Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: SATURDAY, August 21, 1993 TAG: 9308210260
SECTION: SPECTATOR PAGE: S-1 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE:
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
The day after "Strapped" debuts on HBO, Showtime will premiere "Last Light," a movie that stars Whitaker as a prison guard who develops a dialogue with a death row inmate (played by Kiefer Sutherland, who also is making his directorial debut).
`I can see a lot of guys who are getting opportunities directing on cable," said Whitaker, who is riding the incredible success of "The Crying Game." "They wouldn't get the chance in feature films."
But HBO has a reputation for guiding directors with a heavy hand. Were there arguments and problems during the filming of "Strapped"?
"Yeah, most definitely," Whitaker says. "You're taking a script and reshaping it to try to find the truths in it. That caused problems . . . but I don't think there's any position or place where they didn't allow me to do what I was trying to do."
Although this is his first time in the director's chair, Whitaker has worked with an impressive array of Hollywood heavyweights. His film credits include Clint Eastwood's "Bird" (as jazz legend Charlie Parker), Barry Levinson's "Good Morning, Vietnam," Oliver Stone's "Platoon," Martin Scorsese's "The Color of Money" and Alan J. Pakula's "Consenting Adults."
"I've been pretty fortunate," Whitaker says. "I've worked with some really good directors, and they've all been pretty cool and respectful. I got something from everybody I worked with. They all taught me something different."
And Whitaker hopes "Strapped" will teach viewers something about the dangers facing American children.
"We live in a society that is really screwed up in a lot of ways," he says. "We have people who are dying, being killed every day. You can look in the paper every day and see something about kids with guns - every single day.
"I can sit in my house and just relax and think to myself, `Wow, this life is great.' But if I go to visit my cousin, who just got put into jail, I've got to see that it's still there and it's going to go on. . . . So many people are dying that it cannot be ignored. So we have to deal with that."
by CNB