High times are back for Martin Lawrence
HIGH TIMES ARE BACK FOR MARTIN LAWRENCE
Things are good for Martin Lawrence, comedian and movie star. He lives in a comfortable Beverly Hills home from which he was calling, on a sunny December morning, to talk about his new film, Bad Boys For Life — in Thai cinemas on Thursday — which reunites him with onscreen partner Will Smith for some more cops-and-robbers hilarity.
His thoughts weren’t on Beverly Hills luxury, however, but on his childhood, growing up in Maryland as one of six children of a single mother who worked as a department-store cashier.
“Tough times were our only times,” Lawrence recalled. “My family didn’t have any money. We lived in government Section 8 housing. Did I mention that I’m the fourth of six kids?
“The miracle was that my mom never gave up. She always found a way to put food on the table. Her mother was a big help and would bring us food when things got really bleak. She’d buy us a new pair of pants, which was a victory.
“It was a struggle that still defines the American dream for many.”
When Bad Boys (1995) became a blockbuster hit, Lawrence repaid some of those old debts.
“The first thing I did when I made some money was rebuild my mom’s house in North Carolina, where she was living at the time,” the comedian said. “It was a real rundown place, but not anymore. I fixed it up. Then I got her a car.
“And then I figured, ‘Enough with all the workmen fixing the old house.’ I bought her a new house in California.”
The moment when he handed his mother the keys to that new home constitutes his definition of success.
“It remains one of the best feelings ever,” Lawrence said. “You can never really repay your parents for what they’ve done for you and sacrificed for you. When you do the littlest thing to make your mom comfortable, well, I call that a blessing from God.”
Bad Boys For Life reteams Lawrence and Smith for the first time since Bad Boys II (2003), which took in nearly US$275 million at the international box office. This time out, Detectives Mike Lowrey (Smith) and Marcus Burnett (Lawrence) must grapple with middle age. Burnett has been kicked up the ladder and made an inspector, while Lowrey is facing a midlife crisis. Vanessa Hudgens and Charles Melton lead the supporting cast, with Joe Pantoliano returning as Captain Howard.
It’s been 17 years, Lawrence said, but he’s never been allowed to forget about the series.
“Will and I have been waiting,” Lawrence said. “The fans have been waiting. I can’t leave the house without someone asking me when the next Bad Boys is coming out. Everybody has been asking me for years, and I always had the same answer: We’re going to do it soon as the script is right.
“I don’t sugarcoat nothing. You get the real from me. The truth is that the script was never right in the past, so Will and I said, ‘We’ll wait until someone gets it right.’ It took this long to find a great plot, but it was worth the wait.
“You want to give the people quality stuff. You want a quality film. You don’t
Will Smith and I have been waiting. The fans have been waiting. I can’t leave the house without someone asking me when the next Bad Boys is coming out
want to rush good work, even if it takes over a decade.”
So where does that great plot find Marcus Burnett?
“Oh, he’s older,” Lawrence said. “He’s married, and he wants to retire. Will’s character, Mike, is pulling him back in to team up again. Beyond that I really can’t tell you much more, because I don’t want to spill it and spoil the movie.
“But you get the idea. I don’t want to be in the detective mix anymore, but something forces me to go back and support.”
Filming an action movie at 54 isn’t as easy as it was at 29, though.
“I did get a little hurt,” Lawrence admitted. “It was near the last couple of days of shooting in Miami. We did this major running scene, and I’m racing along, going as fast as possible, and I pulled a thigh muscle. I had to sit it out a bit, but it was OK since we were almost wrapped.
“It’s hard to be a bad boy when you’re middle-aged,” he said with a laugh.
Lawrence and Smith are friends on and off the screen.
“I just love Will,” Lawrence said, “and we always stayed in touch over the years as good friends. So it was such a joy to walk on that set each day for the new movie and just be with each other again. I’d look across the room, and there was my friend. It felt good.
“It even felt good when you had a long day of dialogue, because there was Will making me laugh between takes.”
The two first met in the early 1990s, when both were television stars — Smith on The Fresh Prince Of Bel-Air (1990-1996), Lawrence on Martin (1992-1997).
“I had a party at my house so many years ago,” Lawrence recalled, “and Will was there. It was when Will and Jada first started dating each other, and she was there too. We talked for a little bit, and it just felt natural. We made each other laugh.
“When I had to pick someone to star with me in the first Bad Boys, I picked Will. My sister had brought Will to my attention again and said, ‘You should pick Will Smith to be your co-star in that cop movie.’
“I thought about it. I did wonder, could two sitcom stars, which is what we were at the time, carry a big movie? ‘Yeah’, I thought, ‘two sitcom stars could work.’
“Just to make sure, I had a dinner at my house. After five minutes of talking to Will, he got the job. We just had this easy chemistry with each other in real life that I knew would translate to the big screen.
“It was just magic.”
There are already rumours of a fourth Bad Boys film, but Lawrence doesn’t want to talk about that.
“We’ll see what this one does at the box office,” he said firmly. “If the people want it, we’ll give them another one. But first we’ve got to take care of what’s in front of us.”
Named after Martin Luther King Jr, Lawrence was born in Frankfurt, Germany, where his soldier father was stationed at the time. The family returned home, and Lawrence grew up first in Queens, NYC, and then, after his parents divorced, in Landover, Maryland.
“I always loved to make people laugh,” he recalled. “My mother and my grandmother were all funny. My brothers and sisters were funny too. I loved to make my friends and everybody laugh.”
Acting always intrigued him, but comedy was his gift.
“I am a huge fan of Richard Pryor,” Lawrence said. “I thought that the way to get into acting was to start like he did as a stand-up comedian. I also studied Eddie Murphy, and remain a lifelong fan.
“As time went on, most of all, I wanted to take care of my family.”
Stand-up led to his television debut on
What’s Happening Now! (1987-1988), and his movie debut as Cee in Spike Lee’s Do
The Right Thing (1989). His subsequent films have included House Party (1990), Boomerang (1992), A Thin Line Between
Love And Hate (1996), Life (1999), Blue Streak (1999), Big Momma’s House (2000), Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins (2008), College Road Trip (2008), Death At A Funeral (2010) and The Beach Bum (2019).
Stand-up is still part of the equation for Lawrence, who will headline a comedy tour later this year.
“I’ll take the young superstar comics of tomorrow to the arenas and we’ll have a great time,” he said. “I tell them to keep doing what you’re doing, have fun — but save your money!”
In almost everything that he does, the unifying factor is laughter.
“I love comedy — it’s what I do,” Lawrence said. “I want to get out there and make the people laugh. That’s what I love. I love the energy of all that laughter coming right at me.
“When I hear that laughter, I’m not just living life — I’m loving life!”