Posted by Tieuel Legacy! aka Shawnre’

A LITTLE ABOUT MOROCCO OMARI...
35 years old // Actor, screenwriter, director // Raised on the West Side of Chicago; lives in Bronzeville

“Looking back, I had to be a storyteller; we didn’t have a whole lot of outlets on the West Side. But it wasn’t until after I was shot at* that I sat down and thought about what I really wanted to do. // When I stood onstage, I got this adrenaline rush, almost like scoring a touchdown. I knew this was it. // The gutsiest thing I’ve done, besides fight a war, is I went up to Denzel Washington** and joked with him that he was getting old and that I was coming for him. He said: “Come on. I’ve opened the door for you.” We shared a laugh. // When I ask older actors what they wish they had done differently, they always say, “Take more control of my career.” I wrote, produced, cast, and starred in my last film, so for the next one, I decided I’d go ahead and direct, too. // When I was younger, my ideal date was Thelma from Good Times. Now it’s more like Helen Folasade Adu.***”

* As a marine in Desert Storm.
** Who went on to invest in Morocco’s screenwriting debut, The Male Groupie.
*** a.k.a. Sade — and, yes, Morocco knows her full name.

Part I of the interview after the jump!

Tieuel- Your name appears several times on your latest production (Mis) Leading Man. Can you list your roles and how how important it is to take charge for getting projects completed?

Omari- Writer, producer, director, and actor. As an actor you have very little control, I needed the power. I want to tell stories that I wanted to see and give jobs to real actors. An artist is the highest level of any craft so we have to create and tell stories. That’s what I chose to do.

Tieuel- Is there a role in filmmaking that you prefer (actor, producer, director, etc.)?

Omari- It depends on the day. I love acting. I dislike all of the business it takes. Just to do it. Producing is fulfilling because I get to see the project from start to finish and I love being in control. Directing was fun because I’m a fan of good acting and it’s good when you hire a actor and they knock it out the park on the first take. It makes our job look easier and makes us look brilliant as directors.

Tieuel- Your co-star, Christian Payton, performed in one of my favorite movies, The Temptations, and also in a really good love film called Strange As Angels. There is Zuri Amina with whom we may not know much about yet and Tyla Abercrumbie who has a few film projects under her belt yet owns an impressive list of theater appearances. Speak on the characters behind the scenes and what they bring to the project.

Omari- I’ve been knowing Christian Payton from the theatre scene in Chicago and have been a fan for many years. I asked him and he said yes. Christian brings a coolness with an underlying frenetic energy that is just the right touch. Tyla Abercrumbie is primarily a theatre and spoken word artist on the Chicago scene. She plays my wife, she’s beautiful, and she can act. She’s the glue that holds the family together; the calm in the middle of the storm. Zuri, plays my daughter and she’s my daughter in real life, this is her introduction, I wrote the role for her, and she worked hard. I’m proud of her performance, it’s a heavy role for her first role out the gate. I’m still not sure if I want her to be an actor. If she does, I’ll support her but I hope she’s does something different.

Tieuel- How does the theatrical backgrounds of so many actors/actresses translate into film production? Do you learn things from theater that are not typical for film and television?

Omari- Not all theatre actors can do tv/film and not all tv/film actors can do theatre. I applaud those who can do them both and do them both well. You can learn good and bad habits in both. Let’s start with theatre. The upside of theatre is you’re rooted in the craft, you don’t get 2 and 3 takes. Either you were good that night or you sucked. You learn breath control. You’re constantly finding and learning new things about your character, right up until you close a show. You have rehearsal time to create a character. Theatre actors develop a lot of layers to the character and you get that instant feedback from the audience. Theatre is what made me fall in love with acting because it was the closest I could get to scoring a touchdown. The downside of theatre is that you get use to indicating and projecting your voice because you’re playing to an audience. That does not translate good on film. It looks like you’re overacting and nothing’s worse than getting caught acting. Film acting is more natural. You speak in a conversational tone and depending on where the camera is you act accordingly. For instance, the closer the camera pushes in the smaller your movements get. You have to know where that camera is, how tight it is, and then forget the camera is there. Everytime an actor blinks in an ECU (extreme close-up) the more it weakens the character. Case in point, check out Denzel as Malcolm X. The brother enters and tells him he cheated West Indian Archie on the numbers. D has the cigarette in his mouth and it looks like he’s going to cry. It’s subtle and beautiful. Same goes for Benecio Del Toro in Traffic. His partner’s girlfriend tells him that his partner went to the authorities. Benecio stops chewing gum, looks down for a nice beat, then he snaps out of it before chewing his gum again. He puts his cool back on-but he knows his partner fucked up. Film doesn’t prepare you for that monster called stage. You don’t learn breath support, playing to an audience, and you don’t have the stamina to do 8 shows a week. I took off from the stage for 4yrs and got my ass kicked. I said, “Never again, I’ll make time to do a play once a year.” In film, you have to learn the character quick, learn your lines quick, and know the arc of your story.

Tieuel- I met you in 2005 on South Beach at the American Black Film Fest. Your film was Male Groupie, a comedy focusing on a man that mooches off of his rap star cohort. You were also on a couple of Girlfriends episodes. What do you say to people like myself who see you on various dramatic shortfilms, 60 minute dramas, and action shows but constantly see you as a comedian?

Omari- On one hand, it’s a compliment because you were so convinced that you believed I was that character. That means I did my job. On the other hand it can be whack because people will box you in. You look at sitcom stars, and most, not all get boxed in especially if you’re black. Look at dude who played Urkel (I still don’t know his name) Dwayne Wayne, JJ, Thelma, Lamont, and the list goes on. Some have been able to make that transition successfully like: Will Smith, Queen Latifah, but more often than not, it’s hard for them to get another job unless it’s another sitcom. That can be a gift and a curse because the money is good but you run the risk of not getting another job after that job ends. We, the public, can only identify you with that character. If we want longevity in this art we, as actors, have to have range by being able to perform drama and comedy, August Wilson and William Shakespeare. If you see Prince on the guitar, do we say Prince is just a guitarist? Dude can play 26 instruments. Hell, I can’t even name 26 instruments. We call him a genius AND an artist. As actors we are our instrument. We can’t just play the thug or the sassy sister. We can play Hannibal the Moor, doctors, warriors, lawyers, etc. As people of a darker hue, you need to have accents in you repertoire. We can play people of african, latin, southern, east coast, midwest, and west coast descent. So have a few dialects up your sleeve. Don’t limit yourself and don’t let this industry limit you either.

Stay tuned for part 2 for Morocco Omari, theater, and more…

~ Tieuel Legacy! aka Shawnre’