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*It seems like it has taken forever…foreva eva?...for OutKast’s labor of love “Idlewild” to be released, considering the obscene amount of times Universal and HBO Films have pushed back the opening date. But the film is finally in theaters today, and according to early film reviews, the project was well worth the wait.
Set in the 1930s American South, “Idlewild” is an aural and visual feast from the creative minds of OutKast rappers Andre “3000” Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi” Patton – as delivered through the lens of music video director Bryan Barber.
In a rare joint interview, the childhood friends say they’ve never bothered to worry about staying within boundaries in hip hop, as evidenced by such hits as “Hey Ya,” and “Bombs Over Baghdad.” Dre said the same attitude applied to the crafting of “Idlewild.”
“The only frame that we had on this movie was the 1930s theme,” said Dre. “We had to remember we were in a certain time period, but we still had to remember to keep up OutKast as well.”
In the film, Benjamin plays a mortician named Percival, who works on the dead by day at a funeral home owned by his father (Ben Vereen), but comes alive at night as the piano player for a club managed by Rooster, portrayed by Big Boi.
The club, called Church, sees some shady doings every night – between the various patrons who make money off of illegal side hustles, the larger-than-life owner Sunshine Ace (Faizon Love), the Shug Avery-like singer Taffy (Macy Gray), the dancers, the showgirls and musicians. Throw in the influence by a gangster named Trumpy (Terrence Howard) and Rooster has a lot to deal with. Did we mention his suspicious wife, Zora (Malinda Williams)?
Dre said it was Barber who decided to plunge all of that drama into a hot bubbling vat of the 1930s. “I think it was a great choice because we don’t get to see that a lot now. When you go to the theater, you wanna be taken somewhere. I think it’s easier to take somebody somewhere else if you actually take them to another time.
An aspect of the time period particularly attractive to Big Boi was the stature and demeanor carried by African Americans. He explains: “It was a certain type of class; it wasn’t so relaxed where you’re slouched in your seat. I mean, you sit up with your back straight and you walk with your head high and it’s really like a distinguished gentleman – from the wardrobe down to the cars down to how they were dancing back then.”
To get into the mindset of young men operating in the 30s, the duo said they watched such films as “Casablanca” and “Stormy Weather,” and looked to the veteran actors within arm’s reach, including Vereen, Cicely Tyson, Patti LaBelle and Ving Rhames.
“It puts you in another league. It lets you know that this project was something not to be taken lightly,” Dre says of the film’s elder statesmen. “It wasn’t like we were begging people to be in this movie. The script was done and it was circulated, and all these actors said they wanted to be a part of it. You had Ben Vereen around, and he acted as our set acting coach almost. And Cicely Tyson, these are people that you grew up with, you know, little kids watching ‘Miss Jane Pittman.’ And now you in a movie with these people.”
“Chicken George training Rooster out in the parking lot,” Big Boi reminisces. “It was crazy.”
“It says a lot for the work. It says a lot for what’s on paper,” Dre says, “because a lot of actors don’t even fool with mess.”
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