20 Questions: Danny Glover

Danny Glover wants people to notice him. We noticed him in movies such as "The Color Purple," "Places in the Heart," "Silverado," "Predator II," "Lethal Weapon" and "Lethal Weapon II," the miniseries "Lonesome Dove" and HBO's "Mandela." We also noticed his passion when discussing issues of color. Glover is a winner of the NAACP Image Award and a member of the Black Filmmakers Hall of Fame. He's also a community activist who takes one month a year to speak to children and young adults about education, drug abuse and other issues. Contributing Editor David Rensin met with Glover in Los Angeles during the filming of Lawrence Kasdan's "Grand Canyon," due later this year. Says Rensin, "Glover had just waked up after a tough night shoot. He sprawled in a comfortable sofa chair, wearing jeans, a hotel bathrobe and a greenish herbal face mask that covered his cheeks, chin and neck. It didn't seem to inhibit his responses."

1.

[Q] Playboy: Some white people seem to like you because they consider you the pre-eminent "safe" black actor. Do you resent that?

[A] Glover: [Chuckles] No, because black people also like me. It's great that white people like me. It's not as if I feel I've misrepresented myself because they like me. Just because Asians or Mexicans like me, that doesn't trivialize me, either. My wife likes me. [Laughs] That's the most important thing.

[A] Besides, I don't know if I'm safe, because I don't know what's dangerous. Was Paul Robeson dangerous because of what he represented--a very powerful black man with an incredible presence? Or was he dangerous because of his political convictions? If anything, that label started with hiring people who were safe because they made the funniest faces, as opposed to men who would stand up and tell you that they were a man on the screen, just by looking at you, without saying a word. Paul Robeson was one of those, but Stepin Fetchit wasn't. Is that how we define safe? Sidney Poitier's considered safe, but when he said, "They call me Mr. Tibbs" in In the Heat of the Night, man, he made a whole bunch of people sit up straight.

2.

[Q] Playboy: Since you mentioned Poitier--is there anything we don't know about you that would keep us from inviting you to dinner?

[A] Glover: I have a tendency to pick off everybody's plate. The mothers of my girlfriends used to love me, because I'd go right into the house, go into the kitchen, open up the icebox and look for something to eat. I'd go in and lift the tops off pots.

3.

[Q] Playboy: In Lethal Weapon II, you captured the record for the most on-screen time spent on the toilet. Describe the experience.

[A] Glover: First, my ass was sore! [Laughs] I wanted to experience the actual feeling of sitting there and not being able to move. I tried to achieve that physical fatigue. Sometimes I stayed on for almost two hours straight. I didn't let my stand-in do it. My ass hurt, my legs hurt. I tried to keep from moving a muscle. I read the magazine on my lap over and over.

[A] The fear that accompanied the fatigue came from a recurring nightmare I have. I dream I can't move my body. I start sweating. The more I try to move, the more impossible it becomes. The only way out is to holler--and on the toilet, I held that in. When I have the nightmare, I'll flail around in bed and my wife will be going, "Danny! Danny! Danny! Danny!" I think the whole thing comes, to some extent, from having had epileptic seizures from the time I was fifteen until I was about thirty.

4.

[Q] Playboy: Can you take us inside a seizure?

[A] Glover: What happened progressively with my epileptic seizures is that I would begin to remember more and more of them. At first, it was like somebody just knocked me out. As I got older, they became controllable to some extent. I was able to remember what was happening. I was able to remember every element of what happened--the uncontrollable shaking. To be conscious in the middle of one is hell. I'd get to a point where I'd tell someone to grab me, to hold me, so I wouldn't injure myself. I'd tell them there was a point where I was going to lose control.

5.

[Q] Playboy: What's more embarrassing to an actor--doing a scene on the toilet or doing a nude love scene?

[A] Glover: For me, the toilet scene. Like I say, you pull inspiration from your life. I remember the first time I ever had to sit on a toilet in public was when I went to jail. I was probably about twenty-six. I'd get four hundred dollars' worth of parking tickets, wait for the warrants to come out and I'd go turn myself in. I'd spend the weekend in the San Francisco jail and they'd be cleared up. Now I pay them--it's safer. At the time, the people I'd have to spend the weekend with weren't crack addicts, just alcoholics and others busted for petty stuff. The cell would have maybe fourteen people, five, six beds on one side and one toilet. So you had to sit right in the middle of everybody and shit. The worst was when everyone was eating and you had to shit. Everybody around the table would groan. And the shit don't come out! [Pauses] It blew my mind when I saw that scene in the script!

6.

[Q] Playboy: What do you know about Mel Gibson that no woman ever could?

[A] Glover: It's not like I know that he sucks his thumb when he's asleep or anything. The moments we have--when I'm holding him in my lap at the end of Lethal Weapon II--we're able to create because we let go of some part of ourselves on screen. [Pauses] I remember doing a play called Wolves. At the end of it, I kiss this man. The play is really about a transference of power--I'm transferring the power that I've maintained through a kiss. We kissed every night for, like, ten, twelve weeks. And we were able to get to a point where we didn't feel embarrassed. Now, somebody might think, Uh-oh, Danny's going in a different direction. But we were just able to commit to the moment and not carry the baggage off stage. It's make-believe.

7.

[Q] Playboy: Which of Mel's love secrets did he pass on to you?

[A] Glover: [Big laugh] Can we say this? How to walk away from pussy. He's happily married, with a bunch of kids, but he gets pussy thrown at him all the time. I have watched him walk away from it. If Mel can walk away from it, then so can I.

8.

[Q] Playboy: But how does Mel say no?

[A] Glover: Mel has a way. His method, I think, is really his shyness. He can divert the conversation; without minimizing you, he can neutralize the effect you could possibly have on him or his desires.

[A] I learned to say no by stringing the mental part out a long time after the first flash to the point where I didn't want to do it. Of course, if you discover the energy is reciprocal, that's when you start talking about the wife and kids. [Laughs] There have been times in my relationship with my wife when we've had long discussions about me translating the mental phenomenon into a physical one. I guess being older, among other reasons, changes things. You just get tired. It's a lot of work, and you just don't have the energy. I don't have the energy anymore. I find out how much energy I have every time I get on that stationary bicycle every morning. [Sighs]

9.

[Q] Playboy: What's the first thing you hope people notice about you?

[A] Glover: Hmmm. Really? I want them to notice I'm impressive. In the way that I carry myself, in the way that I walk. Physically. "Boy, that's an impressive-looking man." It's interesting: I've wanted that since I was a kid and it hasn't really changed. I want people to like me. I figure if they respond to me physically, then they'll respond to me in other ways--to my intelligence. "Well, I think he ain't that dumb. He's got a somewhat clear picture about what he is and what he thinks he is."

10.

[Q] Playboy: Imagine that a Martian came to earth and wanted to know what the black experience was. What cultural thing might you show to explain it?

[A] Glover: I'd go to a black church. Something happens there that transcends place and time. There are other places, too. Before I had any kind of visibility, walking on 125th Street in Harlem was magical. Just taking in life there. In some communities, the church and 125th Street coexist. These are two obvious cultural metaphors. Another is less obvious: watching a black man work. The dignity of it intrigues me. Our work contains part of our humanity. I've worked at hospitals, as a longshoreman. It's something about the way in which we use our hands.

[A] Of course, what comes to mind is the misconception that black men don't want to work. We lack opportunities--and so, maybe when they come about, the work takes on a whole other meaning and beauty. Perhaps I'm partial to this because I watched my mother and dad work. There was something about my mother--when she worked, you always wanted to join in. You could not stand apart. I think I'm endowed with that kind of spirit in terms of my work.

11.

[Q] Playboy: Can you recall the last time you were brought uncomfortably face to face with your skin color?

[A] Glover: I had an experience recently and it made me realize, clearly, that skin color is what makes the difference. I was getting off the plane in Oakland and a young girl who'd been on the plane with me walked alongside me. We started talking, and pretty quickly, she got around to saying, "If you walk next to me and it looks like we know each other, people will say, 'Boy, she knows Danny Glover. God dang.'" So we were walking off the plane, talking, and to make it a little bit real, I put my arm around her as we went down the hall. We were having an animated conversation. At the gate, her mother came up and didn't even acknowledge me. Didn't even acknowledge me. She looked the other way, as if her daughter were not talking to this black man. The girl says, "Mom, I want you to meet Danny." But her mom rushed off with her. I walked the other way, thinking, Boy, this is deep. Apparently, the girl said, "Well, that was Danny Glover, the movie star," or something like that, because her mother turned around and was, like, "Oh, wait!" I kept walking the other way. Bye! But, hey, that's some deep shit. It was a reminder.

12.

[Q] Playboy: You played Nelson Mandela in 1987, on HBO. Three years later, he was free and visiting the United States. For the sake of those who just thought he was an old black man on tour, give us the short course on Mandela's contribution and most important qualities. What's his appeal?

[A] Glover: Nelson empowered people. There are certain people who know that they have power, like the Kennedys or President Bush. But unlike their power, Nelson's is based solely on principle. Nothing tangible. He took the intangible and made it tangible. He uplifted us, just on principle. Great men do that.

13.

[Q] Playboy: After you made The Color Purple, in which you play a black man who beats his wife, you were subject to a lot of criticism for your portrayal--by blacks. How did you handle the flak from your own community?

[A] Glover: I didn't lose no sleep over it. [Laughs] I fucking would have been upset if there hadn't been any criticism. This is a volatile subject and a very sensitive industry. Black people are very sensitive to their image and to the way they've been portrayed, and continue to be portrayed. The role of Mister was essential to the story, and what mattered was how we elevated people through the story. Mister's survival depended upon his willingness and his ability to change. Yet I've had people say, "Man, you like playing them negative roles. You played a negative role in To Sleep with Anger." What can you say, man? I mean, I'm telling a story about human beings changing, growing. That's what this job is about. However, my purpose is not to hold a mirror up to the black community. That's not my responsibility. I'm just helping tell a story, a fiction, through which people can see themselves. [Smiles] So I guess the mirror thing does happen, anyway.

14.

[Q] Playboy: To Sleep with Anger is really a jewel of a movie. It flies in the face of Hollywood's idea of the black experience. What did you do to achieve that? How do you produce truth in Hollywood?

[A] Glover: There's no formula in that film. Most of the pictures I do, there's some formula, though I can't deny that they unravel some level of truth. Charles Burnett [the director] wanted to carry us along on this journey in spite of the format in which you do it. He paid attention to that journey more than anything else.

15.

[Q] Playboy: Dennis Miller recently told a joke on Saturday Night Live. He said whites are now a minority in New York City. Then he said, tongue in cheek, "And we're getting tired of getting heat from the Man!" Given national population patterns, in certain areas, whites are in the minority. Do you think those whites should be given preferential treatment?

[A] Glover: [Big laugh] God, they already get preferential treatment. You're a minority in the world, and you get preferential treatment, anyway. Shit!

16.

[Q] Playboy: Did you do Predator II simply for the money or as a career move?

[A] Glover: Well, there are movies that you make... . My agent comes to me and says, "OK, let's look at this deal. What we want to do is be in a position to get the roles we want to get and do the things we want to do. Now, in order to do that, we have to be considered a player on some level. Someone's got to be able to say, 'Oh, that's Danny. A film he stars in did a hundred million dollars. Granted, it's a sequel, but it did that kind of business. He has that kind of visibility. It did wonders overseas.' Then we go to Warner Bros. and say, 'We want to do this with Danny, a script that he has. Would you be willing to put up the seven million and we'll go get the other seven million overseas because he's a player?'" So you do a film and you say, "This is a career move." Besides, when's the last time you saw a black man fighting a supernatural being?

17.

[Q] Playboy: As a forty-something, latter-day action hero who does a lot of his own running and jumping on screen, describe your relationship with your knees.

[A] Glover: My knees don't react the same way they used to, but I'm still relatively physical. I think the coup d'état came on Predator II. I was hanging off buildings and shit like that. But it's cool. I mean, I'm forty-four and you don't have a seat for me over at the rest home yet, so I'm all right. Besides, I've run since I was twenty. But I only run on beaches, no more concrete. I like the action stuff. I like movement. I wish I could have been a dancer, if there's a kind of dancer a big, tall, clumsy kid can be.

18.

[Q] Playboy: What's the role that you've never been offered and are dying to do?

[A] Glover: I've done one of the two people I think warrant getting their life done--Mandela. The other is Paul Robeson. I doubt if I'll ever get to do him. I'd be petrified if I were offered Robeson. I just think too much of him.

[A] Also, I haven't done a romantic lead. When I was doing Lethal Weapon, I played a good guy, with a family. I applaud that. But at the same time, he don't get no pussy. What's happening? Is it because he's older? Mel gets the pussy. [Smiles] But it'll happen where I get the girl. I'll do all right on that. [Laughs]

19.

[Q] Playboy: Imagine this: You're cast as the romantic lead; there are several love scenes. You pull the director aside and tell him who you want to be your leading lady--black or white. What's her name?

[A] Glover: First choice is Alfre Woodard. She stops my breath. I also like Whoopi Goldberg. She's really beautiful. I like to look at her. This is fun! Two white women occur to me: Amy Madigan, the long-haired version. She's hot. She's raw. I like raw women. And Anjelica Huston. But I already told Anjelica I love her. An-jel-ica! Jesus Christ, yeah! She's beautiful, and I like her mouth. She'd be a fun kisser. Now, if you want to go back to the classics, somebody I've always wanted to make love to--always, hope to die--is Sophia Loren. And then, when I saw her at the Academy Awards show, I thought, God, this ain't diminished!

[A] You may have noticed that I pick women around my age, too. I don't really get turned on by real young women, except to look at them. I want to think that I'm going to learn something from this. I talk about this with a couple of my buddies all the time. I have a friend--women love him--he's a model. He's real cool. But he likes them between twenty and thirty. That's like baby-sitting, man. I went through that. He has a kind of teacher thing about him. [Laughs] Of course, I like Julia Roberts, too.

20.

[Q] Playboy: What do you suspect would be the most interesting thing about being a woman? If you woke up as a woman tomorrow, what's the first thing you'd do?

[A] Glover: I'm so shaped by the women in my life. I always feel like I'm being nurtured by women. I think that they know so much more than I do. If I were a woman, I think I would know so much more. That's their most endearing element to me. One of the incredible things about women is that they have the capacity to experience and to feel so much more. And in that, they are just so magnificent. I tell people all the time that my wife is the D in Danny. I'm a joke compared with her. But it's all right. It's all right. I mean, I get a little heady sometimes and think that I make the ball roll, but, shit ... I could never be that magnificent. My life is a reflection of women of magnitude, all the way down to my daughter.

hollywood's sturdiest black star reveals how mel gibson says no, lists the women who should say yes and tells us why we may not want him to come to dinner