Singer John Legend has actually been a film and television producer for a few years now, beginning with a string of documentaries, including THE HOUSE I LIVE IN, about the American criminal justice system; SOUTHERN RITES, about a small town that merges its segregated proms; and CAN YOU DIG THIS, about urban gardening in South Central Los Angeles. He’s also executive produced such television series as “Underground” and “Sing It On.” Legend has also dabbled in acting over the years, including a smaller role of 2008’s SOUL MEN, as well as a far bigger role in the much anticipated musical LA LA LAND, which he also executive produces, and is written and directed by Damien Chazelle (WHIPLASH). Oh, and lets not forget Legend also won an Oscar for Best Original Song two years ago for his collaboration with Common, “Glory,” from the movie SELMA.
But the film I got the chance to sit down and chat with Legend about is one of the most charming film and interesting films you’ll see all year, SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU, a vaguely fictionalized account of the first date between co-worker Michelle Robinson and Barack Obama (you know, those two people who live in the White House for a few more months) in the summer of 1989. At its core, SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU is a date movie (both about a date, and for people on a date). Obama is charming and eager to connect with this woman, who is technically his supervisor at the Chicago law firm where they both work. She is not eager to be dating a co-worker for fear that her corporate identity will be tied to who she is dating.
SOUTHSIDE is not a political movie, but it’s not ignorant of politics either. They talk about the neighborhood and city’s issues; they go see DO THE RIGHT THING and run into white co-workers who have issues with the film; and they attend a community meeting at Obama’s church where the parishioners bring up the way city officials view them and the city south side. Anyway, I talked to John Legend a few hours before the big Chicago premiere of SOUTHSIDE WITH YOU at the same theater where they filmed the movie date, and we talked about music, films, acting, and life. He’s a great interview; please enjoy…
Capone: Hi. Great to meet you, sir.
John Legend: Hello. How are you?
Capone: Good. My first exposure to the film, which is not the same as the first time I saw it, was I was at Sundance, but I didn’t see it there. But the day after the premiere there’s a big interview room. They bring people from all these different movies…
JL: Oh, I’ve done it. I was there then.
Capone: It was just like bustling, and you couldn’t hear yourself think, and suddenly the room just got quiet, and I’m like “What’s going on?” And it was because your actors came in, and everyone just for like a split second was like, “The president’s here.”
JL: [laughs] Yes. Well they do a really great job of embodying them too, and you almost forget that it’s not them as you’re watching the film. They really do a great job of capturing their mannerisms. And obviously the film is fictional in some ways, because you have to imagine what they said in those conversations. There are no transcripts, so Richard [Tanne, writer-director] had to use his imagination to a degree, but you really feel like you’re there with the first couple as they go on their first date.
Capone: In my memory, this is the first couple that feels like an equal partnership, perhaps outside of the Clintons.
JL: Well, the Clintons for sure. It’s interesting how [the Obamas] started, because she started as someone senior to him at the law firm, so from the very beginning, they saw themselves as colleagues and peers, and he saw in her as someone he wanted to date, and she probably had to be coaxed a long a little bit, but eventually they realized that they would make great partners romantically, and obviously the whole nation is better off for it.
Capone: You’re absolutely right, and that’s important stuff, but at the same time this movie kills as a first-date movie.
JL: Yeah, it does. Even if you didn't know who they became, you would love it as a first-date movie, but I think the fact that they became who they became heightens the appeal and the intrigue around it, but it’s really a simple movie. It’s really a small, simple, subtle movie about a great first date.
Capone: It’s in that great tradition of walk-and-talk, get-to-know-you works that Richard Linklater made a nice career out of, and they still work. So let’s back it up a little bit. At what point in this production did you get involved?
JL: Well, we saw the script before they shot it, and we liked the script before they shot it. We didn’t actually formally become involved until a little bit later in the process. They had already shot it; it was a 17-day shoot. Once they had a rough cut, they sent it to us, and I loved it. I was watching it on a plane on my computer and I was like “Wow, this is really special.” It makes you feel nostalgic for that era, it reminds you that love and partnership when you find that right person is really something special, and I thought it would make a lot of people feel good.
Capone: When they sent you that rough cut, were they trying to still get you to be a production partner? Or were they just looking for music at that point?
JL: Both. [laughs] When we get involved with a project, it’s usually a little earlier than with this one. Even though we saw the script, we weren’t formally involved. Usually we want to get involved with helping to find a director and helping to cast it. That’s what we do in most of the films and television projects we get involved in, but sometimes we come on a little later in the process, and then it’s usually more about the music and marketing, helping to publicize the film. Part of what it means to have a production company is for me to have a brand of the kind of films I like to be involved in, and this really fits in with what we do.
Capone: And you’re friendly with the Obamas.
JL: Yeah, sure.
Capone: It’s my understanding they haven't seen the film yet.
JL: Yes. As far as I know, they haven't seen the film yet.
Capone: But you know they’re going to.
JL: They’re on vacation right now, and we have sent it to them, and hopefully they’ll watch it.
Capone: Are you nervous about it a little bit?
JL: I’m not nervous. It would be hard for them not to at least think it was a well made film. I think the only thing they might probably have gripes about is, obviously the dialogue is invented, because we weren’t there to see exactly what they talked about, so they probably could fact check it [laughs]. So there’s definitely some level of imagination and creativity by the director and screenwriter Richard, but I really think it captures the spirit of who they are, and I think it would be hard for them not to think it’s at least a flattering portrayal of who they are.
Capone: Even though you had read the script early on, when you first saw that cut, was there anything about it that you were surprised by?
JL: When you see it, I think part of it is just the quality of acting is really powerful. They do a great job of embodying the Obamas, but I think part of it also that I loved was just the beauty of Chicago. You see a lot of things about Chicago on the news these days, but a lot of times you don’t get to just see it as a great city.
Capone: As a place to wander.
JL: Yeah, it’s this big, beautiful city, and I think the film does a good job capturing that.
Capone: It’s funny, the movie theater in the film, where you’re going to be tonight actually, that’s my neighborhood theater. I will say, that’s a north side movie theater. They would not have gone to that theater, unless it was the only one playing DO THE RIGHT THING.
JL: Which is doubtful. [laughs]
Capone: What’s funny is, you see a poster for SEX, LIES AND VIDEOTAPE when they’re outside the theater. I want to see the second-date movie where they go see that movie. That’s a whole different conversation.
JL: Both of them are classics.
Capone: In terms of the song you wrote for the film, “Start,” talk about the process of pulling that together.
JL: Well, the process really was simple. It was watch the film, listen to the music as it’s leading into where my songs are going to come. I literally based the song off of the key that the last song was in, trying to make it feel like it was bleeding into my song. I really wanted to capture that sense of intimacy and closeness that the film had. I sang the song in a whisper voice; I don’t normally sing like that. But I wanted it to feel like it was someone whispering in someone’s ear, so that was what my process was when I was thinking about the song.
Capone: You’re going for full-on intimate. Had you already won your Oscar when you wrote this?
JL: Yeah, I already won.
Capone: So do you feel a little extra pressure?
JL: No. I’m always going to be an Academy Award winner. I don’t have to get another one. [laughs] I think this was the exact opposite kind of sensibility from “Glory,” because “Glory” was tying to be big and grand, and trying to capture the enormity of that movement and the importance of that movement. And this film, even though it’s about important lives, it was a very simple film about a very cool first date. So I wanted it to be understated.
Capone: You’re not going for the love anthem.
JL: Exactly. I wasn’t trying to do “I Will Always Love You.” I was trying to do something much more intimate and close.
Capone: Your history as a producer with your company Get Lifted, you started out with documentaries, and then you moved into feature films and television…
JL: And theater!
Capone: Theater, too? Which show?
JL: We have a Dick Gregory play, “Turn Me Loose,” starring Joe Morton which did an Off-Broadway run this past spring.
Capone: So I guess my question is, what are you looking for as a production house?
JL: Well, we want interesting projects with great creative, great writing, great storytelling. We usually pick a lot of things that usually have social and historical relevance, but not exclusively. We want it to be entertaining. We try to have diverse casts and crews that tell different stories about diverse populations that we haven't seen before. We want it to be provocative and good, high quality.
Capone: I’m sure you’ve heard the reactions of the LA LA LAND trailer. People crying, people going wanting to know “What the hell is this?”
JL: It’s such a gorgeous trailer, and the film is really gorgeous too. Damian is a genius, I think. He’s one of our best young filmmakers, I would say. Just from WHIPLASH, I fell in love with him as an artist. When he reached out to me, it was first just to meet. He wanted to catch up, then he said, “I’m working on this film idea and I want to see if you want to get involved.” And I was like, “Well, whatever you’re doing, I’m interested in because I think you’re dope.” And he explained it more to me, and at first it was presented as an opportunity to executive produce and to get involved with the music, and that would have been fine, but he also wanted me to play Keith and have a significant amount of speaking in the film and play an important role in the film, and I hadn’t really done that before.
Capone: This has got to be your biggest acting role.
JL: Yeah, by far. And I hadn’t done it really to that scale before, even though I had done smaller things. And I was like “Let’s do it. Let’s take on the challenge.” So I wrote the song for it, executive produced it, and had a decent amount of screen time as well.
Capone: I’m not sure that everyone understands that it’s a musical.
JL: Yeah, it’s a musical. It’s actually a classic musical. The idea is to embrace nostalgia, embrace that old-school Hollywood musical. And it’s about Los Angeles. It’s a bit of a love letter to Los Angeles, and it’s a classic Hollywood story of two artists coming to L.A. to make it, to make it in their respective fields. Ryan [Gosling]’s character is a musician, and Emma [Stone]’s character is an actress, and they’re both pursuing their dream and also trying to fall in love at the same time.
Capone: Wasn’t it originally supposed to come out in the summer?
JL: Yeah, they pushed it back to award season [December 16] because the buzz was so good. That’s a good thing.
Capone: So you’ve been dropping all these songs in these different projects and producing things and writing things, but when are you putting out an album again? It’s been a while.
JL: It’s pretty much done.
Capone: I remember back in January hearing you say, “I’m going to have something out this year.”
JL: I will. It’s coming. We’ll announce it when the time is right, but it’s definitely coming, and I’m really excited.
Capone: Are you going to do one of those releases where you say, “Oh yeah, it’s out tomorrow.”
JL: I don’t know about that, but I’m excited for people to hear it. I can’t wait.
Capone: What else are you looking at in terms of upcoming projects?
JL: We’re excited about Season 2 of “Underground,” which is just starting to shoot right now in Georgia. We just wrapped OG, which is another film, a small independent film. So we’re doing a lot of interesting projects, and like I said before a lot of it has to do with my own sensibility and the things I’m interested in politically, socially, just interesting subjects to me, and that’s what we’re doing.
Capone: Back to the Obamas for a second and your personal relationship with them, before you were even involved in this project you obviously saw something in them that you liked. What is about them that makes them such a great couple that is captured in this film?
JL: First of all, I have my own political views. I’m pretty aligned with their political views, so I was already inclined to support them, but I think beyond what they’ve done politically and what they’ve done on a policy front, which I think have been good things for the country, and we’re in a lot better place as a country than we were in 2009, when he took office. I think personally they’ve just been a great example to the country. They’ve raised a great family, they’ve had no scandals in office at all.
They’ve been honest and full of character and grace and poise, even when some of the nastiest accusations and insults were thrown at them. They maintained their poise and their dignity. And also just in personal interaction with them, they are so cool. They’re like really cool people. They’re like down to earth, very in touch with the culture and what’s happening in the country, and obviously brilliant, eloquent, and all those good things too. These are great human beings, and we’ve been fortunate as a country to have them leading for eight years.
Capone: I can’t wait to hear what they think of the film.
JL: Yeah, me too.
Capone: Well congratulations and have fun tonight.
