Samuel L. Jackson may be playing yet another sullen, angry character -- this time a cop -- in the upcoming action/comedy "The Man," but as far as costar Eugene Levy is concerned, all that tough guy stuff is just good acting.
"He's a delightful guy and so unlike his onscreen persona," claims Levy, a claim that certainly jibes with our experience with Jackson, who overtook Harrison Ford this year as the film star whose movies have grossed more than anybody else's.
Adds Levy, "He just likes to have a good time. He's a storyteller. When they would yell cut, he would just break and go off on another story, trying to get some laughs."
According to Levy, the unlikely pair has similar ways of working. "In my case, the laughs that I'm going for really have to come through the character. It's the same with Sam. We both look for the truth in a situation."
Levy adds that playing one of the few starring roles he's had in a major film brought its own kind of pressure. "I'm kind of a character actor, which lends itself more to supporting roles. Being front and center, you can't really duck down and hide behind somebody else's shoulder."
He also admits, "I get more of a kick playing characters that are not the sharpest pencils. I like to play the guys who are average, normal guys -- the kind of characters where the audience may actually feel a little bit better about themselves. Kind of like, 'I'm glad I'm not him.'"
IT ALL ADDS UP:
David Krumholtz has come a long, long way from being a math-phobic student years ago -- to his current station, playing the numbers genius on CBS's "Numb3ers." "I'm actually quite fascinated and enlightened," says the actor, who plays academic-turned-FBI man Charlie, who works with his brother (Rob Morrow) on the series. Krumholtz is not the only one upon whom the show has had a positive effect when it comes to the M-word. "Last year in the middle of our season, right around when we became a bona fide hit, we were invited to a West Coast convention of math teachers in Anaheim (Calif.). They sold 600 tickets to a screening of an upcoming episode, but 1,200 people showed up. It became a security issue -- all these Mrs. Crabapples," he recounts, clearly tickled. "Then, one after the other, God bless them, they got up and talked about the show. One said she had a student who was a juvenile delinquent wouldn't do anything until he got involved with math, and he got involved with math because of the show. It's a tool for them. Then they demanded -- demanded -- we send them posters. We're math publicists."
THE INSIDE TRACK:
When hip-hop superstars like Snoop, 50 Cent, Busta Rhymes and Mos Def pick you to be the go-to guy on their albums, you can pretty much write your own ticket. And that's just what the very hot rapper/producer Hi-Tek reports he plans to do with a new cutting-edge, state-of-the-art recording studio.
"I'm trying to build a big compound in Cincinnatti where I won't even have to leave the studio to work," says the Ohio native, who's hoping his studio will do the same thing Prince's Paisley Park did for Minneapolis -- turn his hometown of Cincinnati into a new mecca for music. "Between my relationships and everything, I've got all the tools. I can just work and have a rotation of all my artists."
Tek is juggling duties on his own new solo album, "Hi Teknology II(cq)," featuring his buddies Mos Def, Nas, Snoop, Raphael Saadiq and Talib Kweli with producing chores on several upcoming albums. "I've been working on tracks for Snoop and Dr. Dre," he counts off. "I did two tracks on the 50 Cent movie soundtrack, one for Young Buck and one for 50. I've done maybe four or five tracks on Talib's solo album. I'm on Styles P's album that's coming out soon, and we did like four tracks on Busta Rhymes upcoming album … I'm just trying to stay hot."
NOT SO GLAMOROUS:
Though its pedigree couldn't be more impressive -- what with award-winning producers Neil Meron and Craig Zadan and writer-producer Robert Allan Ackerman -- you've got to wonder what Showtime's planned "Filthy Gorgeous" has to say about the state of the culture. This is the production that proposes to take us into the world of, as casting sources put it, "New York's most desirable male and female escorts and their rich and powerful clients." The series is being cast now. We make it a policy not to judge shows without seeing them -- just hope this one doesn't wind up glorifying prostitution.
The Beck/Smith syndicated newspaper column includes exclusive in-depth, behind-the-scenes reports on the stars, on the business of television and movie-making, and on the recording, publishing and media beats.
©2005 Creators Syndicate, Inc.
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