Don Cheadle is a very well known and brilliant supporting actor in such films as Out of Sight, Boogie Nights and Devil in a Blue Dress but he has yet to have that lead role that will truly launch him, until now. Cheadle is now starring in Hotel Rwanda the true life story of Paul Rusesabagina who housed thousands of refugees during the civil War in Rwanda.
Check out the official website for Hotel Rwanda
Daniel Robert Epstein: Did you have any trepidation about playing a person who is still alive?
Don Cheadle: I think what sort of allayed a lot of fears and gave me confidence to play it is that Paul agreed on the script. I would have felt a lot worse had he pulled me aside and said This thing is bullshit; I dont know why he wrote it like this. He was very much behind it and in support of Terrys vision. I just wanted to follow him. This was just a part that I thought I could sink my teeth into.
DRE: How much did you know about what happened in Rwanda before doing this film?
DC: Just when it was going on from reading it in the papers. Then a year or two prior to doing this movie I saw a Frontline piece that went in-depth into Rwanda. That gave me a lot of insight. When I saw the script I was all primed for the story. Terry was able to tell a story not about the genocide but a life story about a man and his family wrapped in a thriller. At the same time it was a very personal story set against this backdrop without it being overwhelming. Telling Pauls story may have taken us through some events that may have been too big to deal with.
I think its amazing how few people know what happened. Even in Africa many people were not aware of what happened. Its like not knowing what happened in Montana when you live in New York. They were dealing with their own things like Mandela and the end of Apartheid. Thats what was consuming the medias thoughts about Africa at the time. There was no way America was commit troops to the situation because Somalia had happened recently which was PR disaster. Also there are no diamonds or oil there so whats the upside for them and the Hutus were aware of that. They knew the only way to get everyone out was to kill some soldiers and when they killed those ten Belgian soldiers everyone pulled out.
DRE: Was it hard to get into the character of Paul?
DC: It was a difficult challenge. I guess thats the challenge every time out because there are slightly different aspects. The fact that Paul is alive and we are talking about historical events is something that we want to get right. But its always a lot of work for me. I always want to raise my game, doing better every time and refining what I do as an actor.
DRE: Do you think you could have done what Paul did?
DC: I have no idea. But the great thing about Paul is that he deflects all those hero questions. That helped in the playing because what he did was keep whatever task he had, in front of him. Someone else once asked Paul what he was drawing on. He said that he didnt plan anything; he just took it one task at a time so he didnt think about the larger picture. Everyday he thought he was going to die. So that helped me not play him as a Superman.
DRE: What was it like actually shooting in Johannesburg?
DC: We were like the little film that could. We had a very small budget compared to the scope of this movie. We had 17,000 extras so sometimes it was this grand sweeping film and other times it would be just five people shooting in a room. It ran the gamut and was very challenging day to day because of the weather and we had a few riots. In South Africa things happen but its also a very exciting place to be because the film industry is just starting to kick off.
It was also difficult because we never had one day of just sun or one full day of rain to shoot. So we would have to truncate scenes or scramble to work around that.
DRE: Was it your first time in South Africa?
DC: Yeah but I didnt have much time to see the country. When I first got there my whole family and I went on a safari for five days. Then I came to Johannesburg and started rehearsing and working with Paul. The day we wrapped I flew back to LA and had to start another movie two days later.
DRE: Did you ask Paul why he didnt join the other people when they were allowed to leave the hotel?
DC: Yes, Paul describes it as being a selfish decision wrapped in a selfless cloak. He knew he would never be able to live with himself had he left those people to die. It would haunt him for the rest of his life if he left 1000 people to the mercy of the militia. He would have preferred to die there.
DRE: Being an African-American, did you play any scenes with anger?
DC: There are those scenes where Paul cant believe whats happening. I had seen some real footage unfortunately, and it is totally unbelievable what we saw. People were using stacks of bodies as roadblocks and kids sitting on stacks of bodies drinking beer. Governments knew what was going on because there were embedded journalists there.
Personally its inspired me to get involved. Were showing this movie to the United Nations and Amnesty International is involved. I have a meeting with a couple of congressmen, Donald Payne and Ed Royce, who chair the Subcommittee on African Affairs. However when Im playing the role I try to be in character but I feel a lot of shame in the fact that things like this happen all the time. This film has inspired to really find what out whats happening. Im going back to Africa next year.
DRE: How was it working with Nick Nolte?
DC: Great, Nick is out of his mind. I learned a lot of lessons from him.
DRE: About what?
DC: Lessons about acting, lessons about the business and how to navigate your way through these things. I may do it differently but hes an old soldier so I soaked up all of that.
DRE: Are movies like After the Sunset and Oceans Twelve a chance for you to relax when you work?
DC: Not necessarily, its not by design. I do different movies for different reasons. I have young kids so thats always a large component of my decisions. I came back to the Oceans because thats the gang, Steven [Soderbergh] and I do a lot of things together and I think hes a genius.
DRE: There has been talk of you directing Tishomingo Blues.
DC: Yeah its an Elmore Leonard novel. Its about a high diver who goes to Mississippi and witnesses a murder from a diving board.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
Check out the official website for Hotel Rwanda
Daniel Robert Epstein: Did you have any trepidation about playing a person who is still alive?
Don Cheadle: I think what sort of allayed a lot of fears and gave me confidence to play it is that Paul agreed on the script. I would have felt a lot worse had he pulled me aside and said This thing is bullshit; I dont know why he wrote it like this. He was very much behind it and in support of Terrys vision. I just wanted to follow him. This was just a part that I thought I could sink my teeth into.
DRE: How much did you know about what happened in Rwanda before doing this film?
DC: Just when it was going on from reading it in the papers. Then a year or two prior to doing this movie I saw a Frontline piece that went in-depth into Rwanda. That gave me a lot of insight. When I saw the script I was all primed for the story. Terry was able to tell a story not about the genocide but a life story about a man and his family wrapped in a thriller. At the same time it was a very personal story set against this backdrop without it being overwhelming. Telling Pauls story may have taken us through some events that may have been too big to deal with.
I think its amazing how few people know what happened. Even in Africa many people were not aware of what happened. Its like not knowing what happened in Montana when you live in New York. They were dealing with their own things like Mandela and the end of Apartheid. Thats what was consuming the medias thoughts about Africa at the time. There was no way America was commit troops to the situation because Somalia had happened recently which was PR disaster. Also there are no diamonds or oil there so whats the upside for them and the Hutus were aware of that. They knew the only way to get everyone out was to kill some soldiers and when they killed those ten Belgian soldiers everyone pulled out.
DRE: Was it hard to get into the character of Paul?
DC: It was a difficult challenge. I guess thats the challenge every time out because there are slightly different aspects. The fact that Paul is alive and we are talking about historical events is something that we want to get right. But its always a lot of work for me. I always want to raise my game, doing better every time and refining what I do as an actor.
DRE: Do you think you could have done what Paul did?
DC: I have no idea. But the great thing about Paul is that he deflects all those hero questions. That helped in the playing because what he did was keep whatever task he had, in front of him. Someone else once asked Paul what he was drawing on. He said that he didnt plan anything; he just took it one task at a time so he didnt think about the larger picture. Everyday he thought he was going to die. So that helped me not play him as a Superman.
DRE: What was it like actually shooting in Johannesburg?
DC: We were like the little film that could. We had a very small budget compared to the scope of this movie. We had 17,000 extras so sometimes it was this grand sweeping film and other times it would be just five people shooting in a room. It ran the gamut and was very challenging day to day because of the weather and we had a few riots. In South Africa things happen but its also a very exciting place to be because the film industry is just starting to kick off.
It was also difficult because we never had one day of just sun or one full day of rain to shoot. So we would have to truncate scenes or scramble to work around that.
DRE: Was it your first time in South Africa?
DC: Yeah but I didnt have much time to see the country. When I first got there my whole family and I went on a safari for five days. Then I came to Johannesburg and started rehearsing and working with Paul. The day we wrapped I flew back to LA and had to start another movie two days later.
DRE: Did you ask Paul why he didnt join the other people when they were allowed to leave the hotel?
DC: Yes, Paul describes it as being a selfish decision wrapped in a selfless cloak. He knew he would never be able to live with himself had he left those people to die. It would haunt him for the rest of his life if he left 1000 people to the mercy of the militia. He would have preferred to die there.
DRE: Being an African-American, did you play any scenes with anger?
DC: There are those scenes where Paul cant believe whats happening. I had seen some real footage unfortunately, and it is totally unbelievable what we saw. People were using stacks of bodies as roadblocks and kids sitting on stacks of bodies drinking beer. Governments knew what was going on because there were embedded journalists there.
Personally its inspired me to get involved. Were showing this movie to the United Nations and Amnesty International is involved. I have a meeting with a couple of congressmen, Donald Payne and Ed Royce, who chair the Subcommittee on African Affairs. However when Im playing the role I try to be in character but I feel a lot of shame in the fact that things like this happen all the time. This film has inspired to really find what out whats happening. Im going back to Africa next year.
DRE: How was it working with Nick Nolte?
DC: Great, Nick is out of his mind. I learned a lot of lessons from him.
DRE: About what?
DC: Lessons about acting, lessons about the business and how to navigate your way through these things. I may do it differently but hes an old soldier so I soaked up all of that.
DRE: Are movies like After the Sunset and Oceans Twelve a chance for you to relax when you work?
DC: Not necessarily, its not by design. I do different movies for different reasons. I have young kids so thats always a large component of my decisions. I came back to the Oceans because thats the gang, Steven [Soderbergh] and I do a lot of things together and I think hes a genius.
DRE: There has been talk of you directing Tishomingo Blues.
DC: Yeah its an Elmore Leonard novel. Its about a high diver who goes to Mississippi and witnesses a murder from a diving board.
by Daniel Robert Epstein
SG Username: AndersWolleck
VIEW 15 of 15 COMMENTS
"The Rwanda Crisis" by Gerard Prunier
"Shake Hands with the Devil" by Romeo Dalliere (UN commander)
"Season of Blood" by Fergal Keane (BBC reporter)
"Leave None to Tell the Story" by Alison Des Forges (Human Rights Watch)
"The Key to My Neighbor's House" by Elizabeth Neuffer (Boston Globe Reporter)
"We wish to inform you that tomorrow we will be killed with our families" by Philip Gourevitch (New Yorker reporter)
I would also recommend the two documentaries PBS's Frontline produced, one is called "Ghosts of Rwanda" which aired last year and there is another (I forget the title) which aired seven or eight years ago.
[Edited on Feb 12, 2005 by trebor]
[Edited on Feb 12, 2005 by trebor]