In George Lucas’ production of Red Tails Nate Parker was the perfect ‘wing man.’
Not the kind you take by your side in order to score dates but as a member of the 332nd Fighter Group of the Tuskegee Airmen.
Escorting bombers to targets, the group was distinguished having never lost a fighter jet in more than 200 combat missions, a record unmatched by any other fighter group.
As leading man, Marty “Easy” Julian, Parker delivered. But just five short minutes with the Virginia-born actor and it’s easy to see why he’s a man anyone would be proud to call their wing life in real life.
He’s worked alongside Cuba Gooding Jr, Stephen Dorff, Denzel Washington, Dustin Hoffman, Samuel L Jackson, Sam Shepard, Terrence Howard, Annette Benning, Rosario Dawson and James Cromwell, yet his humility overflows.
In his latest role he stars opposite Richard Gere in Nicholas Jarecki’s Arbitrage which opened this week at the Abu Dhabi Film Festival and across cinemas in the UAE.
Red carpet appearances, press conferences, public festival events, Parker was “over whelmed” by the reception in the capital.
“In 20 years time if I’m still being pushed from pillar to post then I’ll know I’ve done something right,” he said sincerely. “It’s better than sitting at home to the contrary, just wishing and hoping your film has done well. I think we prepare our whole careers for projects that work. The fact that people are celebrating this film, it’s a beautiful thing. I guess I wake up every morning and the fact that I know that gives me the energy to keep going.”
But don’t be fooled. While Parker is happy the film is garnering the recognition he believes it deserves, he’s not in it for the personal glory.
“My job is to show up, give truth and go home,” said the bright-eyed 32-year-old. “Recognition for the film is enough for me. I can do without it. I hope that in the end we have a product which speaks to people and affects people’s lives and I think that we have that. It’s a lot easier to read a piece of material that you love and to really allow that to excite something inside of you than to read something you don’t like and then to meet with the director and say ‘well, if it was this it would be better”. It was the best case scenario every step of the way with this film. Even to this day — I mean here I am in Abu Dhabi, in the Emirates Palace, celebrating a film that people seem to be responding so well to in a region which is excited about film. You can’t ask for more.”
Parker is best known as talented firebrand Henry Lowe in Denzel Washington’s The Great Debaters. He also appeared opposite Terrence Howard in Pride in 2007 , as Alicia Keys’ love interest in The Secret Life of Bees the year after and as a star-crossed lover in the hip-hop-infused Shakespeare update Rome & Jewel.
The script for Arbitrage had barely had time to cool from the printer when Parker snapped up the role of Jimmy Grant, a young African American drawn into the mess created by financial powerhouse Robert Miller, played by Gere.
On meeting Nate, director Jarecki said it was almost as if he written the part for Parker without ever having met him. More than 60 tapes were viewed for the role, none of them right according to Jarecki. “I read the script and I said to myself I just have to be a part of this. It was supposed to be a general meeting but I knew all the lines,” said Parker.
Unusual as Parker isn’t one for “jumping at roles” thanks to some advice from Denzel Washington.
“He once said to me “you’ll know an actor’s career by his first five jobs” and it haunted me, those words,” he said. “ Sometimes we get caught up in the idea of the norm, the status quo. We have to work for working sake because we don’t know when the next job is coming from. I don’t believe in that approach. I believe that film is a platform which has a vast effect on an audience for better or worse. It’s all connected to the legacy you leave. Once it’s shot it’s eternal, it’s there forever and that’s important for me because I have children. I’m an activist before anything else. So I think I have to responsible about the films I pick and what I put into each film because it will affect what happens when I walk into a room, change among youth, my self respect. I’m very careful about what I choose.”
From humble beginnings, Parker’s father died when he was just 11 and due to struggles with his step father at 14 he moved to Virginia Beach, Virginia to stay with his maternal uncle, Jay Combs, a former wrestler.
Nate attributes his integrity for film choices to the fact money is not his first priority.
“We didn’t have many material things but we loved each other unconditionally,” he has often been reported as saying.
“It is a sacrifice,” said the husband and father-of-three. “There is paying the bills and then there is controlling the bills. I refuse to live outside of my means. I was born in a situation where we did what we could with very little. I promised myself that I would be the spark that created an explosion of change for my family.”
And before his life as an actor, Parker had the same attitude as he trained to be a professional wrestler.
“Even as an athlete my goal was to work harder than anyone could ever possibly work so I could achieve the highest result. It always translated in sport and it always translated in my academics but in film it’s not always the case. You can work harder than everyone else, give it everything and then someone comes in, fresh off the boat and get a massive job. But it’s not a race – the only competition is against yourself. All I’m really called to be is a son to my mother, a husband to my wife and a father to my children.“
From ‘wing man’ to leading man. Parker is a young man that you always want by your side.
