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美国国家公共电台 NPR Joe Morton, Scheming Father Of 'Scandal,' On Playing Dick Gregory On Stage

时间:2018-01-11 02:57:23

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MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Fans of ABC's "Scandal" should have no trouble recognizing this voice.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SCANDAL")

JOE MORTON: (As Rowan Pope) For you, it's always summertime and the living is easy. Daddy's rich and your momma's good-looking. You're a Grant. You got money in your blood. You are a boy. I'm a man.

MARTIN: That is Joe Morton playing Rowan Eli Pope, the notorious scheming father of Olivia Pope. His scene-stealing work in the role has earned Joe Morton an Emmy as well as a whole new generation of fans. As "Scandal" begins its final season this year, we thought this would be a good time to check back in with Joe Morton, whose work has spanned 40 years in film, television and live theater.

And I started by asking Joe Morton about a recent project he'd just finished, a production of "Turn Me Loose" about the life story and career of the comedian1 and civil rights activist2 Dick Gregory. He just died last year. Dick Gregory was one of the first black comics to regularly perform in front of white audiences in the 1960s. And I asked Joe Morton why so many critics called "Turn Me Loose" relevant to the current moment.

MORTON: Unfortunately, we're living in a period that seems to be echoing what happened in 1968. The kinds of racial problems that we seem to be facing as of the last couple of years of white policemen shooting black men are things that he talked about in the '60s. Corporate3 greed is another topic of his which, you know, again, as the new tax laws, you know, we're still talking about corporate greed. So a lot of the things that seem to have happened almost 45 years ago seem to be repeating themselves today.

MARTIN: And I was wondering if you see a connection between "Turn Me Loose" in your work on "Scandal"?

MORTON: I think I choose my material based on what it has to say. And in choosing to do Dick Gregory, it was because I then had the opportunity to say the kind of political things that I wish I had written myself. And there it was so that I could sort of put it out there in the world. And the same thing is kind of true with Rowan. I didn't necessarily know at the outset where we were going with that character but vis-a-vis the clip that you played, suddenly you have a black man who is in chains in his underwear telling a white Southern Republican president that he's a boy. So in that sense, I suppose it's relatable in that you have two black male individuals who are very powerful in terms of how they express themselves in the world that they occupy.

MARTIN: And the other thing I think too is these glorious monologues4 that you are responsible for delivering. And let me just play one again from season 3.

(SOUNDBITE OF TV SHOW, "SCANDAL")

MORTON: (As Rowan Pope) He told you that you would be first lady and you believed him. Did I not raise you for better? How many times have I told you you have to be what?

KERRY WASHINGTON: (As Olivia Pope) Twice...

MORTON: (As Rowan Pope) What?

WASHINGTON: (As Olivia Pope) ...Twice as good.

MORTON: (As Rowan Pope) Twice as good as them to get half of what they have.

MARTIN: Gosh, I'm sure you know by now how Twitter went crazy over this. And I'm wondering if people have kind of walked up to you on the street and told you, you know, how many times their parents may have said the same thing to them?

MORTON: Exactly. I don't think there's a black child in America probably who hasn't heard that speech in terms of having to work twice as hard to get half as much. So it resonated across the country, which was wonderful for the character, for the show and for me, et cetera, et cetera. Even the other clip that you played before, the hell and the high water, those seem to be the kind of signature pieces that people will ask me about when they see me on a plane or on the street or whatever it is. But twice as much is, as I said, one of those things I think that every black child in America has probably heard at some time or another.

MARTIN: I was wondering, given - as I mentioned at the beginning, you've had a very wide-ranging career, I mean, starting with your breakout role in "Brother From Another Planet." I understand that there is talk of actually making that into a television series which is - which would be really interesting in the current times. And I think people who can hear your voice can hear your classical training, I mean, the way you deliver your lines, the nuance5 that you bring to everything that you say. I was wondering, though, when you first started out, did you think this was the career you were going to have?

MORTON: (Laughter) I didn't know what kind of career I was going to have. When I was in school, my mother thought - because I changed my majors from psychology6 to drama and my mother thought that I was insane. My grandmother, who was supposed to help me with school, withdrew her support because, again, she thought I was crazy. Because their point of view was that, given what the world was, society would only let a black man in that business - in this business go but so far. You know, I started in 1968. And a lot of the roles that were available for black men in particular were mostly either drug dealers7 or pimps or some strange bugaboo of some sort. And I made a decision, it was a very clear decision, that I would not take those roles, which was very frustrating8 for my agents at the time.

I wanted to put together a career that would be an assembly of different black men who happened to be black, that those characters didn't necessarily have to have any particular meaning or symbolism by being black. They just needed to be three-dimensional male characters, "Brother From Another Planet" being sort of the perfect example of that. Here was a movie about an extraterrestrial who was escaping slavery from his planet to come here, only to find out that things are not that different. And you're also going into Harlem and seeing Harlem through the eyes of someone who looks like he should know what's going on but has no idea. He's a stranger in Harlem, and so he's learning about it as the audience is learning about it. So I think along the way I was looking for parts and looking for projects that had some greater reverberation9 than just entertainment.

MARTIN: Before I let you go, I did want to ask, you know, this is your work, your professional work. I mean, in "Scandal," for example, the show has taken on Ferguson, mass incarceration10. I mean, it features a (unintelligible) character. A lot of artists seem to be asking themselves, like, what's my job right now, particularly in the current political moment. I wonder, do you feel called to any particular position or place or task right now?

MORTON: I think it's important for artists to hold a mirror up to the world that surrounds them. I just watched "Detroit," which is enormously disturbing when you watch it. But it tells the truth about a time in this country when the criminalization of black people was so overt11 that people were being sort of hauled off for no reason. People were being killed for clearly no reason at all. That's come back to us again, as I said before, in the last couple of years.

So yes, I think on some level there is a responsibility not to be a "role model," quote, unquote, but certainly to hold a mirror up to what's going on. I mean, I think that what Dick Gregory proved was that you can make people laugh, you can be an entertainer and say something all at the same time. And that's what I guess I'm hoping I'll be able to do.

MARTIN: That's Joe Morton. He plays Rowan Pope on ABC's "Scandal." He was nice enough to join us during his break from filming at our studios in New York. Joe Morton, thank you so much for speaking with us once again.

MORTON: It's been a pleasure.


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点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 comedian jWfyW     
n.喜剧演员;滑稽演员
参考例句:
  • The comedian tickled the crowd with his jokes.喜剧演员的笑话把人们逗乐了。
  • The comedian enjoyed great popularity during the 30's.那位喜剧演员在三十年代非常走红。
2 activist gyAzO     
n.活动分子,积极分子
参考例句:
  • He's been a trade union activist for many years.多年来他一直是工会的积极分子。
  • He is a social activist in our factory.他是我厂的社会活动积极分子。
3 corporate 7olzl     
adj.共同的,全体的;公司的,企业的
参考例句:
  • This is our corporate responsibility.这是我们共同的责任。
  • His corporate's life will be as short as a rabbit's tail.他的公司的寿命是兔子尾巴长不了。
4 monologues b54ccd8f001b9d8e09b1cb0a3d508b10     
n.(戏剧)长篇独白( monologue的名词复数 );滔滔不绝的讲话;独角戏
参考例句:
  • That film combines real testimonials with monologues read by actors. 电影中既有真人讲的真事,也有演员的独白。 来自互联网
  • Her monologues may help her make sense of her day. 她的独白可以帮助她让她一天的感觉。 来自互联网
5 nuance Xvtyh     
n.(意义、意见、颜色)细微差别
参考例句:
  • These users will easily learn each nuance of the applications they use.这些用户会很快了解他们所使用程序的每一细微差别。
  • I wish I hadn't become so conscious of every little nuance.我希望我不要变得这样去思索一切琐碎之事。
6 psychology U0Wze     
n.心理,心理学,心理状态
参考例句:
  • She has a background in child psychology.她受过儿童心理学的教育。
  • He studied philosophy and psychology at Cambridge.他在剑桥大学学习哲学和心理学。
7 dealers 95e592fc0f5dffc9b9616efd02201373     
n.商人( dealer的名词复数 );贩毒者;毒品贩子;发牌者
参考例句:
  • There was fast bidding between private collectors and dealers. 私人收藏家和交易商急速竞相喊价。
  • The police were corrupt and were operating in collusion with the drug dealers. 警察腐败,与那伙毒品贩子内外勾结。
8 frustrating is9z54     
adj.产生挫折的,使人沮丧的,令人泄气的v.使不成功( frustrate的现在分词 );挫败;使受挫折;令人沮丧
参考例句:
  • It's frustrating to have to wait so long. 要等这么长时间,真令人懊恼。
  • It was a demeaning and ultimately frustrating experience. 那是一次有失颜面并且令人沮丧至极的经历。 来自《简明英汉词典》
9 reverberation b6cfd8194950d18bb25a9f92b5e30b53     
反响; 回响; 反射; 反射物
参考例句:
  • It was green as an emerald, and the reverberation was stunning. 它就象翠玉一样碧绿,回响震耳欲聋。
  • Just before dawn he was assisted in waking by the abnormal reverberation of familiar music. 在天将破晓的时候,他被一阵熟悉的,然而却又是反常的回声惊醒了。
10 incarceration 2124a73d7762f1d5ab9ecba1514624b1     
n.监禁,禁闭;钳闭
参考例句:
  • He hadn't changed much in his nearly three years of incarceration. 在将近三年的监狱生活中,他变化不大。 来自辞典例句
  • Please, please set it free before it bursts from its long incarceration! 请你,请你将这颗心释放出来吧!否则它会因长期的禁闭而爆裂。 来自辞典例句
11 overt iKoxp     
adj.公开的,明显的,公然的
参考例句:
  • His opponent's intention is quite overt.他的对手的意图很明显。
  • We should learn to fight with enemy in an overt and covert way.我们应学会同敌人做公开和隐蔽的斗争。

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