Terrence Howard

Although Terrence Howard leapt to the top of the Hollywood heap in 2005 with his heartbreaking turn as a petty pimp struggling to become a rap star in the film Hustle & Flow, his was no overnight success story. Rather, Howard got to that Oscar-nominated triumph after 15 years of unpredictable, lauded supporting parts in movies like Dead Presidents, Mr. Holland's Opus, The Best Man, Ray and Crash. Now, at the height of his film career he appeared in seven movies in 2007, the 37-year-old star has unexpectedly turned his attention to the stage, appearing as Brick in director Debbie Allen's all-black revival of Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, opening at the Broadhurst Theatre on March 6. Howard recently took a break from Brick to talk with Broadway.com about his new-but-familiar Broadway family, his struggles during rehearsals and why he's living to make his great-grandma proud.

How are things going over at the Broadhurst?
It's going incredible.

What's it been like for you to work alongside all those seasoned stage actors?
It's great. But I've been making them crazy. There's something about the stage…now I know where the term "staging" comes from. Some people get locked into a particular mannerism and I don't do that.

So it's a different show all the time?
Yeah. When I'm doing the lines, I'm actually talking to you, from my heart. When I work with James [Earl Jones], it's so honest and real. No matter what's being said, it's completely different each time depending on the type of day we've had. Same thing with Phylicia [Rashad]. It's completely organic. It won't be static and by the book from me. I have no idea what I'm going to do every day. I was talking about this to Jeffrey Wright a couple of years ago. On the plays he did, he got the opportunity to play a character a thousand different ways. With film sometimes you wake up in the morning and you have the epiphany: "I should have done it like this!"

Does that happen to you often on film sets?
It always happens. But here we get to try things. One day in rehearsal, I played Brick completely antagonistic—heartless, cynical—and it was a true and honest performance but it did not benefit the play. And I could tell in Act One that it wasn't working, but once you've committed to something, you can't change. So I stayed with it and it gave the rest of the cast a new opportunity to explore the darker sides of Brick. And Debbie [Allen] just let us go. She'd say, "OK, baby. You want to take the dark route? Go ahead."

Most people know of Allen's work as a choreographer. What kind of director is she?
She's really an insightful director. She has that ability to look into a situation beyond the obvious and discern its outcome. And she's very maternal. She really cares. You combine those two things and she's like a wise old elephant. I would follow her anywhere.

So how did she get you interested in following her to Broadway?
She got me at a benefit for Will Smith here in New York a year ago. She and Phylicia were sitting together and I had just seen Phylicia in A Raisin in the Sun and I went over to the table to congratulate her on the beautiful work that I saw in the play. Phylicia said, "Well, I really want to work with you," and I made the mistake of telling her that I want to do the same thing and she said, "Well, I've got the perfect opportunity for you!" [Laughs.] And so here I was, caught in the middle of southern hospitality!

Does the fact that the cast is African-American change the tone of the play? I hope it does. You know, if you take a piece of music and have an all-white band play that music and an all-black band play that music, it should have some cultural differences. If not, then it's a disappointment. I don't want to go over to Uganda and see Dallas, I want to see Uganda. I want feel the texture of that culture, and I think that's what we're aiming to do here. There should be a sense of pride associated with being the first all-black cast to be sanctioned by the Tennessee Williams estate to do this play.

You're doing Broadway in the midst of a very busy Hollywood career. How have things changed for you since your Oscar nomination for Hustle & Flow two years ago?
I thought it would get easier. I thought it would get nicer. But no. You realize that you have been anointed, so to speak, to hold a particular position of prestige and therefore, you have to keep your head all the way up. And there's a dignity by which you have to walk and there's a deeper resonance to your voice as a result of it because your words… Martin Luther King put it best. He said, "History has seized me," and he said he couldn't make any small mistakes anymore. Every mistake he made was a huge mistake. So although I'm in no position like him, there are now people who look up to me and watch things that I do, and I have to be careful of everything that I say. And that's kind of stifling as an expressionist. You want to feel free to be just what you are.

You've been shooting five or six movies a year. Do you ever think about taking a vacation?
Well, my album is coming out soon and then I start touring. I think for the next couple of years, I'm just going to work on music.

I didn't realize you completed your long-rumored album. What does it sound like?
Take Elton John and mix it with… Let me see, who else? It's really theatrical. It's a very dramatic album. Expect a twist and a turn, but a pleasant one. It's pretty unconventional. It sounds like something you haven't heard, but it's also familiar. I actually want to do a theatrical revue of the music. A 30-day run at one of the Broadway theaters. When you hear the music, you'll understand what I'm saying.

So we may get you back sooner rather than later! Were you always comfortable with the idea of doing something on Broadway?
Yeah. I mean, I grew up watching the stage with my great-grandmother Minnie Gentry, who did Ain't Supposed to Die a Natural Death. I grew up with that show—saw it about 25 times.

Wow. And what do you remember about it?
I just remember the white people in the audience being scared to death of my great-grandmother when she came out and cursed the audience. She played a mother who had lost her son and she yelled at the audience, "May this happen to all of you and to your children." That was beautiful.

Did you know you wanted to be an actor back then?
No, I wanted to be a neurosurgeon, a musician, an astrophysicist... But when I was about eight years old, I told a lie that I [starred in] a film and I never liked being a liar, so I had to make it true. I kind of got caught up in that!

By the time you moved to the city from Cleveland at 18, were you pursing acting?
Yes, I had already seen the path that I wanted. I was accepted into Pratt Institute for chemical engineering because I knew if I lived on campus, I would be free to go to auditions. Since I had an aptitude towards science and math anyway, it was very easy for me. I could miss two, three weeks of school but still be ahead of the class.

Did your great-grandmother look out for you?
Oh yeah. I had already spent every summer and vacation visiting, staying with her at Manhattan Plaza. She gave me whatever advice she could. But she never made any calls to anybody that she had worked with because she always believed that each man must catch his own fish.

She died before your career really took off…
The only show I did before she died was The Cosby Show. She had lung cancer and then it spread to her brain and you know…

Do you look at your work in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof as a tribute to her?
Yeah, I'm dedicating it to her. And then it's like, I'm working with Giancarlo Esposito, who was the last person with Minnie before she died. When I was a teenager, I would knock on his door in Manhattan Plaza and have him look at sides with me. He was always so generous with that. And then Lou Myers, who's also in the play, changed my diaper when I was a baby. I used to go camping with Lou. And Count Stovall…I grew up playing basketball with him on the side of the plaza. We're all together in this as a family again.

And your daughter Heaven is in the show.
Yes. It's a family affair.

How did that come together? Did she ask to be in it?
Yeah, she wanted to do it, so I asked Debbie if she could audition.

Had she acted before?
No. So her first acting job is on Broadway in a Tennessee Williams production. I'm pretty impressed with that.

Do you think she wants to pursue acting as a career?
Well, she told me today she wants to be a fashion designer [laughs].

She'll win Project Runway. She's just doing Broadway for now!
[Laughs] Yeah, she's coming quite well.

How did she get her name?
She was my only child born from a c-section. You know, I've never seen a pretty baby come out of that birth canal. They look a little twisted. So when my first daughter was born, the first thing I thought was, "Wow. She looks like a troll baby." She turned out to be very beautiful but because Heaven didn't have to go through that cramped little space, her head wasn't bent or squeezed and she had a little curl of hair right in the middle of her forehead and once they wiped off whatever that stuff is, she was beautiful. I thought, "She looks heavenly."

Did you ever step up on stage when you were her age?
No. You come close to the stage and you get swatted! I didn't. I was the class clown, though.

A troublemaker?
No, I was just insubordinate. I guess that is a troublemaker! [Laughs.]

Are you drawn to playing tortured souls like Brick?
I absolutely love it. It allows me to explore the human condition a little more deeply and at the same time discover things about my own self. It really is a beautiful play. Very ambiguous, like an oracle.

Yet you didn't know this play well before signing on, right?
I had never read it before.

What's it been like digging into it?
Well, I quit the first week. After the third day, I was like, "I'm out!"

Did you really?!
Yes. I said, "This just isn't right for me. I'm sorry, James. Glad the understudy's here—he can take over. Do what you gotta do."

What brought that on?
I was in the middle of rehearsal and I was like, "You know what? I can't do it." I felt like I was faking it and I've never been fake before in a performance. But I realized I was just putting so much pressure on myself. I went home after quitting and once I didn't have the responsibility of doing it, I read the play again and then I could see things clearly. And I called Debbie up and I was like, "Did you recast it yet?" and she was like, "No baby. I didn't even take you seriously." [Laughs.] And I came back the next day and we had a really brilliant, beautiful day.

So that was a breakthrough for you.
It was. A definite breakthrough.

What was the lesson? Just not to take it so personally?
Yeah. Like in art—you wonder how Michelangelo could sculpt David. He didn't treat it like he was making a masterpiece or a work of art that would represent him for a millennium. He was just making a sculpture.

So we don't have to worry about you bailing mid-performance? You feel good now?
It's great. I really believe we're locked into something wonderful.

See Terrence Howard in Cat on a Hot Tin Roof at the Broadhurst Theatre.