Word: mos
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...adopts a paunch and receding hairline to play another past-his-prime policeman escorting a witness on an ill-fated trek from precinct to courthouse in 16 Blocks, a thriller that unfolds in real time. Willis hand-picked his co-star, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy's MOS DEF, after seeing the rapper-actor in the play Topdog/Underdog. For Willis, playing the burnt-out officer "is obviously not a vanity role," says director Richard Donner. But, for the record, "Bruce's gut is mostly padding." Phew. Then he hasn't hurt his shot at an Abs of Steel video...
...dozens of rappers who have come to Hollywood over the past two decades have achieved undeniable commercial success, but only a few--Will Smith, Queen Latifah, Mos Def--are regularly called on to play something other than big-screen versions of themselves. Undoubtedly there are studio heads with limited conceptions of what those (mostly African-American) selves can be, yet there's also plenty of evidence to suggest that some rappers treat acting as an entitlement rather than a calling. "I've heard crazy stories about rappers who get big money to be in films who just don't show...
...Speaking of which, Mos has played the best friend, the sidekick, the neighbor-when is he going to get the girl? "When the time is right, it will come," he says. "You know, intimacy on screen is awkward. I think sex is the one thing you cannot successfully portray on camera." Instead, Mos's next role is as an autistic man opposite Bruce Willis in the action thriller 16 Blocks. But don't ask him to talk too much about himself to sell it. "I just don't think it's very dignified to ask people to like...
...Guide is another cross-'em-up surprise: a nerd-friendly science-fiction comedy (based on the cult-classic novel and radio show by Douglas Adams) about a melancholy English bloke named Arthur Dent (Martin Freeman) who roams the galaxy after Earth is demolished to build an interstellar bypass. Mos plays Arthur's winningly unflappable (and alien) best friend, and his laid-back vibe was in full effect on the set. "He slept a lot between takes," says executive producer Robbie Stamp. "The crews used to laugh. He had a phenomenal catnapping ability." But he wasn't phoning it in. "Some...
...tonight, Mos isn't talking philosophy. (He isn't talking about his personal life either. For what it's worth: he's unmarried, was born, raised and lives in Brooklyn, and has two kids.) Cued by the lousy music in the hotel restaurant, he launches into an inspired impression of himself seducing a date to light jazz: "Oh yeah. Oh. Yeah. Let me close these blinds. Is it hot in here? It's gotta be these hot, smooth sounds!" When he learns that I used to play the cello, he becomes an M.C. busting rhymes over a solo cellist: "Break...