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by Kenn Gold
Jamal Mixon is probably best known for his role as Ernie, the little brother of Eddie Murphy's character in the Nutty Professor, and the Nutty Professor II. The dinner table scene where Murphy (dressed in drag as the mother of the family) refers to him as Herculeez, Herculeez, Herculeez has stuck with Mixon. Along with his brother at times, and sometimes solo, Mixon has had an active career the last 10 years appearing in the WB Network's The Parkers, in the film The Cookout, and in many other comedy roles. But he is moving into something new with his latest project, The Gridiron Gang. The film, which stars Dwanye ‘The Rock’ Johnson and rapper, Xzibit is based on a true story and documentary from several years ago.
The story is about juveniles who have gotten into trouble, some for pretty serious crimes, and who are in a detention facility, and about a coach, Sean Porter, played by 'The Rock', who sees something special in these kids. He forms a football team and teaches them the values that led to a lot of the real life kids moving on to better things. Mixon plays Evans, who starts out as a player, quits the team, and later comes back as the equipment manager.
Mixon is usually seen with his twin brother, Jerod, both in films and in real life, and the two are great friends. The two also previously branched out with a hip-hop album called Chunka-Luv, appearing as Herculeez and Big Tyme. Now the pair are looking to write their own films, and to branch out into other things besides comedy. James took time out from this exciting week, which sees the opening of his new film, to talk to MediaBlvd Magazine about his role, his past experiences, and his plans for the future.
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Jerod and Jamal Mixon at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards. Photo copyright Klipsch.com. |
MediaBlvd Magazine>Jamal Mixon, thanks a lot for taking the time out to talk with us today.
Jamal Mixon>Oh Man, no problem, it's all good!
MB>So it sounds like you've got a pretty exciting week with Gridiron Gang opening up on Friday.
JM>Oh man, you know, everything's been going real good. All the reviews have been looking real nice. All the specials on every channel been looking real good. We're just excited. We just hope everybody go out there and see it because it's a good movie. And it really brings a good message to the community.
MB>Well, we'll try to get some people out to see it. Why don't you tell us a little bit about the plot of the movie?
JM>Well the movie is based on an original documentary that came out in 1993, called the Gridiron Gang. What it's about was the Camp Kilpatrick Mustangs. They were a football team of juvenile misfit kids that had committed murders, robberies, and all those type of things. But the moral of the story is they need a second chance, and with this football team, they got a second chance. They didn't have to go back to the community that they came from. Because a lot of the kids that was in the documentary, got to go to college out of playing football.
MB>Sounds like a good flick. So your character is Evans is that right?
JM>I play Evans in the movie, yeah.
MB>And he's based on a real kid that….
JM>Yeah, he's based on a real kid. If you see the movie, you’ll the end of the movie, has a documentary where they show the original footage. I quit the team, but I come back as the equipment manager. I know that sounds funny, but it is. That's what I did. It's a good movie.
MB>So did you get a chance to talk to the real Evans at all?
JM> I haven't had a chance to talk to him yet. My people were trying to get into contact with him so I could talk to him. Cause I want him to go see the movie, cause he's going to be like, 'Oh, he played me cool'.
MB>So you think he'll be pretty happy, huh?
JM>Oh yeah, he'll be happy. He'll enjoy it. Because he knows what it was about, you know what I'm saying, and we kept it real. It's true to the documentary. And it's true to what's going out there, you know? There's a lot of killings going on with the gang bangers, and we need to stop it. And that's what the movie is trying to do- how to put an end to it.
MB>Yeah, that's cool. So what's 'The Rock' like?
JM>'The Rock' is cool, he's a nice guy. You think you know him from TV, like watching wrestling growing up. Your like it's the Rock, he's about to do "The People's Elbow”, and the "Rock Bottom" and do all this wrestling stuff. But when you get there, it's like ‘Wow where's the intensity?’ He's a cool guy, he's mellow, laid back, and a nice guy to work with. It was a fun set. When the set is fun, , good works come out of it. And that’s what this movie is.
MB>So you got any stories you can tell about him without him coming back to kick your butt?
JM>Let me see, there's a lot of stories. So much funny stuff happened on the set, I don't know what to say. Just the usual stuff, when you're around football. If you got caught, you get pinched, you know. A lot of funny stuff. Hazing...tying people up to a couple of poles. Here and there. We did it, and we did it like a real football movie, we got into it, it's good.
MB>So this is your first serious role, is that right?
JM>Yeah, this is my first real serious role. It's serious, but in a way it's a little comedy in there too. But it's not like what I usually do. Usually, I'm doing something funny, but this ones way, a whole nother direction. But it's good though.
MB>I think most people would probably recognize you most from The Nutty Professor.
JM>Yeah, everybody recognize me from the 'Nutty Professor' you know, Herculeez, Herculeez, but I'll take it. That's what we do. We do movies to make people laugh, and put an effect on them so they can remember us and that's why we do it, it's 10 years ago, but however long ago it was, people still come to me and go 'That dude was funny, the dinner scene, the Herculeez part'. It's crazy, but I love it.
MB>So you've done a lot of sitcoms between the movies?
JM>I did so many things. I played Kim's boyfriend on the Parkers. I did The George Lopez show… Moesha. I did a whole of things. In the movies, I did 'Nutty Professor 1 and 2, I did Cookout, the Gridiron Gang, the one that's coming out. I have to throw that one in there. We just finished this movie called Senior Skip Day as well. We're trying to make it happen.
MB>So where do you see yourself down the road, say 10 years from now? Do you want to get more into the serious stuff, or stay comedy?
 JM>Ten years from now, I see myself writing and producing, man. Right now we’re writing our own scripts and trying to form our own production company. We been in it a long time, and been doing this for 10, 15 years. We're trying to do our own thing now, branching off in that direction. Pretty soon you'll be seeing our own movies on the screen. So all the fans out there that like it, hey, we're about to bring something that's going to tear this movie industry up.
MB>So you and your brother do a lot of stuff together, did you guys get discovered together?
JM>Yeah, we got discovered together. We used to go to the Boy's and Girl's club in LA, and this lady came up there scouting, looking for some new talent. Everybody was like, 'You need to go check them out, you need to go talk to the Mixon brothers because they funny'. It just so happened when she came over there we was talking about somebody. Joking about somebody because we big, they was trying to talk about us, everybody try to talk about us, but we funny. You try to talk about us, it's over. I'm going to talk about everything. I'm going to talk about your shoes, I'm going to talk about your jeans, I'm going to talk about your shirt, I’m going to talk about your mamma, your daddy, your uncle, all you can say is the fat jokes, so you know, it was funny.
MB>So then you guys did the album a few years ago, is there going to be a follow up?
JM>Yeah, we did the album a couple of years ago called Chunka-Luv. It was kind of like a funny album. A little jokester album, but we getting back in the game now. Putting it out there. We like to capitalize on all four fronts of the entertainment industry. I mean rappers is acting so why is it rappers can't act, you know? It is what it is.
MB>That seems to be something you see a lot more of, Rap and Hip Hop stars moving over into acting.
JM>Yeah, because, the thing is, with acting-- you put out an album, you've got to do 4 months of pre-production, you've got to wait for it to come out. Then any advance you do get, if the record fails, you've got to give that back to the record company, and if your record don't fail it's crazy. But with the acting game it's guaranteed. Regardless of if the movie do good, you got paid. Even if the movie don't do good, you still gonna get paid off of the residuals from it. So that's why they trying to branch off into it, I guess they just wanna be actors. Everybody wanna act I guess. Or not. Everything is getting put out, might as well do it.
MB>So it sounds like your having a lot of fun with the whole experience?
JM> I love it man, it's something that I want to do, something that I plan on doing for the rest of my life. You know what I'm saying? I don't want to do it for just like a couple of years, and be like, 'OK, I'm done'. Ten years from now, I'm still out there, doing it. So that's my plan. I plan on keeping at it, to keep it going. To keep it pushing.
MB>One of the things I noticed about the press release, it was talking about some of the issues with being an overweight actor. Do you see any prejudice from that? Is it hard to get into certain roles?
JM>It's some times prejudice, but if you good at what you do, and you go in there and you nail it, it's like they have no choice but to pick you. It's like my brother, he did 'Me, Myself, and Irene with Jim Carry. He played one of the 3 brothers in the movie. They were looking for 3 triplets that were buff, you know what I'm saying? And my brother went in there and did his thing, and bam, he got it. So it's not if you big or not, it's if you go in there and you know what you're doing and you can make the people laugh you get it. I like it. It’s a good business. There's a little prejudice to it, sometimes they only want to call you for certain roles. But what I try to tell my agent is, 'I want to go out for all that, everything. Even the skinny roles, I don’t care, just re-write it.’
MB>Do they try to pull you into comedy more than the serious stuff?
JM>Yeah, they try to pull us into comedy more than the serious movies, because they know what they're going to get with a comedy. But with the serious movie, they're like 'I don't know, they never really did it before'. Hopefully this movie will make up for it, and we'll start getting looked at for more serious roles. One of the movies I'm writing this time is serious. Pretty serious. It's going to get picked up, it's gonna be good.
MB>So do you and your brother get along pretty well? Are you guys like best freinds, or is there any rivalry between you?
JM>Oh yeah. No rivalry at all, whatsoever. Everybody that knows us knows there's no rivalry. We' two peas in a pod, as they say, or however it goes. That's who I roll with you know, like if you see me anywhere, it's going to be with my brother. And if he's not with me, it's like, ‘Whoa, What's going on?’
 MB> In the movies that you guys have been in together, were those something where they were looking for twins, or they just you and kind of rewrote it?
JM>Well, yeah, actually, let me see which one I can think of. For The Cookout, I was going out for the role of Willie. Just a little cousin role. Then my brother was in there, and they were like, yeah we need both of you all. So we were going out for the same part, and it was like 'Just put both of them in there.' Same thing with Senior Skip Day. We were both going out for the same part, and it was like just let both of them in there. Why get one when you can get two? Make it two times as funny, you know?
MB>So what projects do you have coming up after Gridiron Gang?
JM>Well Gridiron Gang, coming out September 15th, by the way, for those that don't know. Go check it out, it's a good movie. Then Senior Skip Day will be out next year around the Spring time. Then like I said, I'm just in there pounding out these scripts, writing, trying to get them out there. I'm in a good position right now where I'll be saying, 'Hey, I've got a movie I want to get to you guys', and they're interested to hear it. I'm going to take advantage of it every way I can.
MB>So can you talk about the plot of the stuff you are writing, or do you need to kind of keep it quiet?
JM>I need to kind of keep it quiet right now, because nothing is set in stone. I don't want to say it's going to be this, then have it come out and be something else. But when I know, I'll let you know.
MB>Well, we'll definitely get back with you when it happens. One of the things I also read in the press releases, is 'Jamal's mission in life is to insprire people feel to good about themselves, no matter their size, age, race or gender.
JM>Yeah, I look at it like this. Everybody is put on this Earth to be different. Nobody wants to see the same thing every day. That would be like 'Come on, what is this, this is boring.' No matter what size you are, no matter what color you are, no matter what you are, you can do whatever you want to do if that's what you want to do. If you get your mind set on it, like ‘I wanna do this’, and you put your time into being the best at that, then I don't see what's the problem, and why you can't do it. I know sometimes it's hard, because there's other things, but iif you know n the long run, I want to be ok, I want to have that and you know that you need to do that to get it, then I don't see why you just can't do it.
MB>One of the other things I was reading about you is that your role model was your older brother who unfortunately passed away.
JM>Yeah, my oldest brother Tyrell, rest in peace. Yeah, that was my big brother. He passed when I was doing Nutty Professor one. But he was just so happy for me when I was doing it. I gotta make him proud. I know he's not here to see it, but I know he's seen it. And I know he laugh every time he see it.
MB>So he was kind of there for you and gave you advice that takes you forward?
JM>Yeah, he would always be saying, 'Don't get caught up in this life out here', because we grew up in a bad neighborhood. And he just was always telling us like, 'Man, just stay at it.' 'Don't let nothing, and don't get caught up in it', and we didn't. We're in the position that we're in right now.
MB>Do you find your way back to the old neighborhood at all?
JM>Oh yeah, I still go back and talk to my friends. I still have friends in the old neighborhood. But even they didn't....Like the ones that was involved in that gang banging stuff, even they didn't want that for us. Like they need to do this, the little, the YG's, the OG's would be like, 'Don't mess with them.' Don't even come at them with none of that gang banging. They going to get up out of here, and they gonna be right. To this day whenever I see anybody from there, they be like ‘Yo wassap, Taco.’ They used to call us Taco and Burger, so it's crazy.
MB>So what's your favorite thing you've done so far out of all the sitcoms and movies?
JM>The favorite movie I have to say I did was The Cookout. Because it was filmed on location in
New York
. That was a ball.
MB>Yeah, that was a great movie. I actually saw that a couple of weeks ago, again.
JM>Yeah, I loved it. It was fun. And Danny Glover! You get to work with a legend like Danny Glover, it's crazy. We worked with Eddy Murphy, Jim Carrey, Danny Glover, all these different people, you know?
MB>Yeah, you've had a lot of really big people to work with?
JM>Yeah, Warren Beaty,
Halle
Berry
, it's cool. It used to be crazy, when you see them, and it's like 'Hey, they remember our names!' It was fun.
MB>So do any of them stand out? Among the others, like Danny Glover or Halle Berry?
JM>Yeah, any time I see them, it's like Danny Glover, he always talks to us. Eddie, you know, he has to say 'What's up?' to me. Ernie Thatcher is one of his funniest ones. They keep in contact with me, it's fun. It's real fun.
MB>Well, I think that's all the questions I had for you, is there anything else you want to tell us about that's going on?
JM>Just tell 'em go see the movies! September 15th, that's it, that's all I can stress right now. Because it's good. It's be a shame if people won’t get a chance to see how good it is, because it's really, really good. First time I seen it, I was blown away.
MB>From the trailers and everything, it looks like it's going to be a really great film. I'm looking forward to see it, hopefully, we'll send some other people out to see it.
JM>I hope so too.
MB>Definitely come back to us, and talk to us again when these other projects come out. We definitely want to hear what you are writing about when you can tell us about it.
JM>Sure, no problem man!
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