rowing up in Brooklyn, comedian Chris Rock didn't have much motivation to see Warren Beatty movies, much less the 1978 romantic comedy Heaven Can Wait. But after having lunch with the superstar a couple of years ago, Rock made it a point to screen his films. When he saw Heaven, he immediately recognized a movie that he could update with his own brand of humor.
The result is Down to Earth, Rock's debut as a mainstream leading man--and a film he co-wrote and executive produced as well. To direct the fantasy comedy, Rock picked brothers Chris and Paul Weitz, whose American Pie he admired. But much of the comedy in the film--including a stand-up routine at Harlem's famed Apollo Theater--is vintage Rock.
Rock plays Lance Barton, a struggling comedian who is prematurely spirited to heaven after his bicycle has a rude encounter with a truck. Discovering their mistake, heavenly minions Mr. Keyes (Pie's Eugene Levy) and Mr. King (Chazz Palminteri) agree to return Barton to Earth. The catch: He must inhabit the body of a 60-year-old rich white man.
Rock took a few minutes last week to talk with Science Fiction Weekly about Earth, which opened Feb. 16.
Why did you want to remake Heaven Can Wait?
Rock: I know this sounds crazy. I saw Heaven Can Wait for the first time less than two years ago. And I had no idea [of its] legacy, what the movie meant to people. I had no idea Warren Beatty was this huge star. If [comedian] Alan King starred in Heaven Can Wait, I would have seen it when I was a kid. If Shecky Green was in it, I would have seen it. It was Warren Beatty. I'm sure most kids in my neighborhood right now where I grew up have not seen most Kevin Costner movies. ... [He's] just a little too white, whiter than Bruce Willis, you know what I mean?
What's Warren's reaction to your film?
Rock: He hasn't seen it. ... When I told Warren I was doing it, he told me he originally wrote it for Muhammad Ali, and that it's a better movie with a black guy. ...
It was my idea. I assembled the guys. I pretty much saw all the big jokes in the movie the first time I watched [Heaven Can Wait], to tell you the truth. The second time I watched it, it was, "OK, comedian." Let's change it to New York from L.A. Let's make the wife, instead of trying to kill him this time, let's let her try to get back with him. Let's make heaven a disco. This is all, like, first-day stuff.
When I had the lunch meeting with Warren, I had never seen it. I didn't even realize Warren Beatty was like this legend in Hollywood. I'm sorry! I'm from Brooklyn! The only Warren Beatty movies I'd ever seen were, like, Bugsy, Dick Tracy and Ishtar. My manager made me go [to lunch]. I was like, "I'm not driving up there to see this guy. Who the hell is he?" [Laughs.] But after the meeting, he was such a cool guy. It was like, "Let me watch some of his stuff." In the meeting, he conducted himself like he knew who I was. He saw one of my specials.
So after the meeting, I said, "You know, let me get some of his movies. I'll watch Reds." It was like, "It's good! This guy's good." I watched Bonnie and Clyde. It's like, "Man, this guy's good." Then I watched Heaven Can Wait. And it was like, "Oh, man, Richard Pryor should have done this movie." I immediately saw what it could be. They did a great job; I'm not dissing that movie at all. ... [Eddie] Murphy did the same thing with [Jerry Lewis'] The Nutty Professor. It's like, "Oh, this structure could be even something bigger."
What did you see it could be that it wasn't?
Rock: A, it wasn't a comedy. Maybe it was a comedy in ['78], when it came out. But those jokes would never work today, most of them. ... It wasn't a comedy that could last the ages. The romance in that movie lasts. B, a lot of that movie relies on you knowing Warren and you knowing that he had a relationship with Julie Christie. I thought we could make a story that everybody could relate to. There's a reason that I didn't see it the first time, because it didn't reach up and [grab me]. I thought that him as the football player wasn't a big enough jump. ... Warren walking around a mansion--you assume he's got a mansion anyway. These were not huge jumps.
I thought we could make a movie that dealt with class, that dealt with looks, you know what I mean? ... Looks, race. And race is just looks at the end of the day. It's just looks to the third power. It's nothing but looks. ... It's an all-encompassing thing. The statement is "judge people by who they are inside." And our bodies are just cars that drive us around. There's a soul, and it's in the eyes, it really is in the eyes.
Why did you choose the Weitz brothers to direct the film?
Rock: I kind of liked American Pie. I wanted a big movie, so I had to get big directors. It's probably 10 percent artistic and 90 percent a business decision. [For] African-American [directors], there's a ceiling. They don't want to say it, but ... without them, we'd have probably got $15 million less to make the movie. Same exact movie. Same exact jokes. Everything absolutely the same.
Aren't you going to get criticism for perpetuating the myth that a black director can't carry a big movie? Why didn't you hire a black director?
Rock: I met with some black directors. I did. It's weird. Here's what happened. You see Love and Basketball? A good friend of mine, [director] Reggie Hudlin, and me watched Love and Basketball. We're like, "Man, [director Gina Prince] is great. She did it." We would have [messed] this movie up. Because there's no way in the world we would have stayed away from the lesbian angle. There's no way I would have been that smart to stay away from the lesbian angle.
I met with a few black directors. Not that I'm going to name names, but they all wanted to overdo race in the movie. And this movie, except for three jokes, could have been done by Adam Sandler or anybody.
Have you seen the film with an audience?
Rock: Yeah. It kills. It annihilates. So I'm happy with the audience.
Why did you cast Mr. King the way you did?
Rock: No reason, really. We wanted a wise guy. I actually wrote that part for Jerry Lewis, to tell you the truth. Jerry Lewis, King of Comedy. ... But the studio, bond company, insurance ... Jerry's been sick.
You're voicing a character in the upcoming animated SF movie Osmosis Jones. Where's that at?
Rock: I think they're still cutting it. It's the Farrellys [There's Something About Mary] and Bill Murray. Bill Murray gets an ulcer. I'm the white blood cell that investigates the crime. It's funny. You come in and do a voice, I don't know what it is with Bill. I'll see it eventually.
You've also got a part in the next Kevin Smith movie, Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. Will you be playing the same supernatural role you played in his last film, Dogma?
Rock: No. I will not be the 13th apostle.
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Also in this issue: Chris Brancato of First Wave
