over a decade ago. The World War II action flick stars Brad Pitt as a Lieutenant in the U.S. Army who leads a squad of Jewish soldiers on a mission behind enemy lines in France to go hunting for Nazis.

Kam Williams: Hi Quentin, thanks for the time. I really appreciate it.

Quentin Tarantino: Oh, it’s my pleasure, I was psyched to do this especially after I read some of the comments you made after reading the script. It was a real phantasmagorical collection of references.

KW: That was an interesting experience. This is my first time reading a script instead of seeing the movie before conducting an interview.

QT: Oh, that’s cool.

KW: How does it feel to have finished Inglourious Basterds, finally, given that you’ve been working on it for over a decade?

QT: It’s a little surreal, to tell you the truth, after having the project in my mind for such a long time. I had scenes written for it but for years it was always just kind of out there. And at one point I even considered putting it aside, thinking maybe I’d grown out of it or moved past it. But then I realized that I’d invested too much into it, and that even if I never made the movie, I at least had to finish writing it just so I could get this mountain out of the way. One thing that’s different though is that opposed to thinking about it as this long-gestating piece that was written over years and years, the truth is I only came up with a lot of the characters and the first two chapters of the final script way back when. Otherwise, it has a whole different storyline. What kept preventing me from making the movie earlier was that it was just too big and too involved, almost like a mini-series. And just before I turned it into a mini-series, I decided to take one more crack at trying to make it as a movie. That’s when I came up with a new storyline about the premiere of a German propaganda film which I completed about a year ago in just seven months. As a matter of fact, on the cover page of your copy of the original script you can see that I literally put the pen down on July 2^nd, 2008. So, the final draft was a weird combination of this long-gestating project and something I had never worked at with more intense momentum.

KW: Since Brad Pitt’s character, Aldo, is from Tennessee and part-Cherokee, like yourself, I was wondering whether he was modeled on you?

QT: He’s definitely modeled after me. I probably would’ve wanted to play the character, if I had finished writing the script way back when, in the Nineties. But now, I don’t want to act at all.

KW: While reading the script, some of the films it reminded me of in different spots included The Train, Von Ryan’s Express, The Guns of Navarone, The Bridge on the River KWai, Black Book, Zabriskie Point, The Wizard of Oz, The Big Lebowski and Defiance.

QT: That’s a neat collection, although I never saw Defiance. I’d be interested in hearing how you connect the dots.

KW: Defiance is included because of the theme of Jews fighting back. Why did you decide to have this all-Jewish unit led by a gentile from the South?

QT: That’s an interesting question. Basically, Aldo’s this character I’ve had in my mind for a very, very long time. So, in a way he came before the Basterds. Furthermore, it’s kind of a two-way proposition, because Aldo had been fighting racism in the South before the war. And if he survives the war, he’s going to continue fighting the Klan in the Fifties, with his own version of the Basterds in the Tennessee Hills. Also, the fact that he’s part Native American is significant, because what he’s doing against the Nazi’s is similar to the Apache resistance, the ambushing of soldiers, desecrating their bodies and leaving them there for other Germans to find. Aldo’s idea is to find Jewish soldiers because he should be able to motivate them more easily because they are essentially warriors in a holy war against an enemy that’s trying to wipe their race off the face of the Earth.

KW: You have a black character named Marcel [played by Jacky Ido] who works as the projectionist in a movie theater. I’d have guessed that all the blacks in occupied France had been carted off to Concentration camps by the Nazis.

QT: No they weren’t. The relationship between black people and Nazi Germany was very interesting. Part of the reason is that there were so few blacks in Europe that there wasn’t a “Black Problem” per se, the way there was a “Jewish Problem.” So, black people weren’t rounded up in Nazi occupied France. You’d have to keep a low profile, to be sure, but having said that, you’d still enjoy more freedoms there than on the streets of Chicago at the same time period. And far more freedoms than in a state like Alabama. For instance, you could walk into a restaurant in Paris and sit down and order something. The odd irony in all this is that while there’s no mistaking where Hitler was coming from as far as blacks were concerned, after all, he made that very clear in Mein Kampf, the average German soldier did not feel the same way about black people. In fact, they were absolutely appalled whenever they witnessed the racism exhibited by white American soldiers towards their fellow black soldiers. They couldn’t fathom it, because they believed the hype about America being the land of the free and the home of the brave. It’s equally unfathomable that we went to Europe to fight racial oppression with a segregated army. A wonderful paper could be written about all this, and maybe I’ll do that one of these days.

KW: Do you make a cameo appearance in this film, like you have in a lot of your movies?

QT: Not really. I think you can hear my voice a little bit in one of the propaganda movies. [Chuckles]

KW: Why did you spell “Basterds” with an “E” in the title?

QT: I wasn’t trying to be coy or anything, but it was just an artistic stroke.

KW: How did you feel when the picture was so well received at Cannes, where you got an 11-minute ovation?

QT: Yeah, we got the standing ovation of the Festival. That was really exciting and a lot of fun kind of dropping it on the world there. And I felt a sense of satisfaction because we had worked hard to get the picture finished in time for Cannes.

KW: Laz Lyles is curious about why you chose a lot of relatively unknown actors for this picture?
QT: Since I was casting country-appropriate, every actor had to be from the place they were representing, and they had to be able to speak the appropriate language as well. In other words, it wasn’t enough that you could speak German, you had to be German. Oddly enough, in Germany, this is considered an all-star cast.

KW: Laz also asks, how did director Eli Roth get involved with the project as an actor?

QT: Eli’s a really good friend of mine, and I’ve always known that he’s a really fun performer on screen. Plus, he looks like his character, the Bear Jew, and he does an impeccable Boston accent.

KW: Nick Antoine says you’re already one of the greatest directors of all time, so where do you go from here? What’s the next mountain for you to climb?

QT: Oh, that’s a really good question. I don’t really know. Usually, when I finish making a movie, I have to pause to contemplate life a little, and then I see where to go. It’s not like I’m shopping for scripts. I generally have to start from scratch every time. However, I could go with Kill BiIl 3. Or I could do a prequel to this movie, because I have half of it written. It’s actually a story about the Basterds with a bunch of black troops. The truth is that I don’t really know what’s next, but I really like being in that square one position.

KW: How about making another homage to either martial arts or blaxploitation flicks?

QT: Well, I gotta say that I do hear a bit off a calling to do another crime picture. Maybe one set in the Seventies. All these other people are doing it, and to me, they never get it right. Like American Gangster. Were there any black people at all involved making that movie?

KW: Nick also asks, what is your opinion of the direction the film industry seems to be headed?

QT: I don’t want to sound like one of those guys who’s always bemoaning the business today and thinking about how much better it was before. But as my movie gets ready to go out into the marketplace, I feel very lucky that I’m still a commercial director and that my movies still play mainstream and open in 3,000 theaters, because my movies always seem so different from everything else playing in the multiplexes. As long as there’s a place for people like me and Michael Mann to exhibit our work, then I’m all for it.

KW: Finally, Nick asks, how would you say the internet has influence film?

QT: What the internet has done is destroy film criticism. I would never have guessed ten years ago that the profession of film criticism would be going the way of the dodo bird.

KW: Who’s your favorite film critic? Let me guess: the late Pauline Kael.

QT: For sure. She’s just about my favorite writer.

KW: And who’s your favorite director, Howard Hawks?

QT: I love Howard Hawks, but I would probably go with Sergio Leone.

KW: Keith Kremer asks, if you met someone unfamiliar with your work who wanted to watch just one of your movies, which one would you suggest?

QT: That’s an interesting question… Umm… I would probably cater to that person’s personality. So, if they seemed like more of a Kill Bill person, I’d show them, Kill Bill. If I wanted someone to get to know me though, I would have to start with Reservoir Dogs.

KW: Bi-continental attorney Bernadette Beekman told me that she was in Cannes for the release of Reservoir Dogs, and she was wondering, what was the best time you ever had at the festival?

QT: Well, I’ve had a lot of good times in Cannes, but when I won the Palme d’Or for Pulp Fiction would have to be the best.

KW: Director Hisani Dubose wanted to know what you shoot on now. She points out that you shot part of Pulp Fiction on High 8. She’s curious about whether you’re still using film or if you’ve gone to High Definition video

QT: I’ve never used High Definition video, never, ever, ever, ever, ever. And I never will. I can’t stand that crap.

KW: Larry Greenberg says you started out at 15 and have been immersed in the
industry, in one way or another, your whole life. He asks, do you think a person
coming to the industry later in life still has a chance for success at acting or directing?

QT: It can be difficult to get into directing at a later age. However, look at Courtney Hunt, the woman who won the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance last year for Frozen River [at the age of 43]. So, if you can raise the money on your own, you can direct a movie at any age. As far as acting is concerned, it’s advisable to get started when you’re younger, but there are plenty of actors who started their careers in their late thirties or early forties.

KW: Jackie Schatz asks, how do you think of Hitler?

QT: In a word, despicable!

KW: Marcia Evans asks, will you ever settle down and have a family?

QT: I’ve thought about that. Look, I went through baby fever, for sure, about five or six years ago, but I kind of got over it. Up until now, I’ve wanted my movies to be the most important thing in my life. I haven’t wanted to let anything distract me from that. And I think I still feel the same way right now.

KW: Marcia may be a bit presumptuous here, but she says she knows you have a foot fetish. And she asks if there’s another part of the anatomy that you have a fetish about?

QT: I appreciate the female foot, but I’ve never said that I have a foot fetish. But I am a lower track guy. I like legs… I like booties… [Laughs] Let’s just say, I have a black male sexuality.

KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?

QT: No, there isn’t one that’s just been hanging out there, that I say to myself, why don’t they ask this?

KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?

QT: [Hesitates] Very rarely would I use the word “afraid.” I feel trepidation. I get nervous, particularly when I’m about to shoot a big cinematic sequence that absolutely has got to work or else why bother. Going into those scenes, I have trepidation, because it’s mine to mess up.

KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?

QT: Oh, I’m very happy.

KW: Teri Emerson would like to know, when was the last time you had a good laugh?

QT: Oh, I laugh all the time. I’m an easy laugher. You can find me on any set, because I’m always laughing.

KW: The booKWorm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?

QT: I’m a cinemaphile, so I read a lot of cinema books. The last one I read was a biography abut the director Dorothy Arzner.

[http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0253208963?ie=UTF8&tag=thslfofire-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0253208963]

KW: What was the biggest obstacle you had to overcome?

QT: Poverty, to a great degree. I was very poor at the age of 16 and 17.

KW: Working in the video store.

QT: No, those were the good days. But even then, while working at the video store for five years, I was a high school dropout making minimum wage. And that’s what I existed on for what seemed like forever. We would dream about one day getting a raise to the wonderful world of $8 an hour. So, to overcome that minimum-wage kid white underclass to actually be responsible for millions of dollars when it comes to making a movie was a very big deal.

KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

QT: If you want to be a filmmaker, you have to love it. If you love cinema as much as I do, and not many people do, and if you are focused and actually have something to offer, you will get somewhere with it. And when it comes to being a writer, just write. Writing is actually the easiest thing to get started at. But don’t write what you think people want to read. Find your voice and write about what’s in your heart.

KW: What’s your favorite dish to cook?

QT: That’s a good question, actually. I’d have to say barbecuing a steak. It’s one dish I do it really well, and it’s very satisfying. I can make other things, but I don’t like to cook just for myself. Barbecuing a steak is always good.

KW: Well, thanks again for the interview Quentin. Best of luck with Inglourious Basterds and I look forward to speaking with you again down the line.

QT: Hey, I look forward to it Kam. This was a really great conversation.

To see a trailer for Inglourious Basterds, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3vCiyy7Cibc

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• ‘Pitt’s most charmless role to date’ (guardian.co.uk)
• Basterds Is Glorious, Entertaining (If You Don’t Mind Rewritten History) [Critical Mass] (jezebel.com)

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Rochelle Aytes is quickly establishing herself as one of Hollywood’s brightest, young starlets on the rise. In 2004, she made her big screen debut playing Shawn Wayans’ love interest in the genderbending comedy White Chicks, directed by Keenan Ivory Wayans. She can currently be seen in the ABC drama series “The Forgotten.”

Aytes has also shot guest leads on ABC’s My Wife & Kids, and on FOX’s Johnny Zero. Furthermore, she’s starred in the Fox series “Drive” and enjoyed a guest-starring role on the HBO series “Sex & The City,”  although she is perhaps best known for her breakout lead role in the Tyler Perry hit movie Madea’s Family Reunion.

Rochelle was born on May 17, 1976 in NYC, where she developed a love for ballet at an early age. As a classically-trained ballerina, she appeared with Ballet Hispanico as well as the national tour and Broadway cast of Aida. Fueled by her growing passion for acting, she quickly built up an impressive modeling resume’ by appearing in the commercials for Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, L’Oreal and Mercedes Benz, to name a few.  And she was subsequently featured in ad campaigns for Dasani, Tylenol, Gillette, Johnson & Johnson, Heineken and Burger King.

Kam Williams: Hi Rochelle, thanks for the time. What interested you in The Forgotten?

Rochelle Aytes: I loved the concept and the strength of the character.

KW: How would you describe the show?

RA: The Forgotten is about a volunteer group that assists the police in identifying the unknown and capturing the guilty. It’s filled with passion,darkness and humor.

KW: Tell me a little about your character.

RA: Detective Russell is a tough, smart, passionate detective from Chicago. She works very closely with the network to solve these cases and bring closure to the victim’s family. She also has a soft spot for the character, Alex [played by Christian Slater], her former partner, and tries her best to keep him and the rest of the group out of danger.

KW: How is it working with Christian Slater and the rest of the cast?

RA: It has been such a joy working with him. He has been kind and generous in his work and inspirational. His work ethic is amazing. The same goes for the rest of the cast. We work hard, but laugh a lot!

KW: Where in New York City did you grow up?

RA: I grew up in Harlem

KW: What high school did you attend?

RA: LaGuardia High School for the Performing Arts

KW: When did you develop your interest in acting?

RA: After working in a Broadway show, called Aida.

KW: What’s the difference between working with the Wayans’ Brothers in White Chicks versus Tyler Perry in Madea’s Family Reunion?

RA: Working with the Wayans Brothers was my first film and just a lot of fun to do. It was much less demanding of my time and emotions than working with Tyler. Though they were both comedies, Tyler’s movie required more depth and focus, therefore, creating a more serious working environment. I learned a great deal from them both.

KW: What do you prefer TV or film?

RA: Film.

KW: Who would you like to be paired opposite in a romance drama?

RA: Matt Damon.

KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?

RA: No.

KW: The Teri Emerson question: When was the last time you had a good laugh?

RA: Last night, watching my girlfriend try to learn this new dance.

KW: The music maven Heather Covington question: What music are you listening to nowadays?

RA: The Beatles. I just watched Across The Universe on cable.

KW: What is your favorite dish to cook?

RA: Spaghetti with turkey meatballs.

KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?

RA: The Alchemist. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0061122416?ie=UTF8&tag=thslfofire-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=0061122416

KW: The “Realtor to the Stars” Jimmy Bayan question. Where in L.A. do you live?

RA: Miracle Mile

KW: The Boris Kodjoe question: What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?

RA: Every new project I’m involved in is my biggest accomplishment.

KW: The Uduak Oduok question: Who is your favorite designer to wear?

RA: Bebe.

KW: The Mike Pittman question: What is you best childhood memory?

RA: Dancing at Lincoln Center every year with Ruth Williams’ dance recital.

KW: The Rudy Lewis question: Who’s at the top of your hero list?

RA: My mother.

KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?

RA: Most of the time.

KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?

RA: Yes.

KW: What has been the biggest obstacle you have had to overcome?

RA: Not caring about what other people think.

KW: The Flex Alexander question: How do you get through the tough times?

RA: I pray and I use those challenges and disappointments as a learning experience. Criticism or rejection drives me to be better.

KW: The Laz Alonso question: How can your fans help you?

RA: By going on influential websites and saying, ” We want to see Rochelle Aytes in more movies!” [Laughs]

KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

RA: Someone striving to do better.

KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

RA: Believe in yourself and speak success into your life. Hard work and determination equals success.

KW: How do you want to be remembered?

RA: As someone who made a difference in the lives of others.

KW: Thanks again, and best of luck with everything.

To see a trailer for The Forgotten, visit:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYUJvJmXrik

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Morgan Porterfield Freeman, Jr. was born in Memphis, Tennessee on June 1, 1937 but raised from infancy in Charleston, Mississippi by his paternal grandmother. Every summer as a young child, he would visit his parents who had moved to Chicago, which is where he developed his love of the cinema.

He started acting at the age of 9, exhibiting promise as a lead character in a school play. Although he had won a statewide drama competition, upon graduating from high school, he opted to enlist in the Air Force rather than accept a college scholarship to pursue his true passion.

After being honorably discharged from the military in the late Fifties, Freeman decided it was time to take his shot at showbiz. But he struggled for years, first finding work as a dancer, then on the stage in a variety of modest company productions. Eventually, he made his way to Broadway where he debuted in Hello Dolly in 1968, which led to his landing a steady gig as Easy Reader on the children’s TV series “The Electric Company.”

He subsequently appeared on such soap operas as “Another World” and “Ryan’s Hope” before finally landing his breakout role opposite Robert Redford in Brubaker in 1980. Hollywood soon took note, enabling the capable thespian to blossom into the universally-admired, consummate actor we’ve all enjoyed over the years.

A cursory glance at Mr. Freeman’s resume’ reveals a plethora of memorable hit movies, including Lean on Me, Glory, Unforgiven, Amistad, Deep Impact, Bruce Almighty, Batman Begins, Gone Baby Gone, The Bucket List and The Dark Knight, to name a few. He delivered Oscar-nominated performances, in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy and The Shawshank Redemption before finally winning that elusive Academy Award in 2005 for Million Dollar Baby, which also earned Best Picture and Best Director honors for Clint Eastwood.

He reunited with Eastwood to make his latest picture, Invictus, an uplifting, historical saga based on actual events which unfolded in South Africa shortly after the fall of the apartheid regime. Freeman, who still makes his home in Mississippi, spoke with me recently about his life, career and the challenge of portraying Nelson Mandela.

Kam Williams: Mr. Freeman, thanks so much for the time. I’m honored to be speaking with you.

Morgan Freeman: Well, thank you.

KW: First, let me say congratulations on winning the National Board of Review’s Best Actor Award for Invictus.

MF: Thank you very much.

KW: Was making this movie a labor of love? I heard that it was something that you’d wanted to do for a long time.

MF: Well, it wasn’t necessarily this project, but I felt destined to do something about Mandela. I don’t know whether you know that in 1992, when he published his autobiography, he was asked who he would want to play him, if the book ever became a movie. And he named me. So, I was sort of the chosen one, as it were. Therefore, I expected that eventually I would play him, but we always thought it would be in a movie version of “Long Walk to Freedom.” It didn’t turn out that way, however.

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KW: But you obviously also liked Invictus.

MF: My partner and I thought that this story was ideal. This one, we felt was perfect to go with.

KW: Are you referring to your partner in Madidi restaurants and Ground Zero blues club?

MF: No, to my producing partner, Lori McCreary.

KW: Jim Cryan, a reader with in-laws in Mississippi, says he’s enjoyed eating at Madidi down in Clarksdale. He says it’s very upscale, so he was wondering whether when you cook for yourself you make any down home Southern dishes like barbecued bologna sandwiches.

MF: I don’t cook. I’m a partner in the restaurant, but it isn’t because I like to cook.

KW: Attorney Bernadette Beekman wanted to know whether you ever met Mandela.

MF: Yes, I’ve met him on a number of occasions, and have even been able to spend some time with him.

KW: Children’s book author Irene Smalls asks, how would you characterize your relationship with Clint Eastwood, as a friend, mentor or fellow artist?

MF: I think it’s as friend and fellow artist. Yeah, fellow artist, first.

KW: Reverend Florine Thompson asks, who or what has been your greatest source of encouragement and inspiration?
MF: Sidney Poitier, his whole life and career.

KW: She also wants to know, how important is spirituality in your life?

MF: Very important. Very important, indeed, although I’m not what you would call “officially” spiritual.

KW: Aspiring actor Tommy Russell asks, did you ever want to give up as an actor?

MF: Oh, yeah. Many times… many times…

KW: Is there any question no one ever asks you, that you wish someone would?

MF: [Laughs] No, I’ve been asked everything that you can imagine.

KW: The Tasha Smith question: Are you ever afraid?

MF: Afraid? Yes, I get afraid, because I’m an adventurer. I like to live on the edge. Afraid means you have an adrenaline rush.

KW: The Columbus Short question: Are you happy?

MF: Happiness is relative. I’m content.

KW: The Teri Emerson question: When was the last time you had a good laugh?

MF: Well, I’ve been with Clint and [co-star] Matt Damon the last couple of days, and we’ve laughed a lot.

KW: The bookworm Troy Johnson question: What was the last book you read?

MF: Oh, gosh… I’m sorry. I can’t remember what the last book was offhand.

KW: Maybe it’ll pop into your head before we finish.

MF: Yeah.

KW: The music maven Heather Covington question: What are you listening to?

MF: An eclectic mix of people. Right now, I have a mix on my disc player of Norah Jones, Ray Charles, Franks Sinatra and Al Green.

KW: The Ling-Ju Yen question: What is your earliest childhood memory?

MF: My earliest childhood memory… I think my earliest childhood memory is of getting up one morning and putting my own shoes on. I put ‘em on the wrong feet.

KW: That’s funny, because my earliest childhood memory is being taught by my mother to tie my shoes while we sat under a tree in a park.

MF: Do you remember how old you were?

KW: Either 3 or 4.

MF: That seems to be about the same age that I was.

KW: The Mike Pittman question: Who was your best friend as a child?

MF: I had a lot of best friends as a child. My first one’s name was Sonny Man. [Chuckles] Then there was Bobo and Walter, up until I was a teenager.

KW: When you look in the mirror, what do you see?

MF: When I look in the mirror, what do I see? I see me. What does that mean? Do you have any idea?

KW: No, because I don’t know how to interpret the answers to that question. 

MF: I meant, can you interpret the question? What did you have in mind there?

KW: It’s a question I use often, and I leave it to each person to interpret the meaning.

MF: Do you ever get any interesting answers to that?

KW: Yeah.

MF: Really?

KW: Sure, they can be very revealing! Ludacris said, “an entrepre-Negro,” Gladys Knight said, “A child of God,” Faizon Love responded, “The light! The reflection of the light,” Mo’Nique said, “I see somebody that’s full of life,” and LeBron James answered, “A great father, a great friend, a loyal person and someone who’s always trying to make a difference.” I like offbeat questions that people aren’t always asked which cause them to pause and become a little more introspective, like: Are you happy?

MF: I see happiness and sadness as two sides of the same coin. And if you’re somewhere in the middle of that, you’re going to float both ways from time to time, but you never know what your ambient temperature might be.

KW: The Flex Alexander question: How do you get through the tough times?

MF: I have this amazing belief in myself, and the idea proven to me time and time again that if you just keep going, stay on your feet, and keep moving, things will work out.

KW: Wesley Derbyshire asks, how is it that you always manage to evoke power, deep emotion, and true conviction onscreen, and in such a serene fashion?

MF: In my mind, acting is believing. That’s the way I learned it, and how I still think of it. So, in order to be true to any character, you have to believe that you are that character, and that you have his belief system working for you. That way, when you’re reciting your lines, you’ll be saying them from a place of conviction.

KW: Laz Lyles asks, did you have to sacrifice a modicum of reverence for Mandela as an actor to bring out the full palette of complexity and humanity of a person as universally esteemed as Mandela? She says she heard Clint Eastwood mention some of the ways in which Mandela was flawed. So she’d like to know what it was like for you as an actor to get into the psyche of a person who is viewed as so selfless and spiritual, and to discover that he’s also flawed.

MF: Well, I had already read so much about Mandela that I knew a long time ago that not only is he a human who is flawed, but that there are certain personal failings as a man for which he cannot forgive himself. For despite all of his political triumphs, he feels unfulfilled in terms of his family.

KW: Carmela Reimers asks, how hard was it to get Mandela’s accent down?

MF: Very hard. In fact, that was the most challenging part of the whole role. It wasn’t impossible, but if I were to say any part of the role was hard, it would have to be that.

KW: Uduak Oduok asks, how did you like shooting on location in South Africa, and how do you think Africa will be influence America, culturally, in the coming years?

MF: I really enjoyed being in South Africa. It is really an amazing place. We spent about 6 weeks in Cape Town and 2 weeks in Joburg [Johannesburg]. I still find it a very exciting country. As old as it really is, right now it seems on the verge of leaping into the 21^st Century. Culturally, I don’t think Africa is going to have any more effect on America than it already has, which has been considerable. But I believe South Africa will have an enormous influence on the rest of that continent. I certainly hope so.

KW: Larry Greenberg was wondering whether, despite your many accolades and accomplishments, there are any projects you still feel you must take on?

MF: Yes, I must get a few more historical dramas made about the black experience in America.

KW: The Boris Kodjoe question: What do you consider your biggest accomplishment?

MF: Working as an actor… Yep.

KW: What advice do you have for anyone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

MF: For anyone who wants to follow in my footsteps? I’ve laid down a lot of footsteps and tracks in different directions, so it would depend on which way they want to go. In general, I would say, “Gird your loins, and go where you want to go! Do what you want to do.”

KW: The Laz Alonso question: How can your fans help you?

MF: By just remaining fans, and by letting me know if I mess up.

KW: Have you remembered the last book you read yet?

MF: No, I’ve been concentrating on what you’ve been asking. Let me think… One of the last ones was Whiskey Gulf by Clyde Ford, a friend of mine up in the Washington area. http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1593155220?ie=UTF8&tag=thslfofire-20&linkCode=as2&camp=1789&creative=390957&creativeASIN=1593155220

KW: Have you been doing a lot more voiceover work lately? It seems like I’m always hearing you on TV and radio ads.

MF: No, sometimes I think I hear my voice, too, but it’s not my voice. So, you have to be a little careful there.

KW: Yeah, Richie Havens said the same thing. That there’s a guy impersonating him who has done a bunch of commercials.

MF: Right. If a good model sounds alike, some people go for it.

KW: Thanks again, Mr. Freeman. I really appreciate the time, and I’ve admired your career and enjoyed all your work.

MF: Thanks so much, that’s very kind of you.

To see a trailer for Invictus, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54HlG54IY6E

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