Rapper-turned-actor Common only has a handful of film credits to his name and they all involve guns and/or violence. His role as The Gunsmith in the action drama Wanted is no exception, but he's not overly concerned that his younger fans will mistake the characters he plays with the real Common. "I definitely feel that I’ve laid a foundation to let youth know who Common is," explained Common. "As artists, we get an opportunity to speak to people whether we go into the high schools, go to events or even interviews on TV, they get to hear what we’re about. I make it clear that I’m taking on a character. I'm not afraid to take on dark characters and characters that people may look at and say, 'Man, this guy is a crazy character,' or 'This guy is bad.' As an actor, you don’t judge what you’re doing and you can’t worry about, 'Well, how do people perceive this character?'"
"As an actor, you’re becoming a person. As a person, you can’t really judge yourself too much, so I just approach it like that, taking on these roles and just really wanting it to be a good role, be in good films. That’s really the goal. I think I can take care of letting people know that that’s not me. I’ve kind of established that already. But, for those who don’t know, they will get to see that."
Because of his past film roles, Common's becoming an expert at handling guns. "The education I had with guns is from training in previous movies. So Smokin’ Aces to… I didn’t have to do any training for American Gangster, but I did hold a gun and it really clicked. Then also Street Kings, gun training. To Wanted: gun training. So, I mean, ironically, I’m definitely not a promoter of guns and who Common is, I mean that’s not me. The films I’ve been taken on all have some guns in them, so I did go through extensive gun training in this one. It’s really like a gun education in a way because The Gunsmith is the one who’s taking apart the guns, putting them together, cleaning them, putting designs on them, so I needed to learn as much as I could about guns."
They say actions speak louder than words and as The Gunsmith, Common doesn't have much dialogue at all in Wanted. In order to help him understand who this quiet man The Gunsmith is, Common created his own backstory. "I definitely created something where The Gunsmith eventually, you know, became a person who was like a samurai in a way. He was a master of weaponry and definitely a warrior, but also this calm Buddha-like character and would take things in. That’s why without words you could see things going on with him. He was perceptive and his energy was really more about trying to get James [McAvoy as Wesley] to become a good warrior, as well as learning these guns and techniques, but it was like teaching him to become a good warrior. So that’s where the backstory of The Gunsmith, for me, came from that place."
"If you really do, you know, as much research as you can to create who this person is and really know who the character is and know who The Gunsmith would be with or without saying things, then, you know, that energy and that presence is going to be there," said Common. "And that’s the most important thing I can do, just really know who the core of my character is. At any given time they also would also give you lines or take out a scene. So it was like if you are that character, you don’t have a problem when the lines come to you. You do them. In a way, you still are that character looking at somebody or, you know, putting a gun together."
Wanted is based on the comic book series by Mark Millar and JG Jones and was directed by Russian filmmaker Timur Bekmambetov, a man known for his interesting visual style. "I felt like I was being directed by a crazy Russian genius," laughed Common. "He was high-energy, very creative, very spontaneous. I was like, 'Man, this dude is a great artist.' He was describing to me, he would say, 'When the bullet curves, this is going to happen.' You listen to him there, but you don't know it's going to look that good or be that incredible."
"I liked the fact that he was open to listening to what we believed our characters would be," said Common. "He was open to us coming and making changes. He would make changes on the spot. It’s probably not the producer's dream to have a director be like, 'Oh, I want to do this, do that.' But, eventually, he came out with an incredible product."
In addition to promoting Wanted, Common's been keeping busy with his music and with a supporting role in the fourth Terminator movie, Terminator Salvation. There are also rumors floating around that he'll be playing Green Lantern in the Justice League movie which was recently postponed. "I can say that if they do do a Justice League movie, I would love to be Green Lantern. That’s all I can say. I do like Justice League. I love it though," offered Common without confirming or denying that he's been approached for the role.
So would Justice League be a live action production or use motion capture? "I think if they do it, they would have actors I believe," replied Common. "I’m not the producer or the director but, from my perspective, that’s what I think they would do."
