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

Sing It

Great music is heard throughout Talk to Me, and in one instance was re-created on-camera; hundreds of extras gathered on a large field at the University of Toronto to participate in the filming of a free James Brown concert introduced by Petey. Herbert L. Rawlings, Jr., who has long performed as the late great singer in tribute and revue shows, portrays him on-screen in Talk to Me, in a sequence set just after the assassination of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Rawlings proudly recalls, “Mr. Brown saw me perform once, in 1988, in Atlanta. He told me, ‘Did great. Did great.’ He was a legend. I loved him.”

As the cameras rolled, Rawlings wowed cast and crew alike as he leapt and spun around the stage, and growled the Godfather of Soul’s “Say It Loud – I’m Black and I’m Proud.” He offers, “James Brown’s stamina was amazing, so I always have to be in shape. Filming these scenes, I felt like I was reliving 1968. It was an honor.”

Don Cheadle adds, “That all felt so vibrant and alive. Herbert was amazing, doing jump-kick splits over the mike. There was a pregnant woman there, and she fainted; after receiving medical aid and food and water, she came back to the set, because she was having so much fun at the concert!”

Also having fun were local college students, who began taking photos; filming had to be stopped at least once when a 2006 cell phone got on-camera during the 1968 recreation. “Students came out of their dorms all through the night to party and dance – even though they were in the middle of their final exams,” remembers J. Miles Dale. “Since they weren’t in period wardrobe, we had to ask them to tuck themselves into the crowd of extras.”

To keep the crowd’s spirits up during filming breaks and delays, Cheadle performed his own original stand-up routines – drawing inspiration from not only the man he was portraying (who had performed stand-up comedy) but also Richard Pryor (who had died a few months prior to filming).

Michael Genet says, “The concert, along with Petey’s words on-air, played a major part in getting the people to set aside their rage – for the time being, at least.”

In addition to following Petey and Dewey’s lives and times, Talk to Me tracks the changing currents of the country’s music. “We go from Motown to Booker T. and the MGs, and Rufus Thomas, to name but a few,” explains Josh McLaughlin. “It’s a shift that’s very important to the movie. The music is transitioning into the same vibe that the clothes and the inner city itself are moving into, which is more of an edgier, cooler scene.”

Cheadle marvels, “The music from that era was so rich and lush in its orchestration and experimentation. These songs come on, and you remember where you were when you first heard them.”

Gersha Phillips says, “Kasi Lemmons made discs for us with the songs she wanted. I played them at our costume fittings, and everybody would get into it and be grooving. That created the right environment. A lot of the members of my team hadn’t necessarily heard this great music before, so it was a great introduction for them. I think Talk to Me will educate a lot of people about a lot of different things.”

Lemmons states, “Music is a very important character in the film. While writing, I listened to Sly & The Family Stone, Marvin Gaye, and the great Motown artists.

“It was very important to my process, and I came to realize that the script was musical. It had a rhythm and a beat, and Petey has a definite movement all his own. His message was, always to be true to yourself and keep it real.”

Cheadle reflects, “Combining the fashions, the music, and the way people talked about important things then, I hope Talk to Me will create a resurgence for that era – one comparable to what happened when we did Boogie Nights. I believe people are going to say, ‘I want some of that. I want back in there.’ 

“In my opinion, the conditions are perfect for a Petey Greene right now. Petey told it like he saw it, and at a time where that was so vital. I think it still is in this country. The youth of today should stand up; they’re not conditioned to think it’s the natural way to respond, as they were during the time period Talk to Me depicts. But, it is the time. It is the time.”

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Synopsis
In the mid-to-late 1960s, in Washington, D.C., vibrant soul music and exploding social consciousness were combining to unique and powerful effect. It was the place and time for Petey to fully express himself – sometimes to outrageous effect – and “tell it like it is.” ...