Tag Archives: Mac McCready

Posted on

Greenleaf Recap Season 5 Episode 2 : The Second Day…

Hello World,

If you’re looking for an exhaustive and entertaining Greenleaf Recap Season 5 Episode 2: The Second Day, you’ve got the right one! So let’s get into this thang, ya’ll…

Seconds…

First of all, I’m thinking that since the first episode of Season 5 was named “The First Day” and this week’s episode is “The Second Day” and next week’s episode is entitled “The Third Day,” something is going to break next week as Jesus rose on the third day and what was thought to be dead was resurrected! Will the truth about the real A.J. be revealed next Tuesday? I’m thinking so…But back to this particular episode….

“The Second Day” begins with Jacob in his uncle’s storage locker looking for some documentation that will help him refute the will that his estranged wife Kerissa is holding over his head. But he finds nothing of interest except a fishing rod and tackle box that he takes with him as he leaves in frustration. He only seems to be there for a few seconds, but this is TV time so…

Thankfully, Grace found A.J. just in time as he seemed to be already dead from cutting his own wrists in last week’s episode. But the seconds mattered and A.J. is now in a hospital room recovering from his injuries while Grace and Sophia wait for news of the prognosis in the waiting room of the facility. A nurse or a doctor or some medical staffer tells Grace at A.J. is “stable” although “he lost a lot of blood.” She asks Grace was she cut with the razor blade that A.J. used to cut himself. It’s a standard question according to the woman, but Grace is bit disturbed by it. She says that she wasn’t. And the woman tells her that A.J. will now have to be held for 72 hours for observation, that he will have to see a psychiatrist AND that it will be up to A.J. if he wants to see Grace or not.

Since Grace convinced everyone else to go home, the next scene takes place at the Greenleaf estate. Lady Mae is still fasting! “You need to eat something,” Bishop tells her. Lady Mae replies, “I will eat when my Lord tells me to eat.” If only it were that easy for me. I try my best to eat when the Lord tells me to do so, but chile I can be so disobedient. That’s why I punish my sins with exercise! LOL…But I digress…Then Bishop pressures Lady Mae about setting a date since their City Hall wedding was sidelined with A.J.’s suicide attempt. “I can’t get married while A.J. is in the hospital,” Lady Mae tells Bishop. But Bishop is not to be deterred. Lady Mae finally tells him she will marry him on Flag Day! That’s a random day, but y’all know Lady Mae just says stuff sometimes….

Grace shows up then and passes a key to Mavis’ club to her father. Apparently, the club has been empty for a year. Bishop has plans for the club and if you keep reading, you will find out more. Charity and her self-centered self shows up then and laments that Grace isn’t really trying to communicate with her. But Lady Mae is never at a loss for words. “You almost had her son arrested and you gave away our church,” Lady Mae says to Charity. But she’s not done. She tells her daughter that she should be sitting in a “dunce’s cap in the cold swinging shadow of your favorite Bible hero, Judas.” Again, she’s got the most eloquent bless outs ever! She doesn’t need a knife to cut, that’s for sure…

In Jacob’s suite, Kerissa and Zora fold clothes together. Kerissa takes the opportunity to tell her daughter that she can always discuss her problems with her mother. In Zora fashion, she spits out, “I talk to Jesus every day.” We know that’s not true and Kerissa does too. “Don’t make jokes about Jesus, ” she says. Jacob comes in and the tension between the couple is palatable. Zora knows her parents are about to have some sort of meeting, and she correctly guesses this meeting is not about therapy. Yeah, Zora, your parents are past therapy at this point…no use in prolonging the pain for a second longer…

As Grace gets on her laptop in her suite, Darius calls. She tells him that A.J. attempted suicide. He feels bad for calling about investigating Harmony & Hope Ministries, but she tells him that she needs to be distracted anyway, particularly as A.J. will be off limits for a while. At her request, he comes to pick her up and they go over to the home of Cal Weaver, a Harmony & Hope Ministries pastor. Without even giving Grace more than a few seconds of an explanation, he sputters, “Bob told us all not to talk.” Whoa. What is that about? Especially since Cal has already told Grace that he is not going to be a part of the church merger…And none of the H&H pastors are allowed to speak to the press?… Cal shuts the door on them and shuts down the conversation.

At this point, Grace wants to get back to the hospital where she will meet Noah, A.J. father. Darius is obviously still checking for Grace because he wonders aloud if Noah and Grace plan to couple up again since they now have a son to care for. But Grace tells him that he shouldn’t be worried about that. They’re just concerned about their son. “I’m sorry I’m not more fun,” she tells Darius.

Darius is chasing Grace but unfortunately, Grace’s daughter is chasing Dante who doesn’t seem like he wants to be caught. She calls him and leaves this kind of whiny and wandering message asking about his relationship status with Nikki…Obviously, with her brother nearly dead, she is in an emotionally fragile state and it shows…

Second Chance…

Bishop and Lady Mae have moseyed over to Mavis’ blues club in another part of Memphis. Is the club on Beale Street? As they enter the abandoned club, Lady Mae doubts that this “den of iniquity” can be transformed into a new location for Calvary! That is if they intend to call the church the same name as before. Despite the fact that they own the property fee and clear (well Grace does anyway since Mavis left it to her), Lady Mae reveals, “I’m a little bit daunted by starting over.” She looks around the dusty and smoke-infused club and doesn’t see what Bishop sees. She says a either a “wrecking ball or a match” is what the club needs. “That this building can become a church is a stretch” particularly since it is probably built on “bodies and barrels of bootleg liquor.” And furthermore, Lady Mae plainly tells Bishop, “Gut it, start fresh or I’m out.” Do it Bishop! Your second chance with Lady Mae is depending on it!

Phil DeMar’s second chance relationship with Judee is giving Charity the blues. When she shows up at Calvary, she sees that her office is being painted “plantation pink” and “confederate gray.” What in the Gone With the Wind is going on?! And to add insult to injury, the reason that the office is being painted in such ghastly colors is because Charity’s office will now be Judee’s office! Charity storms Phil’s office where she confronts her ex fiance’! Phil reminds her that she is an associate pastor while Judee will be the First Lady. Charity excuses herself to the bathroom where she collapses in tears while sitting in a bathroom stall.

Jacob aine tryin’ to give Kerissa a second chance so it’s full steam ahead with their divorce. They finally meet with Kerissa’s lawyer and the lawyer promptly instructs Jacob to sign paperwork that will give Kerissa primary custody of  Jacob Jr. aka Winkie. How many times in these five seasons have we seen Winkie anyway?! I would guess like five episodes…like an episode a season…Anywho, Jacob momentarily pushes back and says he wants shared custody. Kerissa’s attorney says to Kerissa, “I thought you said this was settled.” Jacob’s memory is revived then…That’s right Jacob. You better get down or lay down because Kerissa will have your parents in the pokey if you act up! He signs those papers and that’s that.

Back at the hospital, Noah joins the mother of his only child and brings coffee to her. “So what happened with Isabel?” Grace asks. He tells her that she wants a divorce and that it’s okay because he was “holding onto something that was never really there.” And now, Noah is staying with his mother. There’s something about the way he told this news to Grace that leads me to believe he’s trying to make a little family with Grace. More on that later. They don’t get to explore my suspicion any more because the two find out that A.J. doesn’t want to see either of them. And they are told to come back the following day.

Zora and Sophia may have a second chance to restore their severed cousin relationship. Sophia stops by Zora’s home (you know the smaller home on the property where Noah used to live) to ask Zora for a play list that she can give to A.J. “I’m not entirely cool with you,” says Zora. I swear she has a perpetual attitude. I really don’t know why she is more loyal to this Nikki rather than her own flesh and blood. Still, despite the fact that Sophia is no longer saved and sanctified, she still seems to be a peacemaker. She tells her cousin to cut her some slack. “I lost my virginity to a guy who cut me off three days later.” That bomb softened Zora’s stance…at least for the time being…smh…I would not care at all if Zora were on my side…she’s tew murch…

I do think that Charity and Phil will be able to give their relationship a second chance but not right now. While Charity and Phil are discussing some sort of ramp that needs to be constructed as a part of the new church, Judee shows up and clutches Phil in such a way to stick it to Charity. Charity can’t take the heat and spews out the truth like hot water! “He’s only marrying you because your father is making him. He’s still in love with me.” Judee quotes Proverbs 12:15-16 but changes some of the words to suit the situation. She tells Charity to “move the eff on.” That’s right Judee mixed with Scripture with Satan’s Language! Then Judee flounces out of Phil’s office. “You have a good Christian woman, pastor,” Charity remarks. “You should be proud.” Well, Charity aine no Moral Mary nor Martha either so…

Speaking of names that begin with M, Bishops calls some place to speak with Mavis. While he’s waiting for her to pick up the phone, there is all this din in the background. But mysteriously, Bishop just hangs up without speaking to his sister in law…(Oprah, Oprah, where art thou?)

As I said before, Noah is trying to get with Grace and have a second chance at having a family. He says to her,”Can we talk tonight? How are we going to dealt with all of this? I want us to be a family.” Noah sounds as crazy as he looks. Can I get a witness? Grace replies, “I’ve been here for three years, and I still don’t feel like I’m a part of the family.” Noah tells Grace, “that’s how you work.” For some reason, that remark perturbs Grace. “Take it back,” she demands. Grace is a loner. That cannot be denied.

A little while after that, Lady Mae finds Grace sitting on the steps of their palatial home. Lady Mae is coming back from visiting Faith’s grave. She says to Grace, “This whole thing with A.J. has got me thinking. You get a second chance to know your child.” Ever since Grace’s paternity was revealed, and it was revealed that Grace had a secret child, the two have finally been able to fix their relationship because of their common ground. And now the two have something else in common. Both of them have children who are suicidal…(except for the fact that the young man thought to be A.J. is really not….That will be revealed next week on “The Third Day”…mark my words…) Grace reveals to her mother that not only did A.J. attempt suicide, he doesn’t want to see her. Lady Mae tells her daughter about why she goes to Faith’s grave and how she fantasizes about seeing her in Heaven…Grace still says, “All of that is different from being told that you’re not wanted.” Was she talking about herself or A.J.?

While Lady Mae and Grace are exploring this unique mother-daughter connection, another daughter walks up on them…You already know…Instead of recognizing what was happening between the heartbroken women, Charity makes the moment about her. When she approaches them and Grace walks off, Charity laments, “Is this how it’s going to be for the rest of our lives?” Lady Mae pulls no punches per usual. “I’m fresh from the grave of Faith. You don’t know what real problems are.” And then she leaves like Grace did. Will Charity get a second chance with the family? Does she deserve one?  That’s the charitable thing to do…but Charity does work the nerves, right?!

Second Heartbeat…

Unless God touches the relationship of Jacob and Kerissa, their relationship is lifeless and without a heartbeat. The two argue in front of Winkie just after Zora leaves the suite. She takes medication for her chlamydia and Jacob refers to the pills as “slut meds!” LOL And he threatens to tell Zora about her mother’s moment of indiscretion, but she reminds him that he has 20 years worth of moments of indiscretion. And she reminds him of that will once again. “I will march that will down to the police, and we will see how soon Bishop gets a phone call.”

In Grace’s suite, she is once again disturbed by Charity. Charity brings a poem to her that she wrote about her daughter Eden that she lost. Remember her son had a twin sister. Grace reads the poem out loud. Once she finishes, Charity says, “I’ve lost a child too. I know how you feel.” And then Grace blows up as she should. Grace tells Charity that she has found a way to make her “son’s” attempted suicide all about Charity. Instead of trying to see Grace’s point, Charity gets defensive. “You and Mama deserve each other.” So now she’s mad that Grace and Lady Mae have something in common. She is such a petulant child. In five seasons, Charity still manages to be childish! What is it gonna take?! Have heart girl and just leave your sister alone…

Maybe Charity gets her persistence from Bishop. He is always trying to get Lady Mae to see things his way. In another part of the house, he tells her that he’s called some contractors to get some estimates for redoing the club. “You’ve got my sister’s permission?” Lady Mae asks. “Who needs it?” Bishop says. Uh oh…I’m sure his response will lead to some trouble later in this season. Then, he presses Lady Mae to set a wedding date! Huh? While I’m watching this, I’m like, Lady Mae said that she would remarry Bishop on Flag’s Day. And Lady Mae confirms what I was thinking. “I told you earlier today.” She told him Flag’s Day on June 14. He then kinda seems to remember and says he will put the date on every calendar in the house? She’s puzzled as to why Bishop doesn’t remember. Now, I’m sure this is important. I wonder if this means that Bishop is showing symptoms of dementia…I want to be concerned, but I’m not…reason being that Bishop’s Parkinson’s Disease was supposed to slow him down seasons ago, but that hasn’t come to pass so…

Speaking of things not coming to pass…Sophia calls Dante again and Nikki answers. Then, she hangs up on Sophia…She gave up the goodies only to get got. She better go back to God and soon…

Sometime later, Marisol catches Lady Mae savoring the flavor of week-old pasta salad. “You’re eating,” she exclaims. “The Lord informed me that I need strength for the days ahead.” (Aside: I’v got some pasta salad in the fridge that I plan on enjoying tomorrow. Not that you care, but’s it’s rare that someone mentions a particular food on a television program that you have in your fridge at that very moment.)

Anywho, Jacob and his second heartbeat, aka Winkie, go fishing on the Greenleaf estate. But the fish aren’t cooperating. Jacob opens the tackle box and wouldn’t you know it, he finds a weathered envelope containing a will for a Loretta Davis. Who is she?  Whoever she is, she is certainly the key to stopping Kerissa from blackmailing Jacob.

Speaking of underhanded, Zora calls Sophia and asks Sophia if she sent a topless pic to Dante! She may have only sent it to him but now the image is everywhere. God is trying to tell you something, Sophia.

God is trying to tell something to Grace too! He delivers a message to Grace through Cal Weaver. He calls Grace and simply says, “Eden Vale Lending.” He also tells Grace to stop Darius from ever contacting him again. I can’t call it at this moment. I guess I will just have to keep watching…

And I’m glad I kept watching this episode because the shocker comes in the final moments. Jacob goes by the apartment of Tasha Skanks (remember her?). “Tasha, I need to find Basie,” Jacob says. “Jacob, Basie is dead.” What?!!! Basie was my favorite short man on TV since George Jefferson! Yes, I’m a ’70s baby. Millennial readers, Google “The Jeffersons.” What does Basie have to do Loretta Davis? Saints, do y’all know? It looks like we will just have to run on (or watch on in this case) and see what the end will be…Can I get an “Amen” on that?!

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Recap Season 5 Episode 2: The Second Day… and my other recaps so far. If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!

Any thoughts?

 

Posted on

Greenleaf Mid-Season Premiere Recap, Season 2 Episode 9: The Bear…

Hello World,

Clutch your Bibles to your bosoms, the Greenleafs courtesy of OWN are back! (This Greenleaf recap is brought to you by the letter “B.”)

Bad Boys…

The episode begins right where the Mid-Season Finale ended with Grace and her Uncle Mac on the glass-littered floor of his apartment. She’s coughing and he’s writhing as blood spews from his jugular. She summons enough strength to get the upper hand and croaks out, “Tell me where my daughter is!” Mac pleads with his niece to call for help, but she refuses to comply unless he answers her. By the time she finally understands that he is saying, “I don’t know,” Mac dies right there on the floor, but not before his final two words are: “I’m sorry.”

Only then does Grace call 911 and explains to the police that Mac slammed her in the wall and tried to choke her. She tell them that she thought he had her daughter, and they tell her the bottle that was used to fatally wound Mac bears her fingerprints.  Mac, the bad boy we all love to hate, leaves in a body bag while Grace goes to the hospital.

It’s the morning after for Aaron and Kevin who are no longer just boys kickin’ it. Aaron is fast asleep in bed while Kevin sits up in bed next to him, contemplating what they’ve done. He hears his son Nathan crying on the baby monitor and leaves Aaron to tend to his son in the nursery.

Meanwhile, at the hospital, like an episode of “COPS,” pictures of Grace and all the wounds covering her body are taken. Grace asks a detective, “Am I under arrest?” He replies, “No, pastor, you are free to go.” Bishop and Lady Mae worry in the waiting area hoping to see Grace soon. While they wait, Lady Mae begins to reminisce about her deceased brother, but Bishop nips that in the bud. “Our daughter nearly died tonight so pardon me if I ask to be excused from hearing some fond memory of the man who tried to kill her.” When Grace finally appears, Lady Mae says, “I’m so relieved that you are alive. I know it was self defense.” In a rare moment of affection for her daughter, Lady Mae tells Grace that she loves her and Grace tearfully responds with, “I love you, Mama.”

Back at the Greenleaf estate, Grace finds her own daughter asleep on a sofa. Once she awakens her, she is stunned to discover that Mac had nothing to do with Sofia’s whereabouts. She had been with Zora at a recording studio all along. While Sofia is glad to see her mother alive, she doesn’t hesitate to call her out on her bad behavior, pointing out that Grace went to Mac’s home after she promised that she was done with her vigilante justice.

Finally free from the grip of Bad Boy/Pastor Basie Skanks, Jacob and Kerissa hatch a plan to get back in the good graces of Bishop since they now own the property where Triumph 2 was going to be built.

Buck the System…

Charity has bucked the system by being the happiest divorcée ever it seems. She totally skipped over the mourning period of the death of her marriage and is kee keeing it up with Jabari in his Nashville recording studio. Wearing a black and white striped, tight dress, she is elated that a girls group is singing one of her songs in front of them. When Kevin calls, she tells him that she is happy they can be friends. Kevin seems to agree with her, at least verbally, but a tear drops from his eye and slides down his face at the same time. I’m not sure if he misses Charity or feels guilty about his night with Aaron or a bit of both.

Grace goes back to her office at the church in an effort hold her head high and not appear to be hiding away due to guilt. Darius, whose call she did not answer the night before, is waiting on her in her office. They discuss her ordeal as they proceed to the sanctuary of the church. Grace has to convince the police that she did not go to Mac’s house with malicious intent. Good luck with that. Darius, who is not a religious man, bucks the system and asks the pastor has she prayed about it. “It might be a good time to toss one up,” he says. They embrace in front of the altar.

Bearing good news, Jacob meets with the Bishop in his office and tell him what happened with Basie and the fact that he now owns the property across the way from Calvary. Bishop calls Basie a “diminutive demon!” LOL. Jacob suggests with Basie and Triumph out of the picture, he and his father can be co-pastors of Calvary and use the land however the two of them see fit. Bishop bucks the system and shuts his son down yet again. “I don’t need a co-pastor anymore than I need a cane to walk with.” Y’all know the Bishop has Parkinson’s disease, right?

While Aaron and Kevin may have shared a bed, Kevin has bucked the system, avoiding Aaron by leaving the Greenleaf estate too early to have contact with him and avoiding his calls as well. Aaron leaves a message on his voicemail, hoping to hear back from Kevin at some point.

Cousins Sofia and Zora discuss the incident in which Isaiah confronted Zora about expressing an opinion about his music and how he came off like he wanted to throw some blows with his girlfriend as a result. “You shouldn’t see him again,” Sofia tells Zora. At first Zora bucks, but then says, “I’ll dump him but you have to help me find a new bae.”

Although Kevin put the brakes on Aaron, the Greenleaf counsel still has business to conduct. He tells Grace how to buck the system before an interview she has with the police. He instructs her to tell the police that she only picked up the bottle because she was afraid she was going to die and after that, she remembers nothing.

But for the Grace of God…

Despite following Aaron’s direction, Grace is worried that she could go down for killing her uncle. She makes her father promise that he will do all he can to hold on to Sofia as she is worried that Sofia’s father, Ray, will try to get her to come with him since she may be off to jail. Bishop tells her that she is not going to jail. Grace responds, “I wish I had your faith.”

At Calvary, Kevin busts into a Fortitude for Families meeting and yells, “I screwed up!” He continues, telling the people gathered in the room that “it’s all a lie. All of you are lying to yourself.” He was trying to remain in God’s good graces by attending these meetings but obviously feels betrayed that the meetings did not help him at all.

Grace seeks the grace of God as well as she finally kneels in front of the sanctuary’s altar and says, “I’m so sorry. I tried to do the right thing. You know my heart. Don’t take my daughter away.”

Back at the Greenleaf estate, Charity comes back in a hurry after Kevin tells her what happened with Grace. When she goes into Nathan’s nursery to check on her son, she finds a note from Kevin that is so painful she begins to cry. What did that note say?!!! I guess we will find out tomorrow!

While Lady Mae is glad that her daughter is the one who survived the death match with Mac, she admits to her husband that she is still grieving for Mac. She also and finally admits that his abusive behavior may have been something he learned from their father. “Maybe Mac became the way he was by watching Daddy do what he did to me.” So yes, Lady Mae was molested like her daughter Faith was molested. But for the Grace of God, her life could have ended the same way her daughter’s ended.  For some reason, Lady Mae was able to continue living while daughter Faith chose to take her own life.

While Grace is her bedroom, Aaron comes to tell her some good news. “The prosecutor’s office is not going to pursue charges against you,” Aaron says before hugging her. Grace doesn’t quite believe him but then he says, “Sometimes the bear gets you and sometimes you get the bear.”

With that, Grace runs outside to take the good news in, sho nuff evidence of God’s grace, on the lake which is where Faith drowned. While she is there, somehow, mysteriously, she hears the voice of Mac. “You know how many times I prayed not to go to jail? Hundreds.”

Hmmmm….Is Mac really dead? Maybe not although I’m not sure how. In my interview with GregAlan Williams, who portrays Mac McCready, last week, he told me, “As to whether he [Mac] will live or die, I will say this to you: every goodbye ain’t gone.”

I can’t wait till tomorrow night!!! Check out a video preview below…

Thank you sooo much for reading my Greenleaf Mid-Season Premiere Recap, Season 2 Episode 9 and my other recaps so far.

If you would like to keep up with OWN’s “Greenleaf,” and my recaps, please click on this link to subscribe to my blog 🙂!

Any thoughts?

Posted on

‘Greenleaf’s’ GregAlan Williams Releases Audiobook of His Novel ‘Heart of a Woman,’ Shares How He Identifies with Mac McCready (Interview With AUDIO)

Hello World,

Since we’re just two days away from the return of  OWN’s Greenleaf, I jumped at an opportunity to interview GregAlan Williams, who portrays the man we all love to hate – Robert “Mac” McCready – and who is also an accomplished writer! In fact, Williams just released the audio version of his novel Heart of a Woman, which he originally penned in 2009. Check out my interview with GregAlan Williams below! (The audio of the transcribed interview is below.)

1.You are well known as an actor with movie and television credits such Baywatch, The Game, NCIS: Los Angeles, Castle and many more and most recently Greenleaf. What prompted you to write a novel Heart of a Woman, and how did you find the time to write it?

Well, my first two books were non-fiction. I always wanted to write a novel, and I actually wrote Heart of a Woman in 2009. Well, actually, it took me four years. I started in 2005. It was published in 2009, and I just liked the long-form. I love screenplays, but I like the detail and the attention and the special skill that it takes to write in the novel form. And so I wanted to do that. I wanted to write a book for a target market or a constituency, in particular for women who remember the ‘60s and the ‘70s and that sort of thing, my peers. Because so much of African-American literature for women is sort of directed toward a younger group of women. I very much wanted to celebrate that time and women of that era and our shared memories.

2. According to the description of your novel, Heart of a Woman is about a woman who must “destroy her husband’s young mistress, enlist a murderer to catch a blackmailer, and in exchange for more than a million dollars, she must also seduce a slightly mad, man of God.” Not to mention that Marvin Gaye and Teddy Pendergrass are principal characters. How did you come up with this plot?

It really evolved around the protagonist, Jimi Stone. The book describes her as woman who has the ability to hear the hearts of strangers. As a polio victim, she had polio as a kid, there was a summer she was confined to her parents’ porch. Over the course of her life, she notices things. She sees things. She sees people, but perhaps most importantly, she hears them. And so all of her life, people would come to her and find themselves sharing their secrets with her.

Ultimately, as an adult, she finds herself working directly for Berry Gordy as his fixer, as his operative. And so the information that people have given her about themselves over the years, in particular, people in the entertainment industry, she’s retained all of that and so she uses that knowledge, that information, to fix things that have gone wrong. For example, in the book, a young, a young Motown star gets in trouble with the law and Berry Gordy dispatches her to fix it so as to preserve Motown’s good name. And she does, indeed, do that. She fixes it in a very complex way with a number of people, some good, some bad.

  Did you have a writing coach to help you?

Well, I’ve been writing all of my adult life. I was a journalist in the Marine Corps. As a very young man, I used to write for Black Teen magazine, Right On, Soul Teen. There’s a radio station in the book that is based on a very famous radio station in Los Angeles KJLH. I had the good fortune to be hired as a copywriter for KJLH in 1980. So I’ve been writing for a long time. So you know, we sit down and we say let’s try this on. We write commercials or we write copy, and we write for magazines and newspapers and we write non-fiction books and then we sit down and say, ‘I wonder if I can write the ‘Great American Novel.’  So I sat down to write it and I’m a history buff, and it is historical fiction so I spent a lot of time in Detroit doing research there and of course so much of the book is set in Los Angeles, and I know that territory well. And I’m an E.L. Doctorow fan so this whole notion of mixing fictional and historical characters has always been very exciting to me.

E.L. Doctorow is a very famous writer, and he did that a lot. One of his most famous books is Ragtime,  and I think Teddy Roosevelt was a character in the book. In fact, the movie version of the book was the movie that brought the late Howard Rollins to stardom. He starred on In the Heat of the Night for many years. So Ragtime was the first book of E.L. Doctorow’s that I read.

3. Heart of a Woman was originally released in 2009. What prompted you to revamp the novel with an audiobook?

I’ve wanted for years to sort of merge my skill as a writer with my skill as an actor and that was really the impetus. Let me now see if I can not only narrate the book, and that was the easy part, but let’s see if I can voice all of these characters in kind of a believable way.

4. I know that Greenleaf is filmed in Atlanta and the Greenleaf home is near New Birth Missionary Baptist Church and that you live in the Atlanta area as well. Why did you to leave Hollywood, move to Atlanta and create the Actor’s Breakthrough film actors training studio in the Atlanta area?

Yes, the Greenleaf mansion is right around the corner. Well, I had been on a television show for about 7 years, Baywatch. During that time, I had written a couple of non-fiction books and that had turned into a lot of speaking opportunities so I was doing a lot of speaking around the country. And I came to Georgia to speak at a fatherhood conference and I met some folks who were doing some very innovative work with fathers and families in middle Georgia.

So I decided to take a sabbatical for two years once I left the series in ’97. I went on sabbatical for two years and worked at a Headstart program in Macon, working with this fatherhood program so that’s what brought me to Georgia. So when that was done, and it was time to go back to L.A. and start acting again, I just decided to stay in Georgia and commute. There was no work in Georgia at that time so for years, I commuted out to L.A. and New York to work. And then as production began to soar here in Georgia, I was traveling a lot less and that gave me an opportunity to teach here in Atlanta. There’s not a whole heck of a lot of actors here who have my range of experience. There are some, but most, of course, are in L.A. and New York. And in particular, as it related to actors of color, it gave me an opportunity to mentor a number of actors and to help move them along in their careers.

          Have you taught any actors who are recognized?

Not any names yet but plenty of folks who work. In fact, four of my students were on Greenleaf, and I had nothing to do with it. Because they had secured their own agents and auditioned and booked. And we have dozens of actors on all kinds of shows from Atlanta to Sleepy Hollow. We just had an actor who finished a movie with “The Rock” so we’re very excited and very proud that we have started a number of actors in the business, training them. They studied very hard and now they’re working professionals. I teach at the studio six hours every Saturday. We have other instructors, but I teach at the master level from about noon to 5 p.m.

5. Robert “Mac” McCready is the ultimate villain, and you portray him masterfully. Is there any part of Mac that you identify with, and what is your inspiration for portraying him?

Well, in the second season, I identify with Mac’s loneliness. And I will tell you what I mean. Because Mac has been found out and he’s estranged from the family, he’s very lonely. Family, believe it or not, is very important to Mac. The church is very important to Mac. And so Mac is estranged from both the church and the family and because Mac is estranged, that means that I am also separated from my acting family – Lynn and Keith because in the second season, really the only actor that I get to work with is Merle and that is wonderful and then some of the wonderful guest stars that we have. But I don’t get to see and work with some of these other folk that I love so much like Lamman and Kim and Deborah Joy Winans and all of those folks. I hardly see them so Mac and I we’re both lonely in that regard.

One of the things I teach is that when we take on characters whose values we don’t share, we tend to want to make those characters very different from ourselves and think of those characters as being very different, but here’s the truth.  Mac is obsessed with his abusive behavior. He’s obsessed with 13, 14, 15-year-old girls, wholly inappropriate. So when you approach a character like Mac, I think the first thing you have to do is say, What do we have in common?  Well, you know what? I’m not obsessed with 13,14, and 15-year-old girls, but I’ve been obsessed and I know what obsession is. I’ve been obsessed with some grown women. And as a much younger man, you know sort of out there dating, partying, certainly, on occasion have been less than honest, less than forthcoming about what my intentions were, etcetera, etcetera. I’m not a perfect guy so I have to look at as much as I want to be 180 degrees different, we have some things in common.

Or I’ve had some things in common so when you approach a character, because you cannot portray a character you don’t understand and you can’t portray a character who you wholly dislike. It’s impossible to step into that character’s life unless that character is self-hating and Mac is not self-hating. Sometimes, he is but most of the time, he is not. So one has to come to understand that and but that doesn’t mean approve of, but to understand and to be able to identify the rationalizations that he uses in order to engage guilt free in his predatory behavior.

Mac is also funny, particularly when he called his age-appropriate beard girlfriend Lorraine  “bottom-shelf” & “off- brand.” Did you find that funny? I know it wasn’t supposed to be funny, but it was funny to me.   

I think it was funny in its audacity. I mean, what you could do but laugh because it was so horrible. I have to say this, you see, this is why I love writers. Now when I first got the script, I looked at it, and I said, ‘Oh my goodness, I can’t say this. This is horrible!’ See, left to me, the actor, if the writers had said to me, ‘Okay, GregAlan, here’s a moment when you need to put this woman in her place.’ I would have come up with some mundane curse words and this and that and the other. But this writer is so brilliant that they totally sidestepped the nasty language and came up with something so horrible. Bottom–shelf! Off-brand! When I first read it, I said, ‘I can’t say this.’ I said to my lady, ‘Girl, read this.’ (Laughter) She said, ‘You can’t say this.’ I said, ‘I know. I know.’ But you know that’s why I love writers – so innovative. I don’t think, maybe, you heard Mac curse once. I don’t think Mac curses. He is a good Christian, you see. So he would say something like that. That what makes him even all the more creepy because he’s a rapist. He’s an abuser. But yet he finds cursing perhaps to be a little beyond him. Isn’t that some madness?

6. I call Mac, “Mac the Molester.” How does one research being a “respectable” child molester?

Well, this speaks to the courage of the producers because people can’t molest children, most of the time, unless they are respectable. Ninety percent of child molesters are very respectable. That’s how they are able to do it. Sometimes, I ask my acting students, ‘How is it that a serial killer is able to kill serially?’ And they come up with all kinds of things. But the truth is it’s because he doesn’t seem to be a serial killer. In other words, he’s not just snatching people or banging people on the head. Oprah said that she wanted to show the audience that abusers are seducers, and that is what she has done and by extension, that is what the producers and writers have done.

So that is the truth, and that should forewarn viewers not to see the bogeyman under every bush but to understand that sometimes, the people we entrust our children to, those folk have positioned themselves in those respectable places in order to be able to hurt children.

7. What’s going to happen next Tuesday and Wednesday? Is Mac dead? Will he ever admit to molesting Faith? Did Mac see his sister Lady Mae molested by their father? If you can’t answer these questions, what can “Greenleafers” expect in this second half of Season 2? 

Well, remember, in the first half of season 2, in episode 8, he did admit as he was choking Grace, he said, ‘They wanted it. I didn’t do anything they didn’t want me to do.’ So he did admit to essentially all of his crimes. As to whether he will live or die, I will say this to you: every goodbye ain’t gone.

 

 

 

For more information about Heart of a Woman, go to heartofawomanbook.com.

Double Emmy Award-Winning Actor, Critically Acclaimed Author, Respected Educator, Prolific Speaker, Master Storyteller… these are just a few characteristics to describe the creative genius of Gregory Alan Williams! Widely known for his role (of seven seasons) as beach cop Garner Ellerbee on the most watched television show in the world, Baywatch, GregAlan is most recently recognized for his portrayal as prime-time television’s most hated villain,  Robert “Mac” McCready, on OWN’s hit drama series,   Greenleaf .

His 30-year Hollywood career began as a founding member of the world-renowned Penumbra Theater in St. Paul, MN. From there he went on to do stage work with Pulitzer Prize Winner, August Wilson, as well as the Chicago Shakespeare Repertory Theater,Chicago Theater Company, Mixed Blood Theater Company and Chicago’s Goodman Theater. To date, his broad list of acting credits include recurring roles on the ABC Network’s  Secrets and Lies, BET’s  The Game and HBO’s  The Sopranos. His 250 prime-time appearances include  The West Wing, NCIS: Los Angeles and  Castle, just to name a few.

What’s more, his film career boasts 42 feature films, including celebrated classics such as Remember the Titans (Denzel Washington), In the Line of Fire (Clint Eastwood) and Old School (Will Ferrell). His recent film credits include, Terminator Genysis (Arnold Schwarzenegger ),Misconduct (Al Pacino), The Accountant (Ben Affleck), Hidden Figures (Taraji P. Henson) and so much more! In 2017, audiences will enjoy GregAlan in the upcomingBill Duke film, Created Equal as well as the highly anticipated faith-based films, A Question of Faith (Kim Fields and Richard T. Jones) and All Saints opposite John Corbett. GregAlan also founder and Dean of the  Actor’s Breakthrough film actors training studio in Atlanta.

Any thoughts?