Alfre Woodard: What's It All About, Alfre?

And was Lee a scream to work with? "People assume he is belligerent. He's a person in the public eye who does not try to create a persona to project. Spike speaks out. He doesn't make nice. He gets people's hackles up. Some see him as totally off target. I assumed I would never work with him, because he thinks of me as establishment Hollywood. But ever since She's Gotta Have It, I never let that stop me from approaching him. Taking this role meant I'd get to see him every day, doing the kind of work that we do. It was right and necessary. And it was good. I learned that if an actor doesn't bring the ability to think, reason, research, Spike is not their kind of director. If you're an actor who constantly needs to be assured that the director loves you, [then] no, no, no."

So, what does Woodard ultimately want from Hollywood? "Money," she answers, "to make movies. I've been on too many movie sets where the people who have been in charge should not have been in charge of a kennel. There is a point at which you have to say, 'Excuse me, I'd like to be in charge now, please.'"

Woodard and her husband, Roderick Spencer, a former stand-up comic turned screenwriter and documentarian, have developed a string of projects that have gotten attention from Harvey Weinstein at Miramax, Tom Pollock at Universal and Ted Turner at Turner Pictures. She won't go beyond generalizations, because, she says, "I want them to all at once pop, to explode," except to further note that she will either produce and/or act in the pieces.

What will her producer's motto be? "Real actors in real movies for real people," Woodard says. "See, I know from coming into contact with the public that my audience is real people, not star-gazers. They deserve to laugh at something that's really funny, not something mean about somebody else. They need to be aroused by something truly sensual and erotic, not something perverse and mean.

"I intend to hire like-minded actors. And I want money from like-minded people, not end up the whole time screaming 'Aarrrrrrgh!' because the people who gave it to me do not speak the same language."

But don't expect Woodard to do the mogul thing at the expense of her acting. "If I could take the essence of Vanessa Redgrave, Mary Alice and Geraldine Page, roll them together," she says, closing her eyes almost in prayer, "that is what I would like to be as an actor." And, with that, she announces, "I got a headache from this. I was always told, 'Don't talk about yourself, you have to listen sometimes.'"

We pause outside the restaurant to take leave of each other. "We danced and now you're gonna tell, aren't you, Steve?" she says, grinning as she waves goodbye.

____________

Stephen Rebello interviewed Drew Barrymore for the April Movieline.

Pages: 1 2 3