Page 2
Samuel L Jackson on Learning to Play the Guitar for Black Snake Moan: “It was one of the things that I spent most of the time doing. Fortunately I had maybe 6 or 7 months to work that out and had a really good guitar teacher in the beginning, Felicia Collins in NY, while I was shooting Freedomland. Then when I left to do Snakes on A Plane in Vancouver, the prop master was an awesome guitarist so he spent a lot of time with me in my trailer every day. It was something I did daily, constantly, for 6 or 7 months until I was comfortable doing it. It tactually became something I looked forward to doing every day.
By the time we got to the film, I was pretty fast out on it. I actually taught myself to play the songs in a very different way than Scott played them, because I’d watched him play them and I worked it out like this. He watched me play and said, ‘I never thought of doing it that way.’ Then I talked to all these old blues guys when we were doing our little road tour and most of them had taught themselves to play after 30. They all had very different playing styles, so I created something that was actually my own in terms of how I learned how to play and worked my way though the songs. According to Big Jack, that's really cool.”
Acting with an Almost Naked Woman on a Big Chain: Christina Ricci was attached to a 30-40 foot long chain during filming. Jackson says Ricci insisted on using a real chain and it was long enough for her to go all over house. Commenting on working opposite Ricci under those circumstances, Jackson said, “Well, you know after about I guess an hour of looking at Christina in those little panties and that shirt, you kind of get over it. That's what she had on every day and she didn't put on a robe between shots and hide herself. She just kind of hung out, so you get over it pretty quickly.
The great thing was that during the rehearsal period, Christina and I developed this really interesting bond, and interesting trust, that kind of allowed her to kind of go anywhere she wanted to. I'd support her to the point where as an actor or as Samuel L Jackson I became another sort of Lazarus figure.
Is Black Snake Moan a Misogynist Film? “I don't know. There are a lot of films you can call misogynist. I think that Christina’s performance is one of the bravest performances I've seen that a young actress would take. I'm sure there are a lot of young women who wouldn’t touch this thing. I saw audition tapes for maybe 3 or 4 different women. Like I said, we talk about sexual dysfunction and we talk about nymphomania, but we never see what that process is. It's kind of interesting watching whatever this thing is that internally takes her over. The way she succumbs to it all the time rather than fighting it. She says, ‘No, no, no,’ but she always kind of lets go and lets it happen, and not realizing that her power is in resisting it.
I don't know. It's titillating. It's not often you see a young actress in that state of undress 2/3 of a film. It's very kind of early Helen Mirren and that, you know? I used to like watching Helen Mirren's young lady films because she was always naked. I don't know. Misogynist, I don't know. Titillating, yes.”
Working with Justin Timberlake: Timberlake’s recently transitioned from pop star to serious actor and has a supporting role in Black Snake Moan. “The interesting thing to me about Justin is it would have been easy for him to choose something that allowed him to be more Justin Timberlake,” said Jackson. “Guys, especially young guys, don't tend to want to portray people who have frailties and are less than macho. It's an interesting choice for him to choose a character that's so opposite of who most women or guys would want their heroes to be. He wasn't afraid to do it. He stepped in there and gave it his best shot. It worked for me in the film.”
The Interesting Hairstyle: “Craig actually wanted me to look a lot like R. L. Burnside who actually died when we were shooting. That’s sort of what he looks like and it's also sort of what my grandfather's brothers looked like. It was a conscious choice to have that receding hairline and have white hair to make him older and kind of lived in. He walked like he carries a lot of weight around on his shoulders, kind of like farmers. Farmers are very strong and vital kinds of guys, but they don't move very fast to conserve their energy.”
