This weekend, you can catch the hijacking thriller Default in theaters and VOD. David Oyelowo stars as Atlas, a pirate who takes a news crew hostage, and the drama unfolds through their cameras. It’s a big year for Oyelowo as this Christmas sees the release of Selma, in which he plays Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., as well as his role in Christopher Nolan’s Interstellar.
At the Los Angeles Film Festival, I also saw Oyelowo star in an odd film called Nightingale, where he plays a man who killed his mother and vlogs to the viewer about it. Oyelowo called me from the set of his current production to discuss Default and his upcoming films.
CraveOnline: Did you shoot Default as long ago as 2012?
David Oyelowo: You’ve called me out there. I think it was actually a bit earlier. It may have even been 2011 that we shot that one. As you will see, it was a kind of editing feat because you have so many cameras operating at the same time in order to be able to sell the found footage element of it. We also got caught up in the swirl of Captain Phillips which of course has a not dissimilar subject matter, so we felt we wanted to have a little bit of separation from that film before we came out ourselves.
I had just recently seen you in Nightingale too, so are you just brilliant with accents?
[Laughs.] Thank you for saying that. It’s one of my strengths, I like to think. The thing I’m always looking for are very, very different types of people to play in order to keep people guessing, to challenge myself. I never want to feel stagnant, so I think that’s why I’m drawn to very, very different categories.
Did the found footage cameras make shooting Default looser, or actually more specific where you had to be at what time?
Both things kind of happened at the same time. There was a very definite form to it, rules you had to obey because if you didn’t, then the conceit fell apart. You couldn’t just decide, “You know what? I don’t want to be carrying a camera in this. Or I don’t want to just stand there,” because you just wouldn’t be on camera. But, by the same token, once the cameras were set and you knew where you had to be, the scenes could go on for a lot longer because you’re not shooting in a traditional way. You can do five, six, seven minute scenes without breaking either your concentration or the flow of the scenes. I found that very liberating, having been someone who came out of the theater. So yes, it had both elements going.
What was your take on Atlas?
I just found him a very compelling character because when you see the film, he isn’t what he seems. That fact is revealed very slowly through the course of the film and that was the big challenge for me, was to allow him to be both things. To allow him to be both a fearsome presence but also someone who is very human and believes in what he believes to be a righteous cause. I hope when you watch it as an artist, it’ll have you going back and forth as to whether he’s right or wrong.
Was the scene where you debate the difference between a pirate and a terrorist really the heart of the movie?
I think so. I think that’s a very good way of describing that scene. The central argument of the film and the central theme of the film brings that up. And, it was the scene that when I read the script I thought, “Wow, what an interesting argument to have on screen.” So yes, for sure.
Have these last two or three years been a whirlwind for you?
Not really. I say that because the real work of what I do is that you make these films over the course of three different years, and for whatever reason, a lot of them come out around about the same time. So it could feel like more of a whirlwind than it actually is. I’ve just been, thankfully, steadily working and it just so happens that several of the things I’ve done, some of the opportunities I’ve been given have been truly compelling. Hopefully I’ve risen to the challenge, so therefore I just think maybe people are paying a bit more attention.
You’ve always worked a lot, but has it been more leading roles in films like The Butler and lead roles in independent films like Nightingale that people like me will see? Has it been a transition?
It’s not a transition. It’s kind of a continuation. Like I say, I was in the theater for a long time and I got to play incredibly compelling and interesting roles in the theater. That’s what I’m looking for and I guess as I’ve done bigger movies, the opportunities have become more interesting. They’re trusting me more with challenging stuff so therefore there is definitely a build there, but it’s an extension of what I tried to do in the beginning of my career. All that’s happening is that the work I’m doing I think is gaining in profile.
Which set are you calling me from today?
I’m calling from the set of a film called Five Nights in Maine. I’m actually shooting in Maine, and I’m starring and producing alongside Diane Wiest and Rosie Perez. I was just doing a scene before I called you. I play a bereaved husband who, in a bid to heal from the loss of his wife, comes to see his estranged mother-in-law in Maine. And I spend five days, five very difficult days for her.
Is producing new for you?
It’s fairly new. Developing scripts is something I’ve loved and done for a while, but I recently produced a film called Captive that I starred in with Kate Mara. This is my second film as a producer so it’s new in terms of actually getting films off the ground, but any film that goes into production tends to take three to four years of hard work to get to that point, so I feel like I’ve been producing for a lot longer than you think because any film, especially in the independent world, that actually gets made has taken four years of development. I feel like I’ve been producing for a long time, but a bit like my acting career, the things I’ve been working on are just now gaining visibility.
When does Captive come out?
That’ll be next year sometime.
Who is the captive, you or Kate Mara?
That’s a very good question. I think in terms of that film, it’s one of the compelling things I thought about that story. It becomes kind of a revolving question. Who’s the captor and who the captive seems to be.
We’ll see Selma at the end of the year, and this is probably a common question, but was taking on the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. very daunting?
It was, but no less or more so than getting to play a great big, fantastic, juicy role in a high profile film. I approached him less as an icon, less as St. Martin Luther King and more as a human being. You can’t play an icon. You can play a human being and once someone is a human being, that becomes far more palatable as an actor and as an audience. I think that always takes the pressure off. I also think being British helped me because I haven’t grown up with the deification of Dr. King in my family so to speak, as might be the case if I were African-American. Just not having uncles and a dad and grandfathers who had marched with King or knew him. It enabled me to come at it with fresh eyes as opposed to a perceived weight. I didn’t feel any need to preempt what it might feel like to play Dr. King. I just approached him as a man.
Have there been few portrayals of King in film?
There have been very little, none that depict him as a central character. How can you have a J. Edgar Hoover movie and not have an MLK movie? You have a Hoffa movie and not a Martin Luther King movie. The only American, the only human being to have a holiday named after him in the 20th century, it’s preposterous. But, having said that, I’m very glad to be the beneficiary that it took as long as it did, because otherwise I probably wouldn’t even be getting to play him.
Did another actor fall out during the time they were developing Selma?
No, no one was ever cast other than me. I first read the script in 2007 and every director who tried to get it off the ground never actually got to the casting stage until Lee Daniels took on the film in 2010, at which point he cast me. We still couldn’t get the film off the ground and in the meantime I did The Paperboy and The Butler with him. Lee then felt he had done his Civil Rights movie at which point I suggested Ava DuVernay with whom I had done Middle of Nowhere. Thankfully the producers saw Middle of Nowhere and she came on board.
I knew Ava as a publicist so I hope to catch up with her again for Selma.
She’s great, I love her. She’s one of the best directors I’ve ever worked with. I have no shame in calling her a genius. I think she’s phenomenal and I can’t wait for people to see her work on Selma because she was an unbelievable captain and an unbelievable visionary for the piece. I’ve been hovering around the project for a long time but the place she took it was quite extraordinary.
As a director, what different thing did she bring to it?
I think the unique quality she has is an incredible technical ability but she’s an unbelievable person with the human condition. She really understands people in terms of getting the best out of her actors, out of the crew and it’s such a very rare combination to find in one individual. She has those in spades.
I understand you did a small role in Interstellar. Are you looking forward to seeing the rest of the movie?
I am, I am because I only got to see my scene. He’s so understandably secretive with his scripts. I’m going to be right there alongside everybody else, filled with curiosity, even though I’m in the film myself.
That’s like doing a Woody Allen film, only getting your pages.
It is, it is a bit. I can’t wait to see that film. What I was there for, it sounds like a silly thing to say, but he’s just one of the best in the world at what he does. To be around him was a real privilege.
Since I saw Nightingale, Peter Snowden was such an odd character. What was your take on him?
You know, I read the script and I just thought is it possible to engage the audience for 90 minutes with one character? I also found the script compelling but almost as compelling was can that be done? I’ve never really seen a film quite like it and I’m always looking for projects that scare me and roles that are very challenging. On the page, I certainly had never read anything quite like Nightingale, so there were several boxes it checked for me. Seemingly, I think we succeeded in what we set out to do so hopefully that film will find the light of day sometime next year.
There was Cast Away but they gave him a volleyball to talk to.
[Laughs] Yes, he had a volleyball, I had a camera.
Fred Topel is a staff writer at CraveOnline and the man behind Best Episode Ever. Follow him on Twitter at @FredTopel.
