MY FAVORITE WEEKEND
* The actor and director plays Malcolm X in the movie “Ali.”
Dancing Man: My two connections right now are Alex and Fez. Fez knows the celebrity L.A. scene, what’s hot, what’s not. Alex happens to know the whole salsa scene, which I’ve been getting into lately. Alex de Silva, he’s my salsa aficionado, and my teacher. So Friday night, I go down and get my little class at the Mayan, and maybe stay there or go to the Conga Room. Saturday, there’s a class during the day at the Edge Dance Studio. But I’ve learned to do it, and I’ve got new salsa shoes. I’m the man!
Brain Activity: Saturdays, I do something else interesting. A professor of Islamic studies at UCLA has been having mini-seminars at my house. I met him because I play Malcolm in the “Ali” movie, the spiritual guide who helps Cassius Clay become Muhammad Ali, but since Sept. 11, it’s become much more relevant. We’re studying the history and different relationships to Islam vis-a-vis American foreign policy.
Body Activity: Then I go for the run on Venice Beach and usually have someone ride along on a bike. I got from Playa del Rey to Venice, past the guy with the turban who sings on roller skates. I’ll also hang out with the kids; I have two daughters and three boys. We’ll go for a bike ride up into Marina del Rey and I get to be Father Goose. I also live next door to my mom, so I hang out with her.
Business Is Pleasure: I’ve been doing a series of interviews where I interview people about the most traumatic things they’ve ever gone through: Roger Daltrey, the Hudlin brothers, Lynn Redgrave, Will Smith. It’s for a book I want to put together, but it helps you grow in your life. As actors and directors, we get stuck in our own circle; to go outside that and ask these questions is very liberating. Then I’d do some writing. I’m working on a script about the birth of blaxploitation. I’ve been watching a lot of my dad’s [writer-director-actor Melvin Van Peebles] old flicks, which is a great kick.