An Hour With Dennis Haysbert At FLIFF

Television and film actor Denis Haysbert was on stage for over an hour on Monday evening at the Cinema Paradiso as part of his Career Achievement Award tribute at the Fort Lauderdale International Film Festival. Haysbert, he of the dashing good looks and baritone voice, spoke about his career and his lifelong ambition to be an actor. “I was pretty much hooked on movies since age 10”, he shared. “The films of some of my idols, like Sidney Poitier, made such an impression on me and let me believe that I too could think about acting as a career.” Of his breakthrough role in the baseball comedy MAJOR LEAGUE, Haysbert credited “a very funny script and the director giving me free reign to create my character.” His voodoo loving slugger made a strong impact and led to other work with directors as diverse as Clint Eastwood, Michael Mann and Todd Haynes. His experience on Haynes’ 1950s-style melodrama FAR FROM HEAVEN was especially memorable. “We knew as we were making the film that it was an important work of art”, Haysbert shared. “Todd is such a talented and sensitive director. On the set, we all knew when we had done a good job with a scene because he would come up to us with tears in his eyes”. Haysbert will next appear on the big screen opposite Tobey McGuire, Ray Liotta, Laura Linney and Elizabeth Banks in THE DETAILS, a drama written and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes.

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