As Forest Whitaker prepares to receive the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Newport Beach Film Festival on June 16, the prolific Academy Award- and Emmy-winning actor with a career spanning four decades says he finds himself increasingly reconnecting with the way he approached the work when he was just starting out.
There’s a “joy when I’m working on a part in the discovery of looking at it and trying to figure out the people,” he says.
For example, he notes that by focusing more deeply on the needs of his “Godfather of Harlem” character, real-life crime boss Bumpy Johnson, the character itself leads the way to his performance.
“That’s the way I was working before,” he says. “I started to go back to basics sometimes, and it’s making things more exciting for me again.”
Whitaker admits he feels fortunate to have been allowed to play an astonishingly...
There’s a “joy when I’m working on a part in the discovery of looking at it and trying to figure out the people,” he says.
For example, he notes that by focusing more deeply on the needs of his “Godfather of Harlem” character, real-life crime boss Bumpy Johnson, the character itself leads the way to his performance.
“That’s the way I was working before,” he says. “I started to go back to basics sometimes, and it’s making things more exciting for me again.”
Whitaker admits he feels fortunate to have been allowed to play an astonishingly...
- 6/16/2021
- by Scott Huver
- Variety Film + TV
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