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RLJ Entertainment and Urban Movie Channel are bringing the romantic comedy Playin for Love to audiences on DVD. In an exclusive interview with MStars News, the multi-talented actor Robert Townsend discusses coaching a basketball team in Playin for Love, "the hurt" behind seeing Bill Cosby in court, and his thoughts on the recent Oscars Boycott.
Playin for Love tells the story of Coach Banks (Townsend). Juggling two different types of games, Banks is used to calling all the shots for his championship high school basketball team and in his own love life. All that is about to change when he meets, Talisa McCoy (Salli Richardson-Whitfield), the mother of his star player at Jackson High. Talisa's a beautiful, strong-willed single mom, with her own ideas on a winning team and the perfect man. Now, Coach Banks will have to learn a few new plays if he plans on staying in the game.
Before the romantic comedy arrives on DVD February 9, the actor/writer/director discusses working with his ensemble cast, what the project means to him, and reminisces about The Five Heartbeats.
MStars News: Tell me about how Playin For Love came about?
RT: Playin for Love came about because I've been associated with the American Black Film Festival for 20 years. It will be 20 years this year. We were in Miami and I was approached by this commissioner from Overtown, Michelle Spence-Jones, and basically she said to me "Robert, Overtown is being hit hard with violent gangs and we need to give the kids something different to motivate them. Could you teach them about filmmaking or could you do a short film with them?" And that's when I said, "We could do a whole movie."
And that's when we started doing Playing For Love. One part was me teaching these kids in a rough neighborhood about making movies for 8 weeks with the University of Miami. And we made a movie together. The kids got to be in the film, they got to be in the crew, and they learned a lot about movie making. I was so proud of them and what they did that they became producers on the film with me. And now it's coming out on DVD!
MS: Because you are the director, actor and writer, tell me about some of the challenges with switching hats.
RT: The thing that I would say is that I started out as a stand-up comedian. As a comedian, you direct yourself. And when you bring in really great actors, they really help you. In this film, I have Jennifer Lewis from Blackish; she's one of the characters. I have Salli Richardson-Whitfield, which has been on Eureka and all these different TV shows. Lawrence Hilton-Jacobs, Esai Morales, really great actors. You don't have to give them a whole lot of direction. I love what I do! Switching hats, for some people it can be a little confusing, because I'm a little scatterbrain and crazy, but it works for me. So it's not hard for me to do.
MS: I'm so glad you spoke about Eureka because it's one of my favorite shows. Tell me about working with Salli Richardson-Whitfield.
RT: You know, I think this is one of Sally's best movies! Let me tell you something about Sally. She works really hard. She comes to set prepared, she knows her lines. She comes with ideas to make the scene better. So when you have an actor that comes like that, it only makes my job easy.
Playin for Love is a romantic comedy. It's really silly and fun and it's got morals and values. Sally, being a parent herself, she understood a lot of the stuff in the script instinctively. And so, she's just a pro and she doesn't age; so she makes me sick because she looks good always.
And she just told me, "Don't kiss me in front of my husband. Don't do the kissing scenes in front of my husband," when he's around. He's a Brooklyn dude. So when he's around, we just had the best time.
MS: Tell me about the basketball aspect of the movie.
RT: And like I said, I used a lot of the kids that came from the community. That really touched my heart, like the lead guy, Daniel [Yorel Cooper]. This film was a community project. Everybody kind of donated time and service to make it happen. And I got Pat Riley of the Miami Heat and his organization to gave me the American Airline Arena to have basketball tryouts for the kids to be on the basketball team. We saw close to 5,000 kids to be in the movie. And NBA legend, superstar, Isaiah Thomas took the boys through the drill on how to play basketball on an NBA level. Everyone came together to help the kids and give them some inspiration.
MS: With the craze of comic book movies going on, tell me about playing a superhero in The Meteor Man.
RT: You know what, people have been approaching me on Twitter about doing a remake or talking to the studios. I love superheroes. I've always been a fan. I go back to when Batman was a TV series with Adam West. The original Superman, "faster than a bullet." I love superheroes. They've approached me about a sequel or what have you. Maybe in the future? I love that world. I love the world of fantasy. I'm the only person of color to do two superheroes. I did Meteor Man and for Disney I did The Bronze Eagle and my whole family, we were superheroes. I love that world! I'd love to be able to do another superhero!
MS: Because of Bill Cosby's recent courtroom battles, is it difficult to look back on his scenes in Meteor Man?
RT: You know what, sometimes it is. He's like a father to me. This whole time my heart is hurting for everybody involved. For him and his family and all the victims. There's no fix for that. It just hurts.
MS: With the recent Oscar boycott, do you feel like Hollywood Shuffle's segment, "Black Acting School," is a lot more relevant now?
RT: You know what's funny, on Twitter people have been sending me that scene. I forgot! I had to look at it again! Because there was a part in there when we said "the only role they going to let us play is the butlers and the slaves." So people are talking about it, and I did that in 87. So it's funny!
I read tweets sometimes and people say "Hollywood Shuffle is as relevant as ever." Here's the thing, it's not an easy fix for the Oscars. I applaud everybody that's trying to make a statement. Those that are boycotting. Those inside the system like Cheryl Boone-Isaacs who's trying to make a change.
But then I'm torn, I got friends like Chris Rock hosting so I want to watch what he does. And another one of my friends is the producer. I think the real problem is we need more movies. There's a thing on the internet now saying, "Which black movie should have been nominated for an Oscar", and they had The Five Heartbeats on there. I was like "Oh my god!" The funny thing is that this year is the 25th anniversary of The Five Heartbeats. The Writers Guild is doing a celebration. Kenan and I wrote the script together and the cast are going to be at the writer's guild. Then in April, Tom Joyner the top morning DJ, he's got a cruise that he does and he's going to screen the movie on the cruise.
MS: What are you working on now?
RT: I've been working on a documentary about The Five Heartbeats that will come out this fall. Let your readers know that on my website, Roberttownsend.com, there's clips from the documentary that I'm working on. It won't come out till this fall. And if they can, follow me on Twitter. I'm looking to have the documentary by June ,so I can have it ready for the American Black Film Festival.
Playin For Love arrives everywhere digitally and on DVD February 9, 2016.
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