Method Man really wants to smoke a blunt. I’m seated across from the towering MC, who’s decked out in head-to-toe New York Giants gear—matching hat and tracksuit, spotless—and, though he seems engaged in our conversation, I can’t help but notice the tiny piece of white paper in his hands that he’s furiously rolling (and unrolling) into a blunt. Perhaps it’s involuntary, since he hasn’t broken eye contact with me to so much as glance at his makeshift spliff. Even so, I feel a tad guilty to be depriving him of the opportunity.
The man formerly known as Clifford Smith is here in Toronto promoting the film The Cobbler, which made its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Tom McCarthy, the dramedy starsAdam Sandler as a Lower East Side cobbler who discovers that by fixing shoes with an antique sewing machine and then stepping into them, he can assume the identity of their owner. One of the men he morphs into is Ludlow, a notorious local criminal played by Method Man. Jumping back-and-forth between street tough and gentle cobbler, the 43-year-old rapper runs away with the film, exhibiting deft comedic timing. Fans of the stoner flick How High, of course, already knew the grimy Wu-Tang Clan member possessed a knack for comedy, while those who tuned in to both HBO series Oz and The Wire, which coincidentally also featured McCarthy as the fabulist reporter Scott Templeton, can vouch for his dramatic chops as well.
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In addition to his acting efforts, which includes a role in the upcoming Judd Apatow-Amy Schumer flick Trainwreck, Method Man’s rap supergroup Wu-Tang Clan is headlining a “reunion show” Sept. 20 in Brooklyn. The first SOURCE360 mega-concert is part of a packed weekend of music panels and events. And the Wu are also hard at work on its sixth studio album A Better Tomorrow, the first since 2007’s 8 Diagrams.
Did you know Tom McCarthy while you were both shooting The Wire?
We never met on the set of The Wire. Tom wanted to meet with me, so I wanted to do my due diligence before I met him and went online and looked at his credits. I knew the guy looked familiar. And then—boom—I saw The Wire, and it hit me. Templeton! He was that shythead reporter. So, when we finally met, I said, “You’re that piece of shyt reporter!” and he said, “You’re that piece of shyt Cheese!” and I knew I liked him right away.
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You’re a part of the Adam Sandler-Judd Apatow family now with a role in the upcoming Apatow flickTrainwreck.
I auditioned for it, and the part was to be African or Jamaican. I pulled an African accent out of my ass, and got the part. So then the pressure’s on because it’s Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer, and I’ve got this pseudo-African accent. But they made it a very comfortable place for me.
"I’ve been tryin’ to tell y’all for years: 85 percent of these rappers are actors. They fabricate their bumps and bruises."
The man formerly known as Clifford Smith is here in Toronto promoting the film The Cobbler, which made its premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival. Directed by Tom McCarthy, the dramedy starsAdam Sandler as a Lower East Side cobbler who discovers that by fixing shoes with an antique sewing machine and then stepping into them, he can assume the identity of their owner. One of the men he morphs into is Ludlow, a notorious local criminal played by Method Man. Jumping back-and-forth between street tough and gentle cobbler, the 43-year-old rapper runs away with the film, exhibiting deft comedic timing. Fans of the stoner flick How High, of course, already knew the grimy Wu-Tang Clan member possessed a knack for comedy, while those who tuned in to both HBO series Oz and The Wire, which coincidentally also featured McCarthy as the fabulist reporter Scott Templeton, can vouch for his dramatic chops as well.
"" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: bottom; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
In addition to his acting efforts, which includes a role in the upcoming Judd Apatow-Amy Schumer flick Trainwreck, Method Man’s rap supergroup Wu-Tang Clan is headlining a “reunion show” Sept. 20 in Brooklyn. The first SOURCE360 mega-concert is part of a packed weekend of music panels and events. And the Wu are also hard at work on its sixth studio album A Better Tomorrow, the first since 2007’s 8 Diagrams.
Did you know Tom McCarthy while you were both shooting The Wire?
We never met on the set of The Wire. Tom wanted to meet with me, so I wanted to do my due diligence before I met him and went online and looked at his credits. I knew the guy looked familiar. And then—boom—I saw The Wire, and it hit me. Templeton! He was that shythead reporter. So, when we finally met, I said, “You’re that piece of shyt reporter!” and he said, “You’re that piece of shyt Cheese!” and I knew I liked him right away.
"" style="box-sizing: border-box; outline: 0px; margin: 0px; padding: 0px; border: 0px; font-size: 10px; vertical-align: bottom; text-rendering: optimizelegibility;">
You’re a part of the Adam Sandler-Judd Apatow family now with a role in the upcoming Apatow flickTrainwreck.
I auditioned for it, and the part was to be African or Jamaican. I pulled an African accent out of my ass, and got the part. So then the pressure’s on because it’s Judd Apatow and Amy Schumer, and I’ve got this pseudo-African accent. But they made it a very comfortable place for me.
"I’ve been tryin’ to tell y’all for years: 85 percent of these rappers are actors. They fabricate their bumps and bruises."
