Orlando Jones has been a TV producer for “The Sinbad Show” and writer for hits like “A Different World” and “Roc,” before becoming famous for his roles on “Mad TV.” He has acted in 14 movies, seven of which have been in the past year. Jones, 33, strolled into Los Angeles’s retro hotel, The W, dressed in a neon orange shirt and brown shorts. After he pinballed back and forth between different journalists’ tables on April 22 to promote his upcoming movie “Evolution,” Jones sat down with nyou, and his attitude was just as relaxed and humorous as his outfit.
Q:How did you get started in acting?
A:Me and a friend started an advertising agency in college. We would write, direct and shoot the commercials. Surprisingly, people hired us. We would start riffing and write the commercials and then we started getting into it. I got a chance to write and to act from that.
Q:Did majoring in chemistry help at all with your role as a woman’s volleyball coach/chemistry professor?
A:Not really, because the movie isn’t really scientific. But I felt the role was still important because Division III women’s volleyball coaches are highly underrepresented in movies.
Q:How did you prepare for the role?
A:I attended a lot of frat parties and said stuff like ‘Shouldn’t you be studying?’ The role actually reminded me of a couple of perverted professors I had at McGill (University) who were constantly hitting on the female students. You wanted to ask them, ‘When are they going to put you away?’
Q:A few months ago there was serious accident that caused the set to catch on fire. How did that happen?
A:We were shooting a scene in what’s suppose to be a cave, but it’s really a room about 70,000 square feet big. In this scene we’re suppose to be surrounded by flames, so we had all these huge propane tanks around us. A guy was suppose to trigger the tanks and then a flame shot up for a few seconds. But he triggered one too high because the top of the stage caught fire. I ran in the scene and I kept looking behind me, but I noticed that one tank didn’t go out and the roof caught fire. I just kept running.
Q:What are the major differences between acting in television and in a movie?
A:I would do around three to four characters per episode and spend about three minutes with each character. So I would run off the stage, change clothes, go to makeup and then go right back out on stage. It was in and out. In movies, pacing is the tough part. You film about one minute of film a day and you’re on the set for 14 to 16 hours trying to maintain the same level of energy.
Q:What’s your next film?
A:A film called “Reverend Pimp Daddy.” I got tired of stories about a hooker with a heart of gold, so I wanted to do a movie about a pimp with a heart of gold.
Q:Are you afraid of being typecasted as a black comedian-actor?
A:No, I’m in the entertainment business. I choose this part because it’s one of the few times when a white guy and a black guy are friends and one of them isn’t a convict. There’s no gimmick or ridiculous hook. It’s the year 2001, and we still didn’t have a picture with a white and a black guy, and the relationship is just normal. nyou
