Music Man
FOREST WHITAKER has made a career of delivering celebrated performances, from his breakout in Bird (1988) to The Crying Game (1992), The Butler (2013) and The Last King of Scotland (2006), which earned him his Best Actor Oscar. But this time out, Whitaker, 59, is singing a new tune – literally. In the Netflix holiday musical, Jingle Jangle: A Christmas Journey (streaming now), Whitaker plays Jeronicus Jangle, a despondent inventor and toy maker who, with the help of his granddaughter (Madalen Mills, 11), attempts to rekindle his creative spirit. The film features original music from John Legend and, as Whitaker recently told Zoomer, “It’s a story about finding joy again and believing and having hope that it can come.”
MIKE CRISOLAGO: You trained as a singer in your youth but we’ve rarely ever seen you sing in a film. What was it like to take on the lead role in a movie musical now?
FOREST WHITAKER: I was actually kind of worried that I wasn’t going to be able to meet the challenge of doing a musical like this … I try to keep doing movies that continue to help me grow, and this one I knew would help me grow. I’ve sung in a movie before, but a regular song from a sermon — never like breaking into song while I’m talking to my daughter. So it’s special.
MC: Jingle Jangle is being hailed as a holiday film with a culturally diverse cast. How important is it to make a movie like this today?
FW: It’s extremely important that people are able to look on film and see themselves and recognize that they’re being included and that their voices are being heard … Seeing people up on screen with dignity, people from different backgrounds, from different cultures, from different races, being treated with the proper respect — it’s a statement about the way we need to live our lives and that we’re all searching and looking for the same things.
MC: Madalen Mills is incredible as both an actress and singer. Tell us about working with her.
FW: She’s destined for greatness. She’s already great. It’s something special about her that you could just see it when she walks in a room. I haven’t hardly ever experienced that, where I looked at somebody and I said, ‘They’re destined for greatness.’ And she’s one of them.
MC: Your character creates all sorts of fantastical gadgets for kids. What’s one of your favourite memories of a Christmas gift?
FW: It was the first bike I ever got when I was a little kid. It was a red bike, and my dad took me outside, and we were riding on the sidewalk … All of a sudden, I realized that he had let go, and I was actually riding my bike for the first time by myself. And that was kind of a big moment.