 One of the first things I want to ask you about is the reason why you
made Morningside Prep, and how it relates to your own history or your own
background.
 Well, it originally had started out as a feature-length script, and one that was not quite . . . it was a lot more angry, and it wasn't as well-formed as I think the story is now. I would say that it grew out of my own experiences going to predominantly white prep schools since I was in fourth grade. I think when I was in junior high school, around fifth or
sixth grade, I always thought in my mind that the life I was leading was an interesting one. Because from the fifth grade until the twelfth grade I
was the only black male in my class, and that was eight years. You're pretty much living in two worlds going to those type of schools. I
mean, I come from a two-parent home in a black neighborhood, middle-class black neighborhood and then I'm going up to the Upper East Side and to
Brooklyn Heights to go to school, and it's a totally different environment. The people are different, values are different. I mean, the way
they talk, the way they walk, the way they dress. So it's kind of like you're leading a dual life, and I think that's what I wanted to have come
across especially with the main character, Terrance. When I got to film school I was ready . . . Actually I had written that script, the feature-length script, when I got into the Disney program -- the Disney Screenwriting program. But throughout developing, it didn't really develop. And it's
centered around an assembly -- a controversial assembly -- and it was too wordy at that time. So what I decided to do was pare it down, take the two
characters that were the most interesting -- what I thought was most interesting -- and put them in a situation. Actually D-Train in the feature
was a student in the school already, but I decided to make him a transfer student in the short. I decided to do it in my second year at NYU, and I
was very determined to get it done and get some quality actors to play the parts. So that's what I did.
That's great. There are things about the piece that are really biting and ironic, but then there are also things that are just hysterical. The humor in it is really
loaded, and I really like that. You said that the feature script was angry and had more of an edge than this does, but I think
that this piece still retains a certain edge to it. It comes across in
things like the name of the principal, Mr. Whitehead. So can you talk a
little bit about those kinds of choices that you made, because I think
they are very astute, but they're pointers also.
Well, let's see. Mr. Whitehead was the original name of the Principal
also in the feature. I don't know. I thought like the name just fit. When I was writing, I was very influenced by Spike Lee's
naming of characters, especially in DO THE RIGHT THING -- you've got
Radio Raheem, Buggin' Out, you know, and those kind of names fit the
characters. And I thought Mr. Whitehead just fit. The same with D-Train,
I thought D-Train fit. It was kind of a hip name, and it also had to
do with like urban environment in New York, and he's the speed boy or
whatever, but he is extremely smart. He is coming at you. The same
thing with Terrance Liberty. I mean, he was kind of like this guy who's
caged up and he wants to be free -- liberty. I didn't want to be overt
with it, although it seems that with Mr. Whitehead it's really overt. I mean,
that's what a lot of people think. Especially the first line, where he says, "Sure, Mr. Whitehead," people just die at
that, but I honestly wasn't expecting a laugh out of it.
It's kind of funny, when I first got certain
reactions from the film, comments that it was an exaggerated type of thing,
and the story was kind of satirical. I don't know if I quite realized
that when I was writing it. I wanted to tell the story, and I
thought that I definitively would diffuse it with humor. Here is a
situation I think a lot of African-Americans can relate to, who are in
corporate America, or who are in predominantly white settings in their
neighborhood, or their family is coming in on them, and somehow they think
it's a reflection on them. Somehow you've got to kind of tone this thing down,
or like you feel somehow embarrassed by it. I wanted to definitively take
this serious subject of race relations, and inter-race relations, and then
infuse it with some kind of humor, like the elevator scene.
Do you want to describe the elevator scene between D-Train and Mr. Whitehead? That's really a brilliant scene.
Well, It came out of the feature, to tell you the truth.
Before I had written that scene, a friend of mine said,
"You know you need to have . . ." -- because there was another character in
there who was like one step from being a Ku Klux Klan member who was in
the school -- and my friend was saying, "You know this script is so angry.
Why don't you put him and D-Train in an elevator together?" And to set
that scene up I put Mr. Whitehead and D-Train in the elevator together and
I had them get stuck. And then that became a funnier scene, but I said,
"Well, let me see what I can do without getting it stuck, just to see what
kind of reaction I can get with these two characters in this
closed environment. They're almost completely opposite, you know, and
it's going to play itself out." So I put it into the short. I thought
that it would be a great scene to put in there even though there's a lot of
emphasis placed on D-Train, and the story is really about Terrance. But in
any event, I put it in there. When we shot it, Wood Harris -- the guy
that played D-Train -- most of what he said was scripted,
until he said, "I'm cool like that." Then he goes off from there, and
it's improvised. Each take was different, and each take was funny, and it
got funnier. I know it's probably the longest elevator ride in history -- in
cinema history -- but I couldn't cut it. It was too funny.
Well, it's lengthy. But the thing that's interesting about the length
of it is that it's like suspended time. Because you're watching Mr. Whitehead cringe, and really you can see how
uncomfortable he is in this situation, that it's almost as if it were his
sense of time. It's not bothering D-Train. He doesn't care. It seems that it's this protracted moment for Mr. Whitehead. So that
I think is really interesting. Then you have this scene that comes
quickly on the heels of it, when Terrance gets in the elevator and then
they get off the elevator upstairs, and you have this sort of homage to
Spike Lee. Do you want to talk about that scene?
Well, I wasn't even going to put that scene in, but
one of my professors said, "Right here you need some kind of
transition. You need some kind of break." So I said, "OK, I'll do
that." I was having them walking down the hall, and I thought that
that particular shot . . . I hadn't really liked the way Spike had used it.
It's a dolly shot where the characters seem like they're walking but
they're actually gliding down the hall. And D-Train is laughing
hysterically and Terrance is just like, "I can't believe this guy is going
crazy like this. He's got to tone it down, but I don't know how to say
this to him without offending him because I like him," and all that type of
stuff. But, I thought that it fit there, and that it was a good use of that
shot, because it is kind of like a transitional surreal moment, a little
slow motion and . . .
And also the cutting with the portraits.
That was something that wasn't planned
in shooting. We shot those portraits just to get a flavor of the
school, but they seemed to fit right there because it works very well. Here is this black kid from the hood coming in to this staid
environment, where the founders of the school are just staring at him
like, "Wow, what is he doing here? I cannot believe I'm so offended
by this boy." They have that haughty kind of presumptuous look about
them. This pompous look . . . almost like, "My goodness. What an odd
character."
Were these the school principals or founders?
Yeah, they're former principals. That was the stuff that we shot in
the school. Actually I don't even know who those people are.
But that's what they look like.
Yeah, definitely. That was the intention in that scene.
It's also interesting the way that you let the
audience see Terrance not quite being able to deal with the racism that he
sees around him, but then the way that D-Train starts to call it. Like the
very first scene of Terrance, I can't remember the name of the white girl
he was talking to . . .
Berkeley.
Yeah, the way she's sort of throwing out this stuff at him and he's
just kind of being really sweet, really polite. He is not pointing out
anything to her. But D-Train doesn't let any of that pass. Do you want to
talk about the differences there and how they function?
Sure, sure. Terrance is walking a very tight
rope. He wants to be accepted by both his worlds. In the opening scene of the film Terrance is in his neighborhood,
in his neighborhood gear, walking like the brothers and the sisters in the
neighborhood and, you know, he's got his hat on backwards; he's got his
knapsack; he's got his big Walkman on and he's like, "You all, what's going
on," blah blah blah. And he is comfortable in that world, but kind of
wearing a mask, you know, he's not really like them in the neighborhood and
he is not like the kids at school. So he is wearing a mask in the
neighborhood and when he comes out of the subway to go in his school's
neighborhood he's like, "Hey guy, how are you doing? I read the
Shakespeare play." And he is in his cardigan and, you know, loafers. And
it's the two worlds that he inhabits and he does not . . . He wants to be
accepted by both. He really desires inclusion, and if it means that he has
to tone down or at least not react to people's insensitive remarks, then
he'll do that. He's not the type of person that would blow up at anybody
for what they say. He might, if he deems it necessary, say, "Well, hey,
that's not a nice thing to say." But he would never go off on anybody.
Now at that particular time with Berkeley, I think that he just
felt like, "Well, OK." He rationalized it and said, "She's just not
thinking." She is coming at him with her experience, her background and
doesn't quite know what she's saying; doesn't know that she is being
offensive. And so, you know, he's just like, "Well, I'll let her slide on
that. I mean, there is not really much I can say to her on that. She's a
sweet girl and has been sheltered all her life. Maybe she'll learn some
day." And eventually she does learn that she just can't say just anything
when D-Train says his piece. And he's the type of person that doesn't care
about acceptance; he doesn't care about any of that stuff; he just feels
like, "Look, if you offend me, I'm going to let you know about it. And I
can't let you get away with that, because you'll just keep going on with
the same stuff." D-Train doesn't necessarily want to change the
world. He wants to advance himself and he's not going to let
anybody think that they can have an attitude when it comes to
him, or anybody for that matter.
He displays these different moments, because when he's in
the elevator with Mr. Whitehead and Mr. Whitehead says that comment about
"Oh, you're on the honor roll three semesters in a row. Are you trying to
graduate Magna Cum Laude on us?", which is a really derogatory
comment. But D-Train understands all of that but sort of gently starts to
play with Mr. Whitehead.
Sure, sure.
You know, "Oh no, come loudly. I won't do that." And it goes right
over Mr. Whitehead's head. He doesn't get any of it.
Yeah. He doesn't get it. I mean, D-Train is such a playful guy. He
knows that from the minute that Mr. Whitehead sees him that he's
uncomfortable and he's like, "Alright this is going to be fun. I'm going
to mess with this guy a little bit."
Because that's different from what happens in the
classroom later on, where he sort of does put his foot down and
says, "Now, wait a minute."
I think at that point also the whole comparison of
Bigger Thomas in Richard Wright's NATIVE SON to a rat by the teacher
offends him, but he is taking it in stride. It's kind of like, "Oh my God.
I can't believe these people. They're crazy." But then when Berkeley
takes it to another level, and she's just exasperated . . .
impatient with learning about some part of his world,
something that he relates to, he really gets offended. Like, "I'm learning
all this stuff about what contributions that white folks have made to
American society and the world, all my life, and you can't listen to one
thing. I'm going to let you know about this. I can't believe that
you have the audacity to say something like that." And he's going to let
her know about it. I mean, he doesn't pull any punches. He's not the type
of person that's going to do that. So he just said, "Well, hey, I'm going
to let her know." Berkeley honestly doesn't think that she's saying
anything wrong, and D-Train doesn't think he's saying anything wrong. I
know that he knows that he silenced the classroom, but he's like,
"F--- it, man. I got to speak my piece, and let's get on with the book."
They are two different characters. I mean D-Train, and it's not to say
that Terrance is right all the time or that D-Train is wrong or vice versa,
because they're just two different characters. I mean, black America is
not homogenous and it's just different ways of dealing with it. Terrance
chooses to be accepted and not alienate himself from everybody and be known
as this militant. And D-Train is like, "I don't care, you know, let the
chips fall where they may."
I think those differences are really important in the
piece. So I'm glad you mentioned that. Maybe you can talk a little bit
about what happens, and the kind of choice that Terrance makes in the end.
Oh, the very end.
Yes, because in the hour that I programmed your piece for REEL NEW
YORK, each of the three films are built around moments when one of the
protagonists faces a choice or a face-off -- a moment where a
decision has to be made, and they come through it somehow, whether
it be good or bad, but they make a stand. You definitely have that
happening with Terrance making a choice in the end.
The story
is about Terrance, and he is caught in between two worlds, and he's seen that one
world has rejected his other world -- or is not able to peacefully coexist
with his other world. So he really does have to make a choice there. Of
course, people have been asking where is he going at the end and what is he
doing. I have shown it to a bunch of high school kids, too, and they were
like, "If that was me, my mother would kill me," and I say, "Yeah, well."
It's definitely more a symbolic thing. It's pretty ambiguous -- what
happens at the end -- but we do see that, however subtle, Terrance feels
some solidarity towards D-Train, and he has to acknowledge that. So I
think what I wanted to do there was just show that. I mean, it wasn't a
tough choice to make to have him do that, because if he had stayed or I
made no decision there wouldn't be any drama there; there wouldn't be any
arc to his character. And what I wanted to show was that gradually
Terrance is becoming more comfortable in his blackness as the story
progresses. I mean, that's why he . . . in the . . .
The basketball scene?
Sure. The basketball scene is one of those that comes about, and also in
the student center. He really speaks his mind then, and lets D-Train have
it, and at the end of the scene, where everybody is looking at him, he says,
"What the f---- are you looking at?" He's feeling it at that point, like, you
know, "I'm going to speak my mind also." I mean, he hasn't gone as full
circle as D-Train, but he's definitely having some issues there. And I
think that in doing that, making him leave, it makes people think. It
does give the character an arc. That's what I wanted to accomplish with
that. What I wanted to say is there is a solidarity between them, and
Terrance did change, or his attitude changed as a result of D-Train being
there.
I think that's evident. I think it really comes across well.
And you know, I mean, it's tough . . . It's not like we know that he is
quitting school and he's going to be in the hood like D-Train, but I
figured his action just tells us that he has changed. His attitude has
changed towards the school, and how it is going to run his life from this
point on. It's because of D-Train, D-Train's influence, which is a good
thing, I think.
When you made this, you were talking about it being
first a feature, but then it became a short, but it's definitely a
traditional narrative. Was there any thought about making a documentary,
or making a more experimental piece? What was the intention of doing it
that way? Was it to reach a particular audience?
It was a story I wanted to tell in the way I wanted to tell it.
I love working with actors, number one. I thought of a documentary, but I'm not into documentaries that much, at least not
serious documentaries. I like "mockumentaries" more than anything
else. The thought to do it as a documentary or an experimental piece was
never in my mind. I had always had this story in my head and it was just
how to tell the right story. How to take all those incidents from my youth
and adolescence, and somehow conglomerate them and make a
coherent story. It had to be tight, because NYU tries
to give these restrictions on a second-year film; the film can only be 12
minutes, but I was just like, "Forget the rules. I got to make the movie I
want to make. I'm paying the tuition here." I still want to do a feature
of this. I have rewritten the feature in the vein of the short and I think
that it works now. I think it works very well and I think that it's
something that a lot of people will be able to relate to more than just
black people. I think that it's a story that involves a lot of characters
both white and black and it gets deeper into the issues than the short. I
think the short kind of scratches the surface, although some people feel
like I've told the entire story in that 26 minutes, but I think there's a
lot more to explore. And I don't know, with a documentary I don't think
that it has the same dramatic impact that an actor can really bring to it.
Maybe I don't believe that strongly in my documentary skills -- or
my interviewing skills -- to really get a sense of it. I think you really
need those private moments with actors that you won't necessarily get with
a documentary.
It also reaches a very different audience.
Yes, as far as an audience is concerned, I thought that
people would relate to this film, but I wasn't really concentrating
on who the audience would be and how they would react to this,
and what not. I just wanted to make the movie I wanted to make. I
thought that people would relate to it, and they do. I have
screened the film in a number of venues, and a lot of them have been not
just film festivals, but for multicultural conferences -- educator
conferences. As a matter of fact, I showed it two weeks ago at an educator
conference with Cornel West, where I was the keynote speaker. It was
very well received there. It makes people think; it moves people. I got a
very interesting comment after one of those screenings where a woman said
to me, "I was very moved by your piece." I said, "I'm glad you enjoyed
it." She said, "Oh, I didn't enjoy it, but I was moved."
That's what I wanted to make -- an entertaining and thought-provoking film. I think I did that. I was blessed to have very
good actors, and a good cinematographer as well.
It looks really beautiful, and the actors are great. Did you have
any sort of funny production stories that occured during the making of this,
or any other stories around the whole project that you wanted to add?
Well, something I remember during the shoot, was that we were on a
pretty tight budget, and we were doing this shot of D-Train in the
gymnasium. It's the shot where D-Train dunks the ball and he has a
conversation with the coach and then we pan over to Terrance. That shot
took us so long to get right and after about the sixth take I pulled down
my pants, and I pulled my pockets out of my pants, and I pulled the pockets
out of my shorts that I had on, and I said, "Look! Do you see this? I
have no money! We have to get this shot right, and we have to get it right
now! So let's just do it!" We got a big kick out of that.
As far as any stories around the making of the picture, it was a
pretty smooth shoot. We had ample pre-production time, and I was ready from
the time that I came in at the beginning of the second year with the
script. I knew I had to get really good actors to begin this piece
because otherwise it would have been kind of mediocre. I think it's a
pretty good film now. I mean, a good finished product. Like I said, it was
a pretty smooth shoot. We shot it in my old high school in ten days. The
girl that played Berkeley actually flew in from California to play the role
for me. It was a long time before we got the final edit and I got a lot of
favors and everything like that. So it worked out fairly well.
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