I don't know. I’m going to be in trouble. He hasn’t seen it. But I did…that was him.
Has he changed?
No. My brother is the most self-centered egotistical son of a bitch you met in your life. I love him, but I don’t like him. Cain killed Abel. He bad. You know, blames the world, it’s always somebody’s fault. “If I had this, I could’ve been…” All day long. He’d be like this [sulking]. And then you try and ignore him and you’ve got to pray while you’re doing it. “You remember when I hit that home run?” Still talking about the home run that he hit when he was with the Cardinals. He bad, that’s when I said, “I gotta do this.”
Do you remember the first big league baseball game you attended?
Oh, man. Cubs. No, it was the Sox. We couldn’t afford the Cubs. Cubs was way northside. Cubs was the elite. The White Sox was the hood. When you went to the White Sox and came out, your car was broken in. And they left a note, “Sorry.” It was the Sox. When they had Carlos May, Luis Aparicio, Wilbur Wood, and all those guys. And that was my first. I had my baseball glove and we [were] up there on the roof. I went with my grandfather, my brother, my cousin, my uncle and my other cousin. My uncle was a preacher and he did a lot of community work and he got some tickets. You didn’t care about where you sat at that time. We were all the way up here looking at the players like [far away]. And I had my glove like something was getting ready to come up there. I say, “I’m gonna catch it, I’m gonna catch it. Whatever it is, I’m gonna catch it.”
What was the most challenging thing about this film?
Doing it right. Not being over or under the top. Not being buffoonish. Not just doing it, being excited because it’s my first film. So many people get caught up by doing their first film and they sit there and they let directors and producers and stuff just let you do anything. I knew what I wanted with Stan. And Charles and I sat, at the beginning, we sat and we talked. I told Charles, “I’m not going to do this. I’m not.” And he said, “Okay.” I said, “Man, so we’re good. We’re on the same page because I don’t want us to get on the field and then egos start tripping. I see Stan like this.” And we compromised. He said, “I saw Stan like that too and I would like to see Stan do this.” And I said, “No problem. I got no problem with that.”
I think the biggest challenge was doing this right. I want to do good films. I don’t want to just, and no disrespect to anybody, but I mentioned to you about black and white and all that kind of stuff, I want to do like Sidney [Poitier] and them. I want to do music like my generation did with Marvin, and love songs and things like Stevie Wonder. When they had an album, you might not have heard the song, but you knew it was great because they always put out good work. That’s what I want. I want them to say, “Hey, Bernie Mac’s got a movie, I’m going.” That’s how I used to do James Cagney and that’s how I used to do Joan Crawford and all them. Black and white, when they had a movie, we sat up with the lights off.
Will you be the best part of “Ocean’s 12?”
I don't know about the ‘best of.’ I just want to be a part, you know. Now, this being mine? Yeah. But when you participate in somebody else’s, I’m not into that.
Did George Clooney play any pranks on you on “Ocean’s 12?”
Clooney always plays. He [plays] too damn much. You gotta watch Clooney. You come in the door, a bucket of water [will] fall on your head. He got it propped up at the top. You got tacks in your seat, all that kind of bulls**t. He found a rabbit cage and let it loose in your room. You gotta watch Clooney.
What’s happening with the Bernie Mac/Ashton Kutcher project?
“The Dinner Party.” And that’s a blast, too. I want to do good films. Really, that’s what I want to do. And I want every time I meet you guys, I want you all to say I did proud. And you know that I always start off like that. You always start off [that way]. I see ‘em too. No, I do. I see ‘em too and when they get away from what got them there, all the time, because they always introduce… They’ve got a lot of stuff thrown in their face. We live in a place where everybody just does things for money. I want to do good films. John Wayne and them did good films. Those guys did great damn films.
But you won’t abandon TV?
No, no. Unless the TV abandons me. I’m going to keep on going and I’m gonna do my thing this year. And if they pick me next year, I’ll be more than happy to come back. But after this run with “The Bernie Mac Show,” I don't know if I would do television in that capacity again. Television is not just grueling but networks and stuff, that’s a battle. That’s a real battle.
