A Common conversation

Common: The education I had with guns is from training in previous movies. So Smokin’ Aces to, I didn’t have to do any training for American Gangster, but I did hold a gun and it really clicked. Then also Street Kings, gun training. To Wanted, gun training. I mean, ironically, I’m definitely not a promoter of guns and who Common is, that’s not me. The films I’ve been taken on all have some guns in them, so, I did go through extensive gun training in this one. It’s really like a gun education in a way because the Gunsmith is the one who’s taking apart the guns, putting them together, cleaning them, putting designs on them, so I needed to learn as much as I could about guns.

Crave Online: So are you pretty good with guns now?

Common: I guess so. I know a little something about it. I’m no expert, but I’m pretty good. I got to say, I’ve been to a gun range where I’ve been shooting and I’m thinking I’m good, but there’s been an older woman that are a better shooter than me. So that’s like she’s there and in that case I’m not the greatest shooter, but it’s a learning process and so what you learn for a film and I’m glad I acquired that type of knowledge, but it’s not anything I want to utilize in my regular life.

Crave Online: What kind of atmosphere was it on set?

Common: It was great. A lot of jokesters, man. I can definitely say Morgan Freeman is a cool guy. He’d be walking around joking and singing and just dancing. I was like, this dude was like you just felt the artist in him. You know, artists are free, and I just felt the freedom in him. And even like with Angelina, we were just having a good time, just talked about everything. James is a funny guy, so it was a lot of fun, to be honest. Then when it’s time to shoot, you get into that mode of what the character is and that’s when the intensity comes.

Crave Online: Did James go in and out of his American accent or did he speak with a Scottish accent in between?

Common: In between he was Scottish and I didn’t understand him. Just yesterday we were in an interview and I was like, "I don’t understand thirty percent of what he said." Actually, for me, like a lot of the crew were either from England or France and speaking with accents and Timur speaks with an accent. I was really adjusting. It was adjustments everywhere going on. And James, I was really amazed and impressed he would go from the Scottish accent to an American accent really quick.

Crave Online: Your character seems really serene and focused. How much do you draw on Common to bring that energy to your character?

Common: I must say I try my best to not have any Common qualities in my characters, but if the character has something that’s like me, you may see it come out. When I go to the screening or go to see the movie, I get mad if I see anything that has to do with Common, any of my maneuvers that come out. I’m like, ugh, it gets me mad. And I actually asked actors, “Do you see yourself when you’re doing a character?” They say it’s like the same thing. They get mad when they see themselves on the screen, because you really want to see the character. That’s your job as an actor to create that character. Common is removed from the film set when you step on and you’re doing Gunsmith. Actually, in Chicago, one thing I had to mention that made it kind of difficult was when I was working on being this character, because we were in Chicago, we had a lot more people coming up saying, “Hey, Common, what’s up baby? You’re home, how it feel?” and I’m trying to stay in the zone of the Gunsmith and it’s like, “Yo Common, what’s up? You coming round the house?” and like, “Nah man.” It’s cool, but you do your best just to be that character.

Crave Online: Do you worry, because you have such a positive influence on kids, that they might see you in a film like this? Or do you pick your roles with that in mind?

Common: I definitely feel that I’ve laid a foundation to let youth know who Common is.  As artists, we get an opportunity to speak to people whether we go into the high schools, go to events or even interviews on TV, they get to hear what we’re about.  I make it clear that I’m taking on a character and I’m not afraid to take on dark characters and characters that people may look at and say, "Man this guy is a crazy character" or "this guy is bad." As an actor, you don’t judge what you’re doing and you can’t worry about, "Well, how do people perceive this character?" As an actor, you’re becoming a person. As a person, you can’t really judge yourself to much so I just approach it like that, taking on these roles and just really wanting it to be a good role, be in good films. That’s really the goal.  I think I can take care of letting people know that that’s not me. I’ve kind of established that already.  But, for those who don’t know, they will get to see that.

Crave Online:  Is Invincible Summer out yet?

Common:  No.  It’s coming in August. It’s produced by The Neptunes and a guy by the name of Mr. DJ who did a lot of work with Outkast so it’ll be out this summer.

Crave Online: What kind of gun training did you have for Terminator Salvation

Common: Actually, not to brag, but when I got to gun training for Terminator, I went one day and they were like, "Oh, you know all this s**t." I was like, "Yeah." I humbly was like, "Yeah, I got this. I can do this." It was simple.  Gun training was like one day and, like I said, they knew.  But I’m just starting the filming but there was a motorcycle scene where I wanted to do a stunt but they were like, "Nah, we can’t let you do it on the motorcycle."  It was like I was getting knocked off the motorcycle and they didn’t want me to do that but I was open to it.  At a certain point I did think though, "Well, I do got an album coming out."

Crave Online: What is that set like because now we’re finally into the future war part. Is there metal everywhere?

Common: Man, that set, the way I can describe it, being respectful to the film, is it’s just an incredible set.  I went in there, I went to that set and it was like, "Man, we are in this world. This is like Terminator.  I’m in The Terminator, right in this world."  I would say the set is incredible.

Crave Online: Have you worked with Christian Bale yet?

Common: Not yet but I’m looking forward to it.  He definitely is a great actor, man.  I can’t wait to work with him.

Crave Online:  What’s your role in that?

Common:  I’m playing Barnes.  I part of the resistance, really like one of John Connor’s right hand men, a freedom fighter.

Crave Online:  Had you seen all the other Terminator films?

Common: Yeah. I really dig ‘em too. They’re really good films.  I went back and watched the first two and I really was into ‘em.  Man, they’re great movies.

Crave Online: Have you kept up with The Sarah Connor Chronicles?

Common: I didn’t get to see that.  I’m not a big TV watcher.  I don’t know.  TV kind of lost me.

Crave Online: What about the rumors that you’ll play Green Lantern?

Common: Man, rumors, those rumors…

Crave Online:  Can you confirm or deny?

Common: I can say that if they do do a Justice League movie, I would love to be Green Lantern.  That’s all I can say. I do like Justice League.  I love it though.

Crave Online: Would it be you as an actor because, at one point, they were talking about doing a motion capture animation?

Common: I think if they do it, they would have actors I believe.  I’m not the producer or the director but, from my perspective, that’s what I think they would do.

Crave Online:  How did you feel when you saw Wanted all finished?

Common:  I haven’t seen it yet.  I’ve seen the trailers and I’ve seen twenty minutes of a cut of the movie a while back.  I went to Timur’s office and seen like twenty minutes and I was watchin’ it like, "Man, I can’t believe I’m in this movie."  It was that type of level for me.

Crave Online:  What is your biggest fear?

Common: Oh man, I think it would probably be not achieving the things that I want to do.  I’ve got a fear of that and I think that sometimes gives me my drive.  I’m like, "Man, I’ve got to make it.  I don’t have no other choice." I’m scared of not making it, yeah. That’s the biggest fear.

Crave Online:  That’s funny because Timur said his fear was accomplishing everything.

Common: Well, even when you set goals, I started out as a musician, as an artist and I said, "Man, I want to be a rap artist.  I want to be a rap star.  I want this artist to know who I am.  I want to be on TV rapping." Then, you achieve that but your goals increase.  You get new goals, new things to do so your drive is always there depending upon what kind of person you are.  If you stay in tune with your drive, you’re like, "Man, I didn’t know I wanted to be an actor when I first came out with music but now I’ve got a new goal."  When you achieve something, I think "keep going. Set more higher goals." At least, I do.

Crave Online:  How hard it is to continue an acting career and put out albums?

Common: I think each expression is sharpened in the other, meaning both of them are helping each other.  As an actor, when I’m working on a film, which is something I’m really intensely loving to do, I can go write a song and it kind of feels like second nature. This is another way for me to express myself.  It takes pressure off writing songs because I’m almost doin’ it in passing. It’s like, "Okay, I just finished workin’ on this character, let me just write this song real quick." There’s definitely a lot less pressure.  I think that the music industry and performing and being an artist has helped me to be more confident coming into film; being able to deal with change and dealin’ with all eyes on you.  It’s your time.  You’ve gotta do it.  That’s why I think music has helped and also, I come from a background of freestylin’ which is you’re spontaneously doin’ things. So that’s helpful when it comes to filming because you need to feel spontaneous and real if there’s a conversation goin’ on.

Crave Online:  Did anybody show you the graphic novel for Wanted?

Common:  Yeah.  I went and got the graphic novel once I knew that I’d be part of it. I thought, "Man let me see what this is about. Let me see the root of it, the foundation, where it came from."  I really liked it too.  I thought it was real cool.

Crave Online: What are you goals in acting? Terminator is huge leap for you.

Common:  It definitely is a huge leap and I’m very grateful.  My goal is to be a great, an incredible actor and be one of the biggest movie stars out there. I want to have a long career as an actor and be noted as one of the great actors of our time. That’s what I want to be.  I know it’s a journey but I believe I can do it.  That’s what the goal is. I definitely feel it’s a wide range for me to do it.  I know I want to do love stories, romantic comedy, drama, action.  I want to be part of the great process.

Crave Online: Did you talk to Morgan Freeman about that?

Common:  I did talk to him about it. I think was one of most important things, he was like, "You know, you have to work at it.  You’ve got to continue to work at it." He was a good teacher to me.  He did come over to say some little things in my ear that I would take heed to and I was so honored that he did.  I felt like a chill when he came over and first gave me some advice because this is Morgan Freeman comin’ over.  This is a guru, one of the greats.  Everybody on the set looked at Morgan Freeman like that.  From the D.P. to anybody on the crew was like, "That’s Morgan Freeman!" He would do scenes and we’d be like, you just hear that voice, "That’s Morgan Freeman." For him to come and give me some advice I really felt honored.  I learned from him, Angelina, James.  I learned from Denzel.

Crave Online: Do you imagine a signature character you might be known for?

Common: Good question.  I feel that me, as an artist, I never want to be pigeon-holed as one thing.  Obviously, it would be nice to do a superhero character eventually that becomes timeless but, at the same token, I would want to do the role of a pastor and that becomes timeless and then do the homeless man.  So, I don’t think I would want to be pigeon-holed with just one character.  I want to show my diversity and make classic movies.

Crave Online:  What directors would you like to work with?

Common:  I want to work with Quentin Tarantino, or Martin Scorsese.