Don Cheadle plays
How did you prepare for the role?
Whenever you try to condense someone’s life story into 90 minutes, there are going to be changes and omissions, characters get amalgamated and re-invented. When I prepare, I research the character and read up about the person but I do try to read between the lines as we’re only trying to tell the story in one particular way. As far as Petey goes, I wanted the audience to get a real sense of who he was. [The real] Dewey Hughes was around a lot and he was a great help, somebody we could talk to. I also had some archival audiotapes of Petey, though most of that stuff had been erased or recorded over many years previous. Radio and TV stations just didn’t keep stuff back then.
What do you think made Petey Green so outspoken?
He had a rough life, he spent a lot of time in jail and it was his mouth that had gotten him through that. He just had the gift of the gab and could talk himself in and out of problems. When you hear stories about him, he was drawn to controversy – he would always put himself in the centre of the picture, he wanted people to talk about him. That’s where he found his gift as a DJ on a radio station. He had Howard Stern on his show before Howard Stern was Howard Stern and that pissed a lot of people off, but that’s just the reaction he wanted as that proved he was cutting edge.
From the few recordings you did hear, what was most compelling?
Just that he was a live wire and you never knew what he was going to say or where he was going to go with something. His perspective on things was dangerous, yet precise and insightful. He never tried to talk around the edges of an issue and figure out a different way, he just went straight to the heart of it, which is what I think was great about him.
Director Kasi Lemmons said she wanted you in this film regardless of whether you played Petey or Dewey. Why did you choose Petey?
I first heard about this movie from Ted Demme over 10 years ago when he was due to direct it and at that time I was due to play Petey. However, these movies go through many states and at one point, when Terrance Howard was attached, I was going to play Dewey. Terrance then fell out and Chiwetel came on board, but I don't actually recall the exact moment my role was decided.
How did you find working with Kasi?
Kasi is really tenacious, but I knew that before we started shooting because of the drive she needed just to get the film made. It was great to do this film with a female director, too because it's such a male story. Kasi brought a different perspective and approach to things that may not have happened with a male director. She’s also got a really good eye and is very open to the way we all worked, which was really supportive and I think made for a really good result.
Dewey seemed like the only person willing to take a risk on a character like Petey...
Absolutely, and that was Dewey's gift. He recognised something in Petey that he didn't have. He knew the town would want it and that the community would respond to it but Dewey is very open about saying that he and Petey knew their dreams were not in union. Ultimately, Dewey wanted something for Petey that Petey didn't want, and Petey rebelled against that. That’s why they fell out, They did finally make up, but they didn’t speak for a long time because Petey resented being pushed in a direction he wasn’t happy with.
Taraji P Henson plays Petey’s girlfriend Vernell. Was she based on one woman or was she an amalgamation of a number of characters?
Petey was with a lot of women. I think Vernell was a composite of several of the ones he was with that were important. It would take someone like Vernell to be with somebody like Petey. There were other women up for the part when we were casting Vernell but Taraji was off the hook, she was the girl that had to be.
The film illustrates the people power at the time, of performers such as James Brown. Did doing that scene tell you anything about the important roles these musicians played?
It is quite something that his coming out to perform could stop a riot. And whilst we showed it in DC, this wasn’t the only place it happened. It's a power musicians just don’t have today. And again, that's what was special about Petey. He was a specific spokesperson, in a specific area, for a specific group of people. And that was really his power.
What was it like for you to look back at ’60s
It was great to talk to my family about it, my parents and my uncles and aunts who were of this generation, who were contemporaries of Petey Greene even if they didn't know who he was. It was interesting to get their take on what was happening in the country at the time. The film spans a turbulent and controversial time in our country and it was interesting to look at that through Petey’s eyes.
Greene was unrestrained. Is there anything from the film or in his life that you wish you could say yourself?
Petey embodied the kind of spirit that would be refreshing today. He was someone who spoke his mind, whether or not you agreed with him. Too many people nowadays go around with a smile on their face and you don’t really know what’s happening behind it. Petey left nothing to wonder, if he didn’t like you, he would just say so, straight off the bat. But he applied this outlook to everything, whatever it was about, he would say what he felt and I think that's refreshing and rare.
Talk To Me is released on DVD by Verve Pictures on 22 March.
