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Thanks very much to Greg for the new Katie graphic design now gracing the main page of KHP!  We hope you like the change :) Thanks again Greg! Thanks to Miss Perma Scowl for posting this on the message board. Katie interviewed fellow "Pieces of April" actor Derek Luke for the April 2004 issue of Interview magazine: SOMETIMES JUST GETTING ONTO THE MOVIE LOT CAN BE THE BEGINNING OF A WHOLE NEW CHAPTER Raised in one of New Jersey's toughest neighborhoods, Derek Luke's first acting gig was putting on a game face on his walk to school. Years later the struggling actor caught his big break in Denzel Washington's Antwone Fisher (2002). Paying his bills as a studio usher and a gift-shop clerk at Sony Pictures' Los Angeles lot, he met the real Antwone Fisher and read his autobiographical script, setting in motion a chain of events that would earn him the title role in a "discovery" story bound for Hollywood lore. Currently onscreen in David Mamet's new thriller, Spartan, Luke catches up with his Pieces of April co-star, Katie Holmes. KATIE HOLMES: I have some questions to ask you. I need you to be a good interviewee. DEREK LUKE: [laughs] I will. KH: You grew up in New Jersey, right? DL: [in a Southern drawl] Yes ma'am. On a farm. KH: On a farm? Really? DL: No. It's just where I grew up [in Jersey City] -it was a place where you didn't see a lot of dreams being fulfilled. That's how I'd define it. KH: What are some of your favorite memories of your childhood? DL: Just being able to dream. Growing up I got to go any place I wanted to just by thinking about it. I used to love to be by myself and dream. KH: Do you remember the moment when you realized you wanted to be an actor? DL: Well, I went to college for one semester, and I took every subject I could, and I ended up failing. So I thought to myself, Ever since I was a kid, I've loved expression-and that's when I started thinking about acting. Then I was working in a store in Newark, New Jersey, and I saw an actor in person, and I got so excited. My whole day changed. That's when I decided to challenge myself to make my dreams become a reality. KH: I'm so glad you did. Now tell me about Spartan. I know David Mamet wrote the screenplay and directed it, so it's probably very complicated and wonderful. DL: I like how you said that. You must be an artist. It's about this elite unit of the armed forces named the Delta Force. I play a protege of Val Kilmer's character, and he kind of gives me a hard time. He's looking for the president's kidnapped daughter; everybody he calls on to help him is busy, but lo and behold, you look across the room, and I'm waiting for that action. KH: It sounds interesting. Was it fun to make? DL: Oh, yeah. David Mamet challenged me a whole lot. It turned out to be a good learning experience for me. He pushed me to see things through his eyes, and I pushed him to see things through what I believed. It wasn't a tug of war, but there were definitely discussions about direction. KH: That must've been a wonderful experience. It's like a coach that's really hard on you-you're challenged the whole time, but in the end, you know you've grown a lot. How did you like working with Val Kilmer? DL: I had a lot of fun with Val. He's like a big kid. KH: You've been working with great people! DL: Both of us! I've got to be honest: Working with you on Pieces of April was beautiful. Whenever I hear your name my face lights up. My wife's too. KH: Thanks. You guys are so sweet. Now, is it true you had to audition for Antwone Fisher, your first movie, five times in four years? DL: Yes, ma'am. The first time, I read for a casting director and I don't think I gave him what he wanted, but he had me back two weeks later. After I was done he said, "Come back next Thursday." So I came back for a third time. But the next thing you know, the project shut down. KH: Oh, no. DL: Yeah. About three years later, the project went back up, and I got a callback. I walked into the room and Denzel Washington was there. I couldn't really look at him because I admired him so much. So we read, and I got another callback, number five. I didn't hear anything, so I went back to the store where I was working on the Sony lot-where I had met the real Antwone Fisher four years prior. One day Antwone came into the store to do some shopping. As I was walking him out, I saw Denzel and [Antwone producer] Todd Black coming in. Denzel called me Antwone, and I grabbed him, hugged him, and kissed him. Later he said I went through the full range of emotions that I went through in the movie. KH: [both laugh] Oh, wow. I'm sure you had a nice celebratory dinner that night. DL: Oh, my God! My wife and I, boy, we got down that night. On a personal note! KH: [laughs] What are you working on now? DL: A film called Friday Night Lights with Billy Bob Thornton. It's about Texas high school football, which is like a religion. Are you up to anything? KH: In the spring, I'm working on Batman. DL: What?! Girl! Oh, Katie! As we say, "Holla!" KH: Holler? DL: You gotta add the little hard "h" to it. Holla! KH: Holla! [laughs] We're shooting near London. If you happen to be there, come visit. DL: I once had a London broil steak. KH: [laughs] Listen, Derek, have the best time on this new movie. Holla! |
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