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Release Date: July 13, 2007 (limited; wider
release: Jul. 27; wide release: Aug. 3)Studio: Focus Features Director: Kasi Lemmons Screenwriter: Michael Genet, Rick Famuyiwa Starring: Cedric the Entertainer, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Don Cheadle, Martin Sheen, Mike Epps, Taraji P. Henson, Vondie Curtis Hall Genre: Drama MPAA Rating: R (for pervasive language and some sexual content) **** INDEX 1. Synopsis 2. About Ralph Waldo "Petey" Green, Jr. 3. The Production 4. See It 5. Sing It See
It The entire crew of Talk to Me concentrated on capturing an era – though not always one that was documented in the history books. Lemmons says, “A lot of the story takes place in parts of Washington that are not monument-heavy, so we chose locations that had a community feel. “[Cinematographer] Stéphane Fontaine and I wanted a lush look for the ‘70s sequences. In general, though, we all watched a great deal of documentary footage and tried to rise to the challenge of matching it.” Production designer Warren Alan Young felt the full weight of the past in his efforts to recreate Washington – where he resides part-time – from the late 1960s through to the early 1980s. He offers, “The idea was to recreate what existed as best as we possibly could, so that Kasi could tell this story. A lot of time and energy went into researching exactly what things looked like – building façades, the front of the newspapers, the label on a 7-Up can…Our graphic artists had to make a lot of signage, because things we found are 30-40 years old and we needed things to look fresh in the scenes in the movie. We hope audience members who were will look at the film and say, ‘Yes, that was it.’ “Washington is one of the most heavily documented cities on the planet, particularly during the ‘60s and ‘70s. Yet there are very few images from there – or anywhere in the Unites States – of black people outside of protests and crime, and in day-to-day life. I did find one man, on the Internet, who was uploading his family snapshots dating back to the 1950s, so that was helpful.” Young notes, “I wanted to – I wouldn’t say, ‘establish a color palette,’ but apply the colors that we know existed in the time periods we’re depicting. We also had to create colors that were complementary to all of our actors, so we did a number of camera tests with colors to find what would work where and with whom. Overall, we were able to cultivate a very warm feel with greens, oranges, reds, and yellows; the only time we see blue is in Dewey’s apartment – a sort of federal blue, given that he’s a formal guy. “My department worked very closely with the costume department on Talk to Me; they had a copy of the color schemes for each set so they knew what they were walking into, or onto. We had to make some changes along the way; a lot of people tend to think of style in terms of decade-long increments, but we learned it’s a lot faster than that. From the mid-1960s to the ‘80s, it was about every three years. You may have been ‘in’ with your hairstyle in ’66, but by ’69 or ’70 you had to move on.” Costume designer Gersha Phillips took her cues not only from Young’s color coordinating, but also from Lemmons’ concepts of Dewey as “button-down and pressed” and Petey as “out there.” Phillips searched through vintage magazines, books, and photographs for inspiration. Given music’s importance to the era, she also looked at iconic recording artists’ styles. Phillips reveals, “I was truly excited to be exploring this particular period – where people became empowered and tried to effect change – and have a little more fun than on the average movie. Men’s fashion was fabulous and exciting in the late 1960s – and into the early ‘70s, even; I wish men would dress more like that now! Just looking at the things that people actually wore – wow. There was so much experimentation with different fabrics and colors. To our eyes now, these outfits may look strange, but they’re what actually was worn. “We found an article in Esquire that talked about the ‘male plumage,’ as in peacock. It was all about dressing to be seen, combining accessories from head to toe so that everything was on and looking great. Petey definitely was a peacock, a dresser; he had a unique way of putting colors and combinations together. From the photos we had, you can tell that clothing was important to him. Kasi encouraged me to go as far as I needed to go with costumes for Don. The red velvet suit – which took four different tries – and the mesh underwear were particular favorites.” Don Cheadle sports over three dozen costume changes in Talk to Me, all designed by Phillips and her team to echo Petey’s idiosyncratic approach to his life. Cheadle laughs, “All of those accoutrements – the wig, moustache, mutton chops, clothes that were tight as hell – helped me to find the character. Once I looked in the mirror, I wasn’t looking at myself; I saw Petey.” “Don was my hero,” states Phillips. “He allowed me to do what I needed to, and it was a joy to work with him. He wears the clothes amazingly well; he would walk right into them and become Petey. The day he was supposed to wear this jumpsuit, he said, ‘Gersha, I can’t…’ But he did, and he strutted it!” Cheadle admits, “It was fun to dress up and revisit those times. Now, you don’t want to detract from the story, but I feel that Gersha did a great job in taking us back into that period in a way that was both believable and strong. When you looked around the set and saw the world the crew had re-created, with everyone costumed, you were like, ‘Oh, okay, I know where I am.’” Phillips adds, “There’s a line that you don’t want to cross. But when you’re looking at one outfit alone, that’s different from when it’s in a room of people similarly dressed. So then it’s not that far-out.” On the opposite end of the spectrum, Phillips muses that Chiwetel Ejiofor, as Dewey, “wears one suit throughout a lot of the movie. It’s always crisp and pressed. Petey and Dewey are like night and day. But as their friendship progresses, you see a little bit of Petey influence Dewey. “With Vernell, it was ‘anything goes.’ The outfits she wears are risqué, and sometimes almost lingerie. It was hard to find vintage fabrics, so we got some vintage dresses and re-cut them, made them shorter and opened the necklines more. For the scenes between her and Petey, we had to balance between, rather than completely match, them; one simmers down a little as the other pops out, or the reverse. For example, when he’s in the red velvet suit, we put red shoes on her and gave her a red purse. Every time, Taraji was a blast to work with and to dress.” Henson says, “It was lovely. I enjoyed all the different costumes, hair, nails, and lashes I got to wear. Vernell dresses over-the-top, and with lots of colors, which works for me. Although, with the middle cut out of so many of the clothes I was wearing, I couldn’t eat dessert at lunch…” The hair department, headed by Etheline Joseph and Allison Mondesir, worked closely with Phillips’ staff and had its own trailer. There was an extensive collection of wigs, including Afros and other types of hairpieces. Any wig that was used during a shooting day had to be cleaned at the end of the day and readied for the next day’s shoot. This required considerable effort, given the number of extras who were assembled for some sequences. Meeting another challenge, the filmmakers secured permission from the estate of Johnny Carson to use footage from The Tonight Show starring Johnny Carson. Although Petey ultimately did not appear with the legendary host on his iconic NBC program, in Talk to Me Don Cheadle as Petey does – dramatizing a dream that was cherished by Dewey, if not Petey. Executive producer J. Miles Dale clarifies, “We reverse-engineer Don, as Petey, into an existing show. In the script, Johnny Carson is Dewey’s hero. So that appealed to the Carson estate; they also got the message of the script, and we got a telecast to use.” Young adds, “Working from video footage and photos, we built a re-creation – with the curtain, the chair, the desk, the bandstand – of the last set that Carson had in New York City before heading off to the West Coast.” Aside from New York, the film’s seven-week shoot also took the production to such notable locations as Ben’s Chili Bowl (in Washington’s “Black Broadway” district) and the Washington Monument. Two full days were needed to film a sequence of the rioting that took place in Washington following the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on April 4th, 1968. In what became a defining moment in his broadcasting career, Petey went on the air that night – and stayed on. Michael Genet remembers, “I was at my grandmother’s house having dinner when the news flashed across the TV. It was already a warm night, but when the news broke, you instantly felt the temperature of the city raise a hundredfold. That night, my father and Petey did a marathon broadcast to help squash the riots and convince people to go home.” Vondie Curtis Hall reflects, “Petey was the right man to calm the rioting crowds of D.C. that night, because people knew he was one of them. He wasn’t trying to tell them how to live, or preach to them. He was saying, ‘This ain’t it, this ain’t the way to go tonight, and I don’t think Dr. King would have wanted you to do this. This is our community, and if you burn it down, we’re burning down our own stuff.’” This had long been Petey’s counsel to his community, especially the young. Even before Dr. King was assassinated, he had said, “If we burn things down, ain’t nobody going to get hurt but us.” Genet offers, “Although a lot of property and businesses were destroyed, Dewey and Petey’s efforts at WOL saved more shops – and lives. Martial law was declared the next day, and LBJ sent in troops full of white soldiers.” Sheen remembers, “D.C. looked like an armed camp after Reverend King’s murder, and it could have gotten worse; who knows what would have happened if Petey hadn’t gotten on the air and calmed people? He made a huge contribution.” Genet states, “Petey made us feel, and he made us think – which, by definition, makes him one of the true artists of his time. He embodied a power in radio that we haven’t seen since and aren’t likely to see again.” NEXT |
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Production notes, photos and promotional video © 2007 Focus Features
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