Oct. 16, 2006

Hot Commodity

There's a proverb that goes: "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." According to South African freedom fighter Patrick Chamusso, actor Derek Luke wasn't aesthetically equipped to portray him. "He said I wasn't handsome enough," confessed Luke, who laughed about it during our interview at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in New York City. "He said he thought he looked like Cuba Gooding Jr. and a little like Denzel Washington, so he thought that's who they were bringing [to star in the movie]. He said I was a disappointment! I had to deal with that."

And if there was any question that Luke-clearly the object of many American women's fantasies-was pulling my leg, Chamusso himself backed up the story when I later spoke with him. "Yeah, he's not as handsome as I am," the typically humble subject of the film 'Catch a Fire' told me. "I was not expecting him. I was expecting someone like Denzel Washington or Cuba Gooding Jr.! But anyway, he did it!"

Yeah, Luke "did it" alright! The 32-year-old actor delivers an amazing portrayal of Chamusso in 'Catch a Fire' and is garnering early Oscar buzz for his performance. Though the movie doesn't open nationwide until Oct. 27, Luke will receive an award from the Hollywood Film Festival during their Hollywood Awards on Oct. 23, for the starring role.

Despite having won an Independent Spirit Award for his big-screen debut in 2002's 'Antwone Fisher,' the actor conceded that though the accolades "feel good," he does not allow them to consume him. "I try to think about Denzel. Denzel is a very honorable critic. I remember I was somewhere and there was an award way in the beginning of my career. I am sitting at a table and I was so happy and was like, 'Oh my God!' Denzel walks behind me and I'm like, 'D, I got an award!' He's like, 'Against who?' I was like, 'Ooh,' I'm nobody," he laughed.

Landing the role of Chamusso in the Focus Features film was no easy task. After his audition, it was more than six weeks before Luke heard from the film's producers. "Actually my agents were prepping me to go to another film," he admitted, before adding: "I'm happy this one worked out!" The actor was then forced to drop 20 pounds by maintaining a restricted diet. "The diet consisted of only greens-no vinaigrette dressing-and only lemon. In the morning we had apples, crushed almonds and a teaspoon of raw honey."

'Catch a Fire' was shot for four months in South Africa. Despite the end of apartheid over 15 years ago, there were times when Luke could still feel the segregation. "My wife is Mexican-Indian. Tried to go to the mall, but that didn't work. When I was walking with my wife, heads would turn constantly. It was kind of uncomfortable," he recalled. "You'd have blatant people turn around and stop in the middle, stop and plant themselves. It was interesting because you're in a mall and you think you're just in Macy's or Bloomingdales, but you have to humble yourself because you don't know the real situation over here. I would always try to relax, but being that democracy was new in South Africa, you really couldn't come from the U.S."

Ultimately, Luke said he walked away with several life-changing lessons from his experience on 'Catch a Fire." He's learned to be more giving ("It impacted me because it helped me distinguish what part of me was selfish"); to appreciate the smaller things in life ("When you get to L.A. you get the great sense of like, 'what's your next job?' In South Africa the competition is more for water, more for education, more for humility and jobs"); and that there are male heroes ("When I grew up, all my heroes were women. The women in my life were more of the stronger figures. I go to South Africa for Patrick's story and Patrick is the hero.").

False Claim

Singer Truth Hurts is in the middle of a legal squabble with local authorities in Myrtle Beach, S.C. The St. Louis-bred protégé of rapper/producer Dr. Dre, born Shari Watson, was arrested in Myrtle Beach on Sept. 11, after, according to her, being falsely accused of making a bomb threat during a verbal altercation with a TSA male employee.

Truth Hurts is currently starring in a London, England originated musical touring the United States called 'I Can't Stop Loving You - The Genius of Ray Charles,' and had been rehearsing at a theater in South Carolina. She and the cast of the play were all scheduled to board a US Airways flight at the Myrtle Beach International Airport when she was stopped at the security checkpoint.

"I got stopped by TSA because of my lipsticks in my bag. They detained me for the amount of time it takes for 20 to 30 people to go through security, because that was the amount of people that was going with me. We were all in the same production. This particular guy, he was being a complete asshole, if I can say that. He was holding me up purposely," the singer recalled, during our phone conversation shortly after she arrived in Colorado last week.

"He was kind of speaking down to me, speaking condescendingly," she continued. "I asked, 'What is taking so long? Whatever I have to do with the lipsticks, I'll do with the lipsticks. If I have to go back to check them or whatever, I'll go back and check them. My colleagues are upstairs and I'm running late and I got a job to do.' He was like, 'Yeah, right, like you got a job. You don't have a job.' That was the racial slur that kind of took me over the edge."

The ordeal escalated during a search of her bag and a back and forth over her audio recorder transpired. "I was like, 'What's wrong?' He was like, 'What is this?' I was like, 'What does it look like? It's a dictaphone! What does it look like, a bomb or something?' He was like, 'Oh she said this is a bomb, she said it's a bomb!' He took that opportunity, because he was so irritated with me that he couldn't win this argument of sarcasm, he took that opportunity to try and screw with me. I know I got a smart mouth, but I know I ain't tell nobody I got no bomb. So he called the police in the airport," she fumed.

The authorities arrived and Truth Hurts said it was then when she was arrested. "They came over and basically everything he said, they took verbatim. He told them that I said I had a bomb, with the intent to blow up in his face in a dictaphone. Basically that landed me in prison for the night," she said, before emphasizing: "Not a holding cell, but prison! It was a nightmare. I've traveled all over the world, and I've never had an issue with anybody at TSA or anywhere else in the airport for that matter." Truth Hurts paid $8,ooo to get out of prison and the production company behind the musical secured a South Carolina-based attorney named Howell V. Bellamy Jr. to handle the case locally. "He's pretty much the best attorney they have down in South Carolina. He basically told me that they charged me with a code that doesn't exist," she said. The singer anticipates the charges will be dropped, but plans to explore additional legal options in the case as well. She's already spoken with a prominent civil rights attorney who is anticipating taking on the case.

"They told me that as soon as I am finished with the case, they want to go after it too. Soon as this [local attorney] is done getting it dismissed and getting it off my record or whatever, they want to attack it after that," offered the singer, who asked us to refrain from mentioning the nationally renowned legal eagle's name.

Calls to the Myrtle Beach International Airport were not returned. A rep for the Transportation Security Administration refused to comment. "As with any government agency, we do not comment on matters of pending litigation," said spokesperson Amy Kudwa.

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