![]() “Sam would do something intentionally, seeing if I’m watching, and then when I caught it, we’d have this unspoken moment. Jackson and Roundtree were also checking him out - especially Jackson. ![]() “Even if it’s not verbal, even if it’s just a demeanour or how they carry themselves, or it’s just like little things here and there that they’ll say or do, you just start paying attention, you start picking up on things.” “They kind of both walk in and just start giving it,” Usher says in an interview during a recent Toronto visit. Usher began his daunting assignment by observing how his two predecessors moved. JJ finds himself working with, but also in opposition to, the retro-Shaft ways of Jackson, 70, and Roundtree, 76, who previously wore the shades and rocked the Glock. How did the genial Usher, 27, best known for playing sports heroes ( When the Game Stand Tall, TV’s Survivor’s Remorse) and a planetary saviour ( Independence Day: Resurgence), stand up to be the new John Shaft? His curse-averse millennial take, JJ for short, is an MIT grad working for the FBI as a cyber security expert, who is so anti-gun “he could easily be Canadian!” Usher jokes. The film will have fans of the franchise thinking they’re seeing triple: son, dad and grandad, relative versions of the complicated man who no one understands but his woman. Shaft’s back in the chamber for the multi-generational action-comedy also titled Shaft, directed by Barbershop’s Tim Story and now in theatres. Title anti-hero of the 1971 Blaxploitation classic starring Richard Roundtree, reprised in 2000 with Samuel L. Yes, I’m talking about Shaft, that bad mother (shut your mouth!) of a private dick. Usher is the new cat who won’t cop out, when there’s danger all about. The first Shaft was followed by sequels in 1972 and ’73, and then we had to wait until 2000 for another one.Jessie T. That caught me off guard a little bit (laughs). There’s a scene where he refers to me as (CNN anchor) Don Lemon. He has some great one-liners in this movie. Jackson stars as detective John Shaft, the nephew of the character of the same name in the 1971 blaxploitation classic “Shaft.” Kyle Kaplan, Warner Bros. But then he’ll pull you aside and say, ‘Sometimes you got to do that otherwise people get lazy’ (laughs) … He’s got a master plan and he just likes to make sure everyone is on board. He puts the pressure on the people who need to be pressured. He has a lot of big moments where he questions why something is being done a certain way. There’s a lot of things you can take away from watching Sam just do his thing. He’s going to dress the way he wants, drive the car he wants, say what he wants … and if people don’t like that, he doesn’t care. There are a lot of touchy subjects that are in this film, but Shaft doesn’t care. He just does his thing and it’s nice to see that. He’s a guy who just plays his own game and doesn’t take crap from anybody. Honestly, that Shaft character is so bold and he’s so daring and fearless. Why do you think the Shaft concept has endured for all these years? Richard Roundtree played the character in 1971, Sam did a spinoff in 2000 and now here you are taking the mantle. On a quick trip into the city before he returns to shoot the second season of Amazon’s The Boys later this month, Usher, 27, spoke about the enduring appeal of the Harlem detective and working with Jackson. “There’s a lot more comedy in this than the one Sam did 19 years ago,” the Independence Day: Resurgence star says in a downtown Toronto hotel. This advertisement has not loaded yet, but your article continues below. Manage Print Subscription / Tax Receipt.
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