Terrence Howard: Playing a Real Life Hero

From Crash, where he played an upwardly-mobile, rather wimpy businessman to Hustle and Flow where Terrence Howard impressed us as a struggling pimp, we can't take our eyes off this green-eyed wonder. He'll tackle another genre this summer as part of the cast of the comic-book spin off Iron Man. This month, you can catch Mr. Howard as an inspiring swimming coach in the urban underdog story Pride. The actor told us about his training in the swimming pool and his research into his real life character, a fellow who turned around a whole neighborhood by bringing a youth center back to life and creating a winning swim team from scratch.

Talented Terrence is one spiffy dresser. When we chatted with him at Beverly Hills' 4 Seasons hotel recently, he was wearing a light blue suit, a very pale violet shirt, stripe tie and a really cool star-shaped diamond lapel pin.

TeenHollywood: Oh, I love that pin on your lapel. What's the story behind that?

Terrence: When I was in school, I learned about those asteroids in the Kuyper Belt that are made up of diamonds. There is a complete diamond, over a mile and a half in diameter. I found a company that actually grows diamonds through a process called CVD which is Chemical Vapor Deposition. They grow a one carat diamond in a week. In order to mine diamonds, you have to move on average 250 tons of earth, not to mention the destruction of land but the destruction of the ecosystems. So these are now the compassionate diamonds and I would encourage people to look to the future and no longer destroy anything.

TeenHollywood: Wow, that was impressive! Uh, about this film. Did you know anything about coach Jim Ellis before you took on this movie?

Terrence: I knew about his nature, but I didn't know his work. I sat down with him in this little cafe off of Barren Hill Road in a little town in Philadelphia called Lafayette Hill. I had just come off the whole Oscar stuff and I was exhausted and tired of smiling and tired of doing all that stuff (laughs) and Jim looked at me and in one moment, he calmed my nature just by asking 'Why do you want to play me?' He has the ability of subtle suggestion and everyone who listens to him becomes susceptible to that and I was wondering 'where does his power come from?' He cares. He genuinely cares. He was generous with his time. He still has a swimming pool that does not have heat, and he has to run a hose every morning to heat up that water for his kids. He's still fighting to build a suitable recreational facility, where they can instruct students.

TeenHollywood: Maybe they will after this movie. Ellis is really a hero and he had his own personal losses. Can you talk about that?

Terrence: Yeah, well that's what makes him a hero. He's able to lift off of the things that would normally hold us all back and, for the greater good, extend himself and not care about the personal loss because he thought of the mutual gain of everyone and, to this day, he still smiles. He still wants to get one of his swimmers on the Olympic team. He's had a number of them try out on the Olympic trials. He's always looking to the future and that's what helps us overcome our faults. We all make mistakes. Man, I make mistakes every day. He makes mistakes all the time. He's a divorced man but he hasn't allowed any of those faults to stop him. He's got a quick temper and he could have gotten a lot further if he'd been nicer to the people inside of City Hall and all of that, but he has a determination to do things his way, which is the right way.

TeenHollywood: Swimming isn't the first sport that we think of African-Americans excelling at; not like basketball or football.

Terrence: You know we had only four Black people compete in the swimming in the Olympics in all the years of the Olympics. Why? Because we don't have the facilities to teach them and to expose them to it. One out of three African Americans can't swim. So, the sad thing about that [is] if one of their children falls in a swimming pool, the children will drown. Can you imagine being a parent and you can't save your child? You can't jump in there to save your child. So I have a great deal of respect for this man.

TeenHollywood: He's very inspiring. What kind of training did you do for the role? You are in the pool lookin' good.

Terrence: [grins] The question is what kind of training didn't I do. (Laughs) I mean it felt like I was training to be an astronaut or something because I spent anywhere from 3,500 to 4,000 yards a day of swimming. You're talking about 150 to 200 laps a day. Your shoulders are dead tired. Your spirit is tired. You hate water. You're all wrinkled up like you're 95 years old. It was hard and then on top of that, I still had to work with this guy named Darrell Foster who's Will Smith's trainer and he demanded an hour of lifting and at least 45 minutes of running every day. He would make you do it but he would run with you and lift with you.

TeenHollywood: Did you keep it up?

Terrence: Yeah, I'm still there. Still there, but it's a team effort, you know. Anyone inside of Will's camp runs with him every day or they're no longer in his camp, anyone that's got an association with him. Like right now, Pierce, his hairdresser, cuts my hair now and Pierce asked Will, 'Is it OK if I go and work with Terrence?' And he said, 'Terrence is part of my camp and you are my connection to him. If I need to reach him, you're there and you're there to keep him running'. (Laughs) So this morning I was exhausted. I had the benefit of being in an art gallery last night and Hugh Hefner was there and some of his Playboy girls and I was having a good time (laughs). I got in at 12 o'clock and got up at 5 o'clock this morning and had my run but I still gotta do my hour of lifting.

TeenHollywood: Bernie Mac plays a very dramatic role in this film...although he's still funny. Did you give him any pointers in dramatic acting?

Terrence: No, you don't need to help Bernie. (Laughs) See, to have that comical wit, it means you must be smarter that everyone else around you, and he understands the dramatic pauses and that's the beautiful thing about him. You don't know if he's playing or if he's dead serious about what he's doing, and he can make light of a heavy situation. Wait 'til you see the DVD outtakes (laughs). Bernie brought the film home for us. Me, I'm a drama king. I talk in this mellow, melancholy way and you know that's just my nature. Bernie kept it honest and I love that about him.

TeenHollywood: Can you talk about working on Iron Man which is a total fantasy world compared to this picture?

Terrence: Well, not when you're working with Robert Downey Jr. There ain't no fantasy there. (Laughs) You're talkin' about gettin' ready for some action. I wanted to work with Robert Downey because he has a spontaneity and a fearlessness that I get close to, but I'm still very conservative and reserved in the choices I make. He doesn't care. He just does it. He believes in jumping out of the air craft at 25,000 feet in the air and just go 'whoooooooo' all the way down. (Laughs) I want to learn that. And then you add Jeff Bridges to the mix. He's from another planet because he's present but then he's ahead of you at the same time. And then we got Gwyneth Paltrow, so there's nothing fantastical about it. It's like, 'Alright, you said you wanted to be an actor?' Every single one of these people has been nominated for or won an Academy Award. So now let's see what you're made of.'

TeenHollywood: Sounds like a challenge. Who's your character in Iron Man?

Terrence: I play a guy named James Rhodes who becomes a war machine. I'm a Lieutenant Colonel in the Air Force and I'm liaison between Starks Enterprises and the military in the Department of Acquisitions.

TeenHollywood: Okay, you are known as a very snappy, GQ style dresser. The 1970's clothes in this film were .. well, what do you think of those plaid suits, love them or hate them?

Terrence: Love 'em. Love 'em. Love 'em.

TeenHollywood: Are you serious?

Terrence: Love 'em, as long as you don't mix it with stripes.

TeenHollywood: That's for sure. You have another movie you are signed to make, The Brave One. Can you talk about that?

Terrence: Oh my God, The Brave One is incredible. It's really, really great. I got a call from Alan Horn at Warner Brothers and Joel Silver and they were beyond themselves and I'm happy because Jodie Foster personally recommended me and said 'I want him' and I didn't want to fail her.

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Lynn Barker is a Hollywood-based entertainment journalist and produced screenwriter.