Terrence Howard

And I was in my own way.

about something that was unimportant, I had forgotten.

And you grow up and you listen.

I had a meeting with Denzel once, and he told me, he was like, look at your hands, man.

You're always like this.

Your fists are all balled up.

He said, and all these producers want to do is they're trying to open your hand so they can put money in it.

But you won't do it.

You keep your hands all tight like this, and you're blowing it.

And this is 20 years ago.

Holy moly.

It was right before it was maybe about 20, 28, 20.

It was right before I did hustle and flow.

It was right before, because I ended up going back into the Chitlin circuit.

I was no longer being supported by the studios again.

How many times did this happen?

At least eight times.

I've had a number of opportunities, but my aggression, my need to be a man, you ain't going to talk to me like that.

Instead of learning how to diffuse and to walk away and to smile, okay, this isn't your day or this isn't my road right now.

Well, the people that were trying to manage me at the time were Benny Medina and people of that nature.