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 The film The Great Debaters
was released recently and ACED had the opportunity to chat with three of its
fine young actors. Nate Parker (Henry
Lowe), Jurnee Smollett (Samantha Brooke) and Denzel Whitaker (James
Farmer, Jr.) play three of the four debate team members that went on to win the
national championships as depicted in the film.
The
Great Debaters chronicles the journey of Professor Melvin Tolson (Denzel
Washington), a brilliant but violent debate team coach who uses the power of
words to shape a group of underdog students from a small African American
college in the deep south into a historically elite debate team.
A
controversial figure, professor Tolson challenged the social mores of the time
and was under constant fire for his unconventional and ferocious teaching
methods, as well as his radical political views. - The Weinstein Co. (During the course of the film
we also see the depiction of an extreme racial south during the mid 1930s.)
Q: What was it like coming to the set of The Great
Debaters day after day knowing that you were being directed by one of the
finest actors in the business?
Jurnee: You have to forget that he is a two-time
academy award winning actor. You just
have to think that he is your director and debate coach. I couldn’t come to the set as Jurnee, I came
to the set as Samantha. So I did not stress over him being famous. I looked at it as he was my director and he
collaborated with us. It was a
partnership. He was there working insane hours, just passionate and wouldn’t
tire. He was really passionate and in tuned to what everyone needed. Whether
you were in the background or the prop master, or one of us debaters. He was a
great leader.
Denzel: He
was a great mentor. He’s such a father
figure. He’s inspiring. When you step on set, his fame doesn’t even faze you. I
put on my costume and go to set and instantly I’m there to work. Denzel knows how to set the atmosphere and he
gives us control. He’s really caring and has the passion for the project. I didn’t see him as Denzel the famous actor.
I saw him as a great director who knows what he wants and has the drive and
persistence to get it.
Nate: I think
with Denzel, what even attracted him to us was that we didn’t see his
celebrity. This was a professional effort on all of our parts. I remember the day I met him. I walked in, I
shook his hand and said ‘shall we work.’
I wanted him to know that I didn’t want anything but my talent and what
I’m bringing to my character to speak. And I think he respected that. And I think he looked for that. So when we were on set, we didn’t have to
worry about any of those things. That stage was set before we even got
there.
Q: What drew each of you to your roles in The Great
Debaters?
Denzel: I
looked at the part and instantly fell in love with what the character was going
through. The struggles, his ups and
downs. I was also interested when I
heard that Denzel Washington was directing.
I had worked with Denzel before on Training Day, but I didn’t get
the experience and connect with him like I really wanted. So I was praying if I got this role I would
show him what I could do as an actor.
Jurnee: I
read the script for The Great Debaters about a year and a half ago but I
had never heard about the true story of it.
It interested me so much that I started researching it on my own. A few
months or so after I started researching the story I got a random call from my
manager who had received a call from Denzel Washington’s office asking me to
come and read for the role. I received the pages, studied them and went for a
reading. I wanted the role of Samantha
badly. After the audition he hired me.
Nate: I had
the script early on before anyone was attached.
I’m a go-getter and I feel that you make your own breaks. So I just
studied and I learned everything. I knew
the whole script before I got the audition.
That gave me the confidence to look Denzel in the eye and say I am that
guy. Not in those exact words of course.
I went to the audition and read for him and he said OK. The last thing he said to me was I’ll see
you soon.
Q: What are your personal feelings about the issues of
segregation and equal rights as depicted in The Great Debaters and what
is your assessment of the quality of equality today?
 Denzel: First
off...how I feel about segregation. I
think it’s obviously horrible. As a nation as powerful as the United States,
you know we promote diversity and we promote equal opportunities for everybody,
but to be honest we are still not getting equal opportunity in job forces.
Even to this day I feel that we are still in
a way segregated. You know you have your
upper-class neighborhoods which predominantly are Caucasian and you have your
lower class neighborhoods which are predominantly Latino or of the African
American decent. And people today set stereotypes,
and even though we find them as a joke, sometimes we take a stereotype too far
and we actually live it.
In a way part of the problem is that we are
self-segregating ourselves. And only a
select few of minorities will make it to the upper-class neighborhoods. Cause for me, just to point out, I live in a
predominantly Caucasian neighborhood.
And when we first moved there a lot of people were shocked, even in this
day and age, for an African American to live in their neighborhood. Even the deed to our house says sell to
Caucasians only. This is in Los
Angeles and still going on today.
And it’s very hard because at the school I go
to there are only about 20 to 30 minority kids and usually we’ll all huddle at
this table and it’s kind of like we are a group. And even though we are friendly with
everybody else in the school, we all meet at this one table. It’s almost like
we are self-segregating ourselves in a way. Not on purpose, but it just happens
to be that way. And even though we try
to integrate we feel more comfortable around African Americans. I feel that we
need to break free, be a little more open to other cultures and definitely with
upper-class neighborhoods.
 Jurnee: It’s such a complex subject. I’ll begin with education. That was the main
issue with segregation. Yes the water fountains, the buses and everything like
that, those are disturbing and unfair. But at the end of the day the most
important issue is the segregated and unequal education in our system. It still
exists.
My experience though, is that
it’s across the color line. It’s
impoverished people. It’s the fact that
our country now is starting to move to a path where there are two main
groups. You have those that are living
below the poverty level and those that are really rich. And the whole middle
class is kind of becoming extinct. And
that’s what’s really frightening me.
Because in education, if you don’t have
people representing you and fighting for you and speaking for you, voicing what
you need, you are going to continue to have schools where children have to come
to school through a metal detector at the entrance. You are going to continue to have children
who have textbooks that are outdated and outdated computers. All of these are inequalities because of the
economical system. It’s really
complex.
The question of the quality of
equality, yes it’s in the laws, but it’s not being practiced enough. It’s not
being put into effect enough. Technically everyone is being treated equal, but
the way the system is set up most people are not. You have children all over the country. I do a lot of work with the Children’s
Defense Fund and they talk all the time about how children oftentimes are being
treated like second-class citizens. The state won’t spend as much to fund a
pupil as they will to fund a prisoner. It’s
two and a half times more to house a prisoner than to educate a young kid. I
don’t understand it. I don’t get it.
 Nate: Too often the progress of our country is
dependent on the exceptions to the rule, instead of looking at the issues and
understanding how we're going to sort them out.
We say, ‘no, no, there’s a black guy running for President so
everything’s good. There are a couple black guys that are doctors, so
everything’s fine. Oh there’s a Latino congressman, so we’re fine.’
I say, let go of the colored thing. Why does everyone bring up the colored thing?
Racism is over! Slavery is over! You know what I mean? So instead of there
being an overwhelming idea, or series of ideas, to say ‘You know what? This is
what is going to happen and this is how we attack it,’ those that have the
power want to sweep it under the rug or just ignore it and pretend that the
people aren’t suffering.
I think that as
African Americans especially, and Latinos to a certain extent, we were
suppressed for so long. In the past we
weren’t aloud to read a book. I mean you
could get killed for trying to read a book. It was that bad. A lot of people think it’s just that Black
people are lazy, they would rather watch BET videos, all of these
stereotypes. You hear it a lot, and it's
really showing ignorance.
You know, I
coach kids, and have done so at an all-white school, so I get to hear their
perspective too. ‘Oh yeah, affirmative
action.’ And you realize how uneducated they are about segregation. If we realize, okay slavery happened, slaves
were released, they were horded together, and those are now our ghettos. It’s
as simple as that. That mentality that
was developed during that time hasn’t been dealt with. It’s not only
been overlooked, but also simply ignored. Like there is no problem.
As an actor I fell like we have a
responsibility, especially when a project like The Great Debaters comes
along, to take it so serious because we are telling the truth, a piece of
history that’s been neglected. It’s like
finding another page to the constitution.
This is power. Like forwarding an
e-mail. If I could show as many people
this e-mail as I can, maybe there will be a sense of enlightenment as a whole.
To understand the whole issue of
equality we have to examine self-esteem and self-confidence. It starts in our kids. It’s something that
human beings have to ask themselves. ‘What am I doing to either feed this
country or take away from this country?’
I think The Great Debaters puts the actors in this film in a
position to be on a platform to say there are some issues we overlooked in the
past 70 years. So lets go back and examine them to see if they can help us in
the next 70 years.
Q: If you could go back to 1935 in the year that The
Great Debaters was set, knowing what you know today, what would be the
things you would try to change in order to deal with the problem of equal
rights today?
Denzel: The thing that’s so great about 1935 is that
they praised intelligence. The
most important thing that Black people had was their mind and the courage to
stand up for what was right. If I went
back to 1935 I would just praise that and teach people to carry that on,
because over the years we somewhat lost it. From The Great Debaters I learned
how significant it is to cherish a good education. Our government should realize that. I believe that if we want this nation to
survive we need the whole nation to rise as one for everyone to get equal
opportunity in education,
otherwise, we are raising half and half and that’s not going to keep this nation
going.
Nate: If I could go back to 1935 and change anything
I would stress the importance of a father in the household because the lack
of a father figure today has certainly aided in the decomposing of the family
in the Black community. I am speaking
where I have come from. I remember when
I was young, and if I knew a kid that had a father, that was a huge thing. That was the way it was. The women were the strongest.
Jurnee: I think I would be part of that whole
grassroots movement. I think that’s one of the most important things they did
and that they started from nothing. They
were beaten and denied an education. I would have loved to be a part of that
whole domino effect. It would start with
one teacher or mother or one single individual who would inspire someone else,
who later inspired two other people and then four other people and so on.
That’s what happened. It was that domino effect where they laid that foundation
and went to work in the civil rights movement. They did it together. They
started from nothing. Not to change it,
but to be a part of.
Q: Has anything changed about your personally or life due
to your role in The Great Debaters?
Jurnee: I
can’t say that I recognize it so much as other people recognize a change in me.
A certain confidence. I feel with each
project you grow as your character's growing. By the end of the film, you are a stronger
person in many ways. I was a confident human being, but I do know in doing The
Great Debaters I do trust myself more.
Denzel: I
know I am taking away some lessons from the struggle that the debaters in this
film had to go through. One thing is
that, I guess, when I feel something is right...never be afraid to speak my
mind. And also I have a newfound
confidence in my work. I’m a little more confident and not as nervous to go on
an audition. And if the part’s right for me, I’m going to give it my all.
Nate: This is one of those projects that remind you
that you are exactly where you need to be.
I’m a Christian and I’m big on my faith, and I believe that everything
that happens is part of God’s plan. It’s one of those things where you put one
foot in front of the other and wherever I end up is where I’m supposed to be.
I’ll do everything in my power and leave the rest to God. Do I feel like I have changed?
In many way yes. I don’t think you cannot
change after being in the presence of Denzel Washington and Forrest Whitaker. So on that level you are going to change. And
around these actors (Jurnee and Denzel) that grow beside you, it’s almost like
putting a mirror on yourself. We are becoming more political. I wouldn’t be
surprised if any one of us, one day, would run for office. We have a passion for
change in many different ways. I think
we all changed for the better, we may not notice, but we have.
Q: What was the most difficult part of your role in The
Great Debaters?
Nate: The most
difficult work came from the subtext.
Having to know what was coming out of my character’s mouth as opposed to
what was coming out of his heart. It’s the steam behind the engine.
Denzel: A lot of things in the script were like
first-time experiences. A lot of emotions and things that happened to me were
first-time experiences. And anybody that
knows me knows that I’m an upbeat, jolly person. I’m not one to get down
usually. Playing the emotional parts
was taxing. Emotionally taxing. And definitely while filming those parts for
around two days straight it was taking actually a literal toll on my soul. So
it is difficult, but also it’s a great exercise and really shows what you can
do as an actor.
Jurnee: Whenever you do films like this, it’s emotionally demanding. You know I
think that sometimes people avoid knowing about the past. They try to forget history, because knowing
ugliness like that (the scenes of brutality in the film) can be so hard on your
heart. And facing things like the history of lynching and the way people were
treated back then can be really taxing. And doing those difficult scenes and
going there allowing yourself to be vulnerable in front of an entire film crew...you just have to forget they are there so that you can do your job.
You can get emotionally drained...like the
scene where we are in Douglas Hall and we are yelling at each other. That scene in itself was taxing. I kept on hitting my thighs for some
reason. I don’t know why but I kept
hitting myself. I didn’t know until that
night when I took my clothes off...I had bruises on my thighs. You don’t realize what your doing until you
are out of your character. But it’s what
you do for your character, no matter how difficult. It’s called devotion.
Q: What advice would you give to aspiring actors just
starting out?
Jurnee: You
have to do what you love. You have to
stay centered to your core and your path. You can’t do anybody else’s
path. I’m a strong believer in
spirituality and God and I feel we all have our own path. When what other
people are wearing or doing distracts us it is then when we get steered off path and we
lose sight of our core. You have to be passionate about it or you are not going
to enjoy staying up til four o’clock in the morning if that what’s required of
you.
Nate: When
considering what you want to do in life, there’s a saying: Don’t pick the
thing that you could do, pick the thing you couldn’t do without. For me it’s acting. Without acting I don’t know what I would do.
I would rather be homeless and an actor, than wealthy and an accountant. Nothing against accounting, but just to say
that I love what I do more than anything.
I believe this is what I was designed for. Just find the thing that you
love, what moves your heart that gives you the passion that you are passionate
about, and pursue it with reckless abandon.
Prepare, perform and pray.
Denzel: If
you love what you do, do it. I didn’t
know I loved acting til I gave it a try. When I gave it a try, I fell in love
with it. My parents wanted me to do
other things, but I am glad I stuck with it.
It’s something I love to do, something I’m passionate about. I can say to anybody, if you find a passion just
run with it. Never give up, as there will always be road bumps. But it’s when
you make it through the hard times, that is when you find out when you truly love
something.
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