Interview: Nate Parker of “Beyond the Lights”

I first interviewed Nate Parker seven years ago about “The Great Debaters.” It was a great pleasure to catch up with him to discuss his performance in “Beyond the Lights,” one of the year’s best romantic dramas, with sizzling chemistry between the stars and some thoughtful insights into the pressures of celebrity to be hypersexualized.

Your film got a very enthusiastic response at the screening last night!

It seemed as though people enjoyed it. It’s exciting, it’s good when you make something that you are proud of and the response is positive across the board. Gina ‘s scripts and her concise and visionary way of telling stories is something I appreciate, so I was very happy that people responded in a positive way.

We need to take about the karaoke scene.

I think I want to talk to a few record companies on this, you know. I want to do some work together.

I know that it takes a lot of talent to come across as untalented as you did in that scene. So tell me a little bit about how you selected the song and about how you prepared for that scene.

The section of the movie set in Mexico was its own movie in a way.  Our characters get away to really find ourselves and to study each other in our relationship.  Gina wanted it to be very laid back, very down to earth with the personal side of each of us us, the inner kid in us. And so when she brought the karaoke thing to me she asked me if I can sing. I said, “I can sing a little bit.” And she was like “Ok, well we are going to do something a little bit different.” And she made some suggestions on songs. I am a huge New Edition fan. So we came to that song and she said, “OK, I’m going to have her sing this after,” and I said, “OK, well I’m going to do a terrible job!”  And I had fun. I had fun just kind of just playing with it. People are always asking me, “Can you sing in real life?” I think can sing a little bit, I think I do a little bit better than what you see in the film. It was a really good set up as well to be so terrible and then to hear the beauty in her voice, and the song. I think it works, it works in a reverse way.  It puts people in very open and vulnerable place to see someone kind of make a fool of himself and kind of sets them up to receive this incredible moment from Gugu’s character.

I think it also is a character moment for your character because anybody that has got that kind of confidence and charm, I think that’s great. We get a very explicit view of what your character teaches her character but tell me a little bit about what you think your character learns from her.

First I learned the dangers of living for someone else because in the film with Danny Glover as my father he also has plans for my life, like her mother has for her. And the implications of following down my father’s path are little less severe but nonetheless it still living someone else’s life. And I think in seeing the way she deals with her mother and seeing that she has no say in her life kind of reminds me of what is happening in my life. And it gives me the courage to stand up to my father, to say that there are things for my life that I think I want to pursue. And being a great father he’s open to allowing this character to explore himself and explore the things that make them happy. So a lot of people asked me if I think that I saved her and I think the real answer is we saved each other. We came into each other’s lives at very pivotal moments and because we leaned on each other for strength we were able to find our own voices in our lives and ultimately make decisions that we were proud of in the end.

 I love the fact that your character has those quotes that he likes. And I wondered did you play a role in selecting any of those and are there any quotes that are really important in your life?

Yes, it’s funny you asked. I’m also big on quotes. Gina brought it to me without knowing that about me. And so some of those quotes she pulled, some of them I pulled. I recently read a quote by Dante that given the climate of our country kind of resonates, and has resonated with me.  He says, “the hottest places in hell are reserved for those who remain neutral in times of moral conflict.”  And I’m an activist first, I am very forthright in that. Where there is injustice I try to make a presence and deal with it. Martin Luther King also said, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere”. I think that those things are really, really a focus in my life. I try my very best to select projects that will deal with social issues in a way that can also be entertaining. When you watch this film you see how a woman who is so desperately hyperexualized and so removed from any sense of who she is as a person and even thinking of committing suicide and how it is important for young girls for them to see that you should be careful before they wish someone else’s life on their own. And that they should understand that to love someone else you love yourself first. And to love yourself you have got to know yourself. So these are themes that I think are not only important because they highlight an interesting story but it also sends a message to young people out there. As the father of four daughters, that means even more to me.

Gina mentioned how much she loves working with you.  What makes your partnership so successful?

One is that she is an activist as well. She’s is very big on perpetuating positivity on in the female space. And having daughters I am also big on that. Also she is a visionary, she’s very clear on what she wants to protect into the world that she does it without compromise and I’ve always admired her for that as a filmmaker. And now as an aspiring filmmaker and going into directing my feature, I very much pull on her and draw on her ideology when it comes to absolute solidarity and collaboration and never compromising on her vision. So she makes it easy to say yes.

What are some of the causes that you are most passionate about?

Oh man, there so many. A lot of what I do revolves around young black man. We started a project in Brooklyn called Leadership and Literacy through Debate where we use this debate platform to inspire young men that don’t know how to read to become literate. We started that with “The Great Debaters” and it continued on over the years.  I do a lot of work with Amnesty and the Boys and Girls Club. There’s a project called Peace4Kids that’s been going on for the last 15 years in South Los Angeles. So there are a lot of things that I’m involved with. I always say that where ever there are young people in need you’ll find me there trying to stand in the gap for them.

How do you guide and protect your daughters in a world where there are so many hyper sexualized role models for them?

Number one is history. They have to know their legacy where they came from because from that they will draw their identity. They will know all the moving parts that made them who they are and then through that they will understand that they have a high expectation of achievement moving forward based on what they know of himself. And I think far too often we don’t set the bar high enough for our children. We kind of allow them to be raised by their circumstances and environment. Instead of being intentional in the things that we teach them and the boundaries we set for their lives.

So for me and my girls, I’m big on history. Just teaching them about their ancestry, teaching them about the diaspora, teaching them about the many ancestors that came before them and sacrificed and thrived before them. And I read an article not too long ago, I don’t remember the name of the article but it talked about the three keys to success when it came to parenting and it was something that’s really stuck with me. And one is the superiority complex, believing that you’re here for something, for something greater. The second is, having a chip on your shoulder. Saying that there are people who will come before you, there are people you can make proud. That was big for me, understanding that I could create a life for my family for my mother and my sisters. I have four younger sisters and I have four daughters so it was huge for me knowing that I had the responsibility for creating a life for them. So I’ve always walked around life feeling like I needed to do more, I had something to prove. And the third was impulse control. And that was big for me when I was in school and understanding that if you would take a beat before you reacted in any situation. You would give yourself a better chance of choosing the right solution to that moment. So impulse control was a really, really big one especially in my movement with the young black males. Your instinct is not always the best decision and how to take a moment in that I let that sleep before you move into what you think is the right answer the right choice for your life.  And what are the consequences? I guess that’s the thing, that we don’t really understand that everything comes with consequences. Whether it be something as huge as addiction and gateway drugs but or something as small as sleeping in every day. These things all have consequences and once we learn to attach those to everything we do I think that we become a lot more intentional about the way we live our lives and there will be personal or image of success.