Post by Adam B on Mar 20, 2006 17:36:42 GMT -5
Jason Weaver Interview
by Adam Bernard
Not a lot of people can claim to have been a part of one of the most successful films of all time and a hit rap song, but Jason Weaver isn’t you’re ordinary person. Weaver, AKA J Weav, was the singing voice of Simba in The Lion King and he sang the hook on Chingy’s “One Call Away.” His resume includes Drumline, The Ladykillers, Thea and Smart Guy. The latest addition to that resume is the movie ATL, which is set to hit theaters on March 31st. With the movie nearing its release I sat down with Weaver to talk about ATL, his acting career, and how he plans juggling all of that with singing.
Adam Bernard: You’re in this new movie, ATL, which stars rapper T.I. Tell me what it’s all about.
Jason Weaver: ATL is a coming of age story about four boys growing up in Atlanta on the south side and the different decisions they have to make in life, whether it be negative or positive, and you see everybody grow. It was based on the whole roller skating culture down in Atlanta, which is very very popular, and it was originally called Jelly Beans. It was telling the story of how Dallas Austin and TLC and Outkast and all of them when they were kids used to go to Jelly Beans and hang out and that wound up being the main hang out spot and from there they were able to build their relationships to where they began working with each other and getting an obscene amount of money together. We had to switch it around because we couldn’t get clearance for the name Jelly Beans and as Chris Robinson began editing the film he realized that there was a stronger story in these four boys and their struggle to survive everyday in Atlanta. It’s a very powerful story that everybody can relate to because at some point in everybody’s life you have to make decisions that will either send you down this way or that way and with this particular story it just happens to be a point in these boys lives where they’re leaving high school, some are about to go on to college, some have other things that they’re looking forward to, and it’s showing them going through the phases of life and stepping into manhood.
Adam Bernard: Your character is Teddy, who is he and what’s he all about?
Jason Weaver: Teddy is basically like your average ATLien, he is the definition, to me, of what an Atlanta dude really is. He’s got the trophies, the gold teeth, he’s down for his friends, he’s very loyal and overall he’s just a good hearted cat, he keeps the team together through being a comic relief and just taking things light hearted. Even when there are different points in the movie when it’s real dramatic, or it comes across real hard, he can still put some kind of fun energy into it to lighten the mood up, so he’s like the comic relief of the film but he is a true ATlien through and through.
Adam Bernard: How much of yourself do you see in him?
Jason Weaver: As far as his loyalty to his friends and to his family I definitely see that because I’m like that with my family, but Teddy, at the same time, is very different from me because he’s very open, he talks loud and he’s just constantly running his mouth. Me, I’m very laid back and at times so quiet to where people question me sometimes like “where is he coming from? Is he OK? He’s not mad or anything?” In that particular sense me and Teddy are different, but I based the character off of people that I’ve known in Atlanta since I’ve been living down there and it was able to really breathe life into him because he’s, like I said before, he’s your regular ATL cat so I really didn’t have to do a lot of research per se to get into the role it was pretty much coming out my front door and walking around Atlanta as I usually do and there the character is.
Adam Bernard: You know the way you’re describing the movie it almost sounds like a newer version of Juice.
Jason Weaver: Yeah, it’s like that. It’s like a street version of Stand By Me, Boyz In The Hood, Juice and all of those stories mixed in one. Anytime you talk about a group of young men, coming of age story you can definitely compare the film to all of those. I think the one thing that does make this film different, though, is that you have a lot of new faces that are in this film, up and coming actors that are about to really start branching out and doing their thing. You’ve got Jackie Long in it, who plays Esquire, you have Lauren London who’s our leading lady, she plays New-New, and on top of just having the new faces you have some veterans from the Atlanta scene like Big Boi from Outkast, Big Gipp from the Goodie Mobb, Dallas Austin is one of the executive producers along side with Will Smith so it’s like although you are getting somewhat the same kind of feel as if you were watching Juice or something like that it definitely has its own energy and its own pace.
Adam Bernard: I know you said a lot of new young faces and you might be young but you’re not a young actor, you were in Drumline and The Ladykillers, and we all heard you as Simba’s singing voice in The Lion King. How have those experiences shaped you as an actor?
Jason Weaver: I can tell for this project in particular working on all those different films kind of gave me a seniority, I guess, over everybody because the other actors that were in the film were constantly coming to me asking for my input and basically trying to build with me because they knew I had experience in making films and I’d been making films for a long time. I’ve always been the actor where when I come on set there’s always other veteran actors around that I’ll ask questions and I’m constantly trying to learn from them, but in this particular case people were asking me questions to learn from me. It was great, I had a really good time and at the same time it was enlightening for me as well because the actors that were coming in just had a lot of sincerity behind themselves and their performance so I was able to tap into that again because sometimes as an actor, especially when you’ve been doing it for a long time, after a while you can kind of lose touch with what it’s really about and you kind of lose touch with the fun aspect of it all and working with them they reintroduced me to that, they reintroduced me to just having fun again and coming on set and hanging with some cool people, so we all learned from each other.
Adam Bernard: Is there anyone you’ve learned the most from in your career?
Jason Weaver: Every project I’ve been a part of I’ve been fortunate enough to work with people that have been doing it for a very long time and just have a vast amount of knowledge as to how excel not only in this business but in life. I’ve had the honor and the privilege of working with Oprah Winfrey, Whoopie Goldberg, Danny Glover, the Jackson family, Elton John with The Lion King. I definitely took a lot from all of those people because they were able to really sit down with me and chop it up and just help me as a young man to find my direction and where I’m trying to go in this business.
Adam Bernard: With so many different genres of film that you’ve done have you found any one thing that’s universal about film work no matter the genre?
Jason Weaver: Yeah it’s funny that you would say that because I was talking to a friend about that earlier in the day because we were looking at The Academy Awards and the one thing, when the president of the academy came out and addressed the audience he was explaining how the importance of a good story, the telling of a good story, is the most important thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a foreign film, it doesn’t matter if it’s a quote unquote “urban” film, or a mainstream film, people can relate to good stories, period. I think that’s the most important thing in this business is definitely being able to realize that early off and that way no matter what you do, no matter how weird the film is , or who you’re working with, or that type of thing, as long as you know you’re telling a good story that makes all the difference, I believe, in the film world.
Adam Bernard: In addition to your film work you were also a cast member on two sitcoms, Thea and Smart Guy. How does being on a sitcom differ from being in a film?
Jason Weaver: The pace of sitcom television is different, it’s all about having a certain comedic timing. The energy is different because you’re having to do a new show every week, you’re bringing in guest characters every week so you’re having to work with new people and try new things out every week versus film where once the ball starts rolling and you’ve had a couple read throughs with your cast members and stuff like that you pretty much know what direction that you’re going in and from there, although the characters evolving, you’re still kind of kept in a box to a degree where you can’t really stretch out that much. So to me it’s not really that much of a challenge as an actor to do films, sitcoms, I think, are more challenging just based off the simple fact that you have new material every week, the characters are constantly growing, there are new characters that are always introduced, just the pace of it all and the interaction on set and not stepping on each other’s lines yet having the timing and pace to where everything clicks. In films it’s all over the place, you do the scene, you hurry up and wait and with sitcoms it’s hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry wait, and hurry hurry hurry again.
Adam Bernard: You also sing. You played young Michael Jackson in the TV film “The Jacksons: An American Dream” and you were sang the hook on Chingy’s “One Call Away.” How do you plan on juggling singing with acting?
Jason Weaver: That’s a good question. It’s really just a matter of being organized and the people that you’re working with or working for understanding you’re schedule. God has blessed me with certain talents and I just want to make sure I take advantage of each and every one of them before I leave this earth and do something worthwhile and make a contribution where people say, when I leave here, “he did his thing,” whether it was hearing a song on the radio that put them in a different place as far as their hearts and their minds, or whether they saw a movie that inspired them that I did.
Adam Bernard: At this point you’ve been in so much, and done so much, you’ve got to have your pick of the ladies, how nice are club nights with Jason Weaver?
Jason Weaver: Club nights are real cool with J Weav. I’m a very low key person, so I don’t really do like a lot of clubbin all the time, plus I’m the father of a four year old so most of the time when I’m not working and when I do have some down time I really like to spend that at home with my family. I’ve been going to clubs since I was 15 year sold so now that I’m 26 it’s like aiight, it’s the club. It gets old after a while but I’m still young, I still like to go out and chill.
Adam Bernard: You have a kid, are you married?
Jason Weaver: No.
Adam Bernard: Who’s been your hottest co-star? You had Essence Atkins on one show with you.
Jason Weaver: Yeah me and Essence were on Smart Guy together. She was incredibly hot and she’s such a beautiful person inside and out on top of the fact that she’s an attractive woman you can have a stimulating intellectual conversation with her. She’s not superficial at all, she’s real cool. I’ve worked with her, when I did The Jacksons I worked with Angela Bassett, I’ve always had a crush on her, I think she’s incredibly hot, there’s something about her that really just does it for me. The girls I just got through working with at ATL, Lauren London, Malika and Khadijah, they’re hot, they’re real dope.
Adam Bernard: Did you hit on any of them and how well did that work out?
Jason Weaver: No, when I’m working I like to keep it professional. You’re constantly around each other all the time and the one thing that you don’t want to do is have personal feelings get involved to where the work can’t get done because, essentially, that’s the reason I know you in the first place, because we’re working together. So I really don’t like to step over that line because God forbid if something happens where somebody’s feelings get hurt or somebody gets offended by something it makes it so much harder to work. It becomes a situation where it can affect your performance, it can also affect whether the production company and all that and the studio wants to deal with it. It just can become too much so I kinda like to keep it just all professional. I mean, I’m a man at the end of the day, I do recognize that I’m working with beautiful women, but at the same time my responsibility towards my family and feeding my son outweighs all of that.
Adam Bernard: So can you give Essence Atkins my number so I can hit on her and then you can interview me and ask me the same question?
Jason Weaver: Oh no doubt, I got you Adam, I got you! And it wasn’t until after the show that I caught her up and I was like listen let’s go to dinner, let’s hang out, but I think at that time she was married, or she was engaged so it didn’t work out.
Adam Bernard: Any advice for the people out there?
Jason Weaver: In this business everybody has a different journey, everybody has a different time when they break out so if you have knowledge of self and you understand patience and you’re able to have balance in your life that’s what matters the most because if you’re just out here and you’re trying to do something in this game and you’re trying to make it but you don’t carry any of those qualities, those personal things that you need to have to survive, you’re gonna get ate up in this business because that’s what people play on, they play on your emotions and there’s a lot of people in this business that are manipulative and that find different ways to get you to do what they want and before you know it you’re in a total whirlwind and that’s when people get hooked on the drugs and the alcohol and trying to find different things to try to numb that pain, try to numb that reality and come to grips with what they’re currently dealing with because they don’t have knowledge of self and they haven’t found that balance yet. So I just tell people whether you’re in this business or in life in general just be true to yourself and make sure you have balance at all times and you’ll be able to survive.
by Adam Bernard
Not a lot of people can claim to have been a part of one of the most successful films of all time and a hit rap song, but Jason Weaver isn’t you’re ordinary person. Weaver, AKA J Weav, was the singing voice of Simba in The Lion King and he sang the hook on Chingy’s “One Call Away.” His resume includes Drumline, The Ladykillers, Thea and Smart Guy. The latest addition to that resume is the movie ATL, which is set to hit theaters on March 31st. With the movie nearing its release I sat down with Weaver to talk about ATL, his acting career, and how he plans juggling all of that with singing.
Adam Bernard: You’re in this new movie, ATL, which stars rapper T.I. Tell me what it’s all about.
Jason Weaver: ATL is a coming of age story about four boys growing up in Atlanta on the south side and the different decisions they have to make in life, whether it be negative or positive, and you see everybody grow. It was based on the whole roller skating culture down in Atlanta, which is very very popular, and it was originally called Jelly Beans. It was telling the story of how Dallas Austin and TLC and Outkast and all of them when they were kids used to go to Jelly Beans and hang out and that wound up being the main hang out spot and from there they were able to build their relationships to where they began working with each other and getting an obscene amount of money together. We had to switch it around because we couldn’t get clearance for the name Jelly Beans and as Chris Robinson began editing the film he realized that there was a stronger story in these four boys and their struggle to survive everyday in Atlanta. It’s a very powerful story that everybody can relate to because at some point in everybody’s life you have to make decisions that will either send you down this way or that way and with this particular story it just happens to be a point in these boys lives where they’re leaving high school, some are about to go on to college, some have other things that they’re looking forward to, and it’s showing them going through the phases of life and stepping into manhood.
Adam Bernard: Your character is Teddy, who is he and what’s he all about?
Jason Weaver: Teddy is basically like your average ATLien, he is the definition, to me, of what an Atlanta dude really is. He’s got the trophies, the gold teeth, he’s down for his friends, he’s very loyal and overall he’s just a good hearted cat, he keeps the team together through being a comic relief and just taking things light hearted. Even when there are different points in the movie when it’s real dramatic, or it comes across real hard, he can still put some kind of fun energy into it to lighten the mood up, so he’s like the comic relief of the film but he is a true ATlien through and through.
Adam Bernard: How much of yourself do you see in him?
Jason Weaver: As far as his loyalty to his friends and to his family I definitely see that because I’m like that with my family, but Teddy, at the same time, is very different from me because he’s very open, he talks loud and he’s just constantly running his mouth. Me, I’m very laid back and at times so quiet to where people question me sometimes like “where is he coming from? Is he OK? He’s not mad or anything?” In that particular sense me and Teddy are different, but I based the character off of people that I’ve known in Atlanta since I’ve been living down there and it was able to really breathe life into him because he’s, like I said before, he’s your regular ATL cat so I really didn’t have to do a lot of research per se to get into the role it was pretty much coming out my front door and walking around Atlanta as I usually do and there the character is.
Adam Bernard: You know the way you’re describing the movie it almost sounds like a newer version of Juice.
Jason Weaver: Yeah, it’s like that. It’s like a street version of Stand By Me, Boyz In The Hood, Juice and all of those stories mixed in one. Anytime you talk about a group of young men, coming of age story you can definitely compare the film to all of those. I think the one thing that does make this film different, though, is that you have a lot of new faces that are in this film, up and coming actors that are about to really start branching out and doing their thing. You’ve got Jackie Long in it, who plays Esquire, you have Lauren London who’s our leading lady, she plays New-New, and on top of just having the new faces you have some veterans from the Atlanta scene like Big Boi from Outkast, Big Gipp from the Goodie Mobb, Dallas Austin is one of the executive producers along side with Will Smith so it’s like although you are getting somewhat the same kind of feel as if you were watching Juice or something like that it definitely has its own energy and its own pace.
Adam Bernard: I know you said a lot of new young faces and you might be young but you’re not a young actor, you were in Drumline and The Ladykillers, and we all heard you as Simba’s singing voice in The Lion King. How have those experiences shaped you as an actor?
Jason Weaver: I can tell for this project in particular working on all those different films kind of gave me a seniority, I guess, over everybody because the other actors that were in the film were constantly coming to me asking for my input and basically trying to build with me because they knew I had experience in making films and I’d been making films for a long time. I’ve always been the actor where when I come on set there’s always other veteran actors around that I’ll ask questions and I’m constantly trying to learn from them, but in this particular case people were asking me questions to learn from me. It was great, I had a really good time and at the same time it was enlightening for me as well because the actors that were coming in just had a lot of sincerity behind themselves and their performance so I was able to tap into that again because sometimes as an actor, especially when you’ve been doing it for a long time, after a while you can kind of lose touch with what it’s really about and you kind of lose touch with the fun aspect of it all and working with them they reintroduced me to that, they reintroduced me to just having fun again and coming on set and hanging with some cool people, so we all learned from each other.
Adam Bernard: Is there anyone you’ve learned the most from in your career?
Jason Weaver: Every project I’ve been a part of I’ve been fortunate enough to work with people that have been doing it for a very long time and just have a vast amount of knowledge as to how excel not only in this business but in life. I’ve had the honor and the privilege of working with Oprah Winfrey, Whoopie Goldberg, Danny Glover, the Jackson family, Elton John with The Lion King. I definitely took a lot from all of those people because they were able to really sit down with me and chop it up and just help me as a young man to find my direction and where I’m trying to go in this business.
Adam Bernard: With so many different genres of film that you’ve done have you found any one thing that’s universal about film work no matter the genre?
Jason Weaver: Yeah it’s funny that you would say that because I was talking to a friend about that earlier in the day because we were looking at The Academy Awards and the one thing, when the president of the academy came out and addressed the audience he was explaining how the importance of a good story, the telling of a good story, is the most important thing. It doesn’t matter if it’s a foreign film, it doesn’t matter if it’s a quote unquote “urban” film, or a mainstream film, people can relate to good stories, period. I think that’s the most important thing in this business is definitely being able to realize that early off and that way no matter what you do, no matter how weird the film is , or who you’re working with, or that type of thing, as long as you know you’re telling a good story that makes all the difference, I believe, in the film world.
Adam Bernard: In addition to your film work you were also a cast member on two sitcoms, Thea and Smart Guy. How does being on a sitcom differ from being in a film?
Jason Weaver: The pace of sitcom television is different, it’s all about having a certain comedic timing. The energy is different because you’re having to do a new show every week, you’re bringing in guest characters every week so you’re having to work with new people and try new things out every week versus film where once the ball starts rolling and you’ve had a couple read throughs with your cast members and stuff like that you pretty much know what direction that you’re going in and from there, although the characters evolving, you’re still kind of kept in a box to a degree where you can’t really stretch out that much. So to me it’s not really that much of a challenge as an actor to do films, sitcoms, I think, are more challenging just based off the simple fact that you have new material every week, the characters are constantly growing, there are new characters that are always introduced, just the pace of it all and the interaction on set and not stepping on each other’s lines yet having the timing and pace to where everything clicks. In films it’s all over the place, you do the scene, you hurry up and wait and with sitcoms it’s hurry hurry hurry hurry hurry wait, and hurry hurry hurry again.
Adam Bernard: You also sing. You played young Michael Jackson in the TV film “The Jacksons: An American Dream” and you were sang the hook on Chingy’s “One Call Away.” How do you plan on juggling singing with acting?
Jason Weaver: That’s a good question. It’s really just a matter of being organized and the people that you’re working with or working for understanding you’re schedule. God has blessed me with certain talents and I just want to make sure I take advantage of each and every one of them before I leave this earth and do something worthwhile and make a contribution where people say, when I leave here, “he did his thing,” whether it was hearing a song on the radio that put them in a different place as far as their hearts and their minds, or whether they saw a movie that inspired them that I did.
Adam Bernard: At this point you’ve been in so much, and done so much, you’ve got to have your pick of the ladies, how nice are club nights with Jason Weaver?
Jason Weaver: Club nights are real cool with J Weav. I’m a very low key person, so I don’t really do like a lot of clubbin all the time, plus I’m the father of a four year old so most of the time when I’m not working and when I do have some down time I really like to spend that at home with my family. I’ve been going to clubs since I was 15 year sold so now that I’m 26 it’s like aiight, it’s the club. It gets old after a while but I’m still young, I still like to go out and chill.
Adam Bernard: You have a kid, are you married?
Jason Weaver: No.
Adam Bernard: Who’s been your hottest co-star? You had Essence Atkins on one show with you.
Jason Weaver: Yeah me and Essence were on Smart Guy together. She was incredibly hot and she’s such a beautiful person inside and out on top of the fact that she’s an attractive woman you can have a stimulating intellectual conversation with her. She’s not superficial at all, she’s real cool. I’ve worked with her, when I did The Jacksons I worked with Angela Bassett, I’ve always had a crush on her, I think she’s incredibly hot, there’s something about her that really just does it for me. The girls I just got through working with at ATL, Lauren London, Malika and Khadijah, they’re hot, they’re real dope.
Adam Bernard: Did you hit on any of them and how well did that work out?
Jason Weaver: No, when I’m working I like to keep it professional. You’re constantly around each other all the time and the one thing that you don’t want to do is have personal feelings get involved to where the work can’t get done because, essentially, that’s the reason I know you in the first place, because we’re working together. So I really don’t like to step over that line because God forbid if something happens where somebody’s feelings get hurt or somebody gets offended by something it makes it so much harder to work. It becomes a situation where it can affect your performance, it can also affect whether the production company and all that and the studio wants to deal with it. It just can become too much so I kinda like to keep it just all professional. I mean, I’m a man at the end of the day, I do recognize that I’m working with beautiful women, but at the same time my responsibility towards my family and feeding my son outweighs all of that.
Adam Bernard: So can you give Essence Atkins my number so I can hit on her and then you can interview me and ask me the same question?
Jason Weaver: Oh no doubt, I got you Adam, I got you! And it wasn’t until after the show that I caught her up and I was like listen let’s go to dinner, let’s hang out, but I think at that time she was married, or she was engaged so it didn’t work out.
Adam Bernard: Any advice for the people out there?
Jason Weaver: In this business everybody has a different journey, everybody has a different time when they break out so if you have knowledge of self and you understand patience and you’re able to have balance in your life that’s what matters the most because if you’re just out here and you’re trying to do something in this game and you’re trying to make it but you don’t carry any of those qualities, those personal things that you need to have to survive, you’re gonna get ate up in this business because that’s what people play on, they play on your emotions and there’s a lot of people in this business that are manipulative and that find different ways to get you to do what they want and before you know it you’re in a total whirlwind and that’s when people get hooked on the drugs and the alcohol and trying to find different things to try to numb that pain, try to numb that reality and come to grips with what they’re currently dealing with because they don’t have knowledge of self and they haven’t found that balance yet. So I just tell people whether you’re in this business or in life in general just be true to yourself and make sure you have balance at all times and you’ll be able to survive.