Forest Whitaker: An Appreciation
Forest Whitaker will win the Academy Award this year for his performance as Idi Amin. Amazingly, enough it is his first nomination. For some inexplicable reason, his first breakout performance, as Charlie “Bird” Parker in Clint Eastwood’s film Bird (1988) did not receive a nomination. I’m sure I was outraged at the time. Whitaker won the best actor prize that year at the Cannes Film Festival. For the record the five nominees for best actor in 1988 were Dustin Hoffman (winner) in Rain Man, Gene Hackman in Mississippi Burning, Tom Hanks in Big, Edward James Olmos in Stand and Deliver and Max von Sydow in Pelle the Conqueror. Whitaker deserved a nod ahead of Hackman and von Sydow.
But enough about history. Whitaker, an actor of remarkable range, is not the type of performer to sell himself. He has a humble approach in a profession that rarely cultivates humility. His quiet, introspective personality was favorably displayed during a session with James Lipton on Inside the Actor’s Studio.
His career began with small roles in episodic TV, then he made his film debut as a jock (he is a former high school football player) in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982). His first performance that caught my attention was the small but important role of a pool shark who out-hustles Eddie Felson (Paul Newman) in The Color of Money (1986). He was part of the ensemble in Platoon (1986) as Big Harold, and had a couple of earn-a-paycheck roles in Stakeout (1987) and Bloodsport (1988). Forest had a more substantial supporting role in Good Morning Vietnam (1987), followed by his mesmerizing impersonation of Bird.
While this should have led to more starring roles, those aren’t easy to come by for a large black man with a lazy eye. He soldiered on in roles as a cop or criminal in Downtown (1990), A Rage in Harlem and Diary of a Hitman (1991). In 1992 along came another breakout role in Neil Jordan’s gender-bending drama The Crying Game. He joined the ensemble in Robert Altman’s Pret-A-Porter (aka Ready to Wear, 1994) as a flamboyant fashion designer. After more by-the-book supporting roles, he found an indie film that offered more, the film festival hit Ghost Dog: The Way of the Samurai, directed by Jim Jarmusch. In it he plays a mafia hitman who follows the code of the Samurai. I hope Forest earned a pile of money for his participation in the worst movie ever made, Battlefield Earth (2000).
Whitaker made his directorial debut with the well made chick flick Waiting to Exhale (1995), and two other female-oriented films Hope Floats (1998) and First Daughter (2004). One suspects his Oscar juice will allow him to find a film of his own choosing to direct. In the meantime before and after his filming schedule for Last King of Scotland, he found juicy story arcs in the TV series The Shield and this season on ER.
Whitaker has several projects completed or in post-production, a couple of indie projects The Air I Breathe and Ripple Effect, and a larger scale assassination thriller Vantage Point. The latter’s cast includes Matthew Fox, William Hurt, Dennis Quaid and Sigourney Weaver.
Hopefully, the big fella will be able to sustain the buzz when he picks up his golden boy on Feb. 25.