Catching A Rising Star – Taraji P. Henson
Back in the early nineties, I was doing the afternoon show at the number one radio station in Washington, D.C. I got a phone call from a movie writer, producer and director (Bruce Brown) who was shooting a film in the metropolitan D.C. area and he asked if I’d be willing to give him some air time to promote his film.
They were going to be shooting a scene at a local night club the following Monday, and since the club was closed, they needed actors to come and just fill in the club to make it look like a legit club with people drinking, dancing and having a good time.
So since he was a local movie maker, I agreed to help him get the word out and put some people in the club for his movie. He came up to the station and we began the interview live on air. During the interview, it occurred to me, [thinking] “Hey…wait a minute! I’m giving this guy some valuable on air time and he hasn’t even asked me to be in his movie?!” So, I asked him, “Hey man, are you gonna put me in your movie or what?” And he said, “you know what, I think I have a GREAT part you could play that fits perfectly into the film!” he went on, “come on down to the club Monday night, and I’ll fill you in when you get there.”
So, I went down to the club. He was excited because our station had brought out about 400-500 people to be in the club, which would make a great look at the film.
Bruce gave me the concept of what he wanted me to do. I was going to play myself, a radio DJ which is how everyone in the area knew me in real life. I was going to take (dating myself here) a cassette from an aspiring rapper and tell him, something like “hey man, listen I’m here chillin with my boy Chad here, but, I’ll check it out later and if I can help you, I will. My friend, Chad was actually my real-life producer of my radio show.
We began to film. First, take, the mike didn’t work. So we had to make an adjustment. The second take, there was a buzzing noise on the mike. So we had to replace it. Third take, the bartender actually scooped some ice and almost blew out eardrums of the sound guy through the mike. The fourth take, I nailed it. In my defense, it only took four takes because of technical issues, not a lack of acting skills.
By the way, did you know that in many cases when shooting a club scene in a movie, there is actually NO music playing…The people are dancing to a quiet room so that the actors’ lines can be heard and recorded on film? Then later, in “post-production” the music is added and the film edited to make it look like the “Jams” were there all along.
When I got there he introduced me to this young lady who was in her early 20s (I believe she was around 22 years old at the time), she had long dreads and was very attractive. It was her first film ever, and ironically, I was the celebrity at the time. Well, years later I saw her on a TV show my wife and I used to watch called Person of Interest. It didn’t occur to me originally, but then I saw her name in the credits, and because it was a unique name I thought, “WAIT! I KNOW HER!”
She was the young lady with the dreadlocks in the movie Streetwise which we shot in 1992 and it was released six years later in 1998. Her name: Taraji P. Henson. She just recently received her star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame. Now SHE is the celebrity! Congratulations young lady! You don’t remember me, but, I remember you!
