Back Stage West
December 26, 2006
By Nicole Kristal
Known for his sensitivity, gentility, and vulnerability onscreen, Forest Whitaker didn't immediately strike first-time feature director Kevin Macdonald as the dictator type. Even after meeting with Whitaker for The Last King of Scotland, a fictionalized thriller that focuses on the story of real-life Ugandan dictator Idi Amin and a naive Scottish doctor (James McAvoy) he pulls into his inner circle, the director wasn't convinced that the Emmy winner and two-time Screen Actors Guild Award nominee was right for the part, so Macdonald asked him to participate in a "work session."
"A work session without a job is an audition," Whitaker says. "I was worried because I didn't have a lot of time to really prepare. But then I decided that, you know, it's his first film, and I understood some of his concerns." The actor quickly enlisted veteran dialect coach Robert Easton for a crash course. As an actor who has taken chances with independent filmmakers that have paid off, Whitaker knew the role was a wonderful opportunity.
Although the work session — during which he performed a scene wherein an assassination attempt is made on Amin's life — went well, producers asked Whitaker to return and put his performance on tape. That's where the veteran actor drew the line, telling them that if they wanted to hire someone else, they should. Fortunately they didn't, and Whitaker's charming yet chilling performance as the feared dictator garnered immediate awards buzz and possibly the most widespread acclaim he has received in his 20-year career — no small task, considering the actor's standout performances in films such as Bird and The Crying Game, and acclaimed turns on TV series such as The Shield and ER. He is also nominated this year for a Film Independent Spirit Award for the film American Gun.
Whitaker's powerful onscreen presence in Scotland could be attributed to the months of intense preparation he put into the role. Aside from continuing to work with Easton to master the dialect, Whitaker studied Swahili and learned to play Amin's favorite instrument, the accordion. He watched documentaries and footage of the dictator. He traveled to Uganda and met with members of Amin's family and his ministers, generals, and ex-girlfriends — anyone he could find who had known Amin before he was exiled from the country in 1979. "I think, more importantly, I was trying to understand what it was like to be African, to be Ugandan," Whitaker says. "I was trying to understand the culture." He focused on small but crucial details, such as how Ugandans shake people's hands, interact with their wives and children, and eat their food. Once he mastered those elements, he focused on capturing Amin's spirit.
The actor knew that Amin's military background informed many of the ruler's choices. For this reason, Whitaker worked intensely with his own martial arts instructor. "I've learned some of my greatest lessons about acting through martial arts," he says. "I think it's my greatest teacher, other than my spiritual life." The training proves invaluable, he says, because the martial arts, like acting, deal significantly with intent. When facing someone in combat, Whitaker explains, a fighter must intend to not merely hit but push through his opponent. The instructor pointed out to Whitaker when his body or energy shrunk away from him in battle so the actor could develop a powerful, unflinching presence, like Amin's. Whitaker knew that playing the role would require him to replace any trepidation with a warrior mentality.
For Amin's emotional core, Whitaker focused on staying in the energy of the character rather than trying to make the dictator — who ordered the brutal murders of 300,000 Ugandans — sympathetic. "I just tried to figure out how he felt about things and the way he approached things," Whitaker explains. "I never thought, 'I'm going to make him evil.' I just thought, 'Okay, he really likes when his soldiers play this song. He really likes the Scottish. He hates when people question certain things.' I just started to make choices about his feelings, and as soon as you start making choices, then a person becomes more whole."
Capturing Amin's infectious magnetism and charisma also helped Whitaker hone in on the essence of the character. "Idi Amin was a charming person. If you look at the documentaries of Idi Amin, he liked to joke. He had a great sense of humor," Whitaker says. Blending Amin's disarming humor and ability to dole out approval to individuals, such as the character played by McAvoy, Whitaker shows viewers why real-life Ugandans at first embraced the tyrant. The actor also kept Amin's background in mind.
"He was someone who rose not just from poor but from dirt poor all the way to the top," he notes. "He was often said to be unintelligent, and yet he spoke 10 different languages. And I think he did want to build more schools and create hospitals and fix roads, but he didn't find the best ways to do these things. Then, as he started to fear that he was going to lose power, he became extremely paranoid and developed into a much darker figure."
Playing the role changed the actor. For starters, he had never been to Africa. The experience was life-altering: "I'm an African American, and part of my job, in a way, was to understand what it's like to be African. So I got the great gift of going to Africa, submerging myself in the culture, and [had] people even helping me to understand it. It brought me back to the source. By eating the food and hanging with the people, it became part of my blood."
He says the experience also taught him lessons about the dangers of colonization, the corruption of power, even his own dark side. "I got to play this character and understand him and explore it — and understand that part of myself, because ultimately it's me playing this guy. I'm trying to build him inside of me and make it real, but it's me. So I have to look inside of myself and examine the darker corner of myself — my own fears, my own paranoia, and what would make me react this way — so it makes me understand my own potentiality more," he says, then adds with a laugh, "even if it's dark."