Tyrese on “1992,” making Hollywood uncomfortable and rejecting “wack” R&B

Tyrese Gibson is a Grammy Award-nominated, multi-platinum recording artist and celebrated film star from the “Transformers” and “The Fast and the Furious” franchises. But over 25 years into his career, Gibson reveals why he faced great challenges trying to get projects that he’s actually passionate about made.

Whether its making “1992,” set in his hometown of Watts, Los Angeles, with its heavy topic (the Rodney King riots) or producing his new album “Beautiful Pain,” a deeply vulnerable story about this last relationship, the release of these projects are “real miracles,” Gibson told me during our “Salon Talks” conversation.

Outsiders who are familiar with Gibson’s hit records like “Nobody Else,” “Sweet Lady” and his films like “Baby Boy” may think that movie scripts land on his desk. But that is not his reality.

“1992,” directed by Ariel Vromen, is a heist thriller set on April 29, 1992, the first night of the Los Angeles riots following the verdict in the Rodney King trial. Gibson plays Mercer, a former gang member, alongside Lowell, played by Ray Liotta in his final film role. During the riots, Lowell’s family attempts a massive heist.

The film struggled during every stage of production, according to Gibson. Initially, there was “no marketing, no budget, no premieres,” he said. “I’m just sitting here like, “Man, what the f**k is going on? Why am I this far into my career, and why does it seem like this is so challenging?”

The film, in theaters now, garnered an audience with the release of its trailer, but Gibson explained why Hollywood passed over it initially. “I’m not calling people racist, I’m saying Hollywood doesn’t really know what to do…” He continued, “These are uncomfortable topics. These are very hard movies to sell, period.”

And when it comes to music, Gibson is clear on the type of R&B he puts out. “Every R&B single out here is feeling insecure, feeling like if I don’t put a rap on my song, it ain’t going to matter,” he said. That’s not what he’ll be doing, he confirmed, choosing instead to work with greats like David Foster and Kenny G on his latest album.

Watch my “Salon Talks” episode with Tyrese Gibson here, or read our conversation below to hear more about working with Liotta before he passed away, the parts of Hollywood that no one sees, and how he’s bringing back real, love making R&B music with his new album, “Beautiful Pain.”

This transcript has been edited for clarity and length. This interview was conducted before recent news events surrounding Gibson’s detainment.

Congratulations on your new film, “1992.” It’s going to keep everyone on the edge of their seats. Can you talk about how the project came about?

You want to know the short version or the long version? This movie was not supposed to see the light of day, man.

Why is that?

Well, because it was a movie that nobody in Hollywood wanted to make. These types of topics are uncomfortable. Imagine showing up with this script that has all the looting, rioting, and racism from the Rodney King verdict and then, instead of making it about riot and looting and police brutality only, let’s go ahead and put a heist and Ray Liotta and breaking into a warehouse [in it]. 

They pitched it long before I was involved. They pitched it to all the studios, streaming platforms. Everybody passed on it. Then they went and raised the money on their own to get the movie made. Then even after the movie was made, nobody wanted the movie. 

They ended up getting confirmation that the film was in its first film festival, TIFF. The director called me and was like, “I’ve got some great news. We just got a confirmation that we’re going to be in TIFF.” He’s like, “Tyrese, this is a big deal for us, brother. This is big, brother. Toronto International Film Festival is big, brother.” I’m on the phone like, “Wow, man. This is so great.”

Not even three days later, he called me back. “F**k. F**k. F**k. F**k.” I said, “What? What?” He said, “It’s not TIFF. It’s the Toronto Independent Film Festival.” It’s TIFF, but it ain’t TIFF. It’s the film festival that nobody goes to in the same city around the same time, but that TIFF ain’t TIFFing. [Laughter.]

Anyway, we invited a bunch of people and tried to figure out how to get them to not attend the real TIFF to come over to the other TIFF. It was a TIFF for TIFF, but we got it done, and that’s when the movie got purchased from Lionsgate.

Then the other challenge was the independent division of Lionsgate bought it, which means they’re going to get it for very little. No marketing, no budget, no premieres, no interviews, no nothing is connected to getting behind this movie. And I’m just sitting here like, “Man, what the f**k is going on? Why am I this far into my career, and why does it seem like this is so challenging?”

Now, the first thing you need to know is that Hollywood would’ve never made this movie. Not that they didn’t have the money. Not that they’re not interested. They would’ve been so uncomfortable.

It’s based at the time of the unrest in LA after the Rodney King verdict. You feel like that’s a time period that they don’t want to relive? Or you think it’s too relevant in regards to what has been happening in America over the last few years?

Black people living in Black skin is the most uncomfortable reality that a lot of people don’t want to face. When [a white person] gets pulled over, that experience is very different than when I get pulled over. Doesn’t matter if I’m in a Rolls-Royce or a goddamn Honda Accord on three flats with four kids in the car. That reality is a reality. It’s been going on long before camera phones, long before they’ve had cameras in every intersection and Google Maps. It is a very uncomfortable reality.

When you have a topic like the Rodney King beating and then the Rodney King verdict, where you had White police officers literally smiling in the courtroom when the not guilty verdict was read, that’s what set us off. And I was living in the hood. I’m from Watts. I’m not an implant. I’m not somebody who grew up in the suburbs, moved to Watts when things got hard. I was born at Martin Luther King Hospital in Watts. It’s where I’m from. It’s who I am. It’s my DNA.

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For me to grow up in such a volatile situation, you can’t run around in Hollywood and say, “This is the movie we want to make.” I don’t care if you put the heist in it, bank robbery in it, it’s grounded in the reality of racism. I’m not calling people racist, I’m saying Hollywood doesn’t really know what to do with movies like that. I’ve been in this s**t for a long time. It’s like, “Ah, that did happen, Emmett Till, but what do we do with that? And how do we sell that? And slavery did happen, but how do we sell that?” These are uncomfortable topics. These are very hard movies to sell, period. “1992” was that exact thing.

We have the most diverse cast in the history of every South Central LA movie. Here’s the list: “Colors,” “Menace II Society,” “Poetic Justice,” “Boyz n the Hood,” “Baby Boy,” “Straight Outta Compton,” even “Set it Off.” All Black, predominantly African-American, cast. Black filmmakers. Black, Black, Black, Black, Black. And when you see White people in these movies, they’re normally racist cops f**king Black people up.

Even the fact that the director is Israeli from Israel, named Ariel Vromen, who’s a genius, I don’t know how he did this damn movie. He’s incredible, I could not be more proud, because when you’re born and raised there, you don’t make movies like this about Black culture for Black people. 

These movies belong to everybody. “Schindler’s List” should not be watched by just Jewish people who are affected by the Holocaust, who happen to be Jewish. We need to tell the story about the Bronx, about the mob, about Philadelphia, about whatever those uncomfortable topics are. Everybody deserves for their story to be told, and I could not be more proud.

Tell us your character Mercer’s story. He’s a brother. He’s building a relationship with his son. Walk us through some of the things he’s going through.

[Mercer] ended up being a deadbeat father to his son, which is very, very typical. I tell people all the time, a lot of fathers who are not involved in their father’s lives, it’s not because they’re like, “Oh, I got a kid, and I just want to be irresponsible.” I didn’t have a father so what the f**k is being a father? You become a part of the cycle, and you don’t really know how to break the cycle. If you weren’t raised in a stable environment, you grew up in a foster care system, then everything about you being present, nurturing, and involved in your child’s, son or daughter’s life, it just doesn’t quite happen for you.

[Mercer] ended up being a deadbeat because he was raised by a deadbeat. It’s a cycle, he went to the street life, to cribbing, drive-bys, in and out of jail, selling dope. [Mercer] had his son and baby mama, who he wasn’t f**king with, in the hood. She ended up blocking him from being around his son, rightfully so, because of the life that he was living. Then she ended up dying in a tragic accident, which is what we unpack in the movie. Now, he’s got full custody of his son, just stepped out of the halfway house, got a job, doing his thing. And now he’s raising his son.

This movie right here is going to have you on the edge of your seat, it’s a heist. Imagine if a heist went down during September 11th. Everybody’s over there focused on the trauma and everything that’s going on, so let’s go take advantage and break in a building in Wall Street and steal $5 billion that’s in a vault.

That’s what happened in this movie, and that’s the part that people are just shocked, which is why we went from straight-to-DVD, straight-to-streaming, “this movie doesn’t matter,” to all of a sudden we’ve got five movie premieres, and Snoop Dogg is a producer. We got a soundtrack that we never had. My song, “Wildflower,” is the title song. As soon as the credits start rolling, you hear “Wildflower,” dedicated to my mother, produced by David Foster. 

God is something else, man. I don’t know what y’all belief system is, I don’t care how long I’ve been doing this, I am experiencing real miracles in real time on levels that have completely overwhelmed me. I can’t believe that I’m doing any interviews. When somebody tells you there is no money, no budget, no nothing associated with this movie that we are obligated to contractually, and then you come to New York, and you go on “Good Morning America,” I’ll tell you something. That s**t hit different. That hotel I’m staying at can’t be cheap.”

We broke the goddamn Instagram on Lionsgate, and everybody at Lionsgate was like “I think we need to go ahead and get in the basement and rethink this thing because this is the same Lionsgate Instagram page, we got $40, $50 million movies with budgets [on].” No other trailer did the number that it did. That s**t changed everything, man. That’s the fans letting the world know, “This is what the f**k we want to see.”

I think the film is going to hit different for a lot of people. You get that father and son dynamic, and you get what you’re going through versus what Ray Liotta and his family is going through.

I like that, “Ray Liotta and his family.” Ray Liotta, rest in peace, from Jersey. Legend. He blessed us in life with all of the art and gangster movies and level of acting chops he brought to this world. No one will ever be him, before or after him. Ray Liotta is a legend. He also did the movie, “The Iceman” with the same director, Ariel Vromen.

Ray Liotta in this movie is the most uncomfortable thing you’ll ever see. Scott Eastwood played his son along with Dylan Arnold, who was also in “Oppenheimer” with Christopher Nolan. They just won seven Oscars. Man, this movie is some other s**t. Nobody has ever seen anything like this come out of South Central LA.

I want to switch gears to talking about your new album, “Beautiful Pain.” What can the fans expect? 

I was in a relationship with my ex for five years, and literally she woke up one day and just decided she didn’t want to be married no more. We had a child that was less than a year old. Never cheated, no physical domestic violence, no side chick pregnant. She ain’t go on my phone and see no DMs, and I ain’t do anything that I would expect to f**k up my marriage. She just decided she don’t want to be married no more.

So, I’m basically about to release an album that I wish was everybody else’s but mine. It’s called “Beautiful Pain.” It’s executive produced by a legend, I can’t even believe I can say his name: David Foster. And my producer Brandon B.A.M. Hodge. Twenty songs total, live. The most vulnerable, honest—I mean, if this album don’t go down in history, I quit. Now, if y’all don’t know me, it’d be like I’m sitting here tooting my own horn, and why wouldn’t I say that’s about my own album? 

How do you feel about the current state of the R&B genre?

Let me tell y’all something, there’s so much wack s**t out here. I ain’t got nothing to say about no specific artist. I’m just going to say it’s so much wack s**t out here because everything is microwaved. Every R&B single out here is feeling insecure, feeling like if I don’t put a rap on my song, it ain’t going to matter. Let me tell y’all something, I’m 45 years old. I don’t want to see no kids in my audience. I’m grown. Okay? You’ll never see Lil Tay Tay with David Foster in the same sentence. It was never Luther Vandross featuring Kurtis Blow. It was never Marvin Gaye featuring Run-DMC.

[Singing.] “I wanna tell you, baby. The changes I’ve been going through. Missing you. Missing you. ‘Til you come back to me. [Starts exaggerated rapping.] ‘Til you come back to me. I ain’t never put the sound on the seat. Open up the door to the Lambor-g. Put that p***y on the floor on the beat.” [Laughter.] 

It’s never going to f**king happen. Ever. Luther Vandross, Marvin Gaye, Donny Hathaway, Stevie Wonder, they understand something that we don’t understand.

You bringing that feeling back.

It’s back. Ain’t not one g*****n rapper on this album. I’m grown. This is for grown folks. And guess what? When you hear this album, for all the youngsters with a short attention span, let me go ahead and get y’all out the way now. This album is going to put you to sleep. This album is for your parents, it ain’t for you. If you are really into music, you’re going to understand that Luther Vandross took his motherf**kin’ time. Okay?

[Singing.] “Til you come back to me.” This is what an intro is called, not the [Beatboxing] and go straight in, [Rapping] “Ain’t no nothin left to do.” No, no, no. Luther Vandross said, “Hold on. Let me give you this.” [Singing.] “’Til you come back to me. I don’t know what I’m gonna do. No, no, no. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no.” That’s the intro. Then the song starts.

The people want it, man.

I’m not being disrespectful, I’m just letting y’all know I got a song seven-and-a-half minutes long. Lenny Kravitz. Kenny G. El DeBarge. Kim Burrell. David Foster. Okay? Brandon B.A.M. Hodge from Connecticut, genius.