Cuba Gooding Jr. and Lenny Kravitz each played White House butlers in the star-studded flick, "Lee Daniels' The Butler". StageBuddy sat down with Gooding and Kravitz to discuss how closely they resembled the characters they played.
StageBuddy: In real life, do you do a lot of cooking?
Cuba Gooding Jr: I know he does, because he was talking about it earlier.
Lenny Kravitz: Not a lot, I like to do it when I get a chance, but not a lot, do you cook a lot?
Cuba Gooding Jr: Not at all. NOPE! I don’t even like to make toast or cereal if I can avoid it. When I was younger I’d make Top Ramen or certain things to survive you know what I mean, but now part of my social environment makeup is going out, having dinner and connecting with friends. So I do a lot of eating out and I stay at hotels.
Lenny Kravitz: I think what she wants to know is do we have “butler” skills?
Cuba Gooding Jr: Can we cook? I mean you don’t have to cook to be a butler, I could serve you right now! (Picks up a tray of fruit beside him.)
StageBuddy: Look, I got a real butler during my interview! So did you do research?
Cuba Gooding Jr: Yeah, it took hours to learn how to do that.
StageBuddy: I mean, in the film you have to make bread.
Cuba Gooding Jr: That’s true, we had chefs, we had a wonderful French chef, showing us. Whenever we did things with the silverware, we had advisers sitting there telling us how to hold our elbows and where to stand.
StageBuddy: I’m sure the White House must have very high standards on what to do, there’s a protocol for everything.
Cuba Gooding Jr: Absolutely.
Lenny Kravitz: This guy he’s talking about worked at the White House, and his job was to run the butlers, so he was there to advise on how things would be done to make sure it was correct.
StageBuddy: How do you see the role of the butler, do you think he’s an unspoken hero?
Cuba Gooding Jr: There’s something to be said about a man who leads by example, and his example in this case was to show strength and accessibility, and yet be a silent observer of workings that affected not only him and his family, but a nation of people at a time when blacks weren’t thought of to be intelligent or capable of holding coherent thought. He was a man that was processing what was going on around him, and engaging in a social life with his friends and his wife, but at the same time being representative of his race in a way that could be dignified and professional.
StageBuddy: That’s a great way of putting it.
Cuba Gooding Jr: Or we could go back to the fruit, pick one.
StageBuddy: No, I like that.
Cuba Gooding Jr: Okay.
StageBuddy: Lenny, you’ve done a lot of acting now, is that something you want to pursue more?
Lenny Kravitz: A little bit, but I’m loving it. That’s something I did when I was younger, but I gave it up to pursue music full-time. I’m really glad it’s coming back into my life. It feels good to be doing it now. When I make music, I write the music, I produce it, I play the instruments, I’m involved in all the aspects. This gives me an opportunity to get me away from myself, to serve a character and a director.
