- We must talk about all of my auntie's favorite movies,
and mine.
A little number called "How Stella Got Her Groove Back".
- Yes, that put me on. That one put me on.
- How did you find out about that particular role?
- That's a funny story.
- All right.
- Uh, I was doing "Rent" in the evenings,
and I had just booked a soap opera in the daytime,
"Guiding Light".
- I remember "Guiding Light".
- Do you?
- Is it still on?
- I don't think so, but if it's off it was one of the--
It started out as a radio show,
one of the first radio show soap operas.
And I think it's one of the most long,
one of the longest running.
I thought I was the shit because I like,
"I'm soap opera actor by day,
"and I'm a Broadway star by night."
- Killing it.
- I thought I was.
- You were.
- It was fun, it was fun.
My character was a record producer.
So, I was doing those two gigs,
and then I got a call to audition for this character.
And, at the time, I was just trying to get in front of
casting directors because the character for
"How Stella Got Her Groove Back" was described as tall,
dark, with dreads.
- Hm.
- So, I didn't think I was gonna get the part,
I just wanted to get in front of these movie people
and make some kind of an impression.
So, it was great in that I didn't have any pressure,
I didn't put any pressure on myself.
And it wasn't something that I thought
I was gonna end up getting.
So, a lot of times in those circumstances,
you go in very free,
and a lot of times you do you best work.
Gwen was in "Rent".
She was from the islands,
so she gave me a couple of tips on a Jamaican accent.
- What tips did she give you?
- I don't know, but it worked.
- Ah. (laughs)
- The little shit she told me worked, so I got called back.
I was living in New York and the callbacks were in L.A.
So, they flew me and my then girlfriend,
Idina, my baby mama--
- [Tracy] Hey, baby mama.
- To Disney.
So we did Disney by the day, in the afternoon,
then we went and did the screen test with Angela Bassett.
And back then, a screen test was,
they had cameras set up,
and you would do an actual scene
from the movie and film it to see how you looked on screen
with the star of the movie.
And I remember we were set up
to do the first scene,
and I couldn't remember my first line.
And Angela Bassett was there,
and she was supposed to be holding my hand,
and she kept on just massaging my hand as if to be like,
"it's okay, it's okay."
- Aw.
- And I was relaxing.
And then it came, and then we were cool.
Yeah, oh, that was a trip.
- I love that story.
- Yeah, she was rooting for me.
- Aw, were you nervous or anxious the first time?
- I didn't think I was until that moment,
until that very first moment,
and they yelled, "action", and then it hit me.
I was across from Angela Bassett,
I was close enough where I could see all of her makeup,
and then all of a sudden it was like it just went white.
But then I could feel, I remember feeling her hand,
and then that kind of relaxed me,
and then once I got started, then it was all cool.
- So you had a girlfriend at this point.
- Uh, huh, that I met in "Rent", Idina Menzel,
I met her in "Rent".
- You're shirtless a lot in this movie, "Stella".
- Yeah, I was the eye candy.
- Yeah, how did the girlfriend feel about that?
- She, I don't know.
You know what was great about her?
She never, at the time,
I mean this came out in therapy later,
years later after we were married,
but she never made me feel like we were competing,
or that she was jealous of what I was doing at work.
It seemed as if she understood.
This was a huge opportunity.
- Yeah.
- I mean, I remember when I booked the gig,
and I got in the car and I told her that I'd got it,
she did a great job at just making me feel like I was doing,
this was a job, you know what I mean?
- [Tracy] Yeah, yeah.
- I'm not saying I didn't enjoy it,
being the leading man and having all these
beautiful women around me,
but she never made me feel that way, ever, ever, ever.
I think now, she was suppressing it.
But at the time, I felt very comfortable.
- And then it's like the hits just keep coming
because then in 1999 there's "The Best Man".
I don't know if you remember that part of your career.
(laughter)
Was it the manifesting, did you just have,
like a really good agent who was just like, you know?
- You know what it was, it was like, they always have this,
where it's like somebody-- I was the flavor of the month.
So I was the new cat,
luckily that movie did well. - The it guy.
- Yep.
It was like, all the Black guys
that were to be in the white movies,
were the leads of the Black movies.
So, luckily, that was how it worked.
And I rode that as far as I could,
and then luckily I was able to continue working.
- Yeah. I think a reason why this movie just still,
like to this day, makes black people so excited,
is because you got to see like all of your favorite
Black actors finally on screen together.
- Uh, huh, yeah.
It was so cool.
- Usually it's just like one here and there.
I mean there was Terrence Howard, Morris Chestnut, Nia Long.
- Sanaa Lathan.
- Sanaa Lathan, of course, how could I forget?
Did you know when you were going out
for this role that they were gonna--
- Regina Hall.
- Everybody. (laughs)
- Yeah. Everybody's still working.
- Yeah. Did you know that they were all on board
for this project when you went out for the role?
- I was still new to the game,
so I was just along for the ride,
and I'm really enjoying myself.
It wasn't until later on that I started to kind of
pay attention to what other people
were saying I should feel,
and how I should be worried about
this next person coming up, and staying on top,
and you know, white movies and black movies,
and crossing over.
So there was a moment there
where it was kind of really golden,
and then I kind of allowed the business
to have an effect on me,
and that's when you kind of lose,
you know, your bearings a bit.
That's what I did, for me.
- Yeah, yeah.
- When I started to be overly concerned
about what it was to be in this business,
and a Black man, and Black audiences, and white audiences,
and interracial relationships,
and what that was doing to Black audiences, all that stuff.
Things were going much more smooth
when I didn't pay attention to all that
and I was just having fun
and taking the jobs that I was given.
- Did you ever break out and break away from that
and go back to not feeling pressure
and not worrying about those things and just having fun?
- That wasn't until just recently.
- Really?
- Yeah, yeah, where I forced myself.
Something was missing, and then I made a choice to just
do things differently, I think maybe four or five years ago,
and then I kind of found
a new path that was pleasing.
And that seemed to be working.
- I really wanna get into that later, I'm very intrigued,
but I also don't wanna lose our current thread,
because I have to ask you--
- [Taye] Okay.
- About a particular moment in "The Best Man".
A little, little, teeny, tiny birdie told me that there was
and improv moment between you and Nia Long.
- And Nia Long, yeah.
- Tell me about that moment, and the scene.
- I know I was like, in the movie, I guess I'm out drunk,
and I've been trying to get with the character
even though I have my own girlfriend.
And I come, I got beat up by Lance, I think.
And I'm coming to maybe get some from Nia.
And I'm late, I got a black eye, and she's upset
because she thinks something's gonna go down.
She's all looking cute,
and I go to her and try to say I messed up,
and there's this moment where she gets upset
and is supposed to yell at me,
but instead, she yells at me and completely,
and slaps me across the face.
- The taste out of one's mouth, as they would say.
- Ooh, in the moment, I was, you know,
because I have theater training,
and I come from the school of thought, mind, and respect,
anything you do in a scene, you can improvise,
but you let your costar know, "I might be doing this."
- Oh.
- "Are you open to trying this?"
Like we said with Angela Bassett, there was that, you know,
we'll be there for each other.
- [Tracy] Uh-huh.
- That didn't happen. (laughs)
- What? So you were completely caught off guard.
- Oh, 100%. And offended, appalled.
That's why I got on my theatrical high horse.
"How could she? Who does she think she--"
But now in hindsight, it completely worked,
and the director, Malcolm Lee kept it, he kept that take.
So, if you watch the movie, you watch that slap
and she makes the connect, and I go, "woo!",
and in the moment I was like,
"do I beat her down, do I say cut?"
And, I don't know what happens afterwards,
but that's in the movie.
But it worked, it worked.
- [Tracy] Wow.
- Yeah, and you know I worked with her, I love her,
I wouldn't do that any differently.
But, in the moment I couldn't, I just couldn't believe
that she would do such a thing.
- Wow, shocked and appalled.
- Yes, exactly those two.
- Wow.
So you got to work again with Sanaa Lathan.
- Yes.
- In 2002 in "Brown Sugar".
- "Brown Sugar".
- Was it like a high school reunion?
Like, "oh, hey girl".
Like, what was it like to work with her again?
- Yeah, I consider her like my work wife.
We know each other, we know how each other, we move,
we're very similar, we got a respect for the craft.
We considered ourselves like hippie Black people.
Other black people thought we were a little off,
but we were just Black enough
to still hang out with Black people.
(laughter)
But we weren't stereotypical in any way.
We always just had each other's back, you know?
I was just watching "When Henry Met Sally" with my girl,
and realized that "Brown Sugar"
was like the Black version of that.
Two friends, they started as friends.
They decide early that they're not gonna be together
because they're friends.
And then, they cross over, they get sexual,
then it causes, like, a rift.
And then they realize throughout the movie
that they're meant for each other.
And then there's a whole chasing scene at the end.
Yeah.
- Wow.
- So, that made me even more proud
to have been in that movie.
Because you grow up watching these kind of, white movies,
hoping that you can someday play these roles,
thinking it's not gonna happen because they're not gonna
write movies like that for us.
Then they do, and you get to do it, and it's cool.