Ice-T has been looking back on his role in the 2001 crime movie ‘R Xmas, in which he played a kidnapper, and recounted a story of its screening at the director’s apartment.
Speaking to The Guardian, the actor and rapper discussed director Abel Ferrara, who he described as a “wild man”, and explained that the screening wasn’t exactly what he expected.
When asked what it was like to work with Ferrara, he said, “Abel Ferrara, he’s a wild man, he was all over the place. Schoolly D [who provided the music for the movie] worked with him on King of New York, and he told me: ‘Abel is a great guy, he taught me a lot about the film business. Although he did also introduce me to heroin.’ Then he says – and this is my favourite quote: ‘One thing about Abel is he will never lie to you. Unless he’s lying to you.’
He continues: “So, anyway, after the movie’s done, I say: ‘Abel, I want to go to the screening.’ I show up at his apartment on the Lower East Side, thinking we’re going to a place to see the movie. He’s got a little TV with a VCR at the bottom of it, sitting on his kitchen table. His boy is laying on the couch with his sock hanging off his foot, and Abel’s in the back with some chick.
“He tells me, ‘The movie’s right there, just watch it.’ I say, ‘On this screen?’ And he says, ‘Yeah, that’s how most people are going to see it anyway.’ So I sat in his kitchen while he was doing who knows what in the bedroom, his boy’s on the couch asleep, and I watched the whole movie right there in a crazy Lower East Side apartment. So my experience with Abel is just as wild as anybody else’s. But the movie came out dope, and I would work with Abel again. He’s a rite of passage if you’re a New York actor.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Ice-T was also asked about the script for the 1995 movie Johnny Mnemonic, in which he played J-Bone. “William Gibson wrote that, and I knew he was an incredible sci-fi writer,” he said. “Keanu Reeves was just coming off Speed, so he was hot as hell. Henry Rollins and Dolph Lundgren were in the movie. Plus the offer was good, so I really didn’t care about the script. It was a fun ride, and I’m proud of that movie.”
Meanwhile, Ice-T also recently covered Pink Floyd’s 1980 single ‘Comfortably Numb’ with his metal band Body Count, featuring Floyd’s David Gilmour.
English (US) · 