Run All Night: A Conversation with Oscar Winner Common
By Brad Balfour
March 12, 2015
With his sonorous voice and ebullient smile, Lonnie Rashid Lynn — better known by the single appellation of Common — engenders journalist enthusiasm and the desire by other to connect to the personality he has become. As his career has evolved — whether in music or film — he’s offered a role model who expressed positive values and ideas about human growth and potential not just a gangsta- survival-at-all-costs-and-gains mode.
Born on March 13, 1972, in Chicago, Illinois, the rapper once known as Common Sense, initially established himself in the hip hop genre as a musician, lyricist, and producer. Along the way this 42-year-old also developed parallel careers as an actor, model, book writer, entrepreneur as well a humanitarian who supports animal rights and has foundation to aid underprivileged kids.
Common debuted in 1992 with the album, Can I Borrow a Dollar?, and developed a significant underground following into the late ‘90s, all the while gaining notable mainstream success working with the Soulquarians. His first major-label release, Like Water for Chocolate, received critical acclaim, commercial success and his first Grammy Award in 2003, winning Best R&B Song with Erykah Badu for “Love of My Life.”
Its popularity was matched by 2005′s Be, which was a 2006 Grammy Award Best Rap Album nominee. “Southside” (featuring Kanye West) — from his 2007 Finding Forever album — won hiom a second Grammy, for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group. Another album released late 2007, was his best-of collection — Thisisme Then: The Best of Common. In 2011, this extraordinary talent launched his own label, Think Common Entertainment; he has as well put out music on such other labels as Relativity, Geffen and GOOD Music.
Common’s collaboration with John Legend for the 2014 film Selma,”Glory” — in which he also co-starred as ‘60s Civil Rights leader James Bevel — won both the 2015 Golden Globe and Oscar for Best Original Song. Common’s career has also included significant roles in such films as Smokin’ Aces, Street Kings, American Gangster, Wanted, Terminator Salvation, Date Night, Just Wright, Happy Feet Two, and New Year’s Eve. He’s narrated an award-winning documentary Bouncing Cats — about one man’s efforts to improve children’s lives in Uganda through hip-hop/b-boy culture — and starred on TV in AMC’s western series Hell on Wheels (as Elam Ferguson).
Post all the Awards attention, the spotlight has shifted to his latest acting gig in the film Run All Night, director Jaume Collet-Serra’s upcoming crime thriller written by Brad Ingelsby. Collet-Serra’s third film with Liam Neeson is an accomplished action filled pacer that tells of aging hitman Jimmy Conlon (Neeson) blood-soaked battle with his former mob boss Shawn Maguire (Ed Harris) after he kills his coked up drug dealer son (Boyd Holbrook) while protecting his estranged son Mike (Joel Kinnaman) — who had witnessed Danny brutally executing two Albanian smack distributors. Conlon has one night to save son and family (wife Gabrielle is played by Genesis Rodriguez) while running from both the cops including avenging detective (Vincent Di’Onofrio), and a ruthless, determined assassin Ray Price (Common) and Maguire’s associates.
Most recently, Blackfilm.com participated in a roundtable discussion with Common at the Ritz Carleton Hotel in Manhattan where he discussed his role in the film.
You’ve had quite a series of events happening to you thanks to your efforts in Selma.
Common: Being a part of Selma was a life changing, life enhancing experience. Getting to meet Ambassador Andrew Young, one of the first things he said to us was, “what are you willing to die for? Live for that.”
That made me go home that night and think about what am I really living for, and what would I die for? Those are some of the messages and inspiration we were getting for doing Selma. Doing press conferences, I would hear Oprah [Winfrey, producer/actor] talking, Ava [DuVernay, director] talking, David [Oyelowo, star] talking, and it was inspiring.
The whole experience was inspiring. Working on the project itself, knowing we were extensions of what the people of that time did, and now seeing the impact the movie and the song [has] had… Younger people now know about Selma because of the movie [so that] they’re going back and doing research. I feel like that movie is an extension of that movement. It’s definitely one of the greatest experiences for me.
Q: And the anniversary of the Selma march was just this last weekend.
C: I didn’t get to see everything but I heard the President had an incredible speech. Just to see the people there celebrating, but at the same token saying we got a way to go. We’re here to commemorate and honor the people who were here 50 years ago, but we have a way to go.
Q: It must be fun to play a character who is about as opposite as what you did in Selma. You’re so bad that The Irish mafia calls YOU up.
C: It’s a lot of fun for me as an actor to do different rolls that… I get to expand. I get to show different things as an actor and explore too. As soon as I took the role of Price I knew it was going to be a journey to get there because he’s written as this dark character.
Originally in the script he started out in an S&M club, so you knew he was out-there. For me to get there… As an actor, I love getting to play roles that are not…
Q: Who you are.
C: Right. Which is very exciting. It was work. Jaume [Collet-Serra, the director] came up with good ideas and once we came up with the clothes we worked to get there. But I was excited watching the movie.
Q: What drives Price? Is it the job — just getting it done or is it revenge?
C: He has a drive for getting it done. He’s a goal-oriented individual and his goal is to kill. He does have some joy in that and inflicting pain on people, but ultimately it was people like the police officers that were coming and he was like, “I’m taking you out, I’m taking you out,” without thinking twice because he has a goal, he’s determined, he’s relentless about taking out Jimmy and his son.
Q: Also he was pretty fucked up. He has a lot to come back from after his face is destroyed. Talk about making your character feel motivated.
C: Exactly, that just added. You burn off have your face it’s like no way I’m letting this guy go.
Q: The audience at the screening went nuts when they saw you come back.
C : When I was in the movie and he got outted, they cheered too, and I was really happy that they cheered. But 10% of me was like “why are they cheering about that?” But it felt good to know that I created a bad guy that they liked that much. One thing I enjoyed when I watched the film was… I felt the relationships between the people, I felt the stories, it felt authentic.
It was like I was watching New York as a character. Jimmy and his son really have this friction and have to repair things. And seeing Liam Neeson not start on top and being hunted, and not at the top of his game and dealing with alcohol, he’s almost rock bottom. He was this hitman who was really great at his job, but he’s not happy about what he did and it was great seeing that transition when he calls Sean, Ed Harris’ character, and he’s like “you sure you wanna go through this?”
That’s when you see him rise up and he’s the unstoppable Liam Neeson we see sometimes. I love how this movie allows for characters to go through things. It’s like a French Connection type movie but with some new things. It gave me a ‘70s feel.
Q: We talked about the physicality and the stunts. Was there any kind of special training you had to do? The movie looked intense.
C: The training we did was intense. It was like real fight training. You’re dealing with some of the best because Liam’s team and the stunt coordinator we had are the best. I had to be super sharp, but I was looking forward to it because I was like I get to be in a movie with Liam Neeson. I want to go toe to toe with him. It was a lot of fun, it was a lot of work. It was definitely fun. Once we got into that room with the fire we had to get it done because there was only so many takes we could do.
Q: What was your favorite scene to shoot?
C: The fighting scene with the fire because we worked on the fight coordination a lot and it turned out well. When we were shooting it we had this certain energy and I was like “this is good.”
Q: Your music has been a big contrast to gangsta rap and shows a positivity; and here’s a movie where you’re playing with gangsters, like real gangsters. What lessons would you tell guys playing gangstas as opposed to gangsters?
C: In truth a lot of guys that create music that have been through the life of a gangsta know that their life is not going to lead to the best results. A lot of people that I discuss in my music that have dealt with survival… because that’s what this movie’s about, survival. But when you look at people rapping about those things, some of it’s embodied by the survival and what they see, but a lot of it is embellished.
Most people that have lived in those situations know that it’s not the best life to lead — the gangsta life. Most people that have been around have seen somebody die or somebody go to prison. When you look at Run All Night, and one or two of the head gangstas — I don’t want to tell the end of the movie — but it doesn’t end up good for them.
Q: You have such a way with words, what’s it like building a character like Price who uses very little language?
C: It’s funny. Until it was mentioned to me, I was like… When I watched the movie I didn’t realize he didn’t have a lot of dialogue, which is funny. But his presence is still felt. As an actor, I’ve starred in movies where I only have a couple lines, so how do you convey who this person is without the words?
You just got to be alive in those scenes, present in those scenes so you create the character and he’s alive and breathing so people know him regardless. We know who Price is, even if he didn’t have one word of dialogue we knew who he was. You just have to create those characters. I don’t mind characters without a lot of dialogue because so much can be said with actions and through the eyes. Sometimes you just feel things coming off of people in a scene.
Q: Was it inevitable that you’d combine your singing and acting? It seems like your acting has improved your music and made certain things possible.
C: I would say it improved the music, to be honest. Acting, I didn’t know I was gonna be an actor. I loved acting when I was a kid. Like I did a play and I didn’t get the best reviews so I left it at home. But music was something that felt very natural for me as a kid and as I grew I loved going to the theater and going to movies. It was one of my favorite things to do and still is. I just started taking acting classes and I felt like this is it. Initially I didn’t want to combine the two.
Most movies I did I didn’t do that soundtrack because I didn’t want to be viewed as a rapper-actor. This guy is an actor and also a hip hop artist. I represent hip hop culture, obviously, but the point is I’m also an actor and didn’t want to get bunched in with the rest of the people that pursued it from a rap career. Now I’m like it’s great to do music for movies.
Q: Especially for things like Selma.
C: For Selma, it’s very inspiring. And it’s great to be able to do films like Run All Night. Maybe my music isn’t in it, but you get to see me as an actor. I didn’t come to Run All Night wanting to do music for it, I wanted to be an actor. So when the two combine organically, it works like in Selma. But sometimes I separate them and they just do what they do.
Q: Do you see yourself as a storyteller?
C: That’s a good way to say it, a storyteller, that’s great. I eventually want to write scripts anyways.
Q: You’re writing in general.
C: I write anyway. Some of the songs that I write are… They have a visual component to it, a story to it. As an actor, you write certain things, you write the person’s story as you tell it.
Q: You have books too, which is pure writing.
C: I’m working on a new book too.
Q: Catching on the second wind. Like a new beginning.
C: Right, a new beginning.
Q: Do you collaborate as an actor as seamlessly as you’ve done with John Legend?
C: Acting has opened me up… When I write songs I get into the backstories and themes and I feel more free as an artist. When you’re an actor you’ve got to let go. You can’t keep cool, you’ve just got to let go. That transferred into some of what I do as a musician. Why you say it’s seamless is because John Legend and I have worked together before, he’s a friend of mine, and we have the same intensity.
We want to put out great music and help improve the world in any way we can contribute. He’s been doing it through educational programs and he’s been very adamant about it. I’ve been doing it through my foundation, Common Ground, and helping the youth and getting them to reach their dreams. It was the perfect voice, and I couldn’t choose someone better to do that song; it was like God’s blessing us.
At one moment I just said, “let me call John about this song.” Because Ava said to me, “why don’t you do a song?” and this was late while she was editing. She mentioned doing a song for the movie. And we just went from there, lets just call John and see what happens.
Q: People are finally recognizing this poetry in you that’s always been there and now people are saying you’re awesome — the word to use for you and career now would be that it has durability.
C: That’s a good word. And perseverance. If you really love what you do and believe in what you’re doing, then you continue to do it. Sometimes the spotlight will be on you and sometimes it won’t. Obviously this has been the most recognition we have ever gotten. I wanted my music and art to touch people like it was 10,000 people paying attention or 10 billion people paying attention.
I just honestly want to keep growing and remembering what that purpose is and growing within that purpose and growing as a human being and growing as an actor, growing as an artist. The message of Glory is similar to things I’ve done before, but everything happens at the right time. If we had the opportunity to do these things before, I don’t think we would have been able to deliver at the level that we were able to.
Q: There’s a maturity to it all now.
C: A maturity and evolution.
Q: And timing.
C: And timing. Who would have known when we were making Selma that, unfortunately, you have situations like with Mike Brown and Eric Garner [unarmed men killed in altercations with police] and [the subsequent] protests. We were doing press junkets for Selma with protests happening outside. You couldn’t put that together. And because those things happened together it’s moving the meter, bringing up discussion. Younger people who already want to be part of the protest are seeing Dr. King and saying, “We want to do that. We can do that in our own way.” Everything happens when it’s supposed to happen.
Q: Your speeches were galvanizing and elegant. You said the right thing at the right time.
C: Thank you. We felt like we were given that platform and we wanted to use it.
Q: And then it must have been great for you and Genesis to be at the Oscars together and then in the movie. Were you out late?
C: Oh yeah, until the early morning [laughs].