Oscar nominee Don Cheadle (Hotel Rwanda) tackles the role of Petey Greene, a socially conscious 'tell it like it is' radio personality of the mid-1960s, in Talk to Me. Directed by Kasi Lemmons and co-starring Chiwetel Ejiofor and Martin Sheen, the film follows Ralph Waldo 'Petey' Greene Jr as he takes to the airwaves on a Washington, D.C.-based station to address the key issues of the times including the touchy subject of racial discrimination in the United States.
Disappearing Into the Character: Cheadle says it’s up to audiences to judge how effectively he slipped into the role of Petey Greene. But he did do his research and attempted to capture the man as truthfully as possible. “I think you try, obviously, to take the script and that’s the bible and you try do as much research as you can as far as who this person really was when you have a real life that you’re trying to depict. There’s some source material that exists - not a lot. They erased most of the radio program so those tapes were taped over and most of the television programs they did similar with them. It was before they were really archiving that type of stuff so there’s only a few clips here and there of him that exist and audio clips that exist, but we had Dewey Hughes around which is a great touch. I met him before we started the project and he was there for a lot of the project, so we always had him as a great reference point.
But, I don’t know. I just do the best I can and try to embody those things that were emblematic about him, specifically his voice, and try to just read between the lines of the research and find the true essence of who he is and not necessarily try to depict all the events as they happened exactly. You take a lot of poetic license but to try to be truthful about who he was.”
The Long and Winding Road to Production: “You know it’s funny because I first heard about this project over 10 years ago, or maybe around 10 years ago, when Ted Demme had it who was since passed,” explained Cheadle. “He had been trying to put it together for a while and never saw a script but it was mostly… Maybe there was a script, I don’t remember reading a script but I know it centered more around his prison life. Then it fell off the radar screen [and] then came back into focus for me when Kasi [Lemmons] was brought on to do a re-write and eventually to direct it. And trying to find financing and had different casting groups and I at one point was going to play Dewey, and so finally we were able to put it together in this iteration that it exists now. [I’m] just really glad I stuck with it for this long because I think it’s rare to see a movie like this. It’s rare to see a character depicted like this, a character quite like this and of this time and in this period of time in our country so it just had a lot of plusses.”
Talk to Me is Not a Straight Biopic: And Cheadle’s very happy about that. “Yeah, I like that it’s not a straight bio pic and we’re not trying to tell the Petey Green story or the Dewey Hughes story,” said Cheadle. “It was really a story about the friendship between these two men and the triumvirate being Vernell as well. That’s it’s really a story about …with a backdrop of the times and what this friendship had to come through and what they had to face and deal with and the unity they had and the disunity and the coming back together. I would hope that not just black audiences but definitely the black audiences show up, but that all audiences show up because it’s really a celebration of that friendship. But I think everyone who’s seen it and comes out of it has an experience that’s not relegated merely to race or any real political issue. I just think it’s a very entertaining film that encompasses a lot.”
Dressing the Part: Donning the styles Petey Greene wore helped Cheadle get into character but they’re definitely not what he would choose to wear out on a Saturday night. “You know, you could really see my religion in most of those pants I wore. No, I didn’t take any of them home. I couldn’t wait to get out of those clothes, but it obviously helps define the character and define the era and make you feel like you’re really back there. I love that people would just go out in those clothes every day, didn’t need a special occasion. It’s like, ‘Yeah, I’m going to rock the velour bell-bottoms and you know, velvet tank top.’ ‘Why? What’s the occasion?’ ‘It’s Tuesday, what do you mean why?’ I miss that kind of style actually.”
Reliving the 70’s: “I was 6 to 16 during the 70’s so I didn’t know my way around a cup to find the handle, but I remember having similar clothes like that and going to discos and all of that s**t.”
On the Last of the Ocean’s Movies: Ocean’s Thirteen was better received by critics than Ocean’s Twelve, but George Clooney and most everyone involved in the Ocean’s movies believe that it will be the last film of the franchise. Asked if he’d go back for Ocean’s Fourteen, Cheadle replied, “I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t imagine they’d do another one, and if they do they should start killing characters. We should start going backwards, you know? I think we should count down from 11 and it should be more like a Ten Little Indians scenario and we should do different genres. We should do a horror movie, we should do a porno version, you know, just a different genre of film until you get down to Ocean’s Two should be like a death match between…I don’t know who it would be…whoever is left standing. Me and George. Me and Shaobo [Qin].”
Page 2 Don Cheadle on His Future Projects and Darfur
