Movie with Moreland: Just Wright interviews

Movies

By T. A. Moreland

Recently, Common and Queen Latifah met with NYC press to talk about their upcoming firm, Just Wright.  Common plays a NBA point guard who’s injured and Queen Latifah plays the physical therapist who works to get him back in shape.

Common:

His basketball skills:

I am a good point guard.  Point guard is like the quarterback. I think I could play in the NBA!  They compare me to Jason Kidd. I took pride in my skills. When Denzel did Hurricane he trained for 4 months for a two minute boxing scene. He said the movie would not be credible if the fight scenes were no believable.

On his and Latifah doing a music project:

We plan on doing something together, definitely.

On acting:

I didn’t get the desire to act until 2000. I started taking lessons.  I still go to classes. I do see myself as a leading man in dramas, action movies, in romantic films and comedies.

On his character:

He liked Scott McKnight. He had a good heart. He was a good guy. Had a good relationship with his mother.

How he does he deal with women pursuing him?

You start understanding how things go (in the entertainment industry). Women find an angle. I had a lot of women come to me on a conscious tip. They know that I speak about consciousness in my music. So they try to hit me with something about consciousness. And I ain’t mad at that! I just try to find if it’s sincere. If it’s sincere it’s good. But its not I can see through it. (Editor’s note: Common dates Serena Williams.)

What comes first acting or music?

I would say acting. I am excited about it like when I get new scripts. But in the same sentence I have to say, I still want to write because writing music is a creative outlet I enjoy doing and I feel as if I have a message to deliver.

Is there anyone you’d like to play?

Marvin Gaye. I would love to play Marvin Gaye.

Queen Latifah:

On choosing this movie:

It was fun! Get to have a romantic comedy with sports in it. I am sports fan. I love sports! We talked about this character five years ago. We should do something with a girl (who) loves sports but meets her favorite athlete when her car breaks down. It’s about a girl and guy who fall their way, some how, through all these loops and their love finds its way back to each other.

On Common’s performance:

He’s really is the anchor of this movie. I felt so bad for him sometimes. He come to rehearsals. Then had to go practice, then workout, then to the gym, he had eat these little meals and he had to pump iron. But he was showing up for everything. I am extremely proud of him.

On whether he could play in the NBA as he claimed?

She laughs. They (NBA players in the film) told him he has some game and he lost his mind! But he is a very athletic. They should have never let him hit that three point shot (in the movie) laughing. He can (play) ball but the NBA…

Could see you self owning a piece of sports franchise?

Yeah . . . is there a winning team, not too expensive?