Forest Whitaker was born in Longview, Texas on July 15, 1961, but raised in Carson, California from the age of 4. He earned an athletic scholarship to Cal Poly Pomona where he switched his major to music after a back injury prematurely ended his football career.
Forest Whitaker is one of the stars of ‘Arrival,’ which is in theaters now. (Courtesy Photo)
Forest made his big screen debut in 1982 in “Fast Times at Ridgemont High” en route to delivering memorable performances in “Platoon” and “Good Morning Vietnam.” In 1988, he landed his breakout role as saxophonist Charlie Parker in “Bird,” before subsequently starring in such critically-acclaimed pictures as “The Crying Game,” “Smoke” and “Ghost Dog.”
In 2007, Forest won an Academy Award for his chilling impersonation of Idi Amin in “The Last King of Scotland.” Since then, he’s starred in such box-office hits as “The Great Debaters,” “The Butler,” “Southpaw” and “Taken 3.” Later this year he’ll play Saw Gerrera in “Rogue One,” the upcoming episode in the Star Wars series.
Here, he talks about his latest outing as Colonel Weber opposite Amy Adams and Jeremy Renner in “Arrival,” an alien invasion adventure directed by Denis Villeneuve.
KW: What interested you in “Arrival?”
FW: I thought it was really an interesting story, first of all, the whole notion of people coming to the planet and trying to find ways of communicating with them. But I thought the understory of time, and of how time exists in our lives.
I also found my character, the cast and the director very interesting. So, it all made sense to give it a try.
KW: What would you say was the movie’s message?
FW: I think it has several messages. One is about communication, because the film does deal with trying to communicate with these beings. Another message is about how communication can bring us together. And a third is about misconceptions in terms of how we read people and how we read circumstances. Meaning, are these people coming to create war or not? Are they our friends? How are we interpreting their actions?
We look at people differently culturally, in this case, as different galactically, or however way you’d say it. How do we engage them? How do we judge them? I think another issue explored in the film is time. From a scientific point-of-view, it raises the question of whether it exists at all. And secondly, if it doesn’t exist, it asks are we nevertheless on this plane of a loop that still holds the universe up? I think it poses that question, too.
KW: How do you feel about aliens? Do think that life exists on other planets?
FW: I think it must, when they talk about how many other galaxies there are. Even scientifically, they’re acknowledging that there are places where life could exist. And we’ve already discovered that there’s been life on certain planets that we’ve explored. That may just be algae or whatever, but life on Earth began a certain way, too. So, yeah, I do believe there’s life other than on our planet.
KW: What’s it like to join that franchise?
FW: I’m still discovering it. I’m looking at the toys and other releases that are coming out. It’s a big universe that I’m still learning to walk inside of. But I really enjoyed it when I walked out on the set for the first time. And I’ve remained excited during the entire process. just trying on my uniform was itself an exciting process.
