The past year has truly been fast and furious for the former BET host turned bona fide movie star, Laz Alonso. First, there was Spike Lee’s “Miracle at St. Anna;” and the highly anticipated sci-fi thriller “Avatar,” James Cameron’s first film since “Titanic,” which will be released later this year. Now, he is in the action flick “Fast & Furious,” which stars Vin Diesel and is in theatres today.
Alonso plays Fenix Rise, Diesel’s nemesis and an extreme bad boy who rocks an official Mohawk. Laz says, “I called it the angry hawk. It wasn’t the pretty boy faux-hawk. It was a full on angry throw back to Mr. T type hawk!” Mohawk and muscles, Alonso growls and terrorizes in his Gran Torino ride and goes toe-to-toe with Mr. Diesel.
Here, we picked Laz’s brain about cars, women (he is single and available via MySpace!) and being a Black Latino in Hollywood.
This past year has been big for you with “Miracle at St. Anna,” “Avatar” and now “Fast & Furious.” Do you feel like this is your breakout year?
It’s kind of hard to say. I did these films a while ago; I shot all these films last year. It doesn’t have that whirlwind effect that I guess it appears when you’re looking at the products all coming out at the same time. I’m just happy to be working and doing really good stuff with great actors and great directors. I’m just trying to keep the consistency going.
Have you always been a fan of the “Fast & Furious” franchise?
Oh yeah, absolutely, from the first movie, which was my favorite. That’s why for me it was such an exciting chance to be in this one because all the people from the original movie were coming back. That’s rarely ever seen—that the original cast reunites.
You are the official thug in the film. Do you have any history of being a thug or a bad boy in your past?
I never thugged it out. A lot of my relatives got their thug on back in the day growing up in D.C.—when I grew up in D.C. it was the murder capital of the United States. When you grow up in that environment there is just a certain element of that you can’t escape. Only the strong survive, you got to have something to be able to make it out of there alive.
Are you a car junkie?
I love cars! I love old school cars. In this movie, I drive a ’72 Ford Gran Torino. Needless to say, I was angry when the movie “Gran Torino” came out because I thought I was going to be the first dude on film to show off a Gran Torino. When Clint Eastwood dropped his, I was like, “Come on, you got to be kidding me!” He even has the color and the same racing stripes as mine—although he ain’t driving it the way that I did in this movie!
There is a line in “Fast & Furious” that says, "You love cars more than you love women." Which one do you love more?
Without question—women! It’s funny, in this movie, women and cars are the main draw and in the car culture women go hand in hand. One ain’t right without the other. A lot of men who get nice cars get them because they hope to be able to get nice women. You can’t replace a human being, the energy you get, with a vehicle. Vehicles can be replaced but women can’t. You ask a guy in jail, “Would you rather have a nice car or a nice woman?” I bet you nine out of ten of them would say a nice woman. [Laughs]
Well, then you have that R. Kelly song back in the day, “You Remind Me of My Jeep.”
Right! There’s a slight correlation—maybe he had some really big rims or some big tires on his jeep! [Laughs]
You are Cuban but you were raised in D.C. However, many people assume you are African American. Do you identify as African American at all even though your parents are from Cuba?
I identify myself as both honestly. I always have to explain to some of my Black friends, as well as some of my Latino friends, that Latino is an ethnicity, it’s not a race. You can be White and be Latino, you can be Black and be Latino, you can be of indigenous descent and be Latino. In Cuba, we have Chinese Cubans, who considered themselves 100 percent Chinese but at the same time 100 percent Cuban as well. Latin is a movement, it’s a culture. It’s music, food, language, essence and spirit. That’s why I don’t exclusively consider myself just Black or just Latino because I was raised with both cultures. I was raised in D.C.; all my friends growing up were African American. The culture I was raised with outside of my home was African American then inside my home I was raised with my Cuban food, my language, my customs and my music. For me, both are just as important. I’ll tear up watching a Martin Luther King speech and I also tear up listening to Celia Cruz singing about her never possibly being able to see Cuba again. They both really touch my spirit to the point where I identify with both.
Have you gotten into the Twitter and Facebook evolution?
I have. I love Facebook because it’s reconnected me to so many friends. There would’ve been no way where I could’ve found them or they could’ve found me. Twitter, I’m still trying to get into. What I like about Twitter the most is that I can update my Facebook status on the road through my Twitter. I’m knocking out two with one stone.
Are you in a relationship?
I’m singe right now. So if there are any hot, beautiful, intelligent women out there that are single as well—no boyfriends in the scene!
They can go to your Facebook? [Laughs]
They can go to my MySpace! My Facebook, I only keep that for people I actually know. MySpace is where I’m more open to talking to fans and getting their feedback.
Is there a role you turned down that you regret?
Not really, it’s just funny how this whole thing works. If there have been projects that didn’t work because of my schedule, I couldn’t do it or they just didn’t pick me—another great one came right after it that showed me that project wasn’t for me in the first place. I’m glad I didn’t do it for one reason or another. In this business you have to have a limit, you have to have a standard that you set and you won’t comprise it. That’s the only way that you keep any type of integrity. If you in your heart of hearts believe, you know what, this isn’t for me, it might be somebody else’s blessing. You can’t hate on it if it ends up being successful. You just have to know you did what you felt was right and live with it.
What is Laz Alonso like when he is drunk?
I’m a happy drunk! I’m naturally very loud so when I drink get even louder. I don’t get obnoxious. I want to hug the world. I’m a lot of fun when I’m drunk, a lot of laughs—get ready for your stomach to hurt.
If you were tested for drugs -- what would we find?
[Laughs] A lot of red wine right now, man. That’s about it. I’ve been overseas. I ain’t messing around overseas. A lot of red wine my brother!
“Fast & Furious” is in theatres nationwide today.
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Clay is a blogger for BET.com's What the Flick. You can read more of his work at www.claycane.net.