Filed under: Interviews
Coming out this week is Julie Taymor's film adaptation of William Shakespeare's 'The Tempest,' which stars a bevy of talent such as Helen Mirren in the role of Prospera, David Strathairn as King Alonzo, Djimon Hounsou as Caliban, and Russell Brand as Trinculo.
Also included in the film are Alfred Molina, Felicity Jones, Chris Cooper, and Alan Cumming.
According to Shakespeare, Caliban (played by Hounsou) is forced into servitude on an island ruled by Prospero. While he is referred to as a calvaluna/mooncalf, a freckled monster, he is the only human inhabitant of the island that is otherwise "not honour'd with a human shape."
Julie Taymor brings an original dynamic to the story by changing the gender of the sorcerer Prospero into the sorceress Prospera, portrayed by Helen Mirren. Prospera's journey spirals through vengeance to forgiveness as she reigns over a magical island, cares for her young daughter, Miranda, and unleashes her powers against shipwrecked enemies in this exciting, masterly mix of romance, tragicomedy and the supernatural.
BlackVoices.com spoke with Hounsou as he spoke about doing a Shakespeare film and being away from his family, including his nearly 2 year-old son Kenzo with Kimora Lee Simmons, former president and Creative Director for Phat Fashions.
How exciting and hard was it to do a Shakespeare film?
Djimon Hounsou: Well, you can imagine. I guess that people who are born with the English language being their first have a difficult time with it. So you can imagine me after five languages, this is like a foreign language all together. It was fun and definitely challenging and it was very difficult to get around words and then you also had to worry about the makeup, the four or five hours of makeup on a daily basis. That was a lot, too.
How much did you know about the play and then the character your playing, Caliban?
DH: Well, I knew very little about it before I engaged myself. All I know is that my manager sort of called one day and said, 'Julie Taymor would like to talk to you about this project called 'The Tempest.' So my immediate reaction was, "No. I think not," because I had auditioned for her before, previously, for 'Titus' and that was such a headache that I didn't want to repeat it again. So, this time was much better in my understanding and I left myself alone and really intrigued by the material.
Can you talk to me about working with Julie Taymor and Helen Mirren?
DH: It was a great experience working with Julie Taymor. Your experience is also somewhat defined by the people that you're working with, the other cast members. So that really helps you see a director and where they're coming from, what your director is trying to accomplish. So the collaboration was beautiful. Nevertheless it left me a little intimidated in the sense that in going to the first rehearsal I heard that Helen Mirren had done the part before and that sort of stressed me a little bit, but was a beautiful collaboration.
Your character is supposed to be like a monster in the play, so did you have any say in terms of the makeup?
DH: Of course. When you spend four and a half hours standing, doing the makeup, by the time that you come out you're ready to take somebody's head off. The experience of going through such an arduous makeup session, I guess it adds to the role I was playing and it really adds to the personality of Caliban in a story.
You've been traveling lately. You shot this film in Hawaii. You also just got back from Afghanistan from shooting your next film 'Special Forces' and filmed 'Elephant White' at another location. Is that harder to travel when you know your family is back home?
DH: Yeah, it is. That's the only hard part about making movies. I wish some of those movies to allow my family to come on some of those locations so that I wouldn't be so lonely and so left out and so, you know, away from my family. So that part of it makes me think twice. Before I take another film I have to find out the location and find out the money and all of that has to come together because it's really tough.
How are you planning on spending your holidays?
DH: I'm going to spend holidays with the family because I've missed them so much. I've been gone a long time and I miss my kids. So the goal is to enjoy my family before they tell me, 'Oh, every time we see you with a script we know you're ready to go again.' That doesn't feel too good, when your kids start to tell you that.
Your son is almost two years old. Do you have any good gift ideas?
DH: Oh, you know it. He's a boy. There are so many toys to talk about, to play with. The cars. We'll see.
Do you think at some point you'll ever do a family film?
DH: Yeah, that would be lovely. If I could stay in town and do a family film, that would be great. Shit. I'm dreaming for that.