Filed under: Interviews, News
Despite his legal woes, Wesley Snipes is taking his career and influence to new levels.
The 47-year-old actor of such films as 'Mo Betta Blues,' 'Passenger 57' and the 'Blade' films was sentenced to three-year prison term for tax evasion.
Before reporting into authorities, Snipes made his way to the recent Comic-Con convention to promote 'After Dark,' a new comic book he's spearheading with acclaimed film director Antoine Fuqua via Radical Publishing.
Earlier this year, the 'Training Day' director gave Snipes a role in his latest film, 'Brooklyn's Finest' and many critics considered his performance as a comeback of sorts since his most of his recent films have been released straight-to-DVD.
Black Voices caught up with the two men. Below are excerpts from the interview.
So what's the new comic book about?
Antoine Fuqua: It's all about a world without any sun. It only peeks out at a certain time. Then all the creatures comes out, all the demons come out. That's when the journey begins, an adventure, about doing something visually stunning, about the seventh Samurai if you will. The character is going to the heart of darkness. That's kind of where it all came from.
How did you guys get involved in this?
AF: Wesley brought me in.
Wesley Snipes: Working with this guy, [comic book publisher] Barry Levine, talking about new comic book heroes and urban comic book heroes and the presence of African Americans or peoples and cultures that have been excluded in this world and on the screen and in the books. We talked about who else on the director's side that I could possibly work with. Antoine and I was already working together. He's my brother from another mother.
AF: No question.
WS: So we chatted it up and I said, 'Look, man, lets go do this comic book thing.'
From a director's standpoint, are you trying to take this comic book somewhere else, to other media or want to just keep it as a comic book?
WS: Well, that's the model, absolutely, to use this as a springboard for what would be a live action version of that or any other version, cross-marketing and gaming. It's setup that way.
How have the films that each of you guys have done brought you in or influenced you from the world of comics?
AF: My world, I've been introduced to graphic novels and imagery just from commercials and videos and all of that. I came up referencing those things. When I was a kid I loved comics but this is my first real adventure into this world. It's a whole new world for me with complete freedom to do anything. The characters can be any color. African American, obviously with Wesley being the lead guy and the world can be whatever we think of. That's exciting. There's no budget to what you can think of with your imagination.
You've been involved in the comic book genre for many years. What's this experience been like?
WS: I have two others, as a matter of fact. I'm fascinated by this world and I wish that the bug would've hit me a little sooner, when I was doing the 'Blade' films. Who knows, we might be further along with a lot more product now. But one of the things that I really appreciate about these artists is their expansive imagination and how they're unlimited in their creativity. For me as an actor, usually doing a role with a script that has boundaries it's a great freedom to kind of vicariously live through them in that creative process. It's kind of like improvisational theater, the spontaneity, what comes up and the ability to flip it on a dime and give you a real visual image that stimulates motion and ideas. The choreography, the fight choreography, I'm like, 'Yeah.'
Tyrese put out a comic book last year called 'Mayhem' and he used his celebrity status to sell it. Rosario Dawson did the same the year before that with 'Occult Crimes Taskforce.' Will you guys be doing the same thing?
AF: Nope. Check this out. This is how much detail we put into 'After Dark'. Let me whip this out. (Fuqua pulls out the comic book)... Look at the artistry. I want you to take a look at that. When was the last time you saw a comic book like that? It's like a movie already. This is seminal. Look at the details in this. Can you imagine Wesley Snipes looking like that, all geared up, going to some action, going to some adventure? So we're trying to take it to a different place. We're taking our time and really doing this right and putting our heart and soul into it.
WS: You can't excuse the fact though that he's a successful director. I've done pretty good on the acting.
You guys are a name brand. There are a lot of brands that don't get a lot of notoriety. Using your names to sell it initially will help but then it'll build on it's own.
WS: I think it's inevitable but the product has to be able to stand on it's own. It's got to be able to represent the quality of work that we like to associate ourselves with and at least think that we're producing.
Any challenges or hesitation before getting this together?
AF: No, not really. There wasn't any hesitation for me. Like I said, me and Wesley talked and he said that he something really cool he thought I should get involved in because obviously he's been in that world and knows a lot about it and has a big fan base. We talked about other ideas and things I wanted to do and he said, 'We should meet this cat over at Radical,' and we sat down and talked and it was like, 'Wow. This is amazing. We can just go play in the sandbox. Just go have fun.'
Why Radical Publishing?
WS: Because Barry was cool. He came at me straight. Specifically, we had a very early conversation about the lack of or the glut in African American, urban related comic book characters, superheroes and the need for that, the niche market that's available for that. That's something that I wanted to take advantage of. That's where the conversation started.
AF: [Barry Levine] married a sister. That's the only reason that I like him. Otherwise, I don't really give a fuck about Barry. He doesn't like me either. When you leave the room he goes, 'Fuck you, Antoine.' I say, 'Fuck you, too.'
Earlier today I walked around and I saw a lot of other black artists, black cartoonists and they had a black panel today talking about the selling of comic books to the urban market. What's going to make this one standout?
WS: Well, I hope besides the art, besides the brands and the people who are associated with it, besides the substance, that it's global and it's not just a local piece. It's scalable. We can expand on it in so many different ways and in so many different other mediums. That takes it to a global level. That's what I'm looking for, to capitalize on the global market and the global fan base. Other products are a little local for me.
Is there a website where people can check this out?
Barry Levine: There will be. People are working on it right now. Radicalpublishing.com. We're in the mass market, too. We're distributed by Random House so when this becomes a compiled three issues into more of a trade you can go to airports, you can go to Barnes & Noble, you can go to any of those places.