Chris Rock Takes on Washington

Comedian Chris Rock chatted with us about his stand-up career, his new direction as an actor and now director of the political comedy Head of State. We found the funny man, who wore the standard director's uniform of baseball cap and jeans, to be very candid about his career, his directing challenges and being a dad and, of course, he peppered his responses with humor.

TeenHollywood: Did you make Head of State to criticize American politics?

Chris: I wouldn't go that far, I'd say it's a forum to make fun of politics in general. You just have fun with it. Might be some criticism there but more fun, a lot of jokes.

TeenHollywood: This was your first directing gig. What were the challenges for you?

Chris: Actually I had a lot of fun directing. The challenges were technical things, lights, and sound, and organizing the crew, but it was just great to be able to get more jokes in a movie than I've had in before. I was really lucky with this movie. They actually gave me a decent amount of money, so it wasn't like I had to do any kamikaze things and say 'okay, I thought we were going to have a car chase, now it's a bike chase.' I guess the most difficult challenge was just taking enough time with me. Cause I'm a big brother. I got like six younger brothers so it's very easy to not take care of my own needs. A lot of times I had to make myself do an extra take.

TeenHollywood: Did directing yourself have an effect on your performance as an actor?

Chris: I think I got a decent performance out of myself. If I do say so myself. I don't think you're going to notice like, 'boy he can't act now,' you know. I don't think so, I think it looked fine.

TeenHollywood: Will this film make people think twice about electing a Black President?

Chris: I hope not (laughs). I mean this is a comedy, so I'm doing a lot of silly s*** in this. I hope they don't go, go 'hey Chris Rock is acting like a fool in that movie, we can't elect Colin Powell.' I would hope not. I think eventually a black president, one from Puerto Rico, a Mexican president, a midget, you know.

TeenHollywood: You cast Bernie Mac as your brother. How did that come about?

Chris: It was just the idea I had from two or three years ago and that was before he had a show or anything. I've always been a big fan of Bernie's. I've probably known Bernie for fifteen sixteen years. It works perfect because he's a little older than me, a little bigger than me. We work really good together.

TeenHollywood: You have a comedy magazine at Howard University?

Chris: Yeah, called the "Illtop Journal". It's kind of like a knock-off of the Harvard Lampoon and I've done about three of them already.

TeenHollywood: Chris, you have a successful career as a stand up so why did you branch out?

Chris: You know stand up is hard and it is limiting in a sense. All your ideas don't just fit into stand up. Some of your ideas are just bigger. Making a movie like Head of State is bigger than stand up. I just want to see how far I can go. My idols are like Woody Allen, and like Charlie Chaplin who used to write his movies, produce them, direct them, and do the score for the movie, not that I'm planning on doing that. But I just want to see how far I can go, how good could I be. Nothing wrong with that, right? I'm just trying to create my own bar for some kid to follow.

TeenHollywood: Did your performance in Jay and Silent Bob influence your directing style at all?

Chris: Working with Kevin (Smith) made me wanna to direct and Kevin really pushed me to direct. There were a few times while we were doing Dogma that he would definitely ask me 'Is this funny or not?' My relationship with Kevin definitely was one of the things that said 'you know what? Maybe I should give this a shot.'

TeenHollywood: Did any directors give you advice other than Kevin Smith?

Chris: Yeah. I talked to Dick Donner and Neil LaBute, talked to Schumacher. I talked to Eddie Murphy. Everybody had their own little thing. A director gave me one tip, 'never pick an interior with stairs' because you've got to lug all the equipment up and the teamsters are pissed off at you'. I talked to pretty much every director I worked with.

TeenHollywood: What are your feelings about the Presidential project Chris Tucker has in development?

Chris: I wish him well. You know, I remember in one year like three meteors hit the United States so you can have a lot of movies about the same thing. I'm sure Chris's will be hysterical. I'll be there. I'll be the first guy to see it.

TeenHollywood: Would you want to take on a serious dramatic role?

Chris: I did a little bit in Nurse Betty. I scalped a guy. How much more serious can you get? Yeah, I'll definitely do some more drama. I'll never star in a drama. That'll never happen. I wouldn't put the public through that. Nobody wants to see Chris rock crying. I love doing supporting things but three months of being serious...hell, no.

TeenHollywood: Are we going to see any more HBO stand-up specials soon?

Chris: I got no job so whenever I have no job......I think the last one I did was about three years ago. The world's changed enough that I wouldn't be talking about the same stuff. Very, very possible.

TeenHollywood: Did you allow a lot of improv in your movie?

Chris: Yeah, we did a lot of improv. But, I'm not the biggest fan of improv. My motto is the best improv is the one you thought of yesterday. You do too much it means you weren't prepared. You didn't think of it from every angle.

TeenHollywood: You have six brothers. Do you get any comedy ideas from your family?

Chris: Yeah, Andre, Tony, Brian, Jordan (thinking), yeah, six. Yeah, I definitely get material because they live normal lives so I have to live vicariously their experiences. I get a lot of stuff from them and my friends. They're not in show business so I listen extra hard to what they're going through.

TeenHollywood: When you're at home and you're not working, what do you do?

Chris: Lately I just play with my baby actually. Just on the floor goo goo-ing and trying to get her to smile or whatever. That's pretty much it. Trying to get the kid tired enough to go to sleep. Just blow on the kid's stomach and they laugh. Whoooo, they tend to laugh. They like fart sounds, these kids.

TeenHollywood: How has fatherhood changed you?

Chris: Not a bit. Just got a kid, man. I'm the same guy with a kid. I'm from the Eminem school of fatherhood. Keepin' it raw. The only thing I think about is I've gotta make some more money. I've got a kid. I have to provide for my kid. One thing that's really important to me too is to not be miserable with what I'm doing. I've got to take jobs where I'm happy so I don't come home mad. My dad used to come home pissed off. So I try to come home with a good attitude for my kid. That's important to me.