00:00Hi Essence family, this is Yolanda Sanguini, entertainment editor at Essence.com.
00:08Welcome to Coffee Talk, your weekly dose of what's hot on Essence.com.
00:13This week we were lucky enough to hang out with the immensely talented actor Anthony Mackie,
00:17who spoke to us about his latest film, Man on a Ledge, and all the exciting movie projects he has happening in 2012.
00:24Well, I play Mike Ackerman, who's a police officer who is Sam Worthington's character, Nick Cassidy's ex-partner.
00:32Nick Cassidy was on a police squad and got pinched doing an off-duty detail and given 25 years in jail.
00:39And he breaks out and goes up on a ledge to proclaim his innocence and fake his suicide so that people can pay attention to his story.
00:49So Mike Ackerman takes it upon himself because that's my good friend to help him show his innocence.
00:55My character is kind of like the crux of the plot, which means I'm the audience's eyes and ears into the film.
01:02So as the audience figure me out, they figure the film out.
01:06And that was a challenge I wanted and something I talked to Asger about, the director, because it was important to me.
01:13Because I feel like when you watch those old school films, you know, like Seven or even, you know, Shawshank Redemption, when you watch those films,
01:23there's one character, you know, usual suspects, there's one character in the movie that you follow.
01:28And as soon as he opens up to you, you get it. And I feel like we don't really get that anymore.
01:33You know, the suspense thrillers that we see are so suspenseful that by the time the movie's over, you have no idea what you've seen.
01:41And I feel like this movie is kind of a throwback to, you know, good fun popcorn movies that you go with your boo, get you a little icy and watch a movie.
01:49We have Vapaka, which is a movie I made with Forrest Whitaker, which is a kind of like a psychological thriller between the two of us.
01:59And we fight it out for two hours, which was the worst experience of my life, because he literally beat the snot out of me for five weeks.
02:12And he's a big dude. But working with him was great and a lot of fun.
02:18And Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, which is coming out in June, where I get to play, I feel, one of the most important historical figures in American history.
02:28And Gangster Squad, which is a 1949 noir film set in Los Angeles, where it's a group of misfit cops that are put together by the Los Angeles Police Department to take down legendary gangster Mickey Cohen.
02:43I think I was very fortunate to be able to construct the background that I have.
02:49I think Juilliard has helped me immensely because now I have the ability to do stage.
02:56I have the ability to do Tupac. I have the ability to play 1949 Los Angeles, but I also have the ability to play 1836, you know, D.C.
03:06I revel in the fact that I have my training and I went to school and I got my degree.
03:13That afforded me the opportunity of meeting the representation that I have.
03:17And this business is all about relationships. And if I didn't have that representation, I wouldn't be able to forge those relationships.
03:24So it's, you know, it's a, it's a hodgepodge of different things.
03:29I know a lot of people who I think are much more talented than I am that aren't working.
03:35And I think there's a very specific reason for that, but I'm not sure what that reason is.
03:40That reason is.
03:41That reason is.
03:45That reason is.
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