Interview
with Laurence Fishburne
 I
thought this film was very entertaining, refreshing, positive
from just a black sub culture, and I was wondering, for you since
you're a motorcyclist, what aspects of the culture were you surprised
by?
Laurence: WOW! I was surprised
at how diverse the clubs are, there are so many clubs, they're
so many different clubs you know? Like the G-Zer Tribe
for example, which is the club that had the most members that
was involved with the movie. These guys are from everywhere, you
know what I mean? Just in terms of their cultural make up, their
everything and everybody. I was also surprised to learn that there
is like a gay motorcycle clubs, there are so many different kinds.
The motorcycle club I belong to "The Guggenheim Motorcycle
Club" what's that? It's billionaires and movie stars, so
that's what was surprising to me, is like how the love for these
machines kind of cuts through all kinds of barriers.
So how does one get invited
to join The Guggenheim Motorcycle Club?
Laurence: [Laughs] You
got to talk to one of the Vice Presidents.
Are you one of the Vice
Presidents?
Laurence: [Laughs] I'm
one of the Vice Presidents, you got a billion dollars? No, all
you got to do is have love for the motorcycle I think? I think
that's it.
Do you believe this is like
Fast and the Furious on 2 wheels?
Laurence: No I don't, this
is not The Fast and the Furious on wheels [2 wheels], not at all.
This movie has at it's heart, a story about a family, and it's
the thing I think it gives the movie kind of emotional weight
and emotional power that I didn't find evident in a movie like
The Fast and the Furious.
Did you do most of your
stunts for this film?
Laurence: For this movie?
No
Was that your bike in the
film?
Laurence: Now it is [Laughs],
I have a bunch of bikes, 3 of them were picture bikes, the 916
from the film FLED, this one [1300CC Monster] from BIKER BOYZ
and last summer I bought a replica of the "CAPTAIN AMERICA"
bike from Easy Rider, cause….just cause.
Did you enjoy playing Smoke?
Laurence: Yeah, I think
Smoke is really cool, I liked Smoke. I liked him a lot; I thought
he was really funny.
 What
kind of guidance did you give co-star Derek Luke?
Laurence: I showed up,
did my job, he was a little nervous at first but Derek is pure,
man, Derek is pure light and presence you know what I mean? He
is going to do things that none of us can dream of. I was just
happy…doing something and playing with all those, I mean
did you see how many people are in this movie? Tate's [Larenz]
in this movie, Kadeem [Hardison] is in this movie, Lisa Bonet
is in this movie, Djimon Hounsou, Eriq La Salle, Kid Rock. Kid
Rock comes off.
How much fun was it off
camera?
Laurence: It was great
man; it was like a big cook out, like a big barbecue. Like with
Kid Rock, we hung out, he played his guitar, he broke out the
tamales and we sat around, had a few beers like bikers do, it
was cool.
Speaking of Kid Rock, what's
your overall opinion of rappers and musicians coming over to do
films?
Laurence: I think that
all art is one, and all art stems for the same source. I think
that if anybody has the impulse inside them to try to express
themselves in other medium, that's something that should be encouraged
and something that should be appreciated. I mean once upon a time
you had people in our business who did a little bit of everything.
They sang and they acted and they danced, and this is pretty much
the same. If a guy or gal wants to put down the mic and put on
the mask, I can't be mad at that.
With movies like Barbershop,
Brown Sugar, Drumline and now Biker Boyz. They have all been movies
targeted at Black sub cultures, why do you think this trend is
and do you think this is going to continue?
Laurence: Oh yeah it will
continue. I mean there's a lot stories to be told, there's a lot
of stories that come out of the black community that will get
told. If not now, later. There are just a lot of stories and I
think people are becoming more and more interested and more comfortable
with those stories. Because once upon a time the stories that
came out of black communities were all about angry and rage and
pointing the finger at somebody else for our own misfortunes,
and I think more and more with movies like this it's not about
any of that, it's really about what's going on inside of our own
world.
Did you ever teach anybody
else how to ride?
Laurence: Yes, my son
 Can
talk about the Matrix Reloaded?
Laurence: What do you want
to know? Sorry I can't talk about that [Laughs]
You play a president of
a motorcycle club and you play in some why a president or Captain
in the character Morpheus for the Matrix films, is there any comparison?
Laurence: [Laughs] No,
I wouldn't make any comparison to the two characters, they are
completely different. [Talks like his character Morpheus] One
lives in the real world and the other one doesn't, then one lives
in the real world.
There are some cool race
scenes in Biker Boyz; can you talk about the so-called famous
freeway scene in THE MATRIX RELOADED?
Laurence: Ah, the freeway
chase, The Matrix is going to be unstoppably watchable, you're
gonna get to see how deep the rabbit hole goes, the technology
is gonna be unlike anything you have ever seen before. They are
going to release two animated shorts [Animatrix] in February,
that you go to the website and visit for free and see them. I'm
trying to remember to the title for the first two, I think its
called "Renaissance" and they deal with how the world
that we live in today got to be the world of the Matrix. And then
when DREAMCATCHER comes out, there is a nine-minute Animatrix
attached to the end of DREAMCATCHER, called "Final Flight
of the Osiris" that sets up the plot for the Matrix Reloaded.
Then the day the movie [Matrix Reloaded] comes out "Enter
the Matrix", which is the video game, comes out as well,
and it's in all platforms Xbox, PS2, etc, etc…
BIKER BOYZ OPENS
JAN 31, 2003
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