Fishburne: Sonja Flemming 4/7/09 1:57:44 PM SCENESCENESCENE SCENESCENESCENE Watch!

SCENESCENESCENE 56 2009 June

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SCENESCENESCENESCENE CSI AIRS THURSDAYS AT 9 P.M. ET/PT ON CBS. SCENESCENE SCENESCENECOME TRUESCENE A COMMANDING FIGURE IN THE FILM AND THEATER WORLD, LAURENCE FISHBURNE WAS A PERFECT CHOICE SCENE TO STEP INTO THE HOT LIGHTS OF THE SMALL SCREEN WHEN THE BIGGEST SHOW ON TELEVISION—CSI—NEEDED A NEW LEADER — BY JIM COLUCCI

On a freakishly warm January day in Los Angeles, Laurence Fishburne is dressed in black. His gait is long and confi dent as he exits Stage 25 on the Universal lot, where CSI: Crime Scene Investigation is fi lmed. A brand-new cast member on the 9-year-old hit forensic drama, Fishburne nonetheless strides as if he owns the place. That’s because the 47-year-old, born in Augusta, Ga., and raised by his divorced mom in Brooklyn, has been hanging out on stages like these since he was 10. It was Fishburne’s mother who fi rst noticed his gift for the dramatic, and nudged him toward Broadway. When performing in his fi rst play, he says, “I discovered what I was going to do. I knew that as an actor, I could be anything.”

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FdCW0609_56-62_Fishburne.indd 57 4/8/09 4:39:36 PM CAMOUFLAGE AND JHERI CURLS comedy role, kid-friendly Cowboy Curtis provided At age 12, Fishburne landed a three-year gig on “an opportunity for me to do something that was the New York-produced soap opera One Life to completely lighthearted and campy,” the imposing Live. And even then, the actor was exhibiting the actor says, laughing as he exposes the frivolous seriousness for which he would soon come to be side of the man once billed as Larry Fishburne. known. “I gravitated toward the tragic, and I don’t “I appreciate good camp when I run into it.” know why,” he remembers. “But it just appealed to me. So I guess I was a natural fi t for daytime soap FROM LARRY TO LAURENCE opera, which is fraught with tragedy and betrayal.” By his 30s, Fishburne was back to the heavy stu , The sudsy role led to Fishburne’s fi lm debut, with roles growing longer and more complex—as in the 1975 ghetto-themed Cornbread, Earl was his fi rst name. Beginning with the 1993 Tina and Me, which he describes as “another tragic Turner biopic What’s Love Got to Do with It, the for- tale that ends up being quite triumphant in the mer Larry was now Laurence. It was, the actor says, end.” Shortly after came a landmark part for an expression of his true, maturing self. “When the 14-year-old in the ultimate feel-bad fl ick, I was young, I was a Larry,” Fishburne says. “And I Apocalypse Now. After two infamously grueling was very happy being a Larry. There are wonder- years spent in the jungle in production of the ful things about Larry. My performance in King of Francis Ford Coppola epic—“I had been cute with New York—that was a Larry performance. And so perfect, smooth brown skin, and then I got to the was Deep Cover.” But then, he notes, there was “a Philippines where my skin went haywire and I demarcation point,” marked by a divorce from his grew six inches in six months,” Fishburne recalls— fi rst wife and sudden leaps in his career. he and his mother moved to Los Angeles to fur- “My parents always called me Laurence, as ther his burgeoning career. did my fi rst wife, because all of those people are There, after amassing a résumé fi lled with familiar with me at my core,” the actor explains. guest star spots on TV dramas and roles in fi lms And just before that ultimately Oscar-nominated like The Cotton Club and The Color Purple, the turn as Ike Turner, Fishburne had been appear- determined 20-something thespian landed a job, ing on Broadway in August Wilson’s play Two unpredictably, on one of the silliest of shows. Trains Running, for which he won a Tony award Paul Reubens’ CBS Saturday morning Pee-wee’s in 1992. His costar and mentor, the late Roscoe Playhouse fi tted Fishburne in pink jeans, lavender Lee Browne, also insisted on calling him by his full chaps and a long, Jheri curl wig. To date his only fi rst name. ➤

“Here’s a guy who has a lot of experience in one area, pathology, and no experience practicing in another area, forensics—even though they’re related,” Fishburne says of his CSI character. “What has been nice is that it gives the writers great emotional territory to explore, and gives me some wonderful stuff to play.”

58 June 2009 Watch!

FdCW0609_56-62_Fishburne.indd 58 4/7/09 3:12:27 PM FdCW0609_Preen.indd 1 3/31/09 11:26:34 AM producers Carol Mendelsohn and Naren Shankar recruited him to join the team at CSI. With the departure of their series’ lead, William Petersen, the producers had brainstormed about his possible replacement, with Fishburne at the top of their list. “Naren and I sat down and said, ‘Don’t even think about whether it’s realistic. If we can have anyone in the world, who do we want?’ ” Mendelsohn remembers. “And we said, ‘Laurence Fishburne.’ Sometimes there’s just magic, and sometimes things are meant to be, because they actually work out.” “We’re a show that spends a lot of time thinking. We don’t blow stuff up, and we’re not about chasing people down and shooting people,” Shankar adds. “And so the quality we were looking for in our new character was a deep intelligence. If you look at Mr. Fishburne’s work, he’s always brought that sensibil- “I became accustomed to hearing someone say ity to what he’s done. It was a perfect fit forCSI .” my name with great love and affection,” he says of For his part, Fishburne says he had always Browne. “And I thought, ‘This is a good way for me thought about doing television—at some point to come into my manhood and really express the in the more distant future, perhaps during some fullness of my identity.’ But what’s hilarious, and career slowdown in his 50s. But like a dedicated sometimes a little frustrating, is that people think forensic investigator staking out a suspect, CSI it’s some kind of high-minded thing, like I’m taking showed up early. And although he has known myself too seriously. It’s not about taking myself Petersen for years, and had heard his friend talk seriously at all. It’s about being who I am.” glowingly about the show, Fishburne had, at the And who Laurence was, it had also become time he agreed to meet with Mendelsohn and apparent after his breakthrough role in 1991’s Shankar, never actually seen CSI. But after wooing urban tale Boyz n the Hood, was a bankable box him in New York, Mendelsohn and Shankar sent office star. Inspired by idols like Sidney Poitier, the actor a handpicked set of episodes on DVD. James Earl Jones and Gregory Hines, Fishburne “The shows were really engaging and wonderful,” says he had always dared to dream of a career as Fishburne says. “And kind of dark and moody— a leading man. “But I just didn’t know if and when like a lot of the work I’ve been involved in. And it was going to happen,” he admits. “The way I think I thought, ‘Wow, this will work!’ ” that I was finally able to really make the leap was when I asked myself the question, ‘If you don’t Entering Las Vegas become a leading man, will you be satisfied just to From its beginning, says Mendelsohn, CSI has be a working actor?’ Once I answered yes to that, always fostered a tradition of collaboration I was able to surrender to whatever the universe between producers and crew, and between actors had in store for me. If that meant leading man, and writers. So immediately she and Shankar sat great. And if it didn’t, great. Because at least I had down with their new lead to flesh out the new char- the ability to raise my family, pay my bills and meet acter of Ray Langston—named, as is Fishburne’s my responsibilities.” 22-year-old son, after poet and civil rights advo- cate Langston Hughes. The resulting back story, From Laurence to Langston which has been unveiled in the latter half of this From that point in the early ’90s onward, film season, reveals Dr. Langston to have once been a roles, like that of the Messianic computer hacker research pathologist who realized only too late that Morpheus in the lucrative Matrix trilogy, have his own hospital had become the hunting grounds not only helped to feed the Fishburnes but have of a serial killer. also enabled Laurence to nurture a flourishing Langston’s resulting book about the murders, stage career. In fact, just last summer the actor was In Front of My Eyes, became a best-seller. But the at the Booth Theatre on Broadway portraying the negative publicity it brought upon the hospital, and title character—former Supreme Court Justice the strain it wrought on his personal life, cost him Marshall—in a grueling five-month run of George both job and family. Thus humbled by failure, the Stevens’ one-man play Thurgood when executive ➤

60 June 2009 Watch!

FdCW0609_56-62_Fishburne.indd 60 4/7/09 3:43:45 PM “I’ve discovered a once-a-year osteoporosis treatment, for an on-the-go woman like me.”

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doctor has become a traveling lecturer and profes- sor by the time Petersen’s Gil Grissom catches one of his talks at Vegas’ local university. As depicted in Fishburne’s first episode last December, Langston accepts Grissom’s resulting job offer to join the team—even though its CSI-1 pay grade amounts to starting his career over. And so too through Langston, CSI can start anew in an exciting and refreshing direction, Mendelsohn explains. We the audience can see through his fresh set of eyes how to process a fingerprint, how to collect evidence, even what to wear to a crime scene. Langston provides “a way for the audience to experience everything they experienced with the show all over again, with a fresh perspective. It’s almost like a beginning,” Fishburne muses. “And I think it’s a really great place to start. Here’s a guy who has a lot of experience in one area, pathol- ogy, and no experience practicing in another area, forensics—even though they’re related. What has

T:7 in been nice is that it gives the writers great emotional Fishburne: Robert Voets territory to explore, and gives me some wonderful stuff to play.” As with the chemicals in the show’s Vegas lab, the combination of new character Langston with new-to-the-cast actor Fishburne has brought about

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WHAT IS RECLAST? WHAT SHOULD I BE AWARE OF WHAT SHOULD I KNOW BEFORE TAKING RECLAST? (continued) Reclast is a prescription medication used to treat ABOUT TAKING RECLAST WITH osteoporosis in women after menopause. • Rarely, jaw bone problems have been reported OTHER MEDICATION? in patients treated with drugs in this class, If your doctor prescribes Reclast, you will be including Reclast. Your doctor should give • You should not take Reclast if you are taking given one intravenous (IV) treatment of Reclast you a routine oral exam prior to prescribing Zometa. for at least 15 minutes to help reduce the risk of Reclast. • Tell your doctor about any antibiotics that osteoporosis-related fractures for twelve months. • If you are pregnant, Reclast may cause harm you are currently taking. Certain antibiotics to your baby. Therefore, you should not take called aminoglycosides may lower your Reclast if you are pregnant, plan to become blood calcium for a long period of time. WHO SHOULD NOT USE RECLAST? pregnant or nursing. Anyone who has low blood calcium, is allergic • You should tell your doctor if you take ® • Infrequently, severe incapacitating bone, joint, diuretics. to Reclast, or takes Zometa (zoledronic acid) or muscle pain may occur. Tell your doctor if T:4.5 in Injection should not take Reclast. you experience any of these symptoms.

WHAT SHOULD I BE AWARE OF WHAT ARE THE MOST COMMON STILL HAVE QUESTIONS? BEFORE TAKING RECLAST? SIDE EFFECTS OF RECLAST? This is only a summary of important information. • Reclast contains the same active ingredient The most common side effects include: Ask your doctor for more complete product found in Zometa. Therefore, if you are being information, or treated with Zometa, you should not take • flu-like illness • Call 1-866-RECLAST, or Reclast. • fever • Visit www.reclast.com. • You should take calcium and vitamin D daily • muscle or joint pain as directed by your doctor. • headache • If you have low blood calcium, have had Most occur in the days following treatment. parathyroid, thyroid, or intestinal surgery, or have A mild pain reliever such as ibuprofen or malabsorption syndrome, talk to your doctor. acetaminophen may reduce these symptoms. • Patients with kidney problems should not take For a complete list of Reclast’s possible side ©2008 Novartis. Reclast. Your doctor may perform a simple effects, ask your doctor. Printed in U.S.A. March 2008 blood test to check your kidney function before RST-800234 administering Reclast.

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Client: Novartis (NV) Ad #: 10-R3 Bleed: None AD: S. Frenk Product: Reclast (REC) Headline: Important Patient Information... Trim: 7 in x 4.5 in CW: J. Fields Job #: M07NV002 Visual: Patient Information Live: None CD: None Created by Interface Space/Color: 1/2 Pg Hz Non-bleed Gutter: None AP: P. Urquhart Graphics, a division of Publication: Various Generic Pubs 2008 PP: M. Angiuli McCann Erickson

Print/Export Time: 3/7/08 10:17 AM Document Name: IG_M07NV002_10R3_PI.indd Print Scale: 100% Document Path: Retouching:Volumes:Retouching:-Work In Progess:Novartis:IG_M07NV002_10AR1_11R1:IG_ User Name: erick.wilson M07NV002_10R3_PI.indd Proof #: 3 Font Family: Times (Roman), Helvetica (Medium) PM: A. Rabinowitz Ink Name: CMYK InDesign Version: CS2 Link Name: M07NV002_10R3.pdf, NVS K.ai, Reclast_Logo_BW.ai Version Code: None a powerful reaction. CBS’ entertainment president, president. So I’m going to try to be a great leading Nina Tassler, for one, is impressed with the results. man here. To do that I’ll bring all of my humanity, “It was a huge coup to cast Laurence Fishburne—we and hope that that reflects well on the show.” were just thrilled,” Tassler remembers. “And he is Facing the room full of critics, Fishburne is vis- “It was a huge doing a fantastic job. He brings humor and weight to ibly at ease, and waves off any question of him being coup for us to the role. He is both formidable and generous as an possibly stressed about joining a close-knit cast on actor, and it’s easy to see why he’s a big star.” a show already in progress. “I was invited to come cast Laurence here,” he reminds one reporter. “I have been wel- Fishburne—we Ready to Play comed warmly, and have tried to do what I can to A few months before his CSI debut, on a conference blend in harmoniously.” were just call with the nation’s TV critics in October, one Having worked with a few of his new castmates thrilled,” CBS’ African-American reporter asked Fishburne about before on other projects, he says, helps. And so, too, entertainment the significance of TV’s top drama boasting a black does the right attitude. “The most important thing lead. Back then, Fishburne admitted he hadn’t for me to remember is not to mistake my presence president, Nina thought much about it, as he was so focused on his for the event,” he says modestly. “The event is CSI Tassler, says. upcoming work. the show, and everyone has a responsibility to bring Now in January, with the country’s first African- their unique talents to it. And that’s what I’m going “And he is doing American president in the White House, Fishburne to do. This character has a lot of internal conflict, and a fantastic job. is on Stage 25 in front of an assembly of the nation’s my goal is to take him and make him fully human.” TV critics. And he has an answer. In the meanwhile, the actor is enjoying the full- He brings humor First of all, he notes, downplaying any social sig- ness of his own life. He and wife Gina Torres—who and weight to nificance to Langston, there’s Dennis Haysbert on coincidentally once appeared on CSI, in a Season the role. He is The Unit, and Hill Harper on CSI: NY. “The good 4 episode titled “XX”—live in Los Angeles with news is that I was asked to join this company because their toddler daughter, Delilah, and Fishburne’s both formidable of my gifts as an actor, and for that I’m extremely 18-year-old daughter, Montana, from his first mar- and generous as grateful,” he adds. “The fact that I happen to be a riage. “We love where we live, and life is beautiful,” man of color is, I like to think, a bonus—in much the he says in a deep, booming voice that belies the mel- an actor, and it’s way that it is for our president. He is intelligent, low sentiment. “I’m just home and living life and easy to see why capable and engaging. He brings people together. working. And I’m coming to work with people who he’s a big star.” And he happens to be an African-American. But I are wonderful, who have made great television for think it is his intelligence and passion, his compas- nine years. That’s a gift. I’m excited, and I’m ready sion as a human being, that will make him a great to play.”

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