< Continued from page 2
Page 3
What attracts you to these really dark, edgy characters?
I like a challenge and I like risks and I like people taking?being brave. And it?s usually these movies that people are taking huge risks.
How much of that edginess reflects you as a person?
I like to set people off and set situations off. That?s what I dig, so I try not to do it in my life, then people wouldn?t hang [with] me. (Laughing) So I try to direct it towards movies, towards my work.
Can your fans expect another multi-character theatre performance from you?
Yes, but not for a long time, a long, long time. I?m working on a piece and I just want it to be a diamond, so I?m guarding it with my life until it?s perfect and then I?m going to take it out. (Laughing) It?s going to be a long time.
What?s your role in ?The Honeymooners??
I?m kind of the comic relief of the movie, which was really hard to be. I was sweatin? that one, because you?ve got Cedric who?s brilliant as Ralph Kramden. What a perfect marriage. I mean, you couldn?t reincarnate that character without him. You can?t do it white, because it would fail miserably. No one can be Jackie Gleason. And Cedric can do it. Cedric is Jackie Gleason. He?s a classy, open, generous, funny man and he?s got that.
I had to try to be there everyday and try to be funnier because I was supposed to be the funniest guy in these little scenes. And, whew, I wasn?t sleeping nights (laughing). But it was very challenging. It was very exciting that way.
Have you always wanted to be a performer and where does your creative energy come from?
Well, I didn?t always want to be a performer. That was kinda tossed on me. But I kinda guess maybe I was a class clown, a disruptive kind of element in school. My math teacher and my step-mom both pushed me towards acting. So I started acting. And I guess what always keeps me creating is still being disruptive, somehow. You know, I?m sort of this disruptive element in the movie. It?s being creative and shaking things up and that?s why I gravitate towards edgy flicks, because they shake things up. It keeps me alive. It keeps me inspired.
Are you disruptive at home?
No, I had plenty of therapy to help me just keep it here. I try to take that out of my life. There?s no room for that in my life. I try not to let that slip in. It does slip in every now and then and it causes me problems, but I try to just keep it in my work.
How old are your kids now?
They?re four and five. (Laughing) I see them becoming little people, a little man and little woman, and I try to like enjoy this moment before they become, you know, disruptive.
What do you think about your critically acclaimed play, ?Freak,? being included as an assignment in a college multi-cultural class?
You mean the book or the play? The book didn?t really capture what I was doing on stage. It got changed by editors and stuff like that. It wasn?t really the experience on stage or what I was saying.
Are you still dealing with the issues presented in ?Freak??
You grow to accept it. I mean that?s, I guess, the growth process. You just grow to accept it. And your kids help you to understand what goes on, but you?re still not? You know, my father was an absent father figure and now he?s an absent grand-father figure. So you just go and deal with it. And it feeds me, you know, it makes me creative. All that stuff is fodder for creativity, so?
Is it surreal that your life was part of a college course?
(Laughing) It is surreal. I mean, I just do my work and I don?t really think about the consequences of what I do. I just do it because I have to do it, and it?s what I want to do. You know, you let people know about your life and it?s kinda weird. I?d rather have been more anonymous. But I don?t know, that?s where my work was taking me. You listen to your inner voice and it takes you where it?s going to take you. If you leave it alone, then it does great things, but it opens you up to the public. I mean?Aww, whatever. It is what it is, I don?t know.
John Leguizamo Talks About George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead"
Page 3
What attracts you to these really dark, edgy characters?
I like a challenge and I like risks and I like people taking?being brave. And it?s usually these movies that people are taking huge risks.
How much of that edginess reflects you as a person?
I like to set people off and set situations off. That?s what I dig, so I try not to do it in my life, then people wouldn?t hang [with] me. (Laughing) So I try to direct it towards movies, towards my work.
Can your fans expect another multi-character theatre performance from you?
Yes, but not for a long time, a long, long time. I?m working on a piece and I just want it to be a diamond, so I?m guarding it with my life until it?s perfect and then I?m going to take it out. (Laughing) It?s going to be a long time.
What?s your role in ?The Honeymooners??
I?m kind of the comic relief of the movie, which was really hard to be. I was sweatin? that one, because you?ve got Cedric who?s brilliant as Ralph Kramden. What a perfect marriage. I mean, you couldn?t reincarnate that character without him. You can?t do it white, because it would fail miserably. No one can be Jackie Gleason. And Cedric can do it. Cedric is Jackie Gleason. He?s a classy, open, generous, funny man and he?s got that.
I had to try to be there everyday and try to be funnier because I was supposed to be the funniest guy in these little scenes. And, whew, I wasn?t sleeping nights (laughing). But it was very challenging. It was very exciting that way.
Have you always wanted to be a performer and where does your creative energy come from?
Well, I didn?t always want to be a performer. That was kinda tossed on me. But I kinda guess maybe I was a class clown, a disruptive kind of element in school. My math teacher and my step-mom both pushed me towards acting. So I started acting. And I guess what always keeps me creating is still being disruptive, somehow. You know, I?m sort of this disruptive element in the movie. It?s being creative and shaking things up and that?s why I gravitate towards edgy flicks, because they shake things up. It keeps me alive. It keeps me inspired.
Are you disruptive at home?
No, I had plenty of therapy to help me just keep it here. I try to take that out of my life. There?s no room for that in my life. I try not to let that slip in. It does slip in every now and then and it causes me problems, but I try to just keep it in my work.
How old are your kids now?
They?re four and five. (Laughing) I see them becoming little people, a little man and little woman, and I try to like enjoy this moment before they become, you know, disruptive.
What do you think about your critically acclaimed play, ?Freak,? being included as an assignment in a college multi-cultural class?
You mean the book or the play? The book didn?t really capture what I was doing on stage. It got changed by editors and stuff like that. It wasn?t really the experience on stage or what I was saying.
Are you still dealing with the issues presented in ?Freak??
You grow to accept it. I mean that?s, I guess, the growth process. You just grow to accept it. And your kids help you to understand what goes on, but you?re still not? You know, my father was an absent father figure and now he?s an absent grand-father figure. So you just go and deal with it. And it feeds me, you know, it makes me creative. All that stuff is fodder for creativity, so?
Is it surreal that your life was part of a college course?
(Laughing) It is surreal. I mean, I just do my work and I don?t really think about the consequences of what I do. I just do it because I have to do it, and it?s what I want to do. You know, you let people know about your life and it?s kinda weird. I?d rather have been more anonymous. But I don?t know, that?s where my work was taking me. You listen to your inner voice and it takes you where it?s going to take you. If you leave it alone, then it does great things, but it opens you up to the public. I mean?Aww, whatever. It is what it is, I don?t know.
John Leguizamo Talks About George A. Romero's "Land of the Dead"
SHARE
