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City Press sits down for a chat with Forest Whitaker

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Forest Whitaker In the flesh and promoting his first conquest on TV
Forest Whitaker In the flesh and promoting his first conquest on TV

A Harlem-themed screening was held in Johannesburg on Thursday in honour of Forest Whitaker’s first lead role on ABC’s Godfather of Harlem.

Whitaker plays notorious crime figure Ellsworth Raymond “Bumpy” Johnson from Harlem, New York.

Local streaming service, Showmax, hosted a few invited guests at The Market theatre in Newtown and treated them to a screening experience with the man himself in which episodes five and six were shown.

City Press sat down with Whitaker, an Academy Award-winning institution of cinema, at the Pivot Hotel in Montecasino.

The star of The Last King of Scotland (2006), The Crying Game (1992) and Phone Booth (2002) strolled in with a smile on his face. Dressed in a navy suit, a black T-shirt and high-top Vans, the iconic veteran seemed relaxed and happy to be in the country.

The show is good, formidable footage and a story propped firmly upright by Whitaker and an outstanding cast.

So how did Whitaker go about preparing for this role?

“I read some books, as much as I could on him. Read some things that his wife had written about him as well, which was interesting. I got the chance to meet with the people he worked with in his crew. A guy named Chizm, who is 94, a very spirited and alive person. A guy called June Bug and they told me about the inner working of the man.”

This is the first place he has visited while promoting the show outside the US.

“I’m excited about people being able to see it here. I feel really proud of the show, so it means a lot to me.”

So why TV so late in his career?

Jerry Mofokeng and his wife looked the part for the Godfather of Harlem screening
They should give mam Pamela Nomvete a cameo on ABC’s latest production
The godfather and anele The two engaged in a light hearted q&a session before two episodes of Whitaker’s show were unveiled even before their American release dates. Picture: Supplied

It seems the notion of a big screen actor going to do TV is not as shunned as it once was. This was considered the turning point in a career in which an artist has to downgrade for work. “I loved the idea of doing the show. Bumpy Johnson is interesting in how his story might interconnect with the civil rights movement and the politics of the day.

“That became exciting to me. I would’ve done it if it was a film or whatever,” he says.

He avoids seeing barriers when it comes to storytelling.

What matters is that the story is told. To promote the show he even appeared in character for a music video of the soundtrack, produced by Swizz Beatz featuring rappers Rick Ross and DMX. The title track, Just In Case, is the show’s soundtrack.

“It was great, I really like them all. It’s an amazing song. DMX is legendary and so being able to put Bumpy in that world was cool. Swizz created all the music you hear on the show, it was created for the show specially. And that merging of both worlds, the past and the present and realising the similarities that exist inside it [is priceless].”

He also explained the importance of Harlem to black culture. “Harlem was the cultural epicentre of the country, particularly for people of colour. The Harlem renaissance was the rising of different artists from writers to painters to poets who came together to really define the soul of the people themselves. It still has that essence today. It is gentrifying now like a lot of places in New York City. The cultural make up is different.”

The screening was held at the John Kani Theatre in Newtown.

Of course Whitaker starred alongside Kani in the overrated Marvel film, Black Panther.

City Press didn’t spot Kani in attendance. The theatre was in fact not as full as it should have been.

A few local actors found time to attend the screening. Cream of the crop Jerry Mofokeng and Pamela Nomvete were in the crowd and dressed accordingly.

Anele Mdoda hosted and suggested it was an easy enough theme to follow if you channelled Sophiatown.

Whitaker was even generous enough to put on a master class at The Market theatre to offer guidance and advice to talent looking to gain an award-winning edge.

Stream Godfather of Harlem on Showmax or watch it on 1Magic (channel 103), with new episodes every Tuesday at 9:30pm.


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