INTERVIEW WITH CEDRIC THE ENTERTAINER ('Eddie'):
What did you think of the controversy surrounding the first film?
I thought there was some possibility that those words, those lines, could possibly offend a particular group of people. I didn't expect it to be the firestorm that it turned into be [and that] I'd end up being on the phone with Jesse Jackson. We prayed and everything on the phone. I forgot the man was a reverend. It was a real prayer where you had to be, "Yes, lord. Mm-hmm. All right." I'm on the phone doing this.
But the line was taken out of context.
Yeah. One of the things that I found most interesting about the script, when I was even interested in doing the first “Barbershop,” was that this movie was going inside the barbershop. It was going to do what people do inside a barbershop, so the lines could be so controversial. If you go in any barbershop, most of the time, all subject matters get to flying and people are all over the place with their opinions and what they think and believe. In this place, you're willing to say that - right, wrong or indifferent.
And his opinions were shot down.
I consider that a testament that I'm a good actor, because it was a role. When they yelled cut, I was sitting around drinking bottled water sitting around talking. I wasn't talking about Rosa Parks.
Were you worried about going back?
I really enjoyed playing the character. I really enjoyed doing this character ‘Eddie.’ One thing I wanted to let the producers and the studio know right away was I didn't think it was important nor should we intentionally pick fights with people. I thought in the first movie, it was done in the fact that this guy said something that was controversial, but never was it intended to offend or jump down somebody's throat. I think if you try to do that, try to stir it up so that you get controversy, I think that has a tendency to backfire. I said if we stumble across something that's really interesting and we're going to say something that could possibly offend people, then sure. But not if we're just trying to pick a fight.
How much running did you do?
I did quite a bit. I did do a lot of my own stunts in this movie. All of a sudden, [I’m] the Jackie Chan of comedy. I'm doing my own jumping and running. Especially as young Eddie, I'd do a lot of running, and I made up that run. I had to do that because on camera, the double couldn't quite get it and the director was like, "No, it don't look right. Cedric, how do you feel? Run just a few yards for me."
Can you talk about the barbecue scene where you fell down?
Yeah, that little kiddie pool, it was a fun twist the director wanted to add. It's a barbecue and I'm hot [and] it's a way for me to stay cool. I stepped in the pool and I didn't get completely in. It was kind of slick and I was playing with one foot out and one foot in. The wet foot started to slide and soon I was finding Nemo under the water.
Was it easy to adlib as Eddie?
Once I kind of developed Eddie - especially in the first movie - once I got the voice, I really had an idea of who I wanted this guy to be. Then [I was] just kind of making him up as a combination of people. Once I had the voice, the way he talked and the rhythms, I could just do him. So any subject matter they brought up, I could do an Eddie run on the matter.
Who is your Eddie?
I guess the closest person I could say would be this deacon from my mom's church who was just a real serious, stern [man] when you see him in church. But he was my mother's friend so when they would hang out later on after church and go to dinner and stuff, you'd see that he had this funny personality that he would never reveal to people. I pulled that for Eddie, even though he's a little more out front, but he has this real kind of rough edge to him. You have to really get his comedy because he's really direct and says stuff at you.
When did you know you were funny?
Probably about eight. I can remember making my mother laugh. I guess as a kid, seven or eight, I did something and I can remember her laughing really hard. Like when you know somebody's not laughing, they just thought you were funny. You got that sense of, “Hey, that's good right there.” I don't remember exactly what I did, but when I first started doing comedy, I would try stuff on my mother. That was one of my favorite testing points.
ADDITIONAL “BARBERSHOP 2” CAST INTERVIEWS:
Ice Cube / Kenan Thompson / Eve
Additional “Barbershop 2” Resources:
“Barbershop 2” Photo Gallery
“Barbershop 2” Trailer, Credits, and Soundtrack News
