Although he's known for playing some bad-ass characters, Jackson didn't have any difficulty embracing the singing and dancing required of him in Soul Men. "I was cool with it. I did musicals in college and theatre in New York. The dance is okay. Plus, most guys at some point in our lives fancy ourselves as one of the Temptations or one of the Pips. Stand in the mirror, sing, and all that stuff," admitted Jackson. "It’s cool."
Jackson actually relished his time spent playing Louis. "It was fun. I loved Louis. It's amazing to be able to get into a performance mode, do a character that is that rich and been around," explained Jackson. "The kind of relationship that these guys have from being kids together, they have known each other so very well for that long, it’s a wonderful thing to put together and play. Then being able to sing and dance in live situations with extras that had never seen us do it before, that were like us having our own place, and having a captive audience. We had a good time doing that, too."
Remembering Bernie Mac and Isaac Hayes
Jackson and Mac had been friends for years prior to making Soul Men. Sadly, Mac passed away in August 2008, months before the theatrical release of Soul Men. "The really sad thing, the saddest thing for me…it's interesting because I heard he was dead, Star Jones actually called us, I was in New York and she said that Bernie had passed. The first thing I thought was, 'Damn, Bernie ain’t going to get to see the movie.' But, if you had to pick a vehicle and say, 'This is the last movie you’ll ever get to do,' and an audience watches this film, it will be the Bernie Mac that they knew and loved. The Bernie Mac that came into their homes every week, the guy that was the King of Comedy, and made them pee on themselves when he was doing his act," said Jackson. "He would sing and dance, it had this dramatic arc that he’s responsible for, it runs through the movie. It’s a fitting last performance for somebody to remember him by. All the elements of the Bernie that people knew and loved are in this film."Jackson can't point to any one day on the set that holds a special memory for him of Mac. "I've known Bernie for like 15 years or so and we talk, hung out, so seeing him every day was just part of the blessing of being able to do something. Finally finding something that worked for both of us. People have been trying it for a long time. So, no, nothing special, I was just glad he made it every day," said Jackson.
Jackson realized Mac's health wasn't that great during the filming of Soul Men. "I guess it was up and down. Everybody knew Bernie had been sick and had been in and out of the hospital. He’s also the kind of guy or performer that he’s one of the 'Show must go on' kinds of guys. By the time we got ready to do the film he was physically able to do the things we needed him to do in the film. There were days when he was a bit more robust than others, but he always showed up and did his job."
In an eerie coincidence, Isaac Hayes has a brief cameo in Soul Men and also passed away in August. "Mac died one day, then the next day Isaac died," recalled Jackson. "So somebody said to me, 'Do we need to get you to a safe house?'"
Jackson sums up the experience of working with Hayes as 'cool.' "Bernie and I both knew Isaac in another kind of way. I’ve flown halfway around the world with Isaac and just hung out with him, talked to him. But being able to do the music of Stax in one way, it’s very cool. Then to have Isaac there as a real representative of probably the most successful act that was ever on that label, then being able to do an Isaac Hayes song in the middle of the film while he’s sitting there watching us do it? A little daunting for a minute, but then you look at him and you see he’s [enjoying it] so you think, 'All right, we're killing it.'"
Playing Loose with the Soul Men Script
Bernie Mac loved to improvise, while Jackson's an actor who normally sticks to the script. Asked how he handled Mac's improvs, Jackson replied, "As long as I know it’s going to happen, and it’s going to happen in a structured way even if it’s improv, then I know Bernie goes off the page. I know that we have to get through a specific section. We have to give certain amounts of information to an audience. So, if during rehearsal I can say to Bernie, 'Okay, when you get through doing that, just let me know you are done so I can say this line. Wink at me, do something, and let me know I can do this line. We got to get this amount of information. We got to let them know that we are going to do this, go here, and go there.' He could do that. Then Malcolm, in his way, a lot of times just didn’t say cut. I just knew to shut up and let Bernie do what Bernie was going to do. They finally would get enough of it, laugh enough, and say cut."* * * * *
Soul Men hits theaters on November 7, 2008 and is rated R for pervasive language, and sexual content including nudity.
