Taylor Hackford is a veteran Hollywood filmmaker, but to get the life story of Ray Charles to the screen he had to schlep as hard as any young wannabe.
The director of “Ray” came to the area recently to publicize his labor of love. I spoke with him in the “Blue Room” at the Experience Music Project, surrounded by Jetsons-style furniture and one of Ray Charles’ performing outfits, suspended on a hangar.
Hackford has a white beard and black hair and a passionate devotion to the subject of music. Along with his best-known movies, “An Officer and a Gentleman” and “The Devil’s Advocate,” he has spent time paying tribute to music He directed the documentary “Chuck Berry: Hail! Hail! Rock ‘n’ Roll,” and he produced the Ritchie Valens biopic “La Bamba.”
Fifteen years ago, Ray Charles Robinson Jr., the son of the legend, came to Hackford with the idea of filming the story of Ray Charles. Hackford tried to interest Hollywood in the project, but all those years no studio wanted to make it. He finally rolled with an independent production and a relatively small budget.
In the end, Hackford said, it was worth the wait, if only to bring Jamie Foxx to the lead role. “Nobody could’ve played the role but Jamie Foxx,” Hackford said.
The director was impressed with Foxx’s performance opposite Al Pacino in “Any Given Sunday,” and delighted when he recognized the comedian’s physical resemblance to Ray Charles. Oh, and Foxx could play the piano, too.
Hackford brought Foxx to meet Ray Charles, which he knew would be a test. “The first moment meeting RC is astounding,” Hackford said. “Ray was a genius, and he did not suffer fools. He was not easy, he put you through it.”
Hackford watched as Charles and Foxx sat at “dueling pianos” and traded licks. “RC tested him,” Hackford said, especially in some difficult jazz moves, but eventually Foxx caught up. At that point, Charles approved. “I chose Jamie Foxx,” Hackford said. “Ray Charles anointed him.”
I asked Hackford why music was so important to him. “I think that music has this chemical effect on people,” he said. “It’s raw emotion. You’re having a bad day, you hear a piece of music, and it infuses you, you can’t help yourself. … I believe that music played in teenagers’ bedrooms has as much to do with change as anything else.”
Hackford first heard Ray Charles singing “I Got a Woman” when he was in fourth grade. He also had a much older brother, who left behind a record collection to feast on.
The director was adamant that “Ray” show the different sides of Charles’ life – not just the musical genius but also the drug addiction and womanizing. “Do you think geniuses are angels with gilded wings?” Hackford laughed. “They confound your senses. They live life filled with conflicts, and they create great art.” When an audience sees a “TV-movie” version of a life, he said, “they know it’s b.s.”
The film was shot mostly in and around New Orleans, where Hackford owns a second home. He wanted the period to come to life – “Most period movies, people put gauze over it” – and insisted on having real musicians playing in real, non-air-conditioned clubs: “These people are really sweating.” The idea was to knock the dust off the past. “I wanted,” he said, “to make a film where you’re watching a revolution.”
Associated Press
Taylor Hackford at the premiere of “Ray” Oct. 19 in Hollywood.
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