John Singleton is one of the few black directors to make it big in Hollywood — and to join the mainstream in a way even Spike Lee has not managed. His first movie, Boyz n the Hood, a gritty ghetto drama, won extensive acclaim, and helped launch the careers of Laurence Fishburne, Cuba Gooding Jnr and Angela Basset. But Singleton has refused to remain in the ghetto, moving on to bigger movies without a distinctive racial background, such as the bike-racing sequel 2 Fast 2 Furious — and, on the way, directing a string of pop videos for Michael Jackson. But he also revisited the past of black filmmaking in the United States with his remake of the famous detective thriller Shaft. Now, with Four Brothers, he puts black actors such as André Benjamin and Tyrese Gibson together with Mark Wahlberg and Garrett Hedlund as four brothers adopted by the same woman — whose death they are determined to investigate and avenge.
How would you describe Four Brothers? Is it an action film?
The film isn’t a traditional genre movie. I mean, there are elements of all types of genres in this picture — action certainly, but also drama, comedy and the thriller. It’s not just one thing and those are the type of films that really attract me.
Can you tell us a little bit about the story?
Well, it’s about these four guys, who are grown up now, but they’re former foster children. They had the good fortune to be adopted by a woman named Evelyn Mercer, who took them under her wing, despite all their problems and made her best effort to try to raise them right. What happens is, she gets murdered and the boys come back for her funeral and they find out that her murder wasn’t as random as they at first assume. Everything is not what it appears and they set about discovering who murdered her and why.
What was it that appealed to you about this plot?
It wasn’t so much the story initially. Originally, I really wanted the opportunity to make a picture in the environment in which the film is set: winter in Detroit, with lots of snow around. It’s a whole other kind of world than any of my other films. The second thing was that it was a great opportunity to work with Mark [Wahlberg]. Mark and I have known each other for more than 10 years, and, you know, we’ve partied and hung out together, but we hadn’t had a chance to just do a movie.
You suggested that Four Brothers combined various genres, but you didn’t mention the western. The way you shot many of the scenes seemed close to classic westerns.
Definitely. I’m a big western fan and I think it’s the most quintessential American genre in terms of filmmaking. I think that pretty much every movie that I’ve ever done can be broken down into western motifs, but it’s really strong in Four Brothers. You know, Mark’s character, Bobby Mercer, is the lone gunman who’s been out in the wild for so long and who’s coming back to town to bring justice and revenge, even if it means taking the law into his own hands.
You said you wanted to shoot in snow. How did that work out?
It was difficult! I mean, we shot on a frozen lake — it’s the dead of winter and we have this pristine lake with a layer of snow on top of it. The next day we come back and it has rained and there’s a foot of water on top of the frozen lake! It certainly wasn’t safe to take out the generator and electrical equipment we need for filming. But I felt like I was using the snow and the cold almost as a character in the film and I was really intrigued by that and it’s just beautiful too. It looks great.
Including Wahlberg, there are three musicians-turned-actors in the cast of Four Brothers. Do you particularly like working with musicians?
I think it’s more about people I know and like and finding the exact right person for the part. I mean, I’ve known Tyrese forever and he’s been in two of my movies before [Baby Boy and 2 Fast 2 Furious], so I know he’s got the goods. André [of rap group OutKast] is in the picture because he and I have known each other for more than 10 years and he’s always been interested in acting, so I was very happy to cast him. The camera really loves André’s face and it’s cool because he’s really learning the craft and he’s taken it to heart. He’s trying really hard and I’ve seen him, through the course of shooting the picture, just get better and better and better.
Does Four Brothers have a message?
I don’t know about a message, but I think that one of the main themes of the picture is the theme of brother-hood and friendship and what it means. The guys in the movie are not bonded by blood, they’re bonded by brotherhood. I think that’s a really strong theme in this picture, and, for that matter, in the pictures I’ve done in the past. I don’t think many mainstream pictures show contemporary men being strong and thoughtful and sensitive at the same time. I sometimes think I make men’s movies, but women really love them because the men are so interesting, so well-rounded — not just one-dimensional kind of guys.