Snipes, Fuqua team up on comeback film

Snipes said he wanted very much to work with Fuqua. “I respect his work. I think he is creative ... and speaks the cultural language I speak,” Snipes said.

He was even more encouraged when Fuqua fleshed out the role for him explaining that residue from past drug dealers Snipes has played such as Nino Brown of “New Jack City” and Roemello Skuggs of “Sugar Hill” would resonate with the audience. It also helped that Snipes really wanted to work with Don Cheadle, who is part of a star-studded leading man lineup that includes Richard Gere and Ethan Hawke.

The three lead actors portray police officers dealing with very different issues. Gere’s character is on the verge of retiring and could not care less about his job. The financial issues facing Hawke’s character tempt him to hang out on the opposite side of the law. Snipes’ drug-dealing Caz serves as a foil for Cheadle, who plays a stressed-out cop struggling with the pressures of undercover work.

Fuqua, a Pittsburgh native, is no stranger to cop drama, both real and on film. His goal, he said, was to show audiences the view from behind the blue.

“Nobody is looking into the pressures on cops,” said Fuqua the previous evening at an advance screening. “You never see on the news what is psychologically wrong with these cats. This movie is trying to get to some of the pressures they are under.”

He most relates to the character Caz, Fuqua said. “He is trying to do right. He made mistakes and paid the price and is trying very hard to do the right thing.” It’s a message Fuqua hopes the audience absorbs. “I would love for the audience to walk away thinking about choices. Trying to make the right choices in your life,” he said.

Fuqua had his own set of pressures and choices to make while shooting in New York. It wasn’t easy weaving together the stories of the three main characters. “You have to shift gears pretty quickly,” Fuqua said.

Sometimes, even a seasoned director can get lost. When he did, Fuqua relied on the skill of his actors, such as when he had only a few days to shoot a pivotal scene between Snipes and Cheadle. “I put the camera on them and they got it in a couple of takes,” Fuqua said.

Snipes said he was able to channel some of his real-life struggles into the character. His financial issues with the IRS have made headlines in recent years culminating in a conviction and three-year prison sentence. Snipes is appealing the decision.

There were moments when the role of Caz really hit home. “Some of the lines in the script, I thought, ‘I know exactly what they were talking about,’” Snipes said.

Despite all the star power on set, Snipes and Fuqua contend that the A-list actors left their egos at home, except maybe for a bit of friendly competition. Overall, the experience, they said, was a blessing, and they treated it as such by employing a healthy dose of faith during filming.

“We prayed the first day before we filmed together,” Fuqua said. “Within hours after prayer, light would shine on things. That experience alone blew me away.”