Cuba Gooding Jr.

Dirty Cuba
Cuba Gooding Jr. Plays It Nasty In Independent Movie About Dirty Cops
By Cole Smithey

Since winning the 1997 Best Supporting Actor Oscar Award for his flashy performance as football wide receiver Rod Tidwell in "Jerry Maguire," opposite Tom Cruise, Cuba Gooding Jr. has made his share of career missteps. His roles in marginally successful films like "Pearl Harbor," "Men Of Honor" and "Radio" are overshadowed by his association with far lesser movies like "Instinct," "Rat Race," "Snow Dogs" and the notoriously shabby "Boat Trip."

At 38-years-old, Cuba Gooding Jr. has been around the Hollywood block enough times to take a step back and realign his career with an eye on the quality of his choices rather than the quantity of money a role might bring. In the past two years Cuba has been working with talented upstart independent directors like Lee Daniels, Mars Callahan and Chris Fisher on low-budget unconventional films full of an immediate sense of the filth and the fury of our times.

His latest film "Dirty" is an explosive satire of police corruption in the Los Angeles Police force. Cuba plays Officer Salim Adel, an immoral cop that makes Harvey Keitel’s character in "Bad Lieutenant" look like a benevolent uncle. Officer Adel and his slightly less depraved partner Officer Armando Sancho (Clifton Collins Jr. – "Capote") have a busy day of profiteering ahead of them before they are due to testify before internal affairs about abuses inside their police division. The movie is unrelenting in its violence and harsh depiction of two dirty cops on a crash course with fate.

I interviewed Cuba Gooding Jr. at the Regency Hotel in New York City recently and was pleasantly surprised by his candidness and fervor.

CS: You play a very nasty character in "Dirty." What did it take to prepare for this role?

CG: The minute I judge a character that’s when the audience is pulled out of it. I did the same prep for "Radio," the same prep for "Jerry Maguire" and the same prep for "Men Of Honor." For these specific characters, in some instances real people, I have to be a reflection of who they are—an unbiased reflection.

CS: It’s interesting that the two lead characters are minorities in "Dirty."

CG: Some critics have made comparisons to "Training Day." But, in "Training Day" you had Denzel Washington being taken out by the Russians and you had the white cop, after surviving a time in hell, becoming better for it and moving on. This movie ["Dirty"] is a cautionary tale that exists right now. There are Black and Hispanic cops who are infiltrating the gang system and becoming gang members and finding accountability for their actions at the end of the tale. There’s no Russian saving the day in this situation. In both "Training Day" and "Dirty" there is an institution that breeds this mentality and is continuing to some degree.

I don’t want it to look like I’m bashing the LAPD because I’m a huge supporter of the LAPD. I’ve participated in charity events.

When I got this screenplay it came with a two-page letter detailing Chris Fisher’s (the writer/director) frustration with the Ramparts scandal and the images and reporting of police officials using almost military jargon in describing their war on gang violence—us against them mentality. But we’re the fucking "them." So, when these cops decide this guy needs to be taken out, maybe he’s not a gang member.

So, that letter moved me. He went on to say, "You’ve been a good guy in a lot of your movies, and you have this likable quality about you." In this movie my character Salim Adel, who started out as a gang member, reformed himself so much that he became an undercover cop, and then was pushed back into that gang member mentality. So, when I read this script I hadn’t read one with such social relevance since "Boyz N The Hood."

CS: You’ve come a long way as an actor since "Boyz N The Hood" and both movies are set in Los Angeles. Can you connect the dots for me about the social conditions of that movie to this movie.

CG: Well, you think about the statements that needed to be made with "Boyz N The Hood." There were gang members openly killing each other and civilians every weekend in Los Angeles. After "Boyz N The Hood" and a progression of movies with similar themes, the gang violence—the drive-by shootings—started to taper off. So, that was the positive. But the statement in this movie now is, like my character says, "We’re [the police] the only gangs that are left."

Did we get rid of it completely or did we just put a Band-Aid on it and reposition these guys to be a menace to society in other ways?

It’s our social duty to voice our opinions on how people who are supposed to protect and serve go about their protocol.

I had a buddy of mine moving out of a roommate’s apartment because they had problems, and he wanted me to come over and help him move some furniture. So, I came over and the roommate saw me and said, "I don’t want a Black man in my house." And he was a sheriff. To become a sheriff, you have to spend three years as a prison guard. So, he sees the worst of Blacks and Hispanics, and then they let him out on the community and say, "OK, protect and serve everybody." So, I think a big part of the problem is in the training of some of these officers put in these situations. I believe everybody is a victim—not just the civilians but the police officers themselves. After a while of being around this mentality, it’s got to seep into your soul. I don’t have any answers.

CS: Do you think that this movie will contribute in a positive way in enlightening people or do you think it might have a negative effect?

CG: Maybe a little bit of both. I was as frustrated as everybody else with the Ramparts scandal, and I was twice as frustrated recently when one of the guys who was suspended back then just got caught doing some other dirty shit. You know, in New Orleans these guys get beaten and we see it on the news and then all of a sudden it’s gone because everybody saw it and now it’s gone. Then the guy’s back doing bad stuff again. After awhile it’s not going to be as glamorous as "Training Day." It’s going to be a movie like this where it’s a problem now and we need to deal with this. So, I think, it can’t get any worse.

What about that airman that was shot by the cop? Just a little bit more accountability is all I’m saying, and if this movie promotes that, then good.

CS: You seem to like to play these tougher characters now, with this role and your role in the upcoming "Shadowboxer."

CG: Well, the last movie I just finished three weeks ago was with Anne Heche, Gina Gershon and Sean Astin. It’s a romantic comedy called "What Love Is" by writer/director Mars Callahan ("Poolhall Junkies"). I’m so proud of that movie I can’t tell you. But it is completely different.

I prepared the same way for every character I’ve done and whatever situation that that character was in, he responded to it based on this character I created. I tried to stay true to that. Now, if he was doing something illegal, let somebody tell him it’s illegal, but he had his own personal motivations for it.

CS: You did a movie called "Endgame" that seems to be headed straight to DVD.

CG: That’s what I heard. In the last two years I did four movies and they're all out of the studio system. They’re all independent risks—all under 5 million dollars. There’s "Shadowboxer," "Dirty," "Endgame" and "What Love Is." Hopefully, they’ll all make it to the theaters. Right now, I know "Dirty" will open, and I know "Shadowboxer" is opening May 12.

CS: Why did you decide to go the independent route?

CG: Because that’s where the roles were. There was nothing character-driven coming from the studios. I didn’t want to do another fluff movie like "Boat Trip." I wanted to make a statement movie. I like to pride myself on finding the new—Orson Welles, David Lean-- voices in Hollywood. Chris Fisher, Lee Daniels and Mars Callahan make films that make statements, and the scripts that they’ve been talking to me about are going to make powerful statements. I wouldn’t have been able to meet these big directors-in-the-making if I was still in the studio system doing movies that way. I love that God has blessed me to put me in the position to do these movies.

CS: How do you unwind from doing a cruel character like Salim Adel?

CG: Well, I’ve got a wife and three kids at home, and she’s like, "Pick the dog poop up." And I’m like, "OK." This is my job as an actor. It’s just like watching a movie and you’re crying, and then you go outside and somebody says, "You’re a stand-up comedian, you’ve got to make people laugh." You let it affect you, and then you’ve just got to let it go.