Film has always been inherent to hip-hop superstar RZA, whether it be the numerous samples from classic martial arts movies that appeared in a variety of Wu-Tang Clan songs, or his acting and scoring collaborations with Quentin Tarantino and Jim Jarmusch. Though his latest film, Brick Mansions, sees him taking on an antagonistic role, allowing to be the kind of action badass he so worships. I had the chance to speak with the star over the phone recently to discuss his latest role, and much more, and one can see our full conversation below.
Being that you just directed your own film, The Man with the Iron Fists, has it effected how you choose what films to be in?
Yeah, somewhat it has. I want to look for the challenges of being different people, in other’s shoes. But after being a director, I really have a better understanding of the position of both a director and actor. The director has so many things on his mind while the actor has a smaller realm of focus, which is still very important. But having been on both sides of the camera I now know that my director needs me to be very attentive and cooperative to make his day go smooth. And I have that kind of courtesy that I know what it takes, because I’ve needed it, so as an actor I try to give that to my director. I’m not going to blow an hour of his time trying to rearrange what he’s constructed.
It’s a very weird relationship, actor and director, a very magical one I think as well. It can be frustrating until you understand the mentality of each one. A director can be like, ‘I need you to jump up and kick the table and do a flip and smile,’ and you’ll be like, ‘wait my character would never do that,’ because you’re trying to be this character but the director could have a vision of why the character is doing that that wouldn’t be totally in tune with you. You’ve got to have this leap of faith and trust in what’s he doing, as well as the confidence of what you’re doing for the character is believable to the audience. So, it’s a real thin line but having been on both sides I feel it’s been a good education for me to understand a lot of things.
Were some of your music alter egos like Bobby Digital a preparation for a film career?
You could say that, I didn’t know that though. You could say that I knew that some of my past artistic expressions would help my new venture; when I look back, I could say yeah. Being a producer was like being a director, just on a smaller scale. It’s funny how life prepares you for the challenges that will come ahead of you; I’ve been very fortunate and grateful for the opportunities that have been presented to me, to get to go on movie sets and play and be somebody different, but at the same time it’s been very engaging. I engage with it. I don’t take it for granted, and hopefully I’m giving out performances that will give me the criteria of a lot of actors that when people watch they go, ‘I like this guy’s acting, he makes me enjoy the film, like he made me laugh or he made me feel uncomfortable; he added emotion to my day as an actor.’ We try to do that as musicians. You try to bring energy to the crowd, have them jumping or reflecting on some kind of idea, so it’s a very similar energy with different mediums.
Everyone knows what a big fan you are of martial arts films; do you see a film like Brick Mansions as an extension of those kinds of film or something entirely different?
Well, Brick Mansions is an action film, and I think it can be qualified as a martial arts film, parkour is a martial art. It is very similar, but this isn’t like a chop suey action film like that. Also, we took the original film District B13 and we gave more of an American interpretation of it we think, which is different than the French interpretation. The French make great films, like some of the best films are from the great French directors and French artists and French photographers, but we also have a specificity of how we do things as Americans. And this production was with Luc Besson and Relativity, so it was these two productions coming together, and I think they caught a good balance of both worlds. They added an element of action to it, to make it an action film as well a sHollywood. I think they did a good job, and I feel honoured to be a part of it, and it is in my vein; The RZA loves action and that’s an old fact.
Do you see yourself as an action star now, or could you even see yourself doing another film with Jim Jarmusch?
I would definitely like to do more films in that world, but an actor wants to make you frightened, or make you laugh, and one of my fantasies as an artist is that one day I want to do a scene that makes an audience cry. I go to the movies a lot as a fan, and my wife and I watch these films and she breaks down often at movies, and I measure the quality of a movie by how many emotions it makes my wife go through by the end. As an actor, I hope to one day be on that screen and have the audience feel the emotions that they give us. Maybe you’ve had a crummy day and you watch a movie and somebody like Kevin Hart has you laughing and it makes your day better. Or when somebody can make you reflect, or bring tears to you, that’s the power of film, which as an actor you want to be part of the energy of. So that’s why with Tremaine [his character] I hope he had enough menace to him, enough wit, and enough humour. I hoped that I was able to bring some emotion there onto the screen.
Is there a similar dynamic when working with the cast of a film that you found when working with the Wu-Tang Clan?
Fortunately, with me, when I was with the Wu-Tang Clan I had the opportunity to work with a lot of personalities, a lot of big personalities; Method Man, Raekwon. And now on film sets you come across all these personalities. I will say, unbeknownst all our Wu-Tang work would prepare me for my future dealings. Who knew that the Wu-Tang [laughs] would be training for a second career, but it has been, so I’m grateful to have been in that arena with the clan and then on set I can adjust and adapt because I’ve been in that kind of situation before.
Brick Mansions hits theaters on Friday, April 25th.