Posted March 6, 2008 -- Martin Lawrence fans have always known he’s a trip, but now he’s going on one in his latest film "College Road Trip."
The film, which hits theaters Friday, casts Lawrence as the over-protective father of a college-bound daughter (Raven-Symone). He wants her to go to nearby Northwestern, but homegirl has her eyes on Georgetown, some 700 miles away. Lawrence, a father of three daughters, talked about his new film, his own family life and his career during an exclusive interview with BET.com.
BET: Are you anywhere near that over-protective pops you play on screen?
ML: I’m not as over-protective, but I’m very protective. Those are mine, that’s me, so I’m always concerned and always want the best for them.
BET: Are you going to one of those dads with the baseball bat by the door when the young brothers start calling?
ML: No, no because mentally I can go to here (points to his brain). Some of those young boys, they ain’t ready for this. After I get finished with them they’ll think my mind is a bat.
BET: Are you preparing to deal with your own empty nest once your daughters go off to college?
ML: I don’t think you ever can prepare for it because you’re going to feel what you’re going to feel. It’s not going to be easy, it’s always going to be hard. You just hope that you prepare them the best that you can so that they can do well out there.
BET: Raven-Symone was your co-star and your boss (she’s an executive producer) in this movie. What was that working relationship like?
ML: It was cool. It was a lot of fun to work with her. You would have never known she was executive producer because she never mentioned anything. She was just real cool with it.
BET: And how about that scene when Donny Osmond kissed your cheek?
ML: Oh man, the kiss was nice. It was a nice Donny Osmond kiss and all of his fans are jealous. No, it was cool. Donny, he always sneaks a kiss on me. I don’t know what that is, but if it works for him, it’s all good.
BET: Have you ever had any family road trip disasters?
ML: Not that I know of. We didn’t have a car to go on road trips. We had walk trips.
BET: Have you gotten everything out of Hollywood that you wanted to at this point in your career?
ML: I don’t think I’ve gotten everything because all of the work that you’ve seen that I’ve done—I feel like the best is yet to come. I might have just started scratching the surface. I don’t believe you’ve seen everything that I’m capable of and I’m probably more surprised than anybody that they’ve hired me through all these movies and this is all they’ve been asking for from me. I’m surprised.