Email to a friend | Print Friendly *Academy-Award nominated actor Don Cheadle stars in the new film "Talk To Me" opening this weekend in NYC, LA, DC and select cities; it opens nationally August 3rd. Cheadle plays Washington, DC radio personality Ralph Waldo "Petey" Greene, who in the mid-to-late 1960s was a very outspoken and outrageous voice of the community. The role seems to be a perfect fit for Cheadle in some degree.
The actor has been the face of activism for causes, boldly speaking out on international atrocities and receiving major acclaim for his film roles such as in "Hotel Rwanda" that have brought such atrocities to the forefront of public thinking. "Talk To Me" is not only based on the story of Petey Greene, but chronicles a tumultuous time in American history, the civil right era, and focuses on some of the milestones and miseries of that period. And while the film evokes the emotions of the time, Cheadle admits that it wasn't the poignant scenes or moments that drew him to the film.
"It definitely was not the check; this movie was made for 17 cents and some Chapstick," he joked. "There wasn't one scene; there wasn't one moment that I went, 'That's what I want to do.' It's the overall thing that the story was well-crafted and that the characters were really well-rounded, and beautifully flawed.
And that it's the kind of friendship in the center of a film between two men that you don't usually see - especially not two black men - in modern film. It was the kind of film where all the characters really got their moment." Those moments in the film reflect on some of the great tragedies and how different people handled them.
And while Cheadle said that he didn't always bring his personal emotion to the story, he is definitely concerned about and empowered by the plight of blacks and being black. His current focus, outside of acting, is bringing light to the atrocities happening in Darfur. "What's happening now in Darfur is a government-sponsored - if you want to call it - genocide, crimes against humanity, acts of atrocities - however you want to define it," he said.
"There are 2.5 million people displaced living in refugee camps on the Sudan-Chad border; 200,000 to 400,000 have been killed. The numbers aren't exact because many of the NGOs (non-government organizations) have been pushed out so we can't get an accurate number, but we know it's not the 8,000 that the government of Sudan is saying.
There are still attacks being taken out on villages by the (Arab) Janjaweed militia that the government is sponsoring and giving weapons to. Now the second phase of this genocide is happening, which is death by attrition. These people are now being starved and because the NGOs have been kicked out so they don't have the ability to get medicine, food, and water to these people.
" When posed the question mirroring Petey Greene's and other celebrities' activism at that time with the seemingly more socially complacent and apathetic entertainers of today, Cheadle explained that the problem is deeper than celebrities being attached to African causes. "I think it's a part of a bigger question about our general relationship to Africa. There's a lot of ignorance involved, and Africans have it with us, too.
Because of what is being piped out of this country to the world about who we are; if you watch BET all day and that's how you knew black people you'd think, 'Y'all are some trifling-ass people.' So there is that disconnect in there. And then there is a great deal of us living at or hovering above the poverty line where it's a struggle or it's hard, so people are like, 'I can't really care about what's going on over there.
I'm trying to live week to week.' There is a lot of gui there is a lot of shame; there's a lot of embarrassment we have about Africa. There are all these weird emotions that kind of cloud us from being involved over there.
" And even with his involvement for stances overseas, the acclaimed actor also makes a stand for African-Americanism in his work everyday. Cheadle is one actor who has not shied away from the title African-American actor, as some actors who prefer to be referred to as just an actor. Without criticism, Cheadle explained that he uses his ethnicity to push storylines and issues.
"If you've grown up black in this country, everyone has faced racism. I've never been unaware of it. You are what you have to defend and that's really how it comes down," he said.
"If there is a way to incorporate that in a story, that only enhances the story. To get to a level where it doesn't matter, that's not interesting. Go to the controversy.
Go to the part that makes you uncomfortable." Quite in the vein of Petey Greene himself. "Talk To Me," which also stars Chiwetel Ejiofor ("Inside Man"), Taraji Henson ("Hustle Flow"), Cedric the Entertainer, Martin Sheen, and Mike Epps, opens today.
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