Actor Nate Parker on 'Red Hook Summer' and Keeping His Marriage Fresh

Last week I realized a dream, I hung out inside Spike Lee’s 40 Acres and a Mule office in Brooklyn. And aside from squealing with excitement and snapping photos of the memorabilia decorating the walls like a rabid fan, I sat down with actor Nate Parker to talk about his work in Lee’s Red Hook Summer, which hit select theaters across the U.S. on Friday.Following Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse, played by Clarke Peters of The Wire fame, the film swirls around Rouse’s attempts to foster a relationship with his grandson Flick, who is visiting from Atlanta and staying in his grandfather’s project apartment in Red Hook, Brooklyn. Amidst the hood’s colorful characters, which include glimpses of Mookie from Do The Right Thing and Nola Darling from She’s Gotta Have It, is Blood gang capo Box, played by Parker, who serves as the resident villain, snatching Flick’s iPad and menacing the Bishop. Ultimately, when the truth about Da Good Bishop Enoch Rouse arises, Box can be seen as the project’s fighting angel, Michael, ready to deliver swift and fierce justice.I chatted with the handsome Nate Parker about his role in Lee’s newest joint, hanging out with the Bloods and how he’s maintained his five-year marriage.Parlour: It was difficult identifying the source of your character Box’s anger in the film.Nate Parker: Box is a community leader and a drug dealer.He’s a drug dealer and Malcolm X?Malcolm X, at one time, was a drug dealer. The same effort that goes into being a successful drug dealer, mobilizing people into an army is a skill set that can be applied at a Fortune 500 company. Our kids have the capacity for achievement but when they don’t reach it, it’s our failure. Box is a product of his environment, his mother died when he was 13 and he was abandoned without admire. He looked up to the Deacon in the film, but he was a drunk and there was something he didn’t really trust about the Bishop [played by Clarke Peters]. He was in the church until someone dropped the ball with him and he ran into the next open arms, a gang.In film’s end, Box is more angry because the Bishop was his last hope of something good in the world. When he found out the Bishop was tainted, Box’s reaction was violent. No one wants the crazy guy in the family around unless someone’s trying to hurt the family.You researched Box by hanging out with the Bloods in Brooklyn, got any stories?Once when the crew wasn’t around and I was chilling in Red Hook with the Bloods, someone wanted to take a picture. One dude tells another to take off his shirt to show his tattoos, so dude takes off his shirt and he has this huge pistol in his pants. I’m thinking ‘I’m away from the crew and I feel completely at home.’ [The atmosphere] ain’t too far removed from [my hometown of] Norfolk, Virginia and the projects I grew up in. But I work in Hollywood and live in Pasadena, I’ve got a family, I’m a so-called polished person but for Red Hook Summer I’m with the Bloods, there are guns in every waistband and we’re taking a picture.I heard you’ve been to Star Wars director’s George Lucas’ famous Skywalker Ranch?After working with director George Lucas [on Red Tails] I sat behind his director’s chair a lot. I want to produce and direct, most of my acting is drama but I would direct a comedy. J.A.W. is a sci-fi project I did for Lucas, I talked to him about the idea and he said ‘Go shoot it.’ I raised $150,000 with my producing partner Glenn Powel and Jesse Williams is [the star]. We shot it, took it to Skywalker Ranch, screened it in his massive theater and he gave us his blessing. Now we’re shopping it as a tv show, I’d be creator and maybe producer, depending on my acting career which comes first.People say you’re the next Denzel Washington, did you two build a relationship while filming The Great Debators?He’s made himself available when I have questions about my career path. I don’t strive to be anyone but me. In 50 years, I want for people to say every time I got on screen, I told the truth. I’d like to think that that truth will affect people long after I’m gone. If from that, people say ‘Hey, the association we’re giving him to Denzel is that he tells the truth and Denzel tells the truth’ then I welcome that with open arms. But I imagine when Denzel was coming up and people said ‘You’re the next Sidney Poitier,’ he said, ‘I’d like to be myself.’What can we expect from your new film Arbitrage, where you worked alongside Richard Gere and Susan Sarandon?It’s a financial thriller with an incredible cast. I play Jimmy Grant and it’s a different character for me. In some ways, he’s like Box, because he just wants to make a good life and this person asks him to do something and he’s stuck because they did something for his father. I’m excited about it.You and your wife Sarah have been married for five years and have three girls, I’m engaged. Got any tips?There’s a line in a song that says, ‘The greatest thing to ever know is to love and be loved in return.’ When you find the person you want to spend your life with, it works when you remind yourself that that person is the one for you. Understanding that she is always going to be there makes it a lot more difficult to look elsewhere.What are your five favorite songs?1. Phoenix’s "1901"2. Drive soundtrack3. Judith Hill’s “Desperation” from the Red Hook Summer soundtrack4. Nas’ “Second Childhood”5. Mos Def’s “Ms. Fat Booty”