Courtesy CBS
Keith Major
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Fill 1
June 27, 2016
Features

Inside Straight

Replacing Hollywood’s racial double standard with a merit-based system would help right long-standing wrongs, says actor, author and straight-talker Hill Harper.

Eric Deggans

When it comes to Hollywood’s struggles over race, diversity and representation, Hill Harper has been on the front lines for quite a while.

A black man who's been in the acting game for more than 20 years, Harper landed his first big movie gig in Spike Lee's powerful Get on the Bus, about the Million Man March. Since then, he's had roles in such high-profile projects as Oprah Winfrey's Beloved and, more recently, Will Smith's Concussion and CBS's freshman hit, Limitless.

He's worked for years to spread the word about 1982, an impressive independent film in which he plays a husband and father struggling with his wife's crack cocaine addiction. And he's written five books on issues facing African Americans, offering everything from relationship advice to how to talk to an incarcerated loved one.

But when Chris Rock placed the #OscarsSoWhite controversy center stage in February, Harper was half a continent away, in Flint, Michigan. He'd joined Selma director Ava DuVernay, comic Hannibal Buress, soul legend Stevie Wonder and a host of other celebrities at #JusticeforFlint, to raise money to combat the city's drinking-water crisis.

"When you have a group of people who have lead in their water — babies, pregnant moms getting very sick — those people can't sit back and enjoy Oscar night," Harper said of the benefit, which raised about S150,000. "Particularly in a city that's [more than] 50 percent African-American, [where] 40 percent are below the poverty line.... It was important to be there and accept that invitation."

At the request of emmy, Harper recently discussed Hollywood and diversity with journalist-author Eric Deggans, television critic for NPR and occasional emmy contributor.

During their 90-minute conversation, the actor aired his suspicions that 1982 is often overlooked because it's a predominantly black film that isn't about race; he also explained the unfortunate decision that led him to step away from his first big role, playing a black version of Al Bundy on Fox's classic sitcom, Married... with Children.

First, Harper noted that in the case of black films, Hollywood often fails to notice those that don't fit very specific categories....

Harper: If you do a film or project that's about race, then you're valid. But if it's about an interesting character that just happens to be black, or dealing with a certain issue that's not race-specific, then it's considered to be a film only black people want to see.

The best example I have is my film 1982 — at every film festival where it played, the critics who reviewed it would say, "This is an Oscar-worthy film." I guarantee you, if it didn't have black faces and a black family, this film would have been treated very differently by Hollywood.

Deggans: So, what happened?

Harper: It got ghetto-washed. [Studios] said, "Listen, we're not going to put the marketing money behind this film." 1982 is not about race. It's about dealing with addiction, and a family being torn apart by a crack-addicted mother. Even more astounding — talk about the insidiousness of race — when some critics in Los Angeles saw the film, they said, "This is a great film." And they referenced a Tyler Perry film.

Deggans: But it's not a comedy.

Harper: There's not one comedic character in the film. There's not even a comic relief character. It's a straight human drama. So that shows me that race is at the forefront of people's minds in ways that they don't even understand. It's institutionalized racism, and a way of categorizing film and entertainment that is incredible and sad.

Deggans: How is TV doing on this subject?

Harper: TV is way ahead of the film game. Look at the African-American female promoted to president of a network [ABC's new president of entertainment, Channing Dungey], We can see executive producers like Pam Veasey [CSI: NY, CSI: Cyber] and Shonda Rhimes [Grey's Anatomy, Scandal], and all these amazing women of color who are showrunners. We see more diverse TV shows.

I'm not naive to the fact that there's a lot more product on television. But that doesn't negate the fact that when you start looking at quality projects that have a lot of diversity — and diversity in terms of imagery and writing and executives — that TV is really winning and is way ahead of the film industry.

Deggans: I'm sure you remember when network TV got hammered for its lack of diversity back in 1999, when, among all the new shows on the big four networks, none of them had a non-white character in the core cast.

Harper: Absolutely. And I remember watching Friends and Seinfeld all those years, really upset because they were both set in New York City.

I thought that Friends should have been set in Salt Lake City, because the casting looked nothing like the New York City that I lived in. But there have been people committed to these diversity programs [in the TV industry] that cultivate writing talent. I don't see that commitment on the film side for cultivating new talent and allowing new opportunities.

Deggans: On CBS's Limitless, you play FBI special agent Spellman Boyle and before that, on CBS's CSI: NY, you played the coroner, Dr. Sheldon Hawkes. These characters added diversity to the casts, but couldn't they also wind up being sidekicks? Isn't there a part of you that says, "Why can't I be the guy that gets to take the pill which makes him super smart?" [Jake McDorman's character on Limitless]

Harper: Sure. It's like the guy in the game who wants to take the last shot. You shouldn't be playing if you don't want to be that guy. So you wait for your opportunities and then when you do get them, you make the best of them.

The best example I can give you is [an HBO] movie called Lackawanna Blues — S. Epatha Merkerson was the lead actress [and won an Emmy for her performance].

For almost 20 years, she ran the precinct on [NBC's] Law & Order, and she had two or three scenes an episode But when she got her moment to be that amazing lead character with an amazing script, you saw that she's one of the greatest actors in the world.

Deggans: For sure. But S. Epatha Merkerson is now on NBC's Chicago Med playing another authority figure — this time, a hospital administrator. And Khandi Alexander, who was so amazing on HBO's The Corner and Shonda's Scandal, was a coroner on CSI: Miami. And you played a similar role on CSI: NY. Shouldn't you guys get a chance to shine more often?

Harper: You know, I would absolutely say yes. There's a project — I won't tell you what it is — a pilot that I truly wanted to be the lead of, that came across my desk. I had a relationship with the producers. They thought I was terrific. They had me come in and read. And they said I gave the best read. But the network did not want to go with me. So there're a lot of different cooks in the television pot.

Deggans: Have you ever auditioned for a part just because producers wanted to say they had seen a black actor?

Harper: I know that's happened. My agent called and booked me for an audition — in fact, we had told the casting person that I was out of town, but I would come back in if there was real interest and opportunity. And they said yes.

I came to find out later that they had already made an offer to somebody else before my audition. I think what they were doing is trying to check the box that showed — if they ever got criticized — that they read people [of color for auditions]. So they were going to have a session, even though they knew that nobody from that session was going to be hired.

Deggans: What show were you auditioning for?

Harper: I don't want to say.

Deggans: Just figured I'd try. [Both laugh.] ...So, wasn't one of your earliest TV roles on Married...with Children?

Harper: They were adding this character to Married... with Children, and every black actor in town wanted it — because at that time, Married... with Children was, like, the number-two show on TV. And it came down to me and Dave Chappelle.

Deggans: I cannot imagine two more different brothers than you and him! [Laughs]

Harper: He was the only character ever introduced to Married... with Children that looked up to Al Bundy. And Al loved the fact that there was somebody who loved him, right? So Al broke up this guy's engagement with a great girl.

Then, at the end of the episode, he shows up at Al's door and says, "Al, I know you ended my last relationship. Thank you so much for your help. Now I want to introduce you to my new girlfriend. Her name is Meg." And she was like a black Peg Bundy.

Deggans: I'm sensing a sad ending here...,

Harper: Actually, it's one of the most sad instances of my career. There was an opportunity to screen-test with William Hurt for this movie called Smoke, but I could only do it in New York. And since Married... with Children was a recurring contract, they would book me per episode.

I went to the executive producer and said, "Hey, can I not be in next week's episode?" And he was like, "If you go to that audition, you're fired."

I ended up leaving that opportunity with Married... with Children — and I ended up not getting the movie and not being on Married... with Children.

I learned that the best way to approach [a similar situation] is to take the job you have and do your best at it. And when that job is finished, go on to your next job. Because you can't control anything but the work you do at the time.

I wish there was more of a support system within the industry for actors of color — along with producers and directors — so there's a way for us to really support each other, beyond just the projects. That doesn't exist. I mean, obviously, the friendships exist. But many of us feel like we're out there on our own, in a way.

Deggans: You have three Ivy League degrees. Is there any similarity between navigating race in an Ivy League college and navigating race in the film and television industry?

Harper: The film and television industry is much less of a meritocracy. The beautiful thing about these Ivy League schools is that, by and large, when you turn in an assignment or a test, there's just a student ID number on it — they had to judge me based on the quality of what I turned in.

Whereas in this industry, the best actor, the best performance, the best audition quite often doesn't get the role. Even if you get the role, you may not be compensated equally, or even close. So I wish that entertainment was more like an Ivy League school. If it was strictly a meritocracy, you could compete [more equally],

Deggans: What surprised you about navigating a white-dominated space like Hollywood?

Harper: One thing I hadn't anticipated was the power and influence of hip-hop on all aspects of entertainment. [If I had, I might] have taken fewer acting classes and spent more time in the studio.

Because what started to happen at some point in my career is that many musicians and rappers started getting a lot of the best roles — if they were African American. I mean, everybody deserves a job, so I'll never begrudge anybody for taking a job, or getting a job. However, you have to ask yourself, "How come, with African-American projects, they hire non-actors for lead roles?"

Once I was testing for an ABC show called Where's Marlowe? — which became a movie — and I was testing against Mos Def, who wasn't called Mos Def then. He was just going by his name at the time [Dante Smith]. Wonderful guy — he started as an actor, but I think he saw the future.

Deggans: You've written books with lots of advice for black people — especially young black people — on how to overcome challenges.

Harper: There was a point when folks started learning that I had two graduate degrees from Harvard. So I would get invited by high schools, middle schools, colleges to come speak.

I started getting letters from young people, and realized that so many of them — I'm talking about young men in particular, because that was my first book — were growing up without positive male role models in their life, without their father in the home. Many of them were really well intentioned, great young men, but they didn't have a lot of guidance.

So I took all of the different questions and wrote a book, a motivational book that hit on all of those. And when I went to pitch the book, most of the publishing companies said, "We will do a book with you, but we don't want to do this book — you're pitching us a book for a population that doesn't read books."

Deggans: How did you respond?

Harper: I said, "You don't get it. These young men, they're not buying or reading your books because you're not publishing anything that they're interested in reading." So I was proven right.

The book [Letters to a Young Brother: MANifest Your Destiny] hit the New York Times bestseller list. And it opened the door for so many other positive motivational books. We proved that the market is real.

Deggans: That seems to be an ongoing struggle in media — to prove the assumptions about the limited profitability of black-centered projects can be wrong.

Harper: The crazy thing is that once there's an institutional prejudice, the misinformation gets passed down.

For instance, one of the big things you hear in Hollywood, as far as financing film — black film — is that quote-unquote black films don't play overseas. It's just not true. What's true is, if you never release the film and you don't market it the same way overseas, then you're right, it won't play the same. Will Smith's biggest films played overseas the same.

Deggans: Even a Will Smith film that was considered a flop, After Earth, made 75 percent of its lifetime gross — something like $180 million — overseas.

Harper: That's great! Put that point in.

Deggans: If you could wave a magic wand and get Hollywood to handle its diversity issues the way you recommend, what would that look like?

Harper: Oh, you'd have a great level of diversity in the executive ranks at the major agencies and at the major studios. And you'd even have diversity in the lower level, where folks are looking at the product coming in the door.

If you don't evolve, you become a dinosaur. And we're seeing it happen over time. You've seen television evolve, but on the film side, we have to do the same thing.

You can't just sit back and say, "Okay, we're going to make one type of movie," which it feels like in many ways we've done. Because we underestimate that a diverse audience would want to come out and see a straight drama that's about real issues.


This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

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