Chris Brown Interview, This Christmas

MoviesOnline caught up with Chris Brown at the Los Angeles press day to promote his new film, "This Christmas,” a dramedy full of surprises written and directed by Preston A. Whitmore II ("The Walking Dead,” "Crossover”). With enough holiday cheer to light a thousand Christmas trees, "This Christmas” is destined to become a yuletide classic. A poignant drama laced with laughter, music and suspense, the film tells the story of a family that is at once utterly unique and surprisingly universal.

This year, Christmas with the Whitfields promises to be one they will never forget. All the siblings have come home for the first time in years and they've brought plenty of baggage with them. As the Christmas tree is trimmed and the lights are hung, secrets are revealed and family bonds are tested. As their lives converge, they join together and help each other discover the true meaning of family. The remarkable ensemble cast features Chris Brown, Loretta Devine, Idris Elba, Regina King, Delroy Lindo, Mekhi Phifer, Keith Robinson, Columbus Short, Sharon Leal, and Lauren London.

Eighteen-year-old Brown is an international superstar in the music world, but "This Christmas” is only his second film role. "Everybody knows that Chris Brown is an incredible singer,” says Whitmore. "But I think one of the things that people aren’t aware of is that he is also a very good actor. Unlike some singers or rappers who want to undertake this but don’t get serious about it, he’s done everything necessary to become a good actor. His performance of ‘Try a Little Tenderness’ will just taken your breath away, but he also does some dramatic scenes with Loretta Devine that are just going to stop you in your tracks.”

Brown’s character Baby aspires to be a singer, but is afraid to tell his mother because she has already lost her musician husband and eldest son to the road. Brown says his own family experience was completely different. "My family loved the fact that I followed my dream and became a singer. They already knew I was a show-off at parties and dinners and stuff. I danced a lot and I sang. But that was just singing in the country. When they saw that I got my break, they were really proud of me and gave God a lot of glory for giving me the best. I know I did!”

Chris Brown went from Tappahannock, Virginia (pop. 2000) to the top of the music charts with a Platinum debut CD, two Grammy nominations, three Billboard Music Awards, an NAACP Image Award, a Soul Train Music Award and two BET Awards, all before the ripe old age of 18.

The multi-talented Brown made his feature film debut in the hugely successful "Stomp the Yard” as a young battle dancer caught in the chaos of rivalry in the big city. He also appeared on Fox Television’s "The OC” in a recurring guest role as Will Tutt.

Sporting a white hoodie with black squares and turquoise hood lining over a long-sleeved, black tee, hot pink baseball cap, low-slung jeans, and large diamond stud earrings, here’s what Chris had to tell us about his latest film:

Q: What are you wearing?

Chris: This is actually LRG’s new line.  It’s like a branching of their line, a brother label.  But, I’ve always got something colorful on.

Q: You’ve always said that Donny Hathaway and Sam Cooke were two of the biggest influences in your career, was it your choice to sing and put your own interpretation on two of their biggest songs?

Chris: Producer-wise, we wanted to do something with Bryan Cox because I know he’s a great producer and I worked with him a lot on my album but with this song I just wanted to do something that was kind of different, like still bringing my flavor to it but still keeping that old flavor so when people hear it, people that’s over the age of 45 or 50, when they hear it, they’ll be like "Okay.  He did his thing with that record.”  So, like I can appeal to everybody.  Not just a younger demographic, everybody.

Q: With "Try a Little Tenderness,” that’s a song that starts out nice and slow and then really builds to the end. Did you feel like that really showcased your range?

Chris: I think it did. "Try a Little Tenderness” wasn’t my personal favorite honestly but I loved "This Christmas” because "This Christmas” was always something that I listened to during the holidays.  It gave me that good feeling inside.  I wanted to do "This Christmas” and I wanted to do "Cupid” by Sam Cooke but then it was like, "Well, we like ‘Cupid’ but you should just do ‘Try a Little Tenderness.’”  I was like, "Well, I’m not opposed to it.  Let’s do it.”

Q: A lot of the veterans we talked to said that when you came on set, you were all about business and you’re on time and knew what’s going on so I guess you’re taking this acting thing seriously?

Chris:  Oh yeah.  I think they’re biased or whatever but I think when I was on set, I was just trying to have the most fun.  Me being a young artist, I was probably the youngest one on set so me and Columbus had chemistry. Everybody else had chemistry.  It was like a family but it’s hard to keep your energy up with a lot of people that’s conservative, chill and laid back.  I’m like "Yo, let’s go!  There’s a mall across the street!”  I think the acting part was probably my calmest moments because offset it was like "Cut!”  "Oh, I’ll be right back.”  So, it was fun.  I am taking it serious though.

Q: When I spoke with you on set in February, you were wanting to show off your basketball skills in a movie.  Do you still want to do that?

Chris:  Actually, we have that movie.  Right coming at the end of my tour, I’ve got a movie I’m going to start shooting called "Phenom,” a basketball movie.  We start April or March when my tour end.  We’re still casting but I just know I’m the lead in the movie.  I play a young high school star that goes to the NBA.  It’s Screen Gems.

Q: When people saw you on the Grammys doing a tribute to James Brown, your performance was so astounding, that really opened things up for you.  Do you like balancing music, films and TV or, like in this film, incorporating a little of both?

Chris:  I would just say I love my music first because it’s more heartfelt there.  I’m more passionate about my music as far as performing, my physical ability to entertain.  It’s a lot easier for me personally to be on camera and be like "Ha, ha, ha.”  It really shows who you are if you can do it in a room full of thousands of people, right there on stage so that’s what I love most.

Q: Did you always want to have this triple threat going:  singing, dancing, acting?

Chris: I didn’t even think I could act, honestly.  I’m like "I sucked in this movie.”  Everybody’s going to say, "What is wrong with this dude?”  But, I think acting is a plus.  With my music I want to be the biggest entertainer that ever did it so I just want to continue to do it.  But, I think, with my acting, I’m just going to branch out there just to show people I can.  So, let’s just say Chris Brown is doing his thing musically and maybe next year he’ll come out with a big movie.  This dude, I don’t know what’s wrong with him.  He gotta be takin’ something.  I just want to always have people be on their game and just have fun and let people know they can do anything they want to do if they put their mind to it.

Q: You have another album coming out?

Chris:  Yeah, November 6th called "Exclusive.”

Q: Any major collaborators on that?

Chris:  Well, we got Kanye on a couple of records.  We got T-Pain, we got Will.i.am, we got Big Boi from OutKast, ‘Lil Wayne.  Producer-wise, T-Pain, Will.i.am, Scott Storch, Bryan Cox, The Underdogs, Jazzy Fay, Pharrell, Big D, The Runners.  There’s so many different people on the album.

Q: Does it fall in line with your sound?

Chris:  Kind of.  I have a little bit of a new sound.  It is, I would say, more adult, more teenage mature.  Because, I’m 18 on this album, there’s more topics I can talk about like makin’ love and stuff like that but, at the same time, I still cater to my younger audience so it’s a blend.

Q: Girls in this film were leaving gifts on your character Baby’s porch.  Is that happening to you?

Chris:  I would hope none of my fans, especially the crazed fans, know where I live [laughs].  But, I get fan mail, bags, like Christmas.  It looks like Santa Claus, just fan mail all the time.  I can read all of it but I try to read most of it. 

Q: How are you keeping yourself….

Chris: Focused and grounded?  I think just by having the right people around you all the time.  Knowing that it’s all fun.  I look at it like smoke and mirrors.  I still think it’s a dream but I ain’t pinchin’ myself yet so it’s just like "Okay, just have fun with it.  Just go!”

Q: Who are the people around you?

Chris: Well, my mom’s around me. [he motions to the corner where is mom is sitting].  That’s my mom.  When I was like sixteen and seventeen, she stayed around me most of the time for several reasons and she wanted to make sure there wasn’t nobody messin’ with her baby [laughter].  Now, she sees that I’m well enough to handle a lot of stuff now, me being older, I know what to do.  I’m mature enough to do a lot of stuff so she came today.  I think she’s here today on the [press] tour to just hang out with us.  But, she chills now.  She relaxes more and doesn’t stress as much. [his mom laughs].  I keep my homies, the right people, around me all the time.

Q: How was it to work with such an amazing ensemble cast?

Chris:  It was great.  Me, personally, I was nervous because I thought people were gonna be like "This little dude can’t act.  We’ve gotta work with this guy, oh God.”  But, the first time we did a reading of the script, everybody was in the room.  I was like nervous.  When my part was coming I was ‘uh……[long pause] just really nervous.  I think I felt like the underdog and the outcast until we got on set and it was a great environment.  Everybody really wasn’t on each other.  They didn’t have a chip on their shoulders.  They were like ‘Just read the line like this.  It doesn’t even matter.”  They were real cool about it.  It was good.

Q: Did you contribute to the soundtrack other than doing the two songs in the film?

Chris: Those were the two songs I did but I actually directed my own video for "This Christmas” because I do that with my other videos as well.  I co-direct with Erik White but this video, I was like "Okay, I’m going to do a video by myself, show people my talents as well on the directing side.”  If I’m not directing the movie, I’ll direct my video.

Q: So do you want to direct movies some day?

Chris:  Yeah.  I want to do everything.  I just want to do everything that’s gonna keep my family and my family’s family and the family after that straight.

Q: What do you look for in a film project?

Chris:  I think I just try to do something that’s challenging.  This movie challenged me because I had to pretend that I didn’t know how to sing at first [laughter].  I think interaction between me and my mom Loretta [Devine] in the movie, that argument, that big fight, that was a big challenge for me as well as being on the cast with a lot of great actors, a lot of veterans that have been doing it before I was born.  It challenged me personally and I like challenges so with different movies, I look for something that people aren’t normally going to see me in.

Q: Who is your dream co-star?

Chris: Femalewise? Probably Angelina Jolie, if I was in "Tomb Raider Three” or something [big grin].  That would be dope. 

Q: So you want that action hero thing?

Chris: Oh yeah, definitely.

Q: Do you feel like you have learned a lot from Delroy Lindo and the other actors, coming out of the movie a much better actor than when you went in?

Chris:  I think so.  Learning even from Columbus [Short].  Columbus was in the first movie with me ["Stomp the Yard”].  He gave me a lot of tips in that movie so, with his help, and everybody else’s help…and even just observing what they was doing really helped me.

Q: Would you be able to keep a big secret from your mom like your character does?

Chris: I think I could but I think every kid has that one big secret they don’t want to tell their mom until it don’t matter no more [laughter].  Every kid has had that secret like when they were a seven-year-old, then they get like fifteen or sixteen, "Mom, you know when I was about seven? I never told you this.”  I think everybody has that.

Q: Did it freak you out when the other actors started improving?

Chris: Oh improving was good because I love that.  A lot of the comedy stuff that’s about me is all improv.  A lot of it wasn’t scripted because if it was and everybody going "Yeah, yeah, yeah, Uh huh,” it would just have been so dry.  So a lot of us was doing extra stuff, a lot of stuff that they didn’t put in the movie.  We did a gang of stuff that was funny, a whole bunch of stuff.  The improving was the best part.

Q: What is Christmas going to be like for you this year?

Chris:  Hopefully, I get to relax because the movie will be out, the video will be out.  Everything will be good and they can just see me on TV.  I can go home and rest and chill with my family so that’s what I hope I can do. 

Q: Your home is still in Virginia, right?

Chris: Yeah. 

Q: What do you want for Christmas?

Chris:  Just to relax.  I think, with success, I got everything that I wanted when I was younger.  It was a whole bunch of clothes, a whole bunch of shoes and some nice cars [laughter].  That’s what I envisioned.  So, now that I have those things, I don’t really look forward to getting anything else.  I just look forward to continuing with my music and what I’m doing and just relax when I get holiday time.  I’ll just spend it with my family and have fun.

Q: Speaking of cars, what is your ride nowadays?

Chris: I got like four cars.  I have an orange Corvette with orange rims.  I have a blue Lamborghini with blue rims and a black Range Rover with black rims and like a cream Expedition with custom interior.  I always told my mom.. you know the Hot Wheels cars?  I told her "I wanna make my cars like Hot Wheels.  I don’t ever want to have just a plain car.”  So, every car I get, I have to make it like a Hot Wheels.

Q: They’ll see you coming down the street.

Chris:  Definitely.

Q: How crazy does it get with the fans?

Chris:  It’s crazy.  Like now, it’s a little bit more hectic because, I wouldn’t say my market value went up but…

Q: I’ll say it for you.  I went by the Virgin music store and I saw a huge poster of you when I was going to see your movie.  That’s pretty big.

Chris: I went to the mall yesterday and I can only stay in a mall for like ten minutes and go to a store that I need to go to and when I have what I need, I just leave.  I used to go and hang out.  Nobody really notices me so I’m good.  But now it’s a little hectic.  Sometimes, I be like "Ah, I can’t sign a thousand autographs” so you just put the hat low, hood on [he demonstrates] and go through the airport.  The worst part about the airport is getting there and having to wait at your gate because you sit down and you’re like this [indicates hunched over with cap low and hood over his head].  Regardless if you have a mask on, it’s like [high-pitched, girlish voice]    "Chris Brown!  Do you see me?!!” [laughter].  So, it’s a little different now but it’s cool.

Q: What’s the most exciting thing that has happened to you?

Chris:  Just the success.  Me looking at myself, I always doubted myself but I think every kid does.  "I can’t do this.  I can’t do that.”  But now, it’s just like "How did I do all this?”  I’m just surprised.  "How do people just attract to me by what I can do?”  [I think] "I’m not doing anything else than what such-in-such is doin’.  Why aren’t they like me?”  So I just don’t question it anymore.  "Okay, don’t every say nothin’. Just shut up.” 

The Screen Gems head [name?] comes into the room to greet Chris.    "I don’t care what he says.  He’s special!”

Q: You talk about wanting to relax during the holidays but with movies and a CD coming out, is that realistic?

Chris:  Yeah, I think it is.  With a lot of stuff, we’re doing tour rehearsals but for the holidays I got two or three days that I’m like personally, like "No. I’m not doin’ this.  I’m not doin’ this.  I’m not doin’ nothin’.  I’m just goin’ home.”  At the end of the day, people have to be in their own space.  I’ll do everything under the sun but when I really need a break, I need a break.

Q: What is the tour going to be like?

Chris:  The tour’s going to be incredible.  I wish I could promote that now a lot more but with the production and stuff, I guess I’m biased but I think people haven’t seen this side or me or a side of entertainment like this.  It starts December 6th.  I put a lot of my own personal money into the tour, into my production, into everything I put on the set.  It’s a big show.  We have start-up acts like Sean Kingston, Soulja Boy, Bow Wow, a couple of other people.  I hope you get a chance to come to one of the shows.

Q: Give us tickets.

Chris: But, it’s going to be such a different aspect, like a play [a musical?] when you see those big productions.  I would say when you see those, big, big shows.  That’s something I’m looking forward to.

Q: Is success harder and more demanding than you thought it would be?

Chris:  I think success is fun.  I think if I wasn’t successful, I didn’t have nothin’ to do, I’d be crazy like "Man, I’m bored.  I wish I could just do this or do that.”  Success opens a lot of doors.  It opens up a lot of space for your creativity.  A lot of stuff you think about, you can do.  If your creative ideas worked and helped you get successful, then a lot of people are like "Well, we’re going to let him do what he want to do because it worked the first time.”  So, now, a lot of my creativity, I can come up with ways to just show people.

Q: Do you have a pet project you are backing and hoping to do?  Something on the back burner?

Chris: We’ve got "Dragon Ball Z.”  I’m doing that movie.  They came to us about it.  I’m looking forward to doing it.

Q: When are you starting that?

Chris:  I haven’t signed on it yet but they’re talking about it.  Thank you. 

"This Christmas” opens in theaters on November 21st.