Filed under: Interviews
Coming out this week is 'Cedar Rapids,' a comedy that premiered at this year's Sundance Film Festival, and stars Ed Helms from 'The Hangover, John C. Reilly, Anne Heche, Sigourney Weaver, Kurtwood Smith, and Isiah Whitlock Jr..
Directed by Miguel Arteta, the film centers on Tim Lippe (played by Helms), who has no idea what he's in for when he's sent to Cedar Rapids, Iowa to represent his company at an annual insurance convention. It's there where he soon finds himself under the "guidance" of three convention veterans (played by Reilly, Heche, and Whitlock Jr.).
For Whitlock Jr., who's known for his role as the corrupt state senator Clay Davis on the acclaimed HBO series 'The Wire,' this film gave the Indiana native the chance to travel outside of New York considering that most of the films and TV shows that he's been in, from Spike Lee's films, 'She Hate Me' and '25th Hour,' 'Pieces of April' with Derek Luke, 'Brooklyn's Finest,' with Don Cheadle, and several episodes of 'Law and Order,' were shot in the state.
Although 'The Wire,' ended nearly two years ago, the screenwriters included a reference to the series in the film that will make the audience laugh and remember how good the show and Whitlock Jr. was when it aired.
In speaking with Blackvoices.com, Whitlock Jr. talked about his role in the film and life after 'The Wire.' Here are excerpts from the interview.
There's a lot of stuff that you've done, from theater work, the Spike Lee films, and 'Brooklyn's Finest,' that have been shot in New York. What's it been like doing a film outside of the state?
Isiah Whitlock Jr.: In theory, pretty good. I mean, outside of the fact that the others you're at home and that's always nice, to be able at the end of the day to go home to your own bed, but we shot 'Cedar Rapids' in Ann Arbor, Michigan and what was really nice about that is that we were doing a film that takes place in the Midwest and we were actually shooting in the Midwest. That was a little different. But as far as I'm concerned it's in a good way because we got the flavor of the Midwest and we were able to hang in that environment for a long piece. But I had a great time there and it was sort of refreshing to get out of New York City for once.
How would you describe your character in this film?
IW: Well, he's a very innocent, protective guy, an insurance man from Minnesota who takes Ed Helms' character, Tim Lippe, under his wing. But he's very, very caring. He's a very sensitive guy. He likes to have fun to a certain degree, but not to the degree of John C. Reilly's character, Dean Ziegler, who's having a lot of fun. But he's just what we'd like to say a normal guy, not too up, not too down, but just kind of flat lining through life, if you want to call it that.
How has it been working with this cast of characters, including these couple of comedians in Ed and John?
IW: Well, that was great. It was really kind of nice to just kick back and watch them go to work because they're such pros and so skilled at what they do. I mean, you really get quite an education working with them. But you still have a job to do and you've got to make sure that the things that you're doing you're adding to the film. But working with Ed and John and Anne (Heche), I mean I really thought that we were able to create a really nice repartee and chemistry and make the characters come to life.
Now, you're not so much of a comedian, but did you draw some laughs when you continued to reference 'The Wire.' How did that come about in the script?
IW: Well, that was already in the script before I had come onboard, even to the point where they had considered taking those references out of the script because I was so entrenched in 'The Wire' that they thought that it would just be a little too weird. But I think that once we were able to set it up to where, especially with my character, that it really didn't matter that it was me because by that moment in the film you believe so much that I was this Ronald Wilkes character that it pretty much made everyone forget about Senator Clay Davis until you start to make that connection towards the end. But it was one of those moments that could've fallen way flat and a little too cute, but again, like I said, the way that you sort of set it up and get everybody going in one direction and then you lay that on them, I think that worked and played like gangbusters.
For a show that never won an Emmy as the best show on TV, a lot of people still regard that as one of the best series ever. How has life been afterwards?
IW: It's been good. It's been good. My sort of take on all of that is would it have been nice at the time to be recognized by your peers and by different societies award wise? Yes, that would've been great. I'm not going to sit here and lie to you, but what I will say is that at the end of the day the most important thing is that you're doing the best work that you can possibly do. And at the end of the day you know you were a part of something good and I think that will history will show, what little history there's been since 'The Wire' that people have come to realize that it truly was one of the great shows of all time. That makes me feel very, very good and very proud to have been a part of it. As for the rewards, you let that be and the people who didn't vote for you or whatever, well, they'll have to answer for that in another life.