NEW YORK (AP) 鈥� has played Jean-Michel Basquiat, Martin Luther King Jr. and Muddy Waters. He鈥檚 played Colin Powell, a Dominican drug kingpin, Batman's Commissioner Gordon and a longtime inmate nearing release. He鈥檚 played Bill Murray's neighbor, a Civil War-era former slave, James Bond's Felix Leiter, the nurse Belize in 鈥淎ngels in America" and an android-human in 鈥淲estworld.鈥�
Across an expansive array of roles both small and large for more than two decades, Wright has been among the most malleable of actors, able to transform endlessly while still maintaining a singular, rigorously grounded screen presence. Is there anyone he can't play?
鈥淒ennis Hopper said in 鈥楨asy Rider,鈥� 鈥業f you name it, I鈥檒l throw rocks at it,鈥欌�� Wright says.
Shape-shifting has been Wright鈥檚 aspiration as a performer since, as a young actor, he was naturally drawn to performers like Gary Oldman, Dustin Hoffman and Peter Sellers. He admired their dexterity going from character to character.
鈥淚 thought that was the way to go about it,鈥� says Wright. 鈥淚t seemed like it required some skill that was worth learning.鈥�
Even just in 2023, a spectrum of Wright鈥檚 range is on display. He鈥檚 the pastor, politician and Civil Rights activist Adam Clayton Powell Jr. in and the inspiring military general of
But it鈥檚 in which Wright gives one of the best performances of his career. And ironically, it鈥檚 the role that required less metamorphosis than any ever has for Wright.
鈥淭here鈥檚 a lot that鈥檚 pretty close to me in this film. It鈥檚 probably the performance that I could squeeze myself into with the least friction,鈥� Wright said in a recent interview. 鈥淢y daughter saw the film last night and she said, 鈥楾here鈥檚 so much of your humor in this.鈥欌��
In 鈥淎merican Fiction,鈥� Wright stars as Thelonious 鈥淢onk鈥� Ellison, a frustrated and disillusioned author and college professor resentful of his his books being pigeonholed as African American fiction. In a drunken haze he sarcastically pens a book that plays up Black stereotypes (鈥淢y Pafology,鈥� under the pseudonym Stagg R. Leigh), yet it becomes an unironic sensation with white publishing executives.
It鈥檚 a deft satire of race and identity, adapted from Percival Everett鈥檚 2001 novel 鈥淓rasure,鈥� that Jefferson, in his directorial debut, surrounds with a rich, humanistic comedy of midlife crises and family dramas. Monk鈥檚 mother (Leslie Uggams) is aging, his sister (Tracee Ellis Ross) dies unexpectedly and his brother (Sterling K. Brown) is coming out.
鈥淚 saw the film last week in Brooklyn with an audience for the first time. And I looked at the screen at one point at this family and the extended family around it, and I said, 鈥榃ow, what beautiful people,鈥欌�� Wright says. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e kind of extraordinary in their ordinariness. It鈥檚 a family like any other family, it just happens to be inhabited by Black folks.鈥�
Wright, a longtime Brooklynite, recently met a reporter at a midtown hotel a few hours after he was . A morning feast was laid out when a waiter entered with another plate. 鈥淢ore bacon?鈥� said Wright, glancing at the thick-cut bacon already on the table. 鈥淥h, regular bacon. The healthy stuff.鈥�
Wright has won a Tony, an Emmy and a Globe (all for 鈥淎ngels in America鈥�), among many other accolades. But a best actor Academy Award nomination for 鈥淎merican Fiction鈥� 鈥� which many are predicting 鈥� would be his first Oscar nod.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 think it鈥檚 totally healthy to think about these things too much but they鈥檙e there, so one does. I guess if they鈥檙e handing these things out, yeah, sure, we鈥檒l take them,鈥� Wright says. 鈥淎ll in all, it鈥檚 pretty cool, I reckon.鈥�
Jefferson, a veteran TV writer and former Gawker editor, wrote the screenplay to 鈥淎merican Fiction鈥� with Wright in his mind. When he later met the actor for lunch to discuss the project, Jefferson confessed there was 鈥渘o plan B.鈥�
鈥淚n thinking about him so early on the process, it's dangerous because there's a chance he鈥檚 going to say no and then I鈥檇 be heartbroken,鈥� Jefferson says. 鈥淏ut I just really wanted to take a big swing. I knew he would be excellent in the role. I鈥檝e always thought that Jeffrey has the capacity to be very funny. He鈥檚 known as this excellent dramatic actor, but I also think he鈥檚 a very funny guy.鈥�
Directors have occasionally written with Wright in mind; Anderson did for their first film together, 鈥淭he French Dispatch.鈥� But that's rare.
鈥淪o I鈥檝e got to make myself available in a lot of different spaces," Wright says. "Being flexible as an actor has served me well.鈥�
Yet there was something different about 鈥淎merican Fiction.鈥� Wright is used to thinking that he鈥檚 bound to be fired from every project. (鈥淚t keeps the blood running,鈥� he says, grinning.) But 鈥淎merican Fiction鈥� felt uniquely comfortable.
鈥淢y perspective doesn鈥檛 entirely align with Monk鈥檚, but certainly the frustrations that he encounters we share. What I was really drawn to more so than the social commentary elements were the family dynamics, particularly the relationship with the mother,鈥� says Wright, whose mother died the year before he read the script. 鈥淭here might be an impression of this film being comedic and satirical but there鈥檚 a deep vein of simple humanness inside of it that I appreciated.鈥�
Wright doesn鈥檛 quite ascribe to Monk鈥檚 ideas of racial identity. He describes his own outlook falling somewhere in between Monk鈥檚 and that of Sinatra Golden, a rival, level-headed author in the film played by Issa Rae.
鈥淥ne thing that Cord and I talked about was that Monk not be perceived as spouting the gospel, that he be flawed. We didn鈥檛 want to make this film a celebration of ,鈥� says Wright. 鈥淲e wanted to be very careful that we, perhaps not he, not be perceived as classist. There鈥檚 some class arrogance within Monk that I try seriously to avoid.鈥�
Wright, 58, was raised by his mother and aunt in Washington D.C. (His father died when he was young.) They were, he says, the first college graduates in their family. Just as formative to Wright was his grandfather, a Virginia famer and waterman Wright describes as representing to him 鈥渨hat a man was to me in this world.鈥�
鈥淚鈥檝e done very well but a generation back, it鈥檚 a much humbler way of life,鈥� Wright says. 鈥淪o I wanted to make sure our overall story was evenhanded and that Monk might have been in need of some evolution in his perspective.鈥�
Wright attended private school, studied political science at Amherst College and briefly sought an MFA at New York University before leaving to pursue acting full time.
鈥淚 had the opportunity to walk through many types of rooms, in a variety of stations,鈥� Wright says. 鈥淎nd it鈥檚 always been important for me to feel comfortable in any of those rooms but maintain the common touch.鈥�
Steady as Wright鈥檚 ubiquity has been in film and television, his path, like Monk鈥檚, has had its disappointments and sudden flushes of success. The births of his son (in 2001) and daughter (in 2005) diverted his focus. His role in Michael Mann鈥檚 鈥淎li鈥� also led to a prolonged African excursion trying to
鈥淚 at one point became kind of disillusioned by this business that I鈥檓 in," Wright says. "There were some strange experiences that didn鈥檛 match what I envisioned for this work. And so I kind of drifted away.鈥�
Wright never stopped working, but he only meaningfully reconnected with acting after finding similarly minded collaborators. To him, working with filmmakers like Jefferson has made all the difference.
鈥淚t鈥檚 nice work if you can get, but it can be a mess, too, if you get it,鈥� Wright says, laughing. 鈥淚t all comes down to who you鈥檙e working with.鈥�
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Jake Coyle, The Associated Press
