Forest Whitaker Screen Talk

Forest Whitaker is well known to many of us from numerous highly regarded films like the Color of Money, Platoon, Bird, A Rage in Harlem, The Crying Game, Panic Room, and most recently in the TV series The Shield, so it was a pleasure to have the rare opportunity to find out more about the man behind the various roles at the first of BFI’s screen talks.

In an hour and a half of one on one talk, I wasn’t disappointed. Genuine and still humble despite all the awards he has won, he still has a healthy respect for directors he’s worked with like Clint Eastwood, and it was good to hear that his main aim is to grow as a person through his acting (rather than watching the Dollars). Even now the man is all about perfection, he is one for always digging deep to see how much more he can give to a role. If he had one, his motto would be ‘feel the fear but do it anyway’ – a leaf we can all take from his book.