Jamie Foxx gives awesome performance in acclaimed movie 'Ray'

Jet, Nov 1, 2004 by Aldore D. Collier

Jamie Foxx may have started out as a comedian, but he has won over and wowed many big-screen critics with his awesome portrayal of Ray Charles in the acclaimed movie Ray.

The movie is the never-before-told drama of the life of one of music's greatest legends. It follows him from his dirt-poor childhood in Florida and takes him through teenage years in Seattle with great buddy Quincy Jones and his emergence as one of the biggest selling crossover artists of all times.

The film also features Kerry Washington, Regina King, Terrence Howard, Larenz Tate, Clifton Powell, Harry Lennix, Bokeem Woodbine, Aunjanue Ellis, Wendell Pierce, C.J. Sanders and Sharon Warren. Charles' oldest son, Ray Charles Robinson Jr., was one of the film's co-producers.

It chronicles Charles' rise from overt racism to the exciting Seattle jazz scene to a meteoric rise to fame and fortune. Along the way, he was sidetracked by drugs and numerous affairs with adoring women.

Taylor Hackford directed the film and served as producer along with Stuart Benjamin. Their first and most important task was finding just the right man to take on that monumental role of Charles.

Even though he'd always been known as successful stand-up comic, both had seen and been enormously impressed by Foxx in Any Given Sunday and Ali.

Foxx said: "When I read the script I realized that this was a really phenomenal story, not just about music, but about a man who overcame all kinds of difficulties to become a real leader of the culture. The way he intertwined everything he experienced in his was really something special."

To prepare for the role, Foxx immersed himself in the music that set the mood for Charles-jazz, blues and soul recordings. He also attended classes in Braille and spent weeks walking around with his eyes covered.

For Foxx it wasn't good enough to simply mimic blindness. He was committed to nailing down the whole person.

"The key word for me was nuance, because I didn't want to simply impersonate him," he said. "Rather, I wanted to capture some part of his spirit. That's all. There were a lot of little touches which I tried to layer--his musicality, his warmth. his sense of balance, his posture--until the physical side of things all fell into place."

He called Charles' childhood "a blessed curse. To a certain degree, I believe what happened to Ray as a child is what molded who he was, but it was a large price to pay. Yet, what is so amazing about him is that he never gave up."

Hackford was every bit as impressed with Charles' spirit and journey. "Ray Charles' life was an absolutely fantastic journey," he said. "In this film I wanted to present the complexity of this American genius, warts and all. Ray had immense courage and brilliance, but his life also contained horrible tragedy and elusive demons."

Charles was actively involved in the making of the movie. He met with Foxx and checked out his piano skills and was duly impressed. Like Charles, Foxx has played the piano since childhood. He attended U.S. International University in San Diego on a music scholarship.

The singer was also impressed with the job Hackford did overall.

"I can see that Taylor's done his homework," Charles said in an interview several months before his death last summer. "I've had some wonderful things happen to me, but yet I've had some pretty dramatic things happen to me, too. I would like for the people to know that you can recover from a lot of adversity that you might have in your life if you keep pressing on--if you still feel you know where you want to go. In other words, you don't give up just because you get knocked down a few times."

Ray turned out to be a fantastic person to work with," Hackford said. "He was tough and demanding, but what he demanded from us was nothing less than what he demanded of himself: a sense of excellence and commitment."

One of Charles' enduring commitments was to his wife Delia in spite of his legendary womanizing. The movie takes viewers into Charles' love of music, drugs and sex.

"I know Della really loved Ray and vice versa," Foxx said. "Early on, she must have said to herself, 'I'm going to love this man in spite of anything he does' and she did."

To try to understand the forces that drove Charles to illicit affairs, Foxx said: "He lived in a very unpredictable world and there were only a few things he could count on. He could count on music, he could count on sex and he could count on heroin. He went with the things that he knew could bring him satisfaction until he saw he was hurting the people he loved."

Kerry Washington, who played Della, said of her character: "Della accompanied Ray on this whole incredible journey from having not very much money to overwhelming wealth and popularity. She loved him and believed so strongly in his gifts, but there also came a point when she realized she couldn't be with a man who was destroying himself."

One manifestation of that destruction was his relationship with background Raelette Margie Hendricks. Veteran actress Regina King took on that diverse role.