I know that this is new ground for you, but people seem to enjoy watching you in romantic comedies, and seeing the nuances that you can bring to your characters. Why do you think that is?
In another interview, a writer called me the ”new king of romantic comedies,” and I thought that was funny, because I’ve only done one. I did one romantic comedy, and that was Think Like a Man, and that’s because that was the first time that I had read a script for this genre that was smart. So the idea that I’m this new king of romantic comedies, well I don’t know if that’s true … but what I will say is this; in the future I will do more if they are just as smart, and just as funny. As it relates to About Last Night, as much as people want to call it a romantic comedy, the tone is more similar to that of a Love Jones. It’s more about exploring the complexities of a relationship versus it being ‘funny, funny, ok now we love each other.’ We get into the minutiae, which made this right for me to delve into the genre again.
Outside of romantic comedies, we’ve seen you explore a multitude of other artistic avenues from action to intense drama. But is there something that you haven’t explored yet that you want to?
For me, I’m always going to try and stretch. I feel like my television show, “Almost Human” gives me that opportunity. I’m not playing a human … I’m playing a machine that wants to be human, and I feel like that’s allowing me to increase my range and increase my body of work. But I have found that the thing that I haven’t being able to do yet is play evil personified … I haven’t been the good villain yet. That’s what I’m looking to do to show that side. Not that I just want to be bad, but I believe that is the next chapter for me, and I’m looking forward to it.
