The moment the offer came into Flavourmag HQ to interview actor and martial arts expert Michael Jai White it sent us into a bit of a frenzy and we had to respond with a HELL YEAH BRING IT ON.
Michael first shot to fame playing Mike Tyson in the TV movie Tyson, which quickly saw him being offered the role of Spawn, meaning he was the first ever black actor to play a comic book superhero and bringing to us the legendary Black Dynamite making him a household name. When we walked into the very grand St Pancras Renaissance hotel we knew this was going to be a special interview, in his surroundings Michael seem so small and humble, that is until he stood up to take a picture with me, at that point my legs turned to jelly! Check out the interview where he talks about his new film, Falcon Rising, being inducted into the International Sports Hall of fame and most important Chocolate City.
We are about to see you in the Falcon Rising where you play an Ex marine out for revenge against the people who attack his sister and leave her for dead. What attracted you to the role?
I really liked the script, the fact that the protagonist was a true American hero based in reality. There are a lot of those fantastic type of movies that have government spies and what have you, this just felt like it was a slice of reality and I knew people that were close to this type of character, in fact, my brother-in-law was a combat veteran who came home with a severe case of PTSD, and so it hit home for me.
To me you look like a big soft teddy bear, but in the film I certainly wouldn’t mess with you, do you share any of the same traits as your character?
(Laughs), it’s funny, women see the teddy bear thing and men see a grizzly bear.
It’s the muscles woman go all gooey over them.
(Blushes) Er I don’t know. I mean, I’ve been told I’m frightening (laughs) but I think that’s by guys, but I am a very nice, easy-going person. I do admit that there are times where I… I look angry (laughs), I could be thinking about kittens playing with yarn, but it looks like I am thinking about murdering somebody. I think it’s the eyebrows. If I’m not smiling I’m scaring people.
Your various black belts in martial arts obviously gave you the right training for this role, how easy was it to film those fight scenes?
Not terribly difficult, The most difficult thing sometimes is having too much coverage, because sometimes there are cameras that will record stuff that you don’t want them to see. There are a lot of movies that create the action in the editing room by having so many cuts, that’s something I don’t like, but a lot of times the cameraman is used to trying to get as much footage or else they are just sitting around doing nothing. It’s kind of a double edged sword.
Where there any accidents on set? Did you accidentally connect with anyone?
No, No one got hurt. The only real accident on the set was where there is a scene of the car blowing up and the person who was supposed to blow the car up on the count of 4. So it was supposed to be 1. 2. 3. Blow it up, and he blew it up on 3. It was supposed to be blown up when I look away from the car, so they are counting it down and I am supposed to look away on 3 and I’m looking at the car and it blows up while I’m still looking at it. I was like that wasn’t supposed to happen. So we quickly reset the car, painted it again and blow it up again. That was amazing. We got a fire engine; put the car out so yeah…
Back to your Martial Arts expertise, how long have you been involved with the sport & what attracted you to it in the first place?
I was an insecure youngster, I was quite young, growing up in Brooklyn it was a way of building armour, I wasn’t really bullied but I didn’t like bullies very much and I used to target bullies which kind of made me the king of the bullies. That wasn’t my intention, but I wound up being that for some reason (laughs). I got into it when I was 8 years old, then I just kept with it.
Have you ever had to use it in a personal situation?
Several times, quite often growing up fighting was the thing I liked to do more than anything else. That’s until I grew into an adult and matured. I always enjoyed fighting, it’s one of the things I enjoyed doing in the gym and in the ring.
We’ve seen you in numerous different films, from playing Mike Tyson in Tyson, Gambol in The Dark Knight and Black Dynamite amongst many. Which character has been your favourite to date?
It has to be Black Dynamite because that came from my mind, I dreamed up the character and produced it and it was just something I thought was funny. I was really honoured by others thinking it was funny as well. It’s something I can put all my attributes in, the martial arts, acting, comedy and that’s the stuff I liked to brand myself as. My favourite roles would be action comedy. I’ve got some good ones coming down the pipe. I’ve started my own production company, there are some projects I have which I am very excited about.
Just in March this year Arnold Schwarzenegger inducted you into the International Sports Hall of Fame alongside Evander Holyfield, Can you tell us about that?
I’m always uncomfortable getting awards, It’s something I just take a deep breath and wait till it’s over. I recognise the honour of it. It’s tremendous I got a chance to really thank Arnold Schwarzenegger who was a big hero of mine growing up. So to thank him face to face was an amazing thing for me.
You were the first African American to play a comic book superhero in the film Spawn back in 1997, how did that feel?
It was great when I was doing it I really hadn’t thought of that. I don’t think of myself as an African American anything. I think of myself as a man who happens to be black. When someone first said to me I was the first black actor to do this I was like Oh is that right (laughs). It didn’t land as strong as you think it might
Why do you think it’s taken so long since then for the doors to be open to black actors to play comic book superheroes? We have Michael B Jordan playing the Human Torch in the upcoming Fantastic Four.
I don’t think there is any conspiracy, I just think that there really not that many characters period. Now they are going comic book hero crazy. I went through that time when I played Spawn there was really only Batman, Superman, Spiderman so the ratio was not that bad. There was Spawn and Blade so to me African-Americans weren’t doing too bad back then (laughs)
As our readers already know your also about to be seen on our screens in Chocolate City, what are your feelings on this being portrayed as a black Magic Mike?
That was quite intentional (laughs) I was there watching the dancing, there is no comparison. By the third dancer, I thought every dancer was better than anything I saw in Magic Mike, I was actually surprised. We actually used the real reactions of the woman, they didn’t know what was going to happen, so we just kept the cameras rolling. These women DID NOT HAVE TO BE DIRECTED AT ALL! There were visiting producers who we could blackmail them with footage (laughs). It was wild. (At this point I told him I wanted to be in the next one and he happily agreed haha).
Your married right? What was your wife’s reaction like when you told her about Chocolate City?
She came to the set all the time; I’m not a stripper in the movie. I’m the owner (laughs) so there was no issues whatsoever. Even if I was a stripper she wouldn’t have any issues.
Thank you very much for talking to me and I so can’t wait to see you in Chocolate city.
FALCON RISING (cert.15) stars Michael Jai White (Tyson, Spawn, Black Dynamite, The Dark Knight), Neal McDonough (Minority Report, Desperate Housewives) and Laila Ali (American Gladiators) and arrives on UK DVD & VOD on 18th May 2015.