Chris Rock back in the spotlight
He's still funny and still busy with his new movie, 'The Longest Yard.'
By JOHN ANDERSON
LONG ISLAND NEWSDAY
LOS ANGELES -- Chris Rock, who has been called "racist," "dangerous" and "the funniest man in America," recently seemed like the "most exhausted man in Los Angeles."
With a Miami-Washington basketball playoff game playing on the TV in his hotel room -- between interviews for his new film "The Longest Yard" -- Rock lurched through some questions, 3,000 miles from his New York base. ("L.A. is 'town,'" he said, "like, you go to 'town' to get supplies. Then you go home.")
Q. Have they been working you to death?
A. This, this is what they pay you for. You do movies for free. They pay you to sell them. They don't pay you to do the movie.
Q. You a fan of the original "Longest Yard?"
A. I liked the original a lot.
Q. Did you know that "Caretaker," the role you play, was originally played by James Hampton, who specialized in playing good ol' Southern white boys?
A. Perfect. Perfect.
Q. You've starred in your own films, such as "Head of State." What are you doing playing second fiddle to Adam Sandler?
A. It's like a Morgan Freeman part. It's very Morgan Freeman. Morgan Freeman has his own genre of part. He's always kind of the second fiddle, but he always knows more than the lead person.
Q. Does "The Longest Yard" signify the mainstreaming of Chris Rock?
A. I hosted the Oscars -- how much more mainstream can you get? I hosted "Saturday Night Live." What do I have to do? I'm a pretty mainstream guy. I just happen to curse ...
Q. During a recent interview, Sam Jackson, who was there, said people certainly seemed to be laughing it up (at the Oscars).
A. I know. And my phone has never rung so much as since the Oscars. I'm getting great offers, real offers from real directors to do real movies. Concert-wise, offers from all over the world to perform. Put it this way: There's no piece of work I've ever done, that I've been really involved in, that has pleased everybody. I'm just not that guy. If nobody's -- -- off, I'm not doing my job.
Q. You going to do the Oscars again?
A. They haven't asked me. I hope I'm busy.
Q. I wouldn't have thought you'd ever have a shortage of offers.
A. Offers come and go, you know? They come in waves ... Especially now, there's so many comedic stars out there. In movies, anyway. Adam Sandler, Will Smith, Mike Myers, Jim Carrey. Will Ferrell's getting every part you want now. Hey, I could've played a soccer dad.
Q. One of your earliest roles was as the crackhead in "New Jack City," which was hardly a comedy. Does drama attract you?
A. It does attract me, but it only really attracts me for a supporting part. Something like "New Jack City." I'm not really clamoring to star in a dramatic movie -- mostly, because I don't feel like selling a dramatic movie. "Come out and see me not be funny!"
Q. That would be tougher.
A. People do it.
Q. You kind of went in reverse. Comedians often want to be taken seriously so they do drama, and ...
A. ... I started serious and got funny. Yeah. Comedy doesn't get the respect. And it's the hardest thing to do. Much harder than being a dramatic actor. I mean, the average dramatic actor -- not what Jamie Foxx did in "Ray," that's like, extraordinary. But it's much harder.
Q. So why is it that comedians don't get respect?
A. I don't know. A lot of that's just in America, too. You leave the country, they really respect comedy in other countries.
Q. Does your comedy translate to other countries?
A. When you're doing stand-up, political stuff is different everywhere. Men and women? Same all over the world. It's amazing. All over the world. Men are complaining about their wives, and wives are complaining about their husbands. Poor people complaining about rich people. But men and women? When they said the language of love is universal, they knew what they were talking about.