Actor Michael Ealy covers the latest issue of ROLLING OUT where he discusses breaking out of his "good guy" mold in "The Perfect Guy." Oh yes, you can be bad ANY day with us Michael. Check out his spread inside...
Actor Michael Ealy is making promotional appearances for his upcoming thriller The Perfect Guy, which opens Sept. 11th, and we've got his latest profile.
In the newest issue of ROLLING OUT, Micheal (who produced the film alongside co-star Sanaa Lathan) shockingly revealed that the birth of his son Elijah gave him the courage to step out of his mold and portray different characters/
The upcoming "Secrets & Lies" star revealed:
“I’m approaching my career in a ‘bet big or go home’ [way]. And I want him and my wife to be proud of the choices I make and approaches I take to my career. I want them to see my choices as fearless now. That’s where I am. In 10 years, it might be different. In five years, it might be a different story. I might go back to wanting to get the check!. But right now, when my son is old enough, I want him to be proud of the choices his dad made.”
Here are the other highlights:
On playing a bad guy:“In terms of characters, I always wanted to play a bad guy. And this was one of the first times where I saw a bad guy that I really wanted to sink my teeth into and that was definitely a part of the appeal....It’s something that a lot of people didn’t think I could do. For the last five years, my whole plan has been working. I’ve [wanted] to do different things, I’ve been wanting to show a greater range.
On playing against the "Michael Ealy" type:“It’s kind of interesting and fun to be able to do something that goes against my ‘type,’ per se. I think I’ve been slowly breaking out of that for the last couple of years. Before I did [the USA Network series] Common Law, nobody thought I could do comedy; the studio for [the FOX series] Almost Human — they didn’t think I could play an android [laughs.] Being able to diversify the body of work is key for me — not for everybody, but for me. I relish the opportunity to go and do something different. At the time I did The Perfect Guy that was before I did The Following. This was my first time to really play a bad guy and with The Following I just took it further.”
On embracing his sex symbol status:“There was that ‘heartthrob’ label put upon me,” he admits. “I had the opportunity to either embrace it and limit myself by riding it out, or I could use it to try and take some chances … and try and change the narrative. You think I can do that? Great. Wonderful. I’ve done that. This is what I want to do now. Since I’ve already built an audience doing what you think I can do, let me go do [this] and see if my audience rides with me on that, too. That’s been a huge joy. I think part of the appeal of this movie is the opportunity to see me play a character that’s not a ‘heartthrob.’ I’m looking forward to seeing people’s reactions after this. I feel like people will be happy with this.”
On producing with Sanaa Lathan:“The opportunity to produce the film was huge for me because it allowed me to be even more passionate about the project because I was involved in the development of the project,” he explains. “So that in and of itself made a pretty big difference on my end. That was huge for me and that was hopefully the first step of many toward me producing more and more of my own projects.
On his son's birth impacting his career:"I thought that when I got married and as soon as I had a kid, I was going to take fewer chances,” he says. “I thought I was going to be like ‘I gotta get this check. I got a wife. I got a kid, I’m gonna get this steady paycheck.’ But ironically, I’ve been more creative since my son was born and I’ve been taking bigger chances since my son was born.”
Check out the full interview over at RO.
The Perfect Guy premieres September 11th.
Photos via ROLLING OUT
