I guess it's a personal preference. Me, personally, I like to be able to tell the stories that I want to tell and do the things that I want to do. It takes a little bit more work, but that's what the production side is.
Mekhi PhiferI think that there's room to grow, as far as being a person of color in film. I went to the theater the other day, and there's a whole bunch of Valentine's Day movies coming out. And the only ones that you see a lot of us in are us goofing off and clowning around; it's this kind of pseudo-romantic comedy kind of thing.
Mekhi PhiferBeing producer you're still going to have to sell somebody who's going to give you the money on the idea and everything like that. But it does give you a little bit more control if you're thinking in that creative process; it gives you more control to tell the story you want to tell rather than sort of just reading a script that somebody else wrote and says, "Yes, please, you can hire me for this job." So it's a little bit more hands-on, a little bit more closer to the heart.
Mekhi PhiferI want to see my family prosper, see my kids grow old. I would love to keep having a really solid, strong career and just being happy. My life isn't just this business, so there's so many other things that I like to do. I just want to be able to have the freedom to do all of the things that I want to do.
Mekhi Phifer