The Dark Knight
Have your Batman. We’ll gladly take superhero-in-training Tyrese Gibson’s killer smile and a cape any day of the week.
by DeMarco Williams
On the low, Tyrese Gibson’s movies have done over $1 billion at the box office. No, seriously. The combined gross of films like Baby Boy, 2 Fast 2 Furious and Four Brothers really has done that much business. All right, so the Transformers franchise has an awful lot to do with the out-of-this-world tally. Still, January’s creepy Legion will have added about $40 million to that total by the time this issue prints. But more important than that is the fact the movie could actually stamp the 31-year-old Cali native as an official Hollywood action star. In this interview, he goes into all of that, birthing his own comic book and morphing into a hero for other black actors.
You’ve been doing a lot of action films. Is that just for right now or a strategy you’re working on?
Umm, it definitely falls under a strategy. I think, at the beginning of my acting career, even though I’ve only been doing it for a minute and a half, I was just taking the opportunities as they came. There wasn’t no real thought, strategy, planning or sense of direction to what I wanted to do. I think God’s favor has allowed me to sustain a consistent energy. Legion has some action in it, but it’s definitely some dramatic acting in this movie that takes me back to some Baby Boy-type stuff. I just try to create a happy balance. I never want to be the popcorn, bubblegum actor that’s only doing the box office movies. I want to definitely maintain my respect amongst the respected acting community, the Denzels of the world. Last night I got a great compliment. Columbus Short was at a party and came all the way across the room to tell me, “Yo Rese, you been doing your thing and I want you to know I look up to you.” And I’m like, “Look up to me?” That really humbles me and makes me feel like this energy I’m putting out there as an actor has somebody watching.
Any challenges working with a new director?
Scott Stewart, he’s ahead of his time. I had my doubts, I can’t lie. I had my doubts about a first-time director in general -not him in particular- but I’ve had my experiences with first- or second-time directors and you get to the set and you almost feel like you have to do your job and their job. Preparation meets opportunity and Scott Stewart was very well prepared. So, for him to make his film debut and have this many actors on the set at one time – all these different personalities, different questions, being bombarded – he handled everything with a grain of salt and did his thing. It was a great experience.
How was it working with Charles Dutton and Dennis Quaid?
I worked with Dennis Quaid before on Flight of the Phoenix, so that felt like a family reunion. I said, “Dennis, what is it about me and you and deserts? What the hell is going on?” Charles Dutton, a lot of people may not know this, but he’s like a historian. He’s got information about all this stuff. You can sit up and talk to him for hours. When I ended up doing the scene with him on the roof, I told Scott, “This time, man, you caught a mentoring session on camera.” It was a pleasure working with Charles. I want to definitely do another one with him ‘cause I learned a lot. I was a student.
Humanity being a lost cause is nothing new in Hollywood. When you read the script, what was it about the story that seemed different and also felt timely for today’s market?
It was a great read. Once I met with Scott and seen how he was looking to do this, I was like, I’m in. It’s just one of those movies that really jumps out at you. The beautiful thing about writing screenplays and directing – I’m a screenplay writer, not a director yet – but you look at movies like an Avatar or a Transformers and we’re able to experience people’s interpretations of the way they see the world, that’s all it is. Just because I was in the movie, doesn’t mean I believe it’s the end of the world. It doesn’t mean that I believe that angels have abs and they work out and have machine guns and knives. It’s a movie and we showed up to help Scott bring his vision to life.
Speaking of bringing visions to life, tell us about the comic book you’re working on.
I have a comic book called Mayhem. He’s a very strong Black superhero and I’m really proud of the momentum behind this comic book creation. We sold at least 40-something thousand comic books with the combination of all three series. We invented the first digital comic book being sold on iTunes LP, the latest version of iTunes. We’re sold on iTunes internationally in over 38 different countries. It includes voiceover, animation, sound effects. We also scored it and added music. It was basically like Pixar. It’s been amazing feedback. Get in front of your laptop. You can download my latest single on all three of the digital comic books. You get the behind the scenes, the making of… Way too much content for $2.99.
Did doing the score make you want to get back in the studio to make another album?
I would love to but the timing is really bad right now. If you know Tyrese, you know I love music, but I had to decide what it was going to be. These movies just kept coming in and music will always be there and I can eventually do another album at that point. There will be another Tyrese album. Musically, [the comic book singles] have been my last three records that I’ve been able to put out for my fans.
A while back you made mention of being interested in the comic book character Luke Cage. Marvel was developing it. Are you still interested in the project and what’s the latest on it?
I’m definitely still interested. I will absolutely play the role of Luke Cage when that opportunity presents itself. I will take that in a heartbeat. It’s in development hell right now. It’s one of the most famous Black superheroes out there. It’s a lot of pressure to get that script right in particular—especially with all this stuff with Disney buying Marvel. It’s in development hell. I’m excited about the possibilities. I would love to bring that to life in a heartbeat.
Did you read the comic book Luke Cage as a boy?
No I did not. I never read any comic books growing up. I started getting into comic books when I went to Comic-Con. I’m no veteran in the comic book world. But that energy out there, I call it selfless passion. You got all these guys running around with their favorite comic book characters on and they’re not ashamed of it. They’re not embarrassed by it. This is who I love. This is who I can identify with. I was like, “I have to add to this world. I have to come up with my own character. Hopefully, when I come to Comic-Con this year, there will be a few Mayhems running around out there.
You talk to your fans a lot via social networking
I love Twitter. Everyone follow me @Tyrese4Real! I think of the people who follow me on Twitter as my congregation. Everyone who follows me knows that I love to pump some motivation and inspiration out there and really give people permission to try to be great. I didn’t set up Twitter because I wanted people to call me sexy and fly all day. I wanted to make people aware of things that they probably couldn’t get anywhere else. I’m at over a million followers. I put trailers up and news articles, whether I’m working on different projects or selling comic books or whatever else. It’s been an amazing run.
Are you spiritual? And how has that propelled you throughout your career?
God will never give you something somebody else is supposed to have. And it’s arrogant to believe the next second belongs to you. Those are the words I live my life by. The other one is: You can often tell how far your life and career will go based on the five people you spend the most time with. And if you have a problem with your life, you should have a problem with the people in your life. I’m a Christian by faith. I am at church every Sunday. I don’t go to God only when I have problems. I’m consistent in my relationship. I’m just trying my best to maintain the blessing because he could have gave this to anybody. My faith was not tampered with [in the making of Legion]. This is just Scott’s vision of how he sees the world and I look forward to working with him again.
What’s next for you?
I gotta role coming up that’s gone shock the world. I can’t even tell you about it, but I’m letting my hair grow out and I’m putting on weight right now. This is gone be like ooooh weeeee! I’m not just interested in doing films with robots or South Central L.A. type films.
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