Best known to TV audiences as the dad in Everybody Hates Chris and for his supporting roles in comedy films such as The Longest Yard and Click, Terry Crews tackles a much more serious role in the intense drama, Harsh Times. Starring Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez and Eva Longoria, Harsh Times is writer/director David Ayer's gritty look at friendship, loyalty, and life on the streets of South Central Los Angeles.
You’re such a loving father on TV. Why did you choose to play a lowlife in Harsh Times?
“Yeah, well, you know, it’s funny because I was a movie guy before I ever did TV and played crazier characters than this. When a brother’s walking around on a beach in a Speedo, that’s not TV dad territory in the beginning anyway. Or trying to rape a pimp in Friday After Next, that’s another thing too. I’m used to wild, crazy characters and I jumped at the chance to work with David Ayer. For me, it’s more [about] who’s doing the directing, who’s doing the writing, who’s involved. I just want to be involved with the best talent. I’ve been fortunate throughout my whole career to be blessed to be working with the best. Training Day was unreal. As a writer, U-571, Dark Blue, he puts together great, great work. I jumped at the chance. This was his thing. This was his baby.”
Do you understand your character’s value system? That way of thinking where drugs and crime are fine, but it's not okay to show disrespect to your woman?
“Yeah, because he’s lonely. The cat is lonely. He’s alone. If he had somebody who loves him, he wouldn’t be doing that. But the thing is, when you see this movie, you realize this guy was harmless in a lot of ways. This is a guy who checked out of life a long time ago. He had goals, he had dreams, and all of a sudden something happened where it didn’t go right for him and he just decided, ‘I’m done. I’m checking out.’
It’s almost like what would you do if you woke up and you really didn’t have anything to look forward to? That’s him. That is Darrel. When he’s looking at Mike, played by Freddy Rodriguez, he’s like, ‘Yo, man, you got something to live for. You have something to look forward to. You have somebody to come home who actually loves you. Man, that’s foul.’ So he could understand it if you didn’t have anything and you could be down here with me, but it’s one of those cats that it’s almost like the gangster in the corner seeing the kid doing wrong, and he’s like, ‘Yo, man. Don’t be like me. Go home. You have something more than this.’”
Did you break that down to play the character or was it obvious in the role?
“It’s funny because the script is so good, these characters, because it’s character driven, it flows by itself. It’s like the decisions that are made, the way they talk and what’s going on, it put me in the mood. I knew this guy. Coming up in Flint, Michigan, I knew a whole lot of Darrels. And there, but for the grace of God, go I.
When I met my wife, and I got married literally the day before my 21st birthday, I could honestly say that decision was the best decision I ever made in my life in that I would never be where I’m at right now if it wasn’t for her. It took me to a whole other level. I’d have been all right or I would have made some really, really bad decisions that could have messed me up forever that I probably wouldn’t have been able to recover from. But because I had a good woman… A bad woman will ruin your life, period. But a good one can take you places to a whole other stratosphere. And that, in this movie, is Eva [Longoria]. Eva is pretty much the only thing that saves our guy Mike, Freddy Rodriguez. Her love is the only thing that keeps him from sinking all the way out from being manipulated by Jim and all these other forces. That’s true in a lot of ways. A good woman, like moms or wives, it’s always been, that love is the only thing that kind of saves a man, to be honest. For most men, they can always attribute that to somebody, a good woman.”
Now it makes sense why you play such wild characters.
“Yeah, I really have been fortunate to play some great, great guys. But my first and foremost mission is to serve the piece, to serve the film or serve my show because I want… See, people love Julius [on the TV series Everybody Hates Chris]. They love that character, and I don’t want to mess that character up for anybody. You will never see behavior that’s incongruent with Julius. But also, if we do another Friday, you’re gonna get Damon all the way. I’m going to do what it takes to be Damon all out. If I ever do another White Chicks, it would be that way. Or any other character that I do from here on out, I give it all I have. There’s no excuse for no passion. I mean, you can excuse a lot of things. You can excuse an accident, a mistake, but you can’t excuse a lack of passion.
David Ayer mortgaged his house to do this movie. What else can I say? This is somebody’s baby. This is somebody’s child. And for me to come at this anything less, thinking about my fatherly image and this and that… I’m like, ‘You asked me to do this and I said yes, then you are going to get everything I’ve got. Whatever you need, I’m with it,’ because it’s just that serious. It’s hard to make movies now. It’s really hard. Independent films, it’s a very, very difficult thing. What he’s done is a minor miracle. I would call it a major miracle, but to get a film made is crazy and the caliber of people that are involved here. It was Christian Bale, Freddy Rodriguez, and Eva Longoria. I knew I had my chance to just be in great company. I’ve been waiting to do something dramatic for a long time. Even though I am a bit of the comedic side of this dramatic piece, I get in where I fit in. If that’s what I’m supposed to do, then that’s what I do.”
Page 2: Terry Crews on Everybody Hates Chris and Being a Role Model
