Five Questions

An un-Common man: Oscar winner forges a new musical path; reveals his favorite rappers

It's been quite a year for Common.

After spending more than two decades making music, the hip hop artist won the 2015 Academy Award for Best Original Song for "Glory" from the film Selma. During the telecast, he performed a moving rendition of it with John Legend, who also received an Oscar for the song. Common also co-starred in the film.

The multi-talented star visited Houston for the final Tanqueray Trunk Show on Saturday — ending the event's six-city tour — where he spoke about entrepreneurship and performed in front of a frenzied local crowd at The Astorian.

Prior to his appearance at the event, CultureMap stopped in for an interview with the Chicago-born rap sensation.

CultureMap: How has your life changed since winning an Oscar?

Common: Really, a lot more people know who I am. Some people who never had an idea of who Common was now feel connected to me as an artist, as an actor or as a musician — really as a musician. I spoke at my lawyer's daughter's school, for fifth grade, to a lot of kids who never knew who Common was, but now they do. I spoke in their class, they were talking about African American history, and when I came in, they already knew who I was. It's just awareness more than anything, that has changed.

As far as me, I'm looking to do more creative things and I feel like I want to keep growing.

CM: Do you have plans to focus more on your acting career?

C: I plan to focus on both aspects of art, because I love acting and I love creating music. I love just coming up with ideas, but acting and music are my two favorite things to do artistically in life. So, I wouldn't want to neglect either one. There's times that I can be more enthused to do one or the other, and that's just natural for me, and maybe natural for a lot of artists. I am doing some new film projects, but I'm also like "We need some new beats, let's go." I'm excited about both.

CM: What kind of path is your music taking you on right now?

C: See, I want my music to be part of something bigger than just the music aspect, meaning I would like for my music to have a visual to it. Not video, but something like a play or a short film. Maybe the music itself is based around a certain theme for me to keep it interesting. When I do albums, I gotta be passionate about it, I gotta be interested, because I love hip hop culture, I love writing. I find things that make me interested to create and that's one of the things I'm looking for my music to be, to have another story to it that has something to do with film or theater.

CM: Are there any projects outside of film and music that you're working on?

C: Well, I'm here for this Tanqueray Trunk Show and I'm having a great time being able to be here and tour and talk about entrepreneurship, talk about people really pursuing their goals, because one of my biggest things is to inspire and encourage. So this is a project that I've been supporting and have been a part of.

I have my Common Ground Foundation, which is something I'm really passionate about because seeing young people have a chance is important to me. I'm also producing a television show that I'll be starring in, but that won't happen until the fall. Those are some of the immediate projects and visions and things that I'm doing.

CM: Are there any up-and-coming artists you're really excited about right now?

C: I wouldn't call them up-and-coming but some artists that I like that are doing great work are Kendrick Lamar, and I love what Kanye (West) does. I like (Chicago hip hop artists) Lil Herb and Lil Bibby. Those are most of the artists that I really like right now.

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Movie Review

Feuding couple fights for survival in dark comedy Over Your Dead Body

Photo courtesy of IFC Films

Jason Segel and Samara Weaving on Over Your Dead Body.

When dysfunctional couples are depicted in movies, about the worst that typically happens is an acrimonious divorce. But in the new comedy/thriller Over Your Dead Body, the husband-and-wife have already gone way past that point by the time they’re introduced to the audience, with their plans leaning toward murder.

Dan (Jason Segel) is a low-level filmmaker relegated to directing pop-up ads, while Lisa (Samara Weaving) is an actor making do in small theater productions. The film finds them heading toward a rare getaway to a remote lake cabin, but it’s clear from the start that the married couple has been at odds for months, if not years. As the film begins, Dan clumsily drops hints at an alibi for his planned murder of Lisa to his ailing dad (Paul Guilfoyle) and others.

His shoddy planning was already sussed out by Lisa, who turns the tables on him when he tries to attack her, revealing a plan of her own. The situation naturally heightens their shared enmity of each other, but their blind hatred turns out to reveal the presence of Pete (Timothy Olyphant) and Todd (Keith Jardine), two escapees from a nearby prison who were helped by guard Allegra (Juliette Lewis). What was once a shared murder plan turns into a fight for survival, forcing Dan and Lisa to work together.

Directed by Jorma Taccone (The Lonely Island) and written by former SNL writers Nick Kocher and Briand McElhaney, the film aims to mine comedy out of darkness. Dan and Lisa’s ire for each other is palpable, and their interactions early in the film are uncomfortable. As the film turns increasingly violent with the introduction of other unsavory characters, most of the humor is derived from the creative ways people are attacked and the ultraviolence that results from them going after each other.

It’s a little tough to get fully invested in the story when the filmmakers throw the audience directly into the plot with almost zero setup. There’s not even a cursory montage of Dan and Lisa being in love, so it’s hard to care a lot about their current hate for each other. Likewise, the presence of the prison guard and escapees is completely random, and the three of them aren’t utilized well in the story despite having a couple of well-known actors portraying them.

The saving grace of the film, though, is the twists and turns it takes in the final act. Everyone on screen is put through the wringer, with each of them suffering multiple injuries or worse. The mayhem becomes so chaotic that it’s almost impossible to tell what’s going to happen next, which slightly makes up for the fact that the story as a whole is lackluster. Even though the audience knows they’re being manipulated, the sequences are entertaining enough to overcome that fact.

The cast as a whole is solid. Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Shrinking) uses his comic sensibility to keep the proceedings light. Weaving (Ready or Not) has done multiple movies in this vein, so she knows how to navigate the comedy/thriller waters. Olyphant feels a little out of place, but he has a presence that elevates his part. Lewis goes a little too manic in her part, and Jardine ably embodies the dumb brute.

The comedy history of Taccone, Segel, and Weaving keeps Over Your Dead Body as a positive experience even when the story doesn’t quite measure up. The film never becomes fully predictable, giving the audience a great dose of pandemonium that lifts it up despite its other faults.

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Over Your Dead Body is now playing in theaters.

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