If you’re a fan of my favorite Christian celeb Sherri Shepherd, you have plenty of opportunities to check out “The View” Contributor Sherri Shepherd this month! Next Friday, October 16, her latest movie Woodlawnwill be released. Below is the a description of the movie in which Sherri portrays Mama Nathan.
Woodlawn, an exhilarating high school football story about revival and reconciliation, offers hope for overcoming the racial crises facing America today.
The movie, an Erwin Brothers film produced by Kevin Downes, tells the true-life story of Tony Nathan (newcomer Caleb Castille), who lands in a powder keg of anger and violence when he joins fellow African-American students at Woodlawn High School in Birmingham, Ala., after its government-mandated desegregation in 1973. The Woodlawn Colonels football team is a microcosm of the problems at the school and in the city, which erupts in cross burnings and riots, and Coach Tandy Geralds (Nic Bishop) is at a loss to solve these unprecedented challenges with his disciplinarian ways.
It’s only when Hank (Sean Astin), an outsider who has been radically affected by the message of hope and love he experienced at a Christian revival meeting, convinces Coach Geralds to let him speak to the team that something truly remarkable begins to happen. More than 40 players, nearly the entire team, black and white, give their lives over to the “better way” Hank tells them is possible through following Jesus, and the change is so profound in them it affects their coach, their school and their community in ways no one could have imagined.
The Colonels make a run at the state playoffs led by Nathan, who achieves superstar status in Birmingham and attracts the attention of legendary University of Alabama football coach Paul “Bear” Bryant (Jon Voight). It’s the miracle, Hank says, of what happens when God shows up.
“It is the story about the redemption of a cynic through a reluctant hero with the influence of an unabashed optimist,” Director Andy Erwin says. “And these three men mixed together in the midst of this spiritual awakening that really hit America in the early ’70s called the Jesus Movement. Something special happened, and a city healed.”
A book has been released in conjunction with the film: Woodlawn: Touchdown Tony: Running with a Purpose, Tony Nathan’s autobiography, is available as of Sept. 15 from Howard Books.
Below is an interview with Sherri Shepherd about the film.
Sherri is also headlining the FREE 2015 Dove Awards Comedy Show, hosted by Bone Hampton, to be held Monday, October 12 at Shamblin Theatre at Lipscomb University in Nashville, TN. The doors open at 6:30p.m., and the show will begin at 7:00p.m.
Finally, Sherri is taking part in “Chonda Pierce: Laughing in the Dark,” a one-night cinema event that is coming to select U.S. theaters on October 27. This unique event gives an intimate look at the life of well-known comedian Chonda Pierce and how she has overcome many of life’s obstacles through faith and humor. In addition to the docu-comedy, there will be a post-event show, “Finding Light in the Darkness,” where audience members will join celebrities including Roma Downey, Kevin Sorbo, Sherri Shepherd, Monica Crowley, Corbin Bernsen and Duck Dynasty’s Miss Kay Robertson as they discuss what inspired them from Chonda’s story.
Tickets for “Chonda Pierce: Laughing in the Dark” can be purchased online by visiting www.FathomEvents.com or at participating theater box offices. Fans throughout the U.S. will be able to enjoy the event in nearly 480 movie theaters through Fathom’s Digital Broadcast Network. For a complete list of theater locations visit the Fathom Events.
Ten years ago, on March 11 to be exact, Brian Nichols, who was to be tried for rape, savagely escaped the confines of the Fulton County Courthouse jail in Atlanta, Georgia, murdering four people in his path: Judge Rowland W. Barnes Judge, court reporter Julie Ann Brandau, Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputy Sgt. Hoyt Teasley U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent David G. Wilhelm and injuring Fulton County Sheriff’s Deputy Cynthia Hall. His escape, driven in part by his desire to see his newborn son, triggered a frantic manhunt spanning the city that eventually took him to an apartment complex Duluth where he showed up on the doorstep of meth addict and mother Ashley Smith. During the seven hours that he held her hostage, she read to him from “The Purpose Driven Life,” a wildly popular book by Pastor Rick Warren and gave him meth. By that morning, Nichols let her go and she in turn called the police. Miraculously, they apprehended him in the parking lot of the apartment complex without incident. Brian Nichols’ deadly escape and his subsequent encounter with Smith is highlighted in the movie “Captive,” which debuts today.
“Captive” is based on the book “Unlikely Angel” by Ashley Smith with Stacy Mattingly. Smith is portrayed by Kate Mara and Nichols is portrayed by David Oyelowo. Below is my interview with him. If you would rather listen to the audio, please go to the end of the interview.
I’m not sure if you know that I am a blogger in Atlanta where the Brian Nichols’ shootings happened. When I posted about the movie on my blog earlier this summer, I got lots of emotional feedback from people who think Brian Nichols was simply an animal and that Ashley Smith was just a meth addict. What do you think having made this movie?
When you watch the headlines, when you see the press coverage on that day, I think anyone and everyone, and understandably so, and I would say, quite rightly so, especially when it comes to Brian Nichols, you know you can’t get away from the fact that he killed four people and he bludgeoned Cynthia Hall, the prison warden. She has never regained her faculties fully again since that day. What he did was monstrous! And he is serving multiple life sentences for that reason. Ashley Smith, by her own admission, was a meth addict, who lost custody of her own daughter and had made several bad choices with her life. Now that’s the surface. That’s the headline.
Why we wanted to make the movie is something happened in those seven hours in that apartment that led to a situation whereby Ashley Smith didn’t become Brian Nichols’ fifth victim, where Brian Nichols didn’t end up committing suicide by cop. He had three guns in that apartment. He could have gone out blazing knowing that he could have gone down shooting, maybe taking one more cop with him. What ended up happening is that he let her go, gave himself up. She never touched that drug again. She got her life back together. And her story has brought healing to thousands of people because she was able to step into forgiving herself, step into the grace of God to accept her second chance which she didn’t think she was worthy of when Brian Nichols turned up on her door. She felt that this was God’s way of saying, ‘You’ve messed up too much. It’s time for you to die.’ So you know, it’s not like these are two people who we are celebrating what they did. We are just talking about the fact that somehow God’s grace intervened in the lives of two people who were undeniably on a downward spiral, and that in and of itself is miraculous.
Something that I found very interesting about the film is how you have the power of good and the power of evil as it relates to religious faith juxtaposed throughout the movie. For instance, Brian Nichols talked about his father going to church every Sunday but he was mean drunk and then he said, ‘I got a demon in me.’ And on the other hand, you have ‘The Purpose Driven Life,’ that book being read. So you have these two things going on talking about being a person of faith, but they are coming from opposite ends. Was that interesting to you?
You know, it’s just the truth. In looking into Brian Nichols’ life, he had been brought up in the church, but he had developed very negative thoughts and feelings about the church. He felt that a girlfriend of his had been stolen from him by one of the church’s pastors. He felt like he had been wronged in several different ways, wrongly or rightly. As Christians, we all know and must admit that the Church isn’t perfect, God is. And you know, in him saying, ‘I have a demon in me,’ which he did say that on night. Also, the Bible says, ‘Teach a child in the way he should go and he will not depart from it when he is older.’ I believe when you are brought up with the truth of who God is, no matter where you go or what you do, there is residue of that teaching, there is residue of that truth, and I think that is partly what helped Brian realize that he had evil within him that needed purging. But it doesn’t take away from the reality that his church experience was, for whatever reason, was a negative one. I think that, again, one of the things we tried to do with the film is not make everything be black and white or coloring with perfect lines. Life isn’t perfect. The Christian life is not perfect. You only have to look at the Bible to see that. We wanted to make a film that really reflected the truth of the challenges of earth life and spiritual life.
In preparing to portray Brian Nichols, did you meet with him or his family? Did you meet with the families of those he killed? How did you prepare as far as making it authentic?
I couldn’t get to Brian Nichols because the nature of his sentence means he’s not afforded the privilege of seeing anyone other than his parent. He’s been in solitary confinement pretty much the entire time since he went to prison. So I couldn’t do that. But I did spend a lot of time with Ashley Smith whom he took hostage that day. And she was, of course, a huge source of information. I also met Candy Wilhelm, who is the wife of the customs officer who was murdered that day. And of course, there was a lot of footage, a lot of articles were written about Brian and then the ensuing trial which also had a lot of footage of him. I had to cobble him together in ways that were imperfect. Of course, meeting him would have been perfect, but that was a luxury I couldn’t be afforded.
It was said in the movie that he never thought he committed a rape, do you know if he thinks that today, the whole crime that led to all of this?
I don’t. But he maintained throughout the trial that he did not rape his girlfriend. In his mind, that was partly why he felt the need to break out of the court jail because he was looking at a potential sentence of 25 years, that combined with hearing that he had a newborn son, he felt caged and wrongly so as far as he was concerned and that was the impetus for breaking out. But the fact remains that he then went on to murder four people. You question someone who was able to do that, and engaging them in the fact they didn’t believe they raped someone was very, very difficult. At the end of the day, he even said, because I have now spent time spent with Brian Nichols’ mother, Brian Nichols himself feels like he is where he is supposed to be.
Now did he leave that message on the phone for his son as he was getting ready to turn himself in?
In terms of his relationship with Christopher. Well, his real son isn’t Christopher. We wanted to protect his son because, of course, you know that’s a young man who you don’t want to have what his father did be something hanging around his neck because of a movie. There are things in the film where you have to conflate, if you like, what it is that happened. So what you have there is what he expressed to Ashley Smith during the night. There were conversations that went on for a long, hours long. And so we wanted the audience to see how he felt about his son. That’s why we made it a telephone message that may or may not get through to Christopher, but we wanted you to see what he was saying in relation to his son.
I also thought it was amazing that Ashley chose not to do drugs on that night even though she had up until that night. Was that true?
That’s true. That’s absolutely true. He held her at gunpoint and asked three different times to take meth with her. And the way Ashley says it, is that she felt Jesus literally took over Brian Nichols’ body at that point and said, ‘Are you going to choose life or are you going to choose death?’ And that was the choice before her. She also said that if she was going to die, then she would rather die with her system clean than it filled with that drug anymore. And I think that part of the miracle of the story is that for all the deadly things that Brian did that day, his life and I guess the demon that was residing in him was a mirror to Ashley of where darkness can take you, where a downward spiral can take you, where bad choices can take you. And it literally, like the Bible says, ‘In your weakness, I am strong.’ I think she accepted and could see that she hit rock bottom when confronted by her weakness, and God was able to take over.
I think of you mostly associated with “good” characters in films where it be in “Selma” or the nice pastor in “The Help” or even though you weren’t the nicest of sons in “The Butler,” you still weren’t a murderer. So what attracted you to this particular “bad” role?
Ashley Smith. She’s given her story in its entirety. Anyone that has read the Bible, that is an R-rated book. That is a book full of murder, rape and pillage and darkness, but the overriding theme of the Bible is that the light always overwhelms the darkness and God’s grace, when it is allowed to infiltrate, will turn things around. And so you know, for me, I don’t discriminate about the nature of the role as long as what is ultimately being said through the story in its entirety is not glamorizing the darkness or glorifying the darkness but showing it to be the way not to go. And then to me, there is not much difference in terms of why I would want to do “Selma” or want to do “Captive” because both films are about how light can overwhelm the darkness. And as an actor, I am committed to that. I want to be part of telling stories that do that. And the nature of the role as long as it is interesting and complex, but ultimately doesn’t glamorize those negative things, then I enjoy mixing it up.
Speaking of “Selma,” you said earlier this year at the ecumenical service at Ebenezer Baptist Church that God told you that you would portray Dr. King in a movie seven years before the movie came out. I’m curious as to how you actually heard the voice of God. What was that like?
Well, God speaks to everyone differently. To me, in a way I can describe it, it was a knowing in my spirit. It’s the same voice I heard for the first time when I was 16, and it was the reason why I became a born again Christian, the same voice that spoke to me about marrying my wife, about the names of my kids before they were even conceived. It’s often a voice that also crosses my will. It’s one thing to hear God saying, ‘You’re going to have a Porsche’ when that’s something you’ve wanted for years and years. It’s another thing when it’s something that is not on your mind at all is being told to you. Seven years ago, eight years ago, there was no way I’m thinking of myself as Dr. King, but I know that voice, and it was very clear.
I wanted to find out from you, as I’m a big fan of ‘Americanah,’ what’s going on with that right now?
The script is being written as we speak so yeah, it’s in the works.
Any date as to when it’s going to come out?
No. Until there is a script that everyone is happy with, there is no point in dating anything. The writer is working and hopefully, he will deliver.
I love my life now, but I would be lying if I didn’t admit that the ’90s was one of the best times of my life. I graduated from high school, went away to college and got my first real job with benefits and erethang as a young adult in the ’90s. One of my favorite things about the ’90s was the R&B music that was the soundtrack of my life at that time…particularly, the girl groups that sang about everything I was going through…Groups like En Vogue, Xscape, Brownstone, Total, Zhané, Kut Klose, Jade and my absolute FAVORITE SWV…When I was in college, one of my girl friends, who has since passed away, and I used to bump the “Weak” remix all through the A in her pink and white Geo Tracker jeep especially during Freaknik! And you know we had to have the top down to flex, be cute in some Daisy Dukes and bump that bass, babee…
Below is that version of the SWV jam “Weak,” if you haven’t been blessed to hear it…
When I was really into a dude, this song was sho on repeat…
So when I heard that Cheryl “Coko” Clemons of SWV had a new radio show “The Coko and Cory Radio Show,” I knew now was my opportunity to interview a member of one of the greatest girl groups of all times!!! Check our interview below…
It was presented to me actually. Something that Cory [SWV’s manager] had worked on for some years. We were supposed to do it like two years ago, but we became so busy. Then obviously, we kind of fell out a little bit, but then we made up and everything, and the offer was still there. So we went and did a test run first, and they loved it! From there, it just became permanent so now we’re on every Saturday, and it’s catching on. Everybody really likes it. The owner of the radio station he loves it. We’re on from 12 p.m. to 2 p.m. We were on from 4-6, but we were moved up! We’re on 38 stations. You can find us on musicalsoulfood.com or Rejoice 100.9.
2. There are a lot of artists out there that have radio shows like Donnie McClurkin, Yolanda Adams, etc. What do you hope to bring to the table that other people aren’t bringing to the table right now?
We’re on a gospel station, but we’re more inspirational. We don’t just play gospel music on our show. If you have an inspirational message, we’ll play it. It’s not just gospel artists, it can be R&B artists. We try to say things that maybe the church folks are afraid to say. We call it an edgy show. That’s the difference between their shows and our show, we’re more edgy. We say things that they are not going to say. We say what you’re thinking. We’re not just sweet with it all of the time. Sometimes, I’m scared. I don’t know what Cory is going to say, but I’m like okay, bring it back in. Sometimes you go out there. If we go too far, they will let us know, but we haven’t gone too far yet, and people seem to love it. We talk about things that are going on in the church that people may not talk about. Like the pastor taking too many offerings. Sometimes, we do a question of the day like, ‘What about your church do you think you can improve?’ Like Cory said, ‘I went to a church, and it was just boring. The pastor put me to sleep.’ They not going to say that. It’s all in fun and love.
We’re looking to syndicate our show too. We’re working on that next so I hope that falls into place for us in the next few months. A lot of people are talking about the show so I’m excited about it.
And I understand that you also have interviews on the show?
Yes. This Saturday, we have Kelly Price & Keith Sweat. In past interviews, we’ve spoken to Shanice and Flex, Kindred the Family Soul. We have so many relationships so when I reach out, they are always like, “Yes.”
3. Is your reality show “SWV Reunited” coming back for Season 3?
I don’t think so. It’s reality TV so we had a good time if it doesn’t come back. (Laughter) We had a good time.
I did want to add that what you guys saw on the show, SWV, we really love each other. And we don’t fight nearly as much as they showed on TV. We barely fight. A lot of fans kind of got upset with us when they saw all of the fussing and the fighting. That’s not who we are. We actually love each other. We hold each other down, and our bond is really strong.
4. Speaking of SWV, are you on tour right now?
No, we’re not on tour, but we perform about 100 shows a year. We stay on the road, but it’s not a tour. We do like spot dates so every weekend we’re working. We’re going to Pennsylvania. We have two shows there. Not this weekend. We finally have a weekend off. So next weekend, that’s where we’ll be.
I know you grew up in a Christian household with your mother gospel artist Clyde “Lady Tibba” Gamble. How do you feel, I know at one point, you didn’t want to perform certain songs. What is your approach to performing with SWV now?
We perform all of our songs now. We do everything, and the fans like it because we haven’t done it in so many years. And that’s one thing the show doesn’t show. We do “Downtown.” “Can We.” We perform them all. The fans want to hear it so I give it to them.
5. Speaking of your mother. I’m a pastor’s daughter, and you know when I went away to college, that was my first time being out of the house just kind of doing my own thing. And obviously, you had a much bigger experience than that. How did you reconcile how you grew up with becoming a big star and I’m sure being introduced to a lot of different environments? How did you handle that?
I’m a pretty strong person so no one could convince me to do anything that I don’t want to do. And that’s actually for my whole group. We never drank. We never did any drugs. That’s not who we were as people. And I don’t remember even anybody trying to offer us to do that, you know what I mean. So we were blessed that no one even would ever approach us like that, and even if they did, I would have been like, “No,” because that’s just not who I am because I didn’t grow up around that. I don’t know that, and I don’t want to know that. I was pretty strong, and my mom was always there. She wasn’t always on the road, but we stayed in contact when I was on the road. My mother stayed praying for me so I was covered.
How did your mother feel about your music at the time, and how does she feel about it now?
Then and now, she didn’t like it. She never listened to it. She doesn’t listen to R& B music. And that’s fine because I know how my mom is. But she supported me in her own way, but as far as the music, no, she doesn’t like it.
At some point, you decided to rededicate your life to Christ. Is that what happened when you decided to do gospel music?
No, I don’t say rededicate because I never left. I just wanted to do some gospel music because that was my foundation, my roots, who I was. And I always wanted to do a gospel record so when the opportunity presented itself, I took it. I did two gospel records. I was always in church. When I would come home, I’m in church so it’s not like I left. A lot of my R&B friends. They sing R&B. but they still went to church. They still prayed. You know what I’m saying?
6. I know your husband, Mike “Big Mike” Clemons, was the drummer for SWV back in the day and is now the drummer for Grammy Award- winning Christian artist Israel Houghton and New Breed. How did y’all reconnect, and did you ever have any idea that back then that y’all would be married today?
Back in the day, no. We didn’t even like each other back in the day. We couldn’t stand one another. He was arrogant, and he thought I was mean. So we just clashed. But we reconnected at church. We were at a live recording at Love Fellowship International, Hezekiah Walker’s church. Kirby Brown, one of his ministers, he was recording. And he was there, and we just started talking and exchanged numbers. And it went on from there. We went on a date a couple of weeks later, and we just stayed together. We dated six months, and then we got married. Everybody thinks we were messing around back in the day, but we weren’t.
What’s your secret for staying married and keeping it together this long?
It just seems like all of a sudden, here we are 12 years later because everything has gone so fast. Communication is key. We try to talk about everything. We definitely don’t go to bed mad at each other. We had to learn that. And trust. You’ve got to trust them. You definitely have to trust them.
I know your husband lost 100 pounds and that you’ve had a tummy tuck. How do y’all maintain your weight? What are you doing?
Well, I don’t work out as much as he does because he can go two or three times a day, and that’s just not me. Because my hair is not going to hold up for that. For me, I try to watch what I eat. I’m on a strict diet. It drives me crazy because I want some fried chicken, some ice cream and cake, but I can’t have it. I do no carbs. I do fruit and meat and vegetables and water all day long. And that’s boring.
And I’ve heard you don’t like to cook either?
I hate cooking, but my husband and I, we, balance each other out because I hate to cook, and he is a great cook! And I mean, he can cook anything and make it up on his own, and it tastes great! And everyone that comes to our house for Thanksgiving, they look forward to him cooking. And it’s healthy cooking. And he fools people because if you tell them what they are eating, then they are going to be like, “Uh, this tastes nasty,” but if you don’t tell them, and they are eating it, then they are like, “This is good. Wow!”
7. I heard that you had a Twitter conflict with K. Michelle? I won’t get into the drama, but I mentioned it because I wanted to find out what artists do you like that are out there now.
Let’s be clear, I didn’t have a conflict. She had a problem. I did not.
But I love Jazmine Sullivan. I love Ledisi. I love Avery Sunshine. And I’m really digging this new artist Tink. She’s one of the new artists I really enjoy. She’s cute. I love Chris Brown. He can do no wrong in my eyes. Miguel. He’s another one that I’m crazy about.
Any girl groups that you like?
What girl groups are out? I wish there were more, but there aren’t so I created my own that I’m gonna put out soon. So I’m excited about that. The name of the group is TTYL. The Talented Young Ladies. There are three of them so everybody is going to compare them so SWV, but when I put them together, I wasn’t really thinking about SWV. But now I can kind of see what everybody thinks that they are like SWV. But they are not like SWV to me. They are from New York. We all went to church together, but now everybody lives in North Carolina. They are getting ready to go to college. They are like 17 and 18. They sing R&B music. We don’t have a date for them to come out, but they have some songs put up on Sound Cloud. They remade Xscape’s “Understanding” and they just killed it.
Well, Coko, that’s all I have! Thank you for your time! Is there anything you want to add?
