IDLEWILD Interviews

ANDRE BENJAMIN (Percival) and ANTWAN PATTON (Rooster)

Q: You guys have sold almost 30 million records. What did you find out about the movie business that differed from the record business? Are you ready to make movies?

ANDRE: Everything we do, we try to be true to ourselves. We also know that what we create, we want to sell, so we want people to come to the theater. We also want people to say that this is a necessary film and needed to be made. At the end of the day, if no one comes to see this, we will know that we had a great time doing it, and that somebody will be influenced by it.

Q: Can you talk about the cultural synergy in the film, from 1930’s Cab Calloway and Bessie Smith to modern hip-hop? What were your influences in layering the music, culture and dance?

ANTWAN: I guess one of the major challenges when we started to shoot the film was that we didn’t have all the music ready yet. They kept telling us not to worry because they would just shoot around it. Then we’d get to set and the first thing they’d tell us is that they needed a song. [Laughs.] It worked out all right, because we did have some songs prepared, but we were lucky because the story line was so strong that we didn’t need music all the way through it. If we had to do this again, we would definitely have all the music first

ANDRE: When Bryan was writing the script and set it in the 1930’s, he knew that he would be taking the audience into a whole new world, style wise. In the times we are living in, especially for black people, you don’t get to see people with class too often. It was a good choice on his part to showcase all of this, especially the music. We knew that it was the 1930’s, and we kept that in mind when we were writing and producing. But we also knew that we were Outkast and we had a responsibility to our fans. We had to make sure there was modern music as well. We pushed the boundaries and added some newness to the musical style of the 1930’s. We really brought it to now. You do have Big Boi break out rhyming. Cab Calloway did rhyme back then. I think the reason musicals don’t work is because of the music. People don’t want to listen to the music of old. They want to hear the music of now, and that is why this makes sense.

Q: But you did seem to take that music of old and give it some new life.

ANTWAN: That shows us being influenced by all musical genres. We were never biased in our records in creating sounds, because we liked rock, jazz and blues and pop and country. To go back and throw in some swing was great. It was cool adding some ragtime feel and we just did what we needed to do. We can satisfy our fans by doing what we do best.

ANDRE: It’s called freaking it.

Q: How much are you like the personalities of your characters in the film? Were these characteristics matched to your own personalities?

ANDRE: I think that this might be closer to my real Andre Benjamin personality because when people see me, they see me from “Hey Ya” and “Roses,” with all this energy. In real life, I don’t dance around all the time. We’ve known Bryan since we gave him his first shot at directing one of our music videos. He knows our personalities and our lives. He knows things about us that the people don’t see, and he pulled from those parts and created these characters. He wrote this script and then gave us the room to play in these characters, which showed a side of me that people don’t get to see. I don’t mope around like Percival all the time. In every character you play, you have to find a jumping off point that makes it real to you.

Q: Is there any Rooster in you?

ANTWAN: Yeah, I think there is more than just a little bit. Bryan took our personalities and exaggerated them and gave us room to play with them. By him knowing certain details about our lives and how we react to situations, he hit it right on the bulls-eye.

Q: It is said that the two of you are opposites but the music brings you together. Is that a fair assessment?

ANDRE: Sometimes that is the case but people like to put us in categories and pigeon hole us, like Big Boi does this in the group and Andre does that. Of course we each have a persona that we let people see but we switch roles all the time. In the movie, Percival and Rooster might have characteristics that were taken from our book, but they are extreme versions. You don’t go into the theater and see André 3000 acting like a fool. We were in character in the 1930’s.

Q: What do you think setting the film in the 1930’s lent to the story?

ANDRE: Well, you got to leave this world and go to another world. I have always been a fan of the 1930’s style, especially in terms of the way men dressed. I loved showing up on set and listening to the music of the era, especially Cab Calloway and watching films like Stormy Weather. Because it was a different time, I had to learn how to walk and even sit differently. Men didn’t slouch. They sat up straight with their chest poked out. They exuded class. Now everyone is laid back, and maybe on Sunday you dress up. Then, everyone dressed up and on Sunday they would relax. That is what I love about making movies – you get to live out certain fantasies.

Q: You guys were babe magnets in the film.

ANDRE and ANTWAN: Man let’s talk about the ladies.

Q: Do you think that is close to the truth?

ANTWAN: Look, we are out here just doing what we do and a lot of women just appreciate what we do.

Q: What was it like being a mortician?

ANDRE: Before we started the film, I did sit down with morticians and went to the room where they do what they do. They are cool people and not creepy, although I did find out that a lot of them drink a lot. As for doing movies, you get to do cool things and that is the best thing about movie making. It’s not glamorous. It’s a lot of work.

Q: Have you thought about having more training?

ANDRE: I have mixed thoughts about the studying thing. I think there are techniques that you can learn about lighting and hitting your mark. But I have learned that it is something innate in you that makes you who you are. Johnny Depp doesn’t need a class. He just has something about him. There are classes that can teach you to speak up and project, but what people buy into, I find, is that which makes you who you are. I am sure there are some vocal classes that could be important. We are both from the South where you might need to get an accent down.

ANTWAN: Talking to different directors and veteran actors on set, I have learned that it is all about timing. You have to keep yourself in the moment. I don’t know if a class can teach you how to play a person or a certain type of role. I think you need to be aware of your surroundings, but as we are always in the studio, I don’t know when we would even find the time to go do some training.

Q: In that respect, what does acting then give you that music doesn’t or vice versa?

ANDRE: Music is having full control. We produce and write and it’s totally our baby from start to finish. You can go to the studio if you want or go home if you want. In a film, you are part of this collective 200 plus family. You have to wake up and be disciplined. We’ve been our own bosses for 13 years, so this was a change. When you are an entertainer, even though we can still go to the mall and stuff, you aren’t really a normal person anymore - people are looking at you all of the time, trying to peer into your life. When you are on screen, you get to play a normal person, a civilian. And that is cool.

Q: Did you have the same level of confidence in movies that you do have playing music?

ANDRE: I never thought about it like that. We’ve tried to do a film, since the beginning, but only because of the success of Speakerbox/The Love Below were we able to get this chance. We never had time to think about this or what would happen if we failed.

Q: What is confidence to you?

ANDRE: Confidence is knowing who you are. You don’t have walk with a limp and have every word come out of your mouth be a lie. That is not it. Everybody has something to work with, and you have to work that thing. If you know that your hair looks best parted on the side, then let it work for you.

Q: Not having a lot of movie training, what was it like to work with people like Terrence Howard? How much did they lend to your own performances?

ANTWAN: This was my first film and the first day we shot, I did the scene where I am on the sidewalk with my wife and kids shopping. I was so nervous, but I was gearing up for it. Ben Vereen was my mentor and he was psyching me up before Terrence got there. He said ‘Terrence is a veteran actor who will come on set in character and he won’t like you. He’ll treat you like shit. He might even try and sucker you in by being your friend just to throw you off. You can’t let him take the scene away from you. You have to go toe to toe with him.’ When Terrence showed up, he was in the make-up room and my heart was beating so fast. He turned and saw me and said, ‘Man, what’s up man? I have been checking you out and would love to play some songs with you.’ I knew that he was trying to sucker me in. [Laughs.] I told Ben that he wanted to come to my trailer and play some songs, and Ben said ‘don’t let him do it.’ I knew I had to watch him, but then he did come by and I realized he was a good guy. Anyway, back to the first day of shooting, I was so nervous so I turned the nervousness into the anger that I needed for the scene. After we shot a couple of times, Terrence told me that I had him shook up from the way I was standing. He honestly felt that I wanted to kill him. For him to tell me that really gave me the confidence, and it was all good after that.

Q: What about some of the other veteran actors you worked with? What did you learn from them?

ANDRE: You take this one. You got to work with way more people than I did. I was always at home.

ANTWAN: It was fun. For the most part, you learned a little something from each person. I didn’t want them to think that this was just another rap guy coming in to make a movie. You wanted them to know you were dead serious about it. Once they got to know you and the reasons why we wanted to be on screen, we all became this big family and played off each other. Faizon was the big funny brother. Paula Jay was all fun. Cicely Tyson was so serious. When I did the scene with her, she was so serious, even with the kids. She would turn around and tell the kids to stop moving. I was on the outside of the car thinking, ‘damn, those are just some kids,’ but she was serious. [Laughs.]

Q: You guys didn’t have many scenes together. Did that reflect a decision to keep your personalities more separate?

ANTWAN: That was another great call by Bryan. He didn’t want to make a buddy-buddy type film. By telling two stories of this brotherhood, where the stories weave in and out of each other, it was more interesting that way. By separating the two, you got to see more about them individually.

ANDRE: Both characters were really tight and they didn’t have to be in the same space. That is the way it is for us. We’ve been friends since the 10th grade, before we even started doing music. We were just kids getting into music and getting on girls. That is always going to be there.

ANTWAN: Not for me. I’m married. [Laughs.] We do everything except for that.

Q: Can you address the future of Outkast? Ever since the release of your last album, people have been suggesting that you two are drifting apart and might go your separate ways.

ANTWAN: We are glad you asked that question.

ANDRE: As far as the future of Outkast, we are not saying what we’ll do next. We only know what we are doing now and that is promoting Idlewild. As far as the rumors go, we have been doing this for 13 years and we haven’t shot anyone or killed anyone or slapped anyone. I haven’t slept with Paris Hilton. So what can they talk about with us? When Andre says that he doesn’t want to go on tour or be part of a major record label, that is just a personal choice. We both understand each other. We are not breaking up or drifting apart. We hang out but don’t live in the same house anymore. It’s like a brother you grow up with, it is time you find your own house and your own family. I have my son, and it’s a new game. We still trip out like it is 10th grade.

ANTWAN: Yes, sometimes we’d get mad when they would say that stuff. They would interview us and try and paint their own picture about us. The whole time they were interviewing us, we’d be laughing and giggling, but they’d write their story about how we were distant and pulling apart. It was stupid stuff, but we have been saying for years, this is all about the music and our personal life is our business. We had this brainchild for the group Outkast and that was our idea. That principle hasn’t left us and no music or movies can break that up. This is my dog for life.

Q: Did you talk to the kids that played you as kids in the film to ensure some kind of transition?

ANTWAN: When they cast those boys, they were trying to see who best represented us as characters. I think they did study us. I didn’t get a chance to meet Bobby Jay, the kid they got to play me, until I went down one day to watch them shoot. Everybody kept telling me that I had to get down there because this little boy was acting crazy just like me. He was amazing and so smart. He was a little bitty “Boi Man.”

Q: Bryan had such a kinetic style of shooting this movie. What were your thoughts when you realized that you would be talking with a rooster in a flask or to animated musical notes on the piano? How much were you able to visualize what he was planning on doing?

ANDRE: We called those extra added values ‘the funk that you bring to the film.’ We are film fans, and we’d hear Bryan talk about references to films like Amelie. We knew what kind of film we wanted to make so it was expected. We knew it couldn’t be straight and narrow, and it had to be magical.

ANTWAN: As far as interacting with the flask, it was like holding an iPod and having it talk back. You just have to believe it. There was nobody delivering those lines back to me. I was just talking to a flask, that sometimes had Hennessey in it, and I just started believing what was going on. I saw the film last night and I was tripped out.

Q: How about learning to tap dance? What was that like?

ANDRE: I had never tapped dance before and I had about two weeks to learn. I liked it.

Q: What were your favorite musicals growing up?

ANDRE: Singing in the Rain and The Sound of Music were the ones I loved. Growing up watching them I remember that they were all so big.

Q: With this new taste of making movies, is there a role you can foresee yourself playing?

ANTWAN: I could see myself playing Bill Clinton. I just want to get into make-up for that Lewinsky scene.

ANDRE: I would love to play Pele. I don’t play soccer but I think he has a great story.