CUBA Gooding Jr may only have a small role in the Oscar-nominated Selma — as prominent civil rights attorney Fred Gray — but he’s as proud of it as any film from his 30-year career.
“There are so many powerful scenes in that script that I can’t wait to see the audience reaction to,” he says of the drama, which follows Martin Luther King’s voting rights march in Alabama in 1965.
It’s also another step in the 47-year-old’s career resurgence that includes historical drama The Butler, upcoming TV miniseries American Crime Story (Gooding will play O.J. Simpson in this spin-off from the creators of American Horror Story) and the Ben Stiller-produced comedy series Big Time in Hollywood, FL.
Career resurgence ... Gooding and Ben Stiller pitch their new comedy series Big Time in Hollywood, FL to critics in California. Picture: Frederick M. Brown/Getty Images Source: Getty Images
Gooding laughs that his acting revival has only come about now that he’s got another passion: writing screenplays.
“Right when I say, ‘Fine, I’ll put acting on hold and try this writing thing’, I’ve had more offers than I’ve had in my entire life. I mean, I won the damn Oscar and went a year without an offer and now it’s crazy. It’s crazy!
“Of course you guys are coming at me now, when I’ve finally let go. Once I finally stop saying, ‘I want to make a statement as an actor’ — boom! — now people want me to make statements again.
“But that’s all right, everything happens in God’s timing in my life. I believe that this is just another phase.”
Selma has hit hot buttons in the US, with a former aide to Lyndon B Johnson claiming that it was unfair to the former president, and Academy Awards voters declared racist when, despite the film receiving a Best Picture nod, both its director, Ava DuVernay, and leading man, David Oyelowo, were snubbed.
Pushing buttons ... David Oyelowo (left) discusses a scene with director Ava DuVernay on the set of Selma (AP/Paramount) Source: AP
Snubbed or not, Gooding Jr reckons second-time director DuVernay (a former film publicist) is “the real deal”.
“She was so focused on everybody’s role, from the extras to the actors to the lighting department,” he says. “I’ve racked up 70 some odd films already in my career and I look at the most important element of any set as the directing. The older I get the more I realise that.”
Gooding may also direct some day — he produced 2014 drama Freedom (directed by Australian Peter Cousens) and hopes his writing will lead him to the top job.
“I submitted my second screenplay to my agent and it got really positive feedback. But my whole reason for writing a script was to show them how I would be as a director,” he says.
Asked if he took the chance to get in the ear of Selma co-star and producer Oprah Winfrey about backing one of his scripts, Gooding gets a little shy.
“Nobody else is listening so I can tell you quietly ... when I write my scripts I use a pseudonym. When people read it they don’t know I wrote it until after they read it. It’s the same with Oprah — if she reads one of my scripts it will be because somebody submitted it to her, not because I wrote it. That’s how I like it.”
As far as Oprah’s acting work on the film, he adds, “she’s wonderful in it”.
Mid-conversation, Gooding’s phone rings — it’s his agent. Asked if he needs to take the call, the actor zings: “You don’t think they’ll call back? I told you lady, I’m hot right now! I’m on a roll!”
A fresh-faced Gooding with Paul Hogan in Melbourne in 1993 to pump up Lightning Jack. (Picture: David Caird) Source: News Corp Australia
Rolls, of course, don’t always roll the right way. Case in point: 22 years ago, Gooding came to Australia to make a film with Paul Hogan, the western turkey Lightning Jack.
“I think about that time period and I regretted it for a long time because I chose that movie over Crimson Tide (the submarine thriller starring Gene Hackman and Denzel Washington), but I don’t regret it anymore,” Gooding says.
“I don’t regret it because Paul Hogan is a dear friend now. And I travelled the world with it. It was my first worldly experience. Little did I know it would lead to travelling the world with Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman (while promoting Jerry Maguire two years later) ...
“That was the first taste of that. It was wonderful. It will always be special to me.”
As for his current roll, Gooding’s energy and enthusiasm is contagious. The next 30 years of his career, we suggest, may be more interesting than the first.
“Your lips to God’s ears, my dear,” he replies.
SELMA OPENS THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 5
Historical drama ... Forest Whitaker, Lenny Kravitz and Gooding played White House butlers in 2013 film The Butler (eOne) Source: Supplied
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