VIBE: So what drew you to the Next Day Air script?
Mike Epps: The script was good. I knew the writer [Blair Cobbs] a long time, and he was telling me about this script [whispering] “Hey Mike, I got a good script for you.” We were sitting down reading it and Brody came up. I was like, “Damn, I’ve got to be a part of that joint!” When you read a good script in Hollywood and it got that gunplay and cocaine, all that good shit, it’s hard to give that shit up.
And you had a solid surrounding cast. What was the filming experience like?
It was cool. Everyone brought their own thing to the table. You had a rapper [in] Mos Def. Me, a comedian. You had Wood Harris. So it’s like, damn, you’ve got all of these people that do different things in one movie. You gon’ get gumbo type of talent out of that.
Word is the film was shot in only 20 days. Do you prefer working at a quicker pace?
If you can get away with it and do some good work, yes. If it’s going to fuck your film up, then no. It’s usually, like, seven or eight weeks. We shot that shit quick. That shit is hot, man. But that’s how them independent films are: make ’em for $2 and sell them for $6.
This is Benny Boom’s big-screen directorial debut, after getting his start shooting music videos. How does the movie compare to Hype Williams’ Belly?
Benny’s is a real movie. No disrespect to Belly, but Benny’s movie was a real movie. A real good movie. It was good to work with Benny, man. Benny is very smart. He knew what he wanted. He had great direction in bringing stuff out of the different actors.
Did you notice anything he brought from the music video world into the film?
I appreciated his experience with that, because to some extent, it did help the movie and make it different. Gave it a hip hop twist.
Were there any funny moments on set?
Yeah, while we were shooting the movie, you could tell all of the people who really did cocaine because [they] couldn’t sit still. It was hard for them to look at all that fake coke. [Laughs] They had the boo-boo’s.
Where do you see your career going from here? Are afraid of getting typecast for comedy-action movies?
I’m going to stick with the comedy-action type movies. I always do different roles, man. Fighting Temptations, Talk To Me, Resident Evil, the Fridays, All About The Benjamins, Bait, How High—I was playing the little pimp. Don’t let it fool you. I got many, many attributes.
One that was announced a couple years back was a role depicting Richard Pryor. What’s the status on that project?
I think the people want me to do it, but we gotta convince the director that I’m the one. They just don’t have their ear to the streets. They don’t know, man. When I saw they were trying to get Jamie Foxx and Eddie Murphy to do it, I knew [the director] didn’t know. They just white people that that’s all they see, big-star names. They don’t even have the ego to ask a black person who is the man. I went to sit with Richard for a year, so if it’s meant for me to do it, I’ma do it. But if I don’t do it, I’ma blow up even harder. That’s how I feel about things. You tell me “No,” I’m coming back with nine “Yeses.”
What makes you the man for the job?
Who else out here gon’ do it? I’m the same height, same complexion, I’m just as real. I’m from the Midwest, like he is. They can deny it if they want. If they go and shoot that movie with somebody else, I would love to go see it. I’ma leave it like that. But people are going to hate that. Because everywhere I go, that’s all people ask me. You can’t announce me to do it and then take it back from me. But that ain’t gon’ stop me. I didn’t get in the business to do the Richard Pryor movie. I got into the business to be Mike Epps.
That includes dabbling in the rap world, too. What should fans expect from your forthcoming independent rap album, Funny Bidness?
I’m having fun, comedy rapping. I ain’t trying to be no rapper. I’ma let them have that. I’m just cracking jokes while I’m rapping. Go check out that album, July 21.
What’s the moral we can draw from the plot of Next Day Air?
Don’t ever give your life up for the love of money.
home