Interview with Maurice Jamal

Maurice Jamal, the politically incorrect director, writer and actor, prides himself on being socially progressive.

Jamal’s first feature-length film, Ski Trip, is currently playing the festival circuit. It was recently purchased by MTV’s gay channel LOGO, for inclusion in their film library. But it’s Jamal’s “straight work” that has probably given him more attention for being incorrect.

And the African American comedian was a Shakespearean actor before he evolved into an urban comic upon moving to New York City three years ago. Currently, he can be seen performing on the Comedy Channel’s hit TV show Chappelle’s Show, and he stars in the upcoming WB midseason comedy series Make My Day.

On Jamal’s socially progressive side, he is the founder of the Urban Arts Collective, a collaborative of young, urban filmmakers. In addition, he co-chairs the New York International Black Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and is the co-producer of the Atlanta Black GBLTQ Film Festival.

Jamal’s gay feature, Ski Trip, centers on Corey, played by Jamal himself. He’s your average nice guy. An unemployed comic book artist, he hasn’t visited the gym in over a year because he’s still tormented about being dumped by his sexy boyfriend. And to make matters even worse, it’s his 30th birthday.

To soothe Corey’s depression, his friends treat him to a weekend on the slopes. But a lot of cheap wine, long-held secrets, lies, cheating boyfriends, secret pregnancies, revealed hidden passions, and a blizzard with 12 feet of snow threatens the security of their friendships.

Jamal says the film was borne from his personal experiences and those of his friends. “It occurred to me that there had to be a far better, nobler way of using our experiences to help mankind. And what better way than for me to exploit those painful experiences and make a camp comedy out of them!”

AfterElton: Why do you think the film is so popular?
Maurice Jamal: I think it’s because the film speaks to a wide range of people within our community. There aren’t a lot of gay, romantic comedies out there. I think there are a lot of sex films. There are a lot of comedies or films that come out of the gay community that are about a gay man being in love with a straight man--the unrequited love story. But there aren’t a lot of situations where you actually have openly gay, vibrant characters being involved in relationships with each other as friends. That’s something that happens in Ski Trip. So it’s identifiable by people regardless of race or regardless of age.

AE: There aren’t many gay films centering on the black experience, are there?
MJ: Unfortunately, there’s a saying in LA when you’re pitching a film: “You have to pick a lane.” They wanted us to either pick the black and Latino lane, or pick the gay lane. There’s the thought that you can’t do both. You’ve got gay shows like Will & Grace, and you’ve got gay icons like Ellen DeGeneres or Rosie O'Donnell. But you can’t have Black and gay, or Latino and gay in the same sentence. Or certainly not in the same movie, which is ridiculous.

I kept saying “we are picking a lane. That lane is Black, it is Latino, and it is gay, and it is all of these things.”

AE: That’s a pretty politically correct statement coming from someone who is becoming known for being politically incorrect.
MJ: I don’t pride myself on being politically incorrect, though I certainly am. My work on the Chapelle’s Show has been a very good fit. Often times we are too safe. We always want things to be in the box, a very neat, and tidy.

I poke a lot of fun at people in The Ski Trip, whether they are deaf and disabled, whether they are lesbian or gay or black or white. No one’s off limits. That’s how I feel about humor and life. That’s my style: go for broke, and my next film, as well--even more than this one.

AE: It must have been a certain amount of culture shock, moving from theater to film.
MJ: There’s a big difference from working with a live audience to working in front, or behind a camera. There’s a buzz of a live audience. What’s wonderful about working in film is that you have the opportunity to craft a character in a different way. Certainly as a director, it’s wonderful, because you have control over a lot of different images, sounds and emotions. You can manipulate all of these different things to create different effects. Where with theater, you sort of just buckle yourself into the seatbelt, and hope everything goes as planned in rehearsals.

AE: You’re very active in many social causes, aren’t you?
MJ: I was raised with that. I came from the bay area, so my family always had a strong streak of community involvement and being politically active. So for me, it’s important to give back to the community, because I’m part of that community. I can’t do what I do without spending time with young people, or working on HIV and AIDS education, or around literacy, or sickle cell awareness, which are the three big things I’m currently involved with.

AE: What about LGBT Black films?
MJ: There are three categories of gay films that you tend to see in festivals. There’s the cute white boys having sex in a locker room. There’s the angry lesbian drama. And there’s the HIV drama.

For me, it’s important to support filmmakers who are going down many different, divergent paths with their films, whether they stick to those three categories or not. Those categories are valid, but it’s important to have as many voices out there as possible, to add as many colors to the pallet as possible.

AE: Urban life seems predominate in your work.
MJ: I’m just a city boy. I was born and raised in Oakland. I live in Brooklyn. There’s just something about urban life that really informs gay culture in this country. It’s a very different experience in this country being gay, living in the city as compared to being gay and living in Idaho. The Idaho experience, I don’t know about. The Oakland and Brooklyn experience, I can speak to.

AE: What’s up next for you?
MJ: Another film comedy, Dirty Laundry. It’s the prodigal-son fable with a twist, about a gay man who sort of reinvented his life, and through the airing of some dirty laundry and unexpected secrets, is having to go back home to the family he hasn’t seen in 10 years. It’s an opportunity for me to show some things, and tell some things that have never been said before, either in a straight film or a gay film. I’m excited.

AE: It starts shooting soon. Are you going to be in it?
MJ: I don’t know yet. I’m always open to seeing what talent is out there. So I wouldn’t automatically cast myself. It’s important for me to have the best people in the role itself, but I’ll probably be in it. We’ll wait and see.

Visit theofficial Ski Trip site for more on the movie