[INTERVIEW] Morris Chestnut Talks Real Tears, ‘The Best Man Holiday’ + Being Rejected in Hollywood

If you’re like me, you can NOT wait until ‘Best Man Holiday’ hits the big screen. Thankfully, the entire cast, including Nia Long, Taye Diggs and Terrence Howard is back, along with a few new faces. Recently, this summer, we spoke with one of the main characters, Morris Chestnut, chatting with him about the upcoming movie, handling rejection in Hollywood, being emotional and some of our favorite random questions. Peep the interview below.

My first question is, as you know – sequels, there are a lot of pressure when it comes to sequels. They can do really good, or they can do really bad. What was your initial thought when they approached you about doing the sequel?

Well this one – this one took a different pattern. Most sequels come out maybe – they start filming them a year or two after the original. Here you know, we have 14 years. So with this one, Malcolm called us all and said – you know he took us all to dinner and he wanted to know if anyone would get back together and do the sequel again. And so immediately everyone was like, “Well, what’s the script like? How can we come back? How can we do it again?” And once I’d read the script, I felt that there was definitely something that we could do again because the script has a little bit of everything. I really do think – if you watch this movie, it actually stands on its own. You really – it helps to see the first movie but there’s so much in this movie that I think it’s going to surpass the original.

From start to finish, what would you say – and you’ve touched on this a little bit earlier – what would you say was the most challenging part of the film?

This is like the first one – it takes me places that personally I don’t really like to deal with. But this one – you know, the first movie I’ve just had that one scene where I was on that altar – this movie I’d have like three scenes where I kind of have to deal with some really deep stuff. So, that was the most challenging.

So when you have to connect emotionally in the film, do you go to – think of personal life and also, how do you decompress after you have a scene where you have to go to that place that – you know, a lot of men don’t like to cry, so…

 The first movie was difficult for me because I think when I did the first movie and I crying at the altar, I don’t remember the last time I had cried until that point. So, it was challenging because you know, there was a day where we were all hanging out with towards end of the movie and everybody’s sitting on the set talking about how much fun they had last night, where they are going to do this weekend and I’m going to have to sit in one corner with my iPod or whatever – and I had to go to that place. After we’ve shot that scene in that movie, it took me at least – when I thought about that moment, I would get chills for at least a year just thinking about that moment. And then when I saw the movie again, thinking about that moment, I kind of got chills just thinking about it. This one, I was able to handle it a little bit better, you know because I’m a little bit more mature and I deal with my issues a little better now. But yeah, there were a lot of moments in this movie where I had to deal with the stuff.

In one word, how would you describe the film?

 Great! Yeah, you should see it! No seriously, and I’m not just saying that because I think – you know, I haven’t seen the finished product but I know what we’ve shot. I feel that all of us are in a much better place than we were at the beginning – I mean the first one.  The first one, we’re just happy to be there, just shooting the movie and we’re good. Here, now, we’re a little bit more seasoned. You know, we’re better actors and we have much more chemistry. Malcolm’s a better director. I think the film is going to be – I do think it’s going to be great.

In Hollywood, how do you handle rejection?

 Oh, it’s a part of life – rejection. The thing about being in Hollywood, I can say – for every role you see somebody’s been turned down like a hundred, so it’s just a way of – I’m always honest with myself. You know, when I wake up in the morning and I go and sleep at night, I don’t lie to myself about what the situation is. There’s a lot of times when actors, if when they don’t get a part, they’ll say, “Oh, he didn’t do the director” or because that “He’s sleeping with the cast director” or whatever. I’ve always been honest with myself and that’s kind of – I’m just more driven that way. So yes, so that’s how I handle rejections – just being honest with myself and just go and get it because it actually fuels me. If I go out for a part, and I don’t get it, it’d fuel me more for the next one, but it’s tough. You have to really be able to – in our industry – handle rejection and let it fuel you, because if you don’t, the industry’s going to eat you up. That’s why sometimes you see actors, you’d say “Oh, whatever happened with such and such?”. It’s tough to deal with rejection, especially when you come to a function and I’ve friends who are very well-known – that people think also – when people ask for their autograph, and cheer for them and then they’d go into a cast director’s office and they treat them like they’re nothing – it really eats away. But you’d just have to really know how to deal with rejections.

What’s the best piece of advice that you’ve received, working in the business?

To be honest, I have never really – I have my advice that I would give to someone. I would say just focus and be persistent in becoming better. A lot of the times, people come to L.A and they think that, “I’m going to go to this party and I’m going to be discovered”, “I’m going to go to this coffee shop or restaurant where everybody is” and then forgetting about studying and doing the work. There was a moment actually – I did “Boyz n the Hood” – and after “Boyz n the Hood”, I just kind of thought that they’re all going to come to me. And things were just not working out. It’s about being accepted, being selfish but setting yourself some possibilities, so the world won’t come in when I want him to come and so I said, “Man, I got to do something”. So I started – I got back into acting class and literally like, probably three months after I finished when the first Best Man came, so – I practice what I preach.

What does God mean to you?

 I do everything through God. Like I said, I would not be here if it weren’t for God. I try to live my life in a very Christian-like way and manner so, it means everything.

So can I get a sound – a song for your soundtrack?

Yes, that’s a tough one. I mean my life has been so – I don’t want to say complicated – but I don’t think you can define anyone’s life who’s my age – I’m 25 – I don’t know if you could sum up anyone’s life. If someone has lived, I don’t think one word would…

 Give me your favorite song, just give me one of your favorite song or a song you work out to. Give me – I need some song…

 So when I’m in the gym, and I have my iPod on up depending on what mood I’m in. Most of the times, I’d go and I’ll turn on Tank or Trey Songz’s station. Some time, I’ll go to Lil Wayne and sometimes I’d take it back to Ice Cube. But for the most part is probably Tank, Trey Songz and Miguel.

Peep the entire interview below.

For all things Morris Chestnut, follow him on Twitter (@Morris_Chestnut) and Instagram (@IAmMorrisChestnut).

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