[JPL] Danny Glover Discusses His New Film "Honeydripper"

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ASKED & ANSWERED: DANNY GLOVER
BY JASON FORSTER, Staff Writer
How many 60-year-old actors are Š there that haven¹t given up?

Legendary actor Danny Glover sat down with the Wave for a recent
conversation about his remarkable career and his new film ³Honeydripper,² in
theaters Friday. 

The versatile actor ‹ whose credits include ³Witness,² ³Silverado,² ³The
Color Purple,² the ³Lethal Weapon² series, ³To Sleep with Anger,² ³Saw,²
³Dreamgirls,² and ³Shooter² ‹ has worked on more than 100 films. His latest
role is that of Tyrone ŒPinetop¹ Purvis, the owner of a roadhouse in 1950s
Alabama. The bar, which features live music and a classic touch, is being
threatened by the rise of rock Œn¹ roll.

The film is set during the cotton harvest in rural Alabama, where everyone,
black and white, picks cotton for money. That is the only industry outside
of a nearby military base, and the only entertainment comes in the form of
two roadhouses. One a rough place with a juke box and drinking kids, the
other is the Honeydripper. The former represents the change that¹s coming,
while the latter tries to hold on to the roots from which it sprang.

Glover discussed ³Honeydripper² as a period piece, the representations of
music and the evolution of life in 1950s Alabama captured by writer and
director John Sayles.



You expressed your interest in doing this film. What was the historical
relevance for you?

I¹m always of the belief that these stories, small or large, are all part of
a collective phenomenon. There is so much and so many ways in which we can
understand and find imaginative ways of telling what is transparent with us
through music or through some other form or expression. Imagine, my
character in 1895, born into a year where the Supreme Court reinforced
racial segregation. And by 1954, four years after the film takes place, the
Supreme Court will knock down all segregation laws in the wake of Brown vs.
the Board of Education [ruling]. What a life to have lived to have seen such
drastic changes in a town, state or even a nation. In this sense this man
lived through a period of time. He lives in the south where it is virtually
unchanged for 55 years. A lot of people believe that black people were not
freed by the Emancipation Proclamation, but that they were freed by the
cotton-picking machine invented in 1944. Before 1944, 100 percent of cotton
was picked by hand. By 1970, 100 percent of cotton was picked by
cotton-picking machines. In a period of 25 years, more than five million
African-Americans lost their jobs. This spurred an enormous migration,
especially after the war, fueled by the fact that they became dispensable.
My character, Tyrone, saw this as an opportunity. He knew of the military
base and lack of entertainment.



What role does music play in this film and in life?

Let¹s face it, life down there wasn¹t easy. Out of all of this hardship
comes some of the best music we¹ve ever known. In defiance of their
surroundings came this wonderful, creative music. Contained within music is
the movement of change. A change in expression of music, a change in
expression of ideas, and at the same time there is always a resistance to
this. Music is the platform to understand this, to try and understand the
undercurrents that are happening all around us. This movie and this period
was the precursor to the civil rights movement. It¹s all just another way of
understanding our history and that we are all part of a collective memory.
My character, Tyrone, saw himself as a survivor. He denies change. He
resists it. Music represents change. Here¹s a man that is married to what
got him where he is. Live music and good times. Now with the threat of
jukeboxes and rock Œn¹ roll, he¹s still married to what got him there,
old-time music. He thinks you dance with the partner who brings you to the
dance. He¹s reluctant to change. And we all are. Whether it¹s a personal
change or the change to an entire generation. From blues, to soul, to jazz,
to rock Œn¹ roll to rap, music is a transformative platform to express the
underlying dynamics of change, and John [Sayles] has done a great job
capturing all of it in this film.



So, this film is really about the changes in a rural town and the country as
a whole.

Real change is about people, collectively in some sort of way of coming
together begging to live their lives. How they live their lives becomes the
embodiment of change itself. We often define change as dictated by some sort
of legislative action, but the action is a response to the changes that
people have been making in their lives. One of the most horrific periods in
American history is the period after World War II. Many black men came home
from the war saying, ³hey, I was treated as a human being in France,² then
they come back after years of fighting a war and are the victims of beatings
and lynching ‹ while still in uniform.



Mentally, what was it like for you being in rural Alabama? How did you
prepare?

I¹m fortunate. I¹m part of all that experience. I¹m the first generation
born outside of the south. I was born in 1946 in San Francisco, where I
still live. So that means that I¹m a child of the civil rights movement that
this film sort of leads up to. I spent a great deal of time around my
grandparents in the south. They were married in 1915, poor, rural farmers.
My mother was the first, not just in our family, but in the community to go
to college and graduate. All of this becomes a part of my historic memory
and how I approach the role. My great-grandmother actually held me when I
was 2. She was born in 1853, a full [10] years before the Emancipation
Proclamation. For me to be a part of this film and to call on all that
memory in some sort of way, was a very wonderful experience. Also, my father
was born in Kansas City, right when there was this huge transition into jazz
music. He was born where jazz was born. Another expression of urbanization.



John Sayles said that he wrote this part for you, and no one else, do you
think that has anything to do with your past body of work?

I think he had to write it for me (laughs). I mean, how many 60-year-old
actors are still out there that haven¹t given up? The wonderful thing about
my career is that it¹s a manifestation of the movement of people. Like all
of our lives are. You and I are sitting here as a manifestation of something
else. 



What did you take away from this film?

Anytime I get a chance to enforce my vision of the world and the history
that I¹ve been a part of, I take it. Movies like ³Freedom Song² or ³Buffalo
Soldier,² I gain as much from it as I hope to give. It all reinforces what I
think cultural production should be. It should inform us. It should empower
us. It should make us reflect on who we are, and in a much larger context
than just ourselves.