You've done big Hollywood productions, and now you're doing tons of small-budget independent films. Was that a conscious switch?

The studios, where these big budgets are, the average film costs $40 million to $60 million to make -- that's a lot of people that's got to be responsible for other people's money, and they have to go by formulas. They can't have any anomalies inside the formulas. So the actor doesn't really get a chance to expand out. It's a rehearsed format. Whereas with independent filmmaking, that's a workshop, that's where you learn how to expand out, because the stakes aren't so high -- since you're not trying to scale across a span 100 feet up and 200 feet across. You're only going across a 10-foot span, 3 feet up in the air. So you take chances, and it's wonderful to take chances, even if you make mistakes, because it won't kill you.

That's why I'm doing what I'm doing right now: I'm learning right now, trying to figure out how to be good at this, and for that you just need a lot of practice. So if you can do eight independent projects in a year, that's eight small film companies that you're gaining from. It's like class for me, but I can't afford to take classes because I've got to feed my family. [Howard has three kids.]

John Singleton has compared you to James Dean, saying that, like him, you are "malleable, organic."

Oh, that's beautiful. Will you thank him for that?

OK, sure.

In the article you can thank him. Because that's what you don't hear too much. I've realized there are five phrases we need: "Thank you," "Please," "I'm sorry," "What can I do to help," and "I love you." Those five phrases are just great! So tell him I said thank you.

OK. But speaking of James Dean, you have something else in common with him. You play a lot of rebels (a pimp in "Hustle & Flow," a bootlegger in "My Life in Idlewild," etc.) -- or at least criminally inclined guys with something to prove.

Are you saying I'm the bastard child of James Dean and Marlon Brando? (laughs)

Well, maybe! What do you think about that?

That's cute! Both of those cats, they were determined, like Jack Johnson, to live their own way, and you've got to love them for that.

So are you determined to do things your own way?

You have to be. And that's the artistry of life, because now everyone gets an opportunity to watch this masterpiece going along his way and to figure out how the strokes were made. That's cute, too!

You also seem to be making a habit of working with rappers -- Ludacris in "Crash" and "Hustle & Flow," Andre 3000 in "Four Brothers," and 50 Cent in "Get Rich or Die Tryin'." What's it like working with people who aren't professional actors?

Well, what people fail to realize is I didn't have any training coming into the business. I was just a singer/songwriter. I crashed a few auditions, got some spots, but then the only reason I did [the 1992 TV movie] "The Jacksons: An American Dream" was so I could meet [co-executive producer] Suzanne De Passe and people from Motown and the Jacksons, and sing these songs for them. So I was once just a musical artist. But then because of being an artist I was able to play in any field -- any artist can draw a picture on a page or win an Oscar. So I give all these guys a shot, and their artistry will grow the more they learn the rules of this medium.

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