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Move over Will Smith, Andre Braugher is the new Man in Black. No, Braugher didn't abandon his Emmy Award-winning role as Detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide after six seasons to carve out a new career as an action-adventure hero. That would be a real crime, not to mention a considerable waste of his talent. For the time being, he's simply slipping into a long black robe to play a priest named Father Joseph Verrett in TNT's original film, Passing Glory (February 21 at 8 p.m. ET, ch. 212).
Actor/writer Harold Sylvester based his autobiographical script on the story of the first organized basketball game between two undefeated Catholic high schools in New Orleans. One was all white, the other all black, run by Father Verrett. It was 1965, when de facto segregation still affected the private schools in that city.
Rip Torn (The Larry Sanders Show) stars as Father Grant, Verrett's worthy adversary and counterpart at the white school. The cast also includes Ruby Dee, Bill Nunnand Sean Squire. Magic Johnson, Quincy Jones and John Sayles co-produced the film, and Steve James, of Hoop Dreams fame, directed.
Like the perpetually brooding Pembleton, a man who did not suffer fools gladly, Braugher has a reputation in some quarters as a demanding person and not always an easy interview. There was some trepidation the day I visited the set in Atlanta. Some members of the crew led me to believe that Braugher, fresh off a one-week hiatus from shooting, might not be willing to share his thoughts on his first post-Homicide television role, his recent Emmy win and other matters, including his affinity for fishing. Others, however, claimed Braugher was an A&R man. Amiable and Regal.
That he was, along with gracious and apologetic.
"I'm so sorry I can't offer you anything to drink," he says.
I wasn't really thirsty when I entered his trailer, but by the time the production assistant knocked on the door 40 minutes later to announce Braugher's van was leaving for the next location shoot, I was truly parched. Talking with Braugher can take a lot out of you. The Julliard-trained actor tends to be very expressive, using his hands to illustrate his points and his eyes to bring them home. His vocal cadence shifts quickly from a normal pace to an unsteady staccato and back again. And though he often speaks as if he's reciting Shakespeare, he ends most sentences with an authoritatively urban, "You know what I mean?"
There's something to be said for a person who doesn't really have to ask that question. Clarity is indeed an attribute for those in his profession. And the Chicago-born Braugher, who was once a pre-med student at Stanford, is always very, very clear. Particularly in discussing why he felt the need to get on the bus and leave the critically acclaimed but perpetually ratings-challenged Homicide.
"After six years I thought it was time to go on to a new challenge," Braugher says. "The trap of playing an episodic character for too long is that the character begins to play you. I didn't go into the business for anything other than the joy of acting. All the acclaim and financial awards, the ability to travel, meet new people and broaden my horizons--that's all been gravy on top of this pure, unabashed joy of acting.
"It was time for me to move on because I believed that we had successfully explored every storyline at least two times, going on three. I wanted to be a better actor at 40 than I was at 30. The danger being, of course, that I don't explore my role to a sufficient depth."
Ironically, it was after he announced his departure from Homicide that the Emmy voters finally rewarded him. Last September, after two previous nominations and losses, he took home the Best Actor in a Dramatic Series prize. "I'm quite pleased to have won the Emmy since my relationship with the Emmy is kind of tortured. Oddly enough, not being nominated was the best thing that ever happened to me because I was forced to examine what I wanted and what I went into this business for and what it was all about. When I won I felt good about it, but it wasn't blown out of proportion. Not winning helped me appreciate it for what it is and not all the fantasies that had been heaped on it."
With that said, perhaps he'll feel even better about subsequent nominations.
His flawless portrayal of Father Verrett has already generated some early Emmy buzz. It's a role that TNT executive Andre Carey feels Braugher was born to play. "We wanted someone who could encompass the range of a thoughtful man, but also be a man of action where you could feel his intensity and power. With Andre the passion just comes through in all his performances. He was clearly the choice."
Braugher says he received a copy of Sylvester's original script four years ago. The project was then slated for Denzel Washington to direct and star in and Braugher's part would have been a supporting one. When Washington, who had appeared with Braugher in 1989's Glory, backed out because of scheduling conflicts, a second draft written by Sayles began floating around. Carey sent it to Braugher, this time to play the principal.
"I was thrilled," says Braugher. "I still had the John Sayles version in my head. I was enthusiastic about it from the very beginning because it did stick in my head three years after. I thought it might be an interesting story."
Although you'll see shades of Pembleton, who was the product of a Jesuit education, in Father Verrett, Braugher concedes that playing a character based on a real-life person was a bit daunting at times.
"It was the [Southern] accent," he says jokingly. "There's always a responsibility that comes with portraying factual material. Being a story based upon facts with some dramatic license means that we have to explore the psyches of these characters and speak with as many people as we could to get the truest sense of the community, the individuals and the historical stakes at the time. It demands a greater kind of focus and clarity."
According to James, Braugher's performance was a slam dunk.
"He's brilliant," says James. "I've said this before, but I think he's one of the few actors I can think of who can play flawed characters who have strong convictions and play them in such a way that you can totally believe them. He did that in Get on the Bus. He did that on Homicide. He was a man with straight convictions, but certainly not a man without flaws. It doesn't matter, you still like him and respect him. He can give a speech and he doesn't chew up scenery when he plays those really dramatic moments. It's a gift."
Braugher, who made several films on breaks during his Homicide years (including Get on the Bus and Primal Fear) and is currently co-starring with Alec Baldwin in the theatrical release Thick as Thieves, says he has no plans to focus his energies entirely on feature films. Last month he directed an episode of Homicide, and in April he'll do double duty in front of and behind the camera in Showtime's Love Songs, a trilogy of romantic tales. He says he will continue to pursue television work and isn't averse to doing another primetime series.
"Oh yeah, I'll do another series," says Braugher, "depending on how interesting the premise is and who I'm working with. To me, the most important thing is to do something interesting close to home [he has homes in Baltimore and New Jersey] because before leaving Homicide--I didn't realize it, just like you never know a good thing until it's gone--I slept in my own bed every night and saw my family every day."
Andre Braugher hasn't yet achieved the status that the top black actors in Hollywood have, but his status doesn't concern him.
"If you're talking about gross compensation, I'm not the highest man on the pole," he says. "I'm not the youngest and I'm not the fattest. I'm not slimmest. I'm just me. I try as much as I conceivably can not to compare myself to anybody else because I don't want their life. I'm very happy with what I've got. My priorities are my wife and our two sons. I never want the profession to overburden the more important aspects of my life. If I reach the top and come home to an empty house, then I've failed. You know what I mean?"
Yeah, Andre, I know what you mean. Miki Turner is the L.A. bureau chief for Satellite DIRECT.
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