Terrence Howard: From losing ‘Iron Man’ role to ruling an ‘Empire’

TERRENCE Howard says recent career developments have taught him the meaning of true friendship. RUBEN V. NEPALES

LOS ANGELES—Exactly on his 46th birthday, March 11, Terrence Howard, flushed with the phenomenal ratings of his new TV series, Lee Daniels’ “Empire,” declared, “This is the best time of my life. There’s been… troubles over the years. Finally, I get to this point. I have a very beautiful and understanding wife (Mira Pak). Our child is due May 4.”

Terrence was snazzily dressed in an ensemble of vest, dress shirt, tie and patterned pants. What looked like silk hankies on his wrists, plus a watch and a bracelet one each hand, provided a unique touch.

“These are called wrist guards,” he said. “I call them gatherings. I don’t like metal on my skin but I like watches. I made these things so I can use the watch but my wrist feels protected.” He wore a newsboy cap to complete the jaunty look.

“I had only one son and two daughters (with his first wife, Lori McCommas)… I always thought I should have a perfect pair [of sons],” the actor said. “I remember praying for the family when I was younger, thinking and always feeling like there was another child missing. Now, my son is about to be born. I think that will do really great things because I am a little more grown now. I just became a grandfather again,” he announced. My grandson Adrian was born. I don’t know if it gets better than this.”

To boot, he’s earning critical and audience acclaim in his portrayal of Lucious Lyon, a music mogul with quite a character of an ex-wife, Cookie (Taraji P. Henson), an ex-fiancée, Anika (Grace Gealey) and three sons, Andre, the eldest (Trai Byers); middle son, Jamal (Jussie Smollett), who is gay; and youngest son, Hakeem (Bryshere Y. Gray). “Fox took me in like a first round draft pick child,” Terrence said of the network behind “Empire.”

As for “troubles over the years,” one of the bumps he referred to without mentioning names was his claim that he lost a potential pay of $8 million when Don Cheadle replaced him as Lt. Col. James “Rhodey” Rhodes in “Iron Man 2.”

ScreenRant’s Anthony Vieira reported last year: “[S]howbizcafe.com’s Tony Rico appeared on NBC’s ‘Today’ and provided the monetary amounts Howard was referring to. Essentially, rather than pay Howard the $8 million for ‘Iron Man 2’ per his contract, they offered him $1 million instead. According to Howard, the money promised to him went to Robert Downey Jr. instead.”

HE ADMITS, “Not all the episodes were great. Some shocked me, like, wait a minute, we could do better. But the viewership kept growing, which was strange.” RUBEN V. NEPALES

“You have a quick rise in fame where you are struggling but you start making a million dollars on a picture,” Terrence began about his claim of financial debacles resulting from being dropped from “Iron Man.”

“Something can happen where you are promised eight million dollars on a picture and have that taken away from you,” he said. “In August of 2013, I didn’t have $236 to pay my water bill. Fortunately, I thought ahead years ago in 2000 when I built my home. I put a big pond there. I would take a gallon of water out of my pond to put into my toilet so I could flush it.

Happier times

“Those days also reminded me of 2000 or 1999 when I lived in my garage because I tore down my house. I couldn’t afford to have another place to live in. But I was happier in those times. I didn’t feel bad going out to get the water from my pond.

Terrence further revealed, “I have tax issues. I may never see any of the money that I make on the show. But I am able to do something that I really enjoy, making a difference in the world and exercising the gift that was given to me to stand out in front of everyone. But… there is nothing worse than being a broke movie star. They do anything not to appear broke but all they have is this breath that I am taking right now. That’s where my true value comes in. I appreciate my breath and my life.”

The 2006 Oscar and Golden Globe best actor nominee for “Hustle & Flow” wished, “Maybe one day, I can make a million dollars an episode. Maybe everything will be taken care of—or maybe they won’t. I am doing better than our country because I am not $300 trillion in debt.”

Early emancipation

Terrence, who emancipated himself from his parents (Tyrone Howard and Anita Jeanine Williams) at age 16, is nonetheless grateful about one fateful decision of his mom: “She was 15 when she got pregnant with me. She just had my older brother. She was headed to the abortion clinic. My uncle was driving. They stopped at a red light. The clinic was two blocks away. She told my uncle, ‘Turn around, let’s go home.’ I came to be and I am so glad of that red light. I stop at all the red lights now.”

He learned something about friendship when he was broke. Terrence recalled, “When I couldn’t pay my water bill, the only person who offered to send me money was my assistant Webb [Wigfall] who was still working for me and hadn’t been paid for six months. You need not call real friends. Real friends call and ask, ‘Do you need anything?’”

The “Iron Man” issue taught him a lot. “I grew up because I learned what a friend does and doesn’t do. I grew up with what Lee Daniels did in giving me this job (‘Empire’). I met with Lee to play Cecil (Gaines) in ‘The Butler.’ The chemistry was great between Oprah and me but the age difference didn’t work. Lee was like, ‘Forest Whitaker is coming in.’ I was like, ‘You should give it to him.’ And it was perfect. Lee was like, ‘I don’t have anything left for you in this movie except for this little two-bit hustler who lives next door.’ I was like, ‘I will do it.’

“Lee said, ‘If you do this, I am going to do for you what I did for Mo’Nique (in ‘Precious’). I will stand by you.’ And he gave me ‘Empire.’ He came through on his promises.”

Terrence offered his theory on “Empire’s” huge success: “Not all the episodes were great. Some shocked me, like, wait a minute, we could do better. But the viewership kept growing, which was strange. I think people stayed with the show because my goal as lead was to get rid of the PC (political correctness). I have always thought political correctness allowed bigotry behind doors. I see PC as a short term for BS; you don’t know where you stand. Lucious speaks the truth and makes hard choices. Same thing with Cookie—she’s never PC. That has a lot to do with the success.

HOWARD, 46, is a grandfather again. RUBEN V. NEPALES

Father’s warning

“And me dealing with Jamal, putting him in the trash can [when he was young]. That grabbed attention around the world.”

That homophobia story line inspired Terrence to share, “When I was a kid, in the neighborhood we grew up in, gangs or boys did all kinds of stuff. My father lined us up and said, ‘Are any of you sissies?’ It was two o’clock in the morning. I was eight. My three brothers and I were like, ‘What are you talking about?’

“He said, ‘A sissy is a man who gets pleasure from another man. If any of you [is a sissy], I am going to cut your throat. And if I am dead and you find your brother is a sissy, I want to you to cut his throat.’

“[We] express this stuff on the show and also show where the real homophobia and real racism lies.

Lucious is so racist, disliking his white daughter-in-law (Rhonda). With us being able to attack racism and homophobia head on, that resonates with people. And the music is a nice touch.

“Everybody is not going to change their ideals, but as long as they understand what effect those have on other people… if Lucious knew what effect that would have on Jamal his whole life, he would never make those choices. My father apologized for his statements. He said, ‘I was just trying to protect you from the… monsters in the neighborhood.’”

Soundtrack

Asked about his plans, musically (Fox is releasing the show’s soundtrack albums à la “Glee,” its earlier hit), Terrence replied, “I put six songs in the show this year. I am talking with Fox about a ‘Lucious Lyon Greatest Hits Album.’”

Asked about the songs on his iPod, the artist whose debut album was “Shine Through It,” and whose “It’s Hard Out Here for a Pimp” from “Hustle & Flow” earned an Oscar best original song nod, Terrence said, “It might surprise you—Chet Baker’s ‘My Funny Valentine.’ I’m still in love with Bread, Gipsy Kings, Caetano Veloso. I have never really been a big hip-hop fan. I’ve always been a bit more of the folk/country/Cat Stevens/Jim Croce kind of guy.”

And what does he sing in the shower? Smiling, he said, “‘My Fair Lady’ songs.”

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