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.

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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dania   |2008-01-07 14:48:39 they seem like an interesting bunch. Looks like a great movie. I want to go see it now. Reply 0   0

Patricia Sanchez   |2008-01-06 23:03:11 What an inspiration movie! Denzel Washington and the rest of the staff did an excellent job to once again bring to light the difficult road that minorities have experienced through the years and the fight is not over today. God Bless you all for a fantastic movie. Reply 0   0

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3.25 Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved."