Art Star interviews: Cedric the Entertainer
Posted 1/06/2009 by WHayes in Labels: American Buffalo, cedric the entertainer, interviews, WHayes
Hello Friends,
A few weeks back, I had the opportunity to interview comedian Cedric the Entertainer for the Madagascar: Escape to Africa press weekend. While, thankfully, I've forgotten most of that movie, we did happen to talk about much more than digital penguins. This past November, Cedric was again onstage, but not the one you may expect.
Looking forward, New York audiences will see Cedric for the first time on a stage of a different type. This November, he’ll be appearing in David Mamet’s “American Buffalo,” a play about three would-be burglars who plan to steal a valuable coin collection from a vacationing wealthy man. Does it seem a far cry from Madagascar? It should. He took the role to break out of his shell, Cedric says. He’s aiming to “get outside of the space,” the niche he describes as roles like “the easy going dad, the blue collar every man. I felt like [I’ve done this already], and I can’t see where it’s going to take me. It was hard to sell the people who were writing the checks on anything different.” Luckily, “Buffalo” director Robert Falls was looking for a cast that was as diverse as it is talented.
In roles held over the years by actors such as Dennis Franz, Robert Duvall, Dustin Hoffman, and Al Pachino, Falls cast Cedric, The Honeymooners costar John Leguizamo, and The Sixth Sense alum Haley Joel Osment. While he may make light of the screen-to-stage pay cut (“It is Broadway so it’s a lot less money, a lot less; did I say it was a lot less?”), he admits that for him, projects don’t always have to come down to dollars and cents. In his words, “the experience of being in New York, of being on one of the greatest, most prestigious performance stages in the world, is going to be something that will change my career from here on out.” “I look forward to the unknown,” he adds, “I look forward to the opportunities that show up beyond finances;” These are, he says, the risks-taken that he can look back on as personal triumphs.
The stark contrast between Hollywood and Broadway took time to adjust to. “It has little to do with being a star, it’s all about can you do the work? Its eight shows a week, and you have to deliver to a live audience, right now.” While his training as a standup proved invaluable to the learning curve, the difference lies in the material. Unlike performing your own routine, here you work to support your costars as well; “you really develop who your character is and [learn] how he drives the story forward.”
In terms of other opportunities, Cedric the Entertainer has his sights set on the life of late 19th Century Jamaican-born journalist and incendiary figure Marcus Garvey. “An epic movie,” he says, “something on a powerful character that’s never been brought to film.” In Cedric’s opinion, Garvey is a polarizing, inspirational, and massively visible figure the African American community hadn’t seen until Barack Obama. “You saw what [Obama] did in Germany, but its weird to think that in a time like this, no one has had that influence where the world recognizes the individual for their power and their gifts and their desire to make things happen.” The goal of the film would be to show how Garvey successfully organized others around his sometimes controversial ideas, in a country where technological and racial barriers were stacked high. Cedric may just be today’s proof that while “it’s good to be strong, likable, and funny,” you should never allow yourself to rest on the laurels of one outlet. “To be able to still do some funny movies, but have the opportunity to push some of my other ideas through – it’s good to look forward to that.”
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