Cheadle Hopes His Kids Don't Follow His Path

Phil Villarreal - Arizona Daily Star

On the phone Don Cheadle seems just as silk-smooth and easygoing as the characters he plays, but he gets annoyed if you call "Traitor" a movie about the war on terror.

"I'd have to say no because Hollywood has not seen a lot of return on movies like that. It's a spy thriller and is set against that backdrop. It actually has interesting ideas and is thought-provoking," Cheadle said Saturday from New York. He plays a covert American operative who infiltrates terrorist organizations.

"More and more we're seeing people willing to take that on and really bust that idea out. But this one doesn't really do that. It kind of tiptoes around it instead of taking it on fully. I don't think our movie really does. It has elements that get into it."

Cheadle started his career in TV in the 1980s and early '90s, popping up in "Fame," "L.A. Law," "Hill Street Blues" and "The Fresh Prince of Bel-Air." The work led to small, memorable roles in films such as "Boogie Nights," "Out of Sight," "Traffic" and the series that started with the "Ocean's Eleven" remake.

Stepping into the big time in 2004, Cheadle turned in the performance of a lifetime as the lead in "Hotel Rwanda." Playing hero Paul Rusesabagina, who saved more than 1,000 Tutsi refugees during the Hutu militia slaughter in Rwanda in 1994, Cheadle was nominated for the best-actor Oscar that went to Jamie Foxx for "Ray."

The movie sparked a new career for Cheadle as an activist for people in Rwanda and in the Darfur region of Sudan. He traveled to Sudan in 2005, then co-authored the 2007 book "Not on Our Watch: The Mission to End Genocide in Darfur and Beyond." He also organized a celebrity poker tournament to raise money for charities helping Africa.

"I had been doing other things prior to ('Hotel Rwanda') but nothing on the level of activism," said Cheadle, who was given BET's 2007 Humanitarian award. "What drew me in, after I was done with that movie, I was asked to go on a Congressional delegation to Sudan. Once I did that I kind of got pulled into the stream."

Cheadle's high-profile activism caught the eye of Steven Spielberg, who was an artistic adviser for the Beijing Olympics. Cheadle joined in a successful campaign led by Mia Farrow to persuade Spielberg to withdraw from the position because of close Chinese ties to the Sudanese government. Spielberg dropped out in February.

"He met with several of us -- about seven of us," Cheadle said. He wouldn't give specifics about the meeting, which he said was in a hotel room, exactly when it was or who else attended.

"He wanted to sort of get our opinion on what he should do. . . . (But) nobody tells Spielberg what to do."

Cheadle, who has two children with longtime partner Bridgid Coulter, also has had huge success in film since "Hotel Rwanda." He worked as a producer on "Crash," which won the Oscar for best picture, and garnered critical acclaim for lead roles in "Talk to Me" and "Reign Over Me." Next Cheadle is producing and starring in "Miles," a biopic about Miles Davis. Cheadle knows how to play the saxophone and is currently studying the trumpet to prepare for the role.

"I'm starting to play," Cheadle said. "I saw him once before he died."

For "Traitor," Cheadle pushed for authenticity by persuading the studio to allow him to film a subtitled sequence in Arabic. He says his movie is pure fantasy and doubts the United States is capable of infiltrating a terrorist organization in the manner depicted in the film.

"I think that would be one of the most difficult things with where we are at, in that very few people in this country, in the State Department, in the CIA, even speak Arabic, and (who) could ever infiltrate those organizations, being so insular," Cheadle said.

Despite Cheadle's success in the industry, he hopes his kids don't follow his path.

"It's a terrible business, you know," he said. "Your chances of making it in this business are very, very slim. It's like wanting to be a professional basketball player as a dream. Even if you happen to be 6-foot-8, it's an exceptionally long shot."

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