After saying goodbye to “Criminal Minds” earlier this year, actor Shemar Moore is stepping into a new role, funding and producing his first feature film, “The Bounce Back.” Moore stars alongside Nadine Velazquez and Bill Bellamy in this warm, romantic comedy about love, intimacy, and second chances. Moore recently chatted with me about his new role as a producer, what inspired him to step behind the scene, the current state of independent filmmaking and what’s next for him.
Aramide Tinubu: Hi Shemar how are you?
Shemar Moore: Hi sweetheart, thanks for taking the time.
AT: For sure, I loved “The Bounce Back,” I thought it was really warm, it felt like a romance novel to me.
SM: You had me at “I love it.” It’s so nice to hear that it’s being well received. It’s a good time. I always say that it’s a fun-filled good movie.
AT: It is! It definitely felt like you could cozy up and watch it either by yourself or with your loved one. It was a special treat. What was it about this film that inspired you to put your money where your mouth is and get on board as an executive producer?
SM: Well, I knew about the script about ten years ago.
AT: Oh wow, so it’s been a long-time coming.
SM: Yes, but, the timing of where I was ten years ago, I was still getting my feet wet and getting my standing with getting “Criminal Minds” off the ground. I did “Criminal Minds” since day one so ten years ago wasn’t the right time. But then, life went on, and I knew a few years ago that a transition was coming and I was going to want to take the next step in my career. So, I just began looking for projects out there that I could be a part of. I’d never produced before, but I thought to myself that it seemed like just attention to detail, and I felt like I could have a knack for it. It’s just understanding content, understanding stories, knowing how to put people and pieces together, and how to tell a story. To be honest, before the executive producer hat got put on, I actually ran the script around town seeing which studios and distribution companies were interested.
AT: Really, what was that like?
SM: I would either get no response, or I would get a lukewarm response where they would like the idea, but they wanted to find the “right time” to make the movie. So it just seemed to be this slow, stalled process, so I just kind of sat with myself and I talked to some people that I trust, and I was like, “OK, what other avenues can I consider?” That’s when the Kickstarter and the Indiegogo thing came up. It was just my way of putting feelers out there to see if there was any demand or interest in it. My loyal fan base, I love them to death, I call them my homies and baby girls, they really stepped up to the plate and through Kickstarter and Indiegogo in just over a month we raised $630,000.
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Image: The Bounce Back/Viva Films
Holiday season movies are a time-honored tradition, but African American holiday season films exist in a genre of their own. From Malcolm Lee’s “The Best Man Holiday” to Preston A. Whitmore II’s “This Christmas,” the nuances of black life at the proverbial “most wonderful time of the year” have enraptured audiences for years. David E. Talbert’s latest entry “
Martin Luther King Jr. was shot dead on Dr. Maya Angelou’s 40th birthday. It was her friend Jimmy, or James Baldwin as we know and revere him, that pulled the late writer out of her devastated stupor, dragging her to a party and encouraging to tell her personal truth through the written word. Those words became her critically acclaimed autobiography, “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.” It was a book that would forever change the landscape of American literature, redefining what was acceptable for Black women to talk about publically. Two and a half decades later, Dr. Angelou extended that simple act of kindness when she comforted a young artist on a film set. This young man was in turmoil, nearly suffocating to death under a rage that he could not contain; we knew him as the great Tupac Shakur.
The summer I turned eighteen, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer, a disease she would succumb to two years later. That summer, I also discovered my then-boyfriend had another girlfriend. I was spending the last summer of my “childhood” preparing to leave my home on the south side of Chicago for a brand new adventure in New York City. Desperate to begin my journey into adulthood, while also grappling with leaving behind everything I’d ever known, left me in an emotional tailspin. Unfortunately, this caused me to lash out at those closest to me. It wasn’t until I was all alone, several thousand feet in the air, my head resting against the airplane window that I began sobbing. Surrounded by hundreds of strangers, I finally surrendered to all of the emotions from the prior months that had threatened to leave me in shambles.
When I first began seeing promo materials for “Suicide Squad,” whether on subway platforms or splashed across my TV screen, I was struck by the vibrant, in-your-face nature of the trailers and posters. It was riveting in a way that films rarely are. Warner Bros. seemed to be ripping this story straight from the pages of their beloved DC comic books, bringing the infamous Task Force X to life through stunning pop-up art and vibrant letters. A highly-anticipated film, with a diverse and star-studded cast, the villain riddled “Suicide Squad” got me all the way into the theater, only to abruptly leave me hanging a mere twenty minutes into the film.
For twenty years, soul singer Sharon Jones has cultivated a world-wide audience with her sensational albums, performances and stunning voice. Sharon Jones & The Dap-Kings have been heard in everything from FitBit commercials, to Martin Scorsese’s “The Wolf Of Wall Street” soundtrack. Though her career took off later in life, it’s clear that Ms. Jones has always belonged onstage. At the height of her career in 2013, Ms. Jones was soaring, until a devastating cancer diagnosis forced her to pause. During one of the toughest years of her life, Academy Award winning filmmaker Barbara Kopple followed Ms. Jones and The Dap-Kings in the stunning and captivating “Miss Sharon Jones!”.
It’s rare for a series to be able to tackle hard-hitting issues such as colorism and class disparities in thirty-minute segments. However, Starz’s “Survivor’s Remorse”, which is led by showrunner Mike O’Malley and produced by LeBron James, hits the nail on the head every week. The series follows NBA star Cam Calloway’s (Jessie T. Usher) life off the court as he juggles his Boston bred family, his newfound fame and his massive fortune. The first two seasons had some pretty thought-provoking story lines, including the Calloway matriarch’s (Tichina Arnold) vaginal rejuvenation and Cam’s sister-in-law Missy’s (Teyonah Parris) decision to do the big chop and wear her hair natural.
My father was not perfect. A Nigerian immigrant born in the late ‘40s, he had his work cut out for him raising two little girls on the South Side of Chicago during the ‘90s. Naturally we butted heads quite often. Some days our arguments stemmed from our cultural differences, other days it was simply normal tensions that brew between daughters and their fathers. Despite all this, there are memories that I have of him that will remain with me until the day I take my last breath. From school science projects and “Harry Potter”, to my love and obsession for films, my father was pivotal in molding me into the woman that I am now. When I laid him to rest on a bitterly cold day the year I turned twenty-three, I knew that despite everything, he’d done the best that he could. Unfortunately, there are millions of people, especially in the Black community that cannot say the same about their fathers.
Every few days, I bargain with myself in an effort to get to the gym for some much needed exercise. As I pull on my gym shoes, I marinate over how I will reward myself for pushing through a three-mile run, or an Insanity class. I sweat solely for my health; I am no athlete. Still, my attitude towards fitness has vastly improved in the last decade. When I was seventeen, breaking a sweat ranked somewhere around leaving my relaxer in too long, or getting my cell phone taken away. It was literally one of the last things I wanted to do.
Everyone remembers high school. Whether you had the time of your life, or you were counting down the days until graduation, those four years made some sort of impact on your journey into adulthood. Personally, I look back and thank God for contact lenses, Shea butter, and a bit more wisdom. Still, for me, high school wasn’t all that bad. But, no matter what your experience, “Central Intelligence” reminds us just how horrific or glorious those high school days might have been.
In a journey that has been a decade in the making, the cinematic adaptation of the immensely popular “World of Warcraft” is finally hitting the big screen. In “Warcraft” the lovely Paula Patton plays Garona, a character who finds herself caught in the battle of her life. A half-orc, half-human, Garona is fearsome as she navigates between the orc shaman Gul’dan, and the leader of the human realm of Azeroth, King Llane. Though I have not touched any sort of game console since ’97, I found myself swept away in the fantasy of the vast magical realm. Full of CGI, otherworldly creatures, dark magic and hulking orcs, this $160 million dollar film is meticulously detailed. After the screening, Paula Patton sat down with the audience to talk about becoming Garona, lessons learned and diving into “Warcaft”. Here are the highlights from that conversation.
There are some songs that when played, take us back to a specific time or place. Miki Howard’s “Come Share My Love” reminds me of my childhood; riding in the car with my mother while Miki’s stunning voice smoothly glided out of the radio. For years, I never knew much about the songstress herself. However, when TV One’s “Unsung“ episode surrounding Miki Howard aired in 2010, I along with the rest of the world, was enraptured not just by her stunning music and success, but also by her turbulent personal life.
I’m a lightweight superhero fan, which means I’ve got no allegiance to the Marvel Cinematic Universe over DC Comics. Like any film lover, I simply enjoy a great story-line packed with even better action. However, screening “Captain America: Civil War” changed everything for me. By the time the film actually started —ten minutes behind schedule — the theater was so rife with anticipation that people were nearly fidgeting out of their seats. It was as if everyone but me knew just what we were about to experience.
When you're fifteen years old, the desire to fit in can be overwhelming. For some of us, if we're lucky, that carnal need to seek out the opinions of others fades slowly as we move further and further into adulthood. However, in adolescence, that thirst for approval is often tied to brand name material objects. For 15-year-old Brandon in Justin Tipping’s debut film "Kicks" that material object is a pair of black and red Jordan sneakers; the originals.
My sister likes to joke that I'm in my late twenties, and begrudgingly, I suppose that I am. As I've continued to age and mature, I've also had to unlearn so much. There has been a constant stripping away of girlhood fairy tales that continue to cling to me, despite my experiences and the circumstances that I've found myself in. I've also learned to shed bad habits, and refrain from buying into those old rules about what it means to be a woman in this society. A lot of this unlearning and revising stems from my own sexuality and sexuality experiences. Things I've been told to be ashamed of, or shy away from discussing.
In a project that is eight years in the making, Don Cheadle stars in his directorial debut as the legendary musician Miles Davis. “Miles Ahead” is a film that pays reverence not only to the musician, but also to Davis’ first wife, Frances Taylor Davis, the woman who inspired his critically acclaimed seventh album, “One Day My Prince Will Come.” The gracious and stunning Emayatzy Corinealdi stars as Ms. Taylor Davis in “Miles Ahead”. I had the opportunity to sit down and chat with her about the role, working with Don Cheadle and connecting with the real Frances Taylor Davis.
In preparation for “Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice,” I attempted to re-watch 2013's “Man of Steel,” which I hadn't seen since it first premiered. It seems that I failed to remember how dull the film is. Honestly, other than Henry Cavill's strong jaw and even harder build, I found director Zack Snyder's Superman origin story rather lacking. As a result, I had no idea what to expect from “Batman v Superman,” much less understand all the hype and questions surrounding it.