Your Next Listen: Talking Pictures
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What is the introduction and premise of the Talking Pictures episode with Rosie Perez?
I'm excited to recommend an episode from the new season of the Talking Pictures Podcast. Talking Pictures from TCM and HBO Max features TCM host Ben Mainkowitz in conversation with iconic actors and writers as they discuss their earliest film memories, along with their favorite films, creative influences, and guilty pleasures. After all, the biggest entertainers of our time are film fans at their core, just like the rest of us. This season, you'll hear from actors and filmmakers like Patton Oswald, Sally Field, Chloe Zhao, and more. In today's episode, I'm excited to share an episode of Talking Pictures with you, which features a conversation with Rosie Perez, star of Modern. Modern classics such as Do the Right Thing, Night on Earth, Fearless, for which he was nominated for an Oscar, and my personal favorite, White Men Can't Jump.
Without further ado, here's Talking Pictures, featuring Rosie Perez. Make sure to watch Talking Pictures on HBO Max or listen wherever you get your podcasts.
Father Strikes and the way we were.
Great. Look at you. You're very well rounded. I like this. This is excellent. Yeah. 'Cause
she couldn't get out of her way because of her principles.
Couldn't get out of her own way. That's right.
The uh the the the Rosie Perez does Barbara Streisand is probably gonna make the beginning of this podcast. This is Talking Pictures, a movie memories podcast from Turner Classic Movies and HBO Max. I'm Ben Mankowitz. Today's guest, Rosie Perez. Rosie got her acting start largely by accident. She was cast in Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing after the two met in peculiar fashion at a nightclub. In the film, she plays his character's girlfriend, Tina. She also dances to public enemies fight the power in the movie's legendary opening credits sequence.
Power. Bike the power!
Rosie got an Oscar nomination for her work in Peter Weir's 1993 film Fearless. She has done Broadway and Prestige TV. She's been cast in the upcoming season of White Lotus on HBO. And Rosie is open about her really rough childhood and how hard it is to find your way into Hollywood, especially if you're a woman, a Puerto Rican woman, and a Puerto Rican woman who sounds like Rosie Perez. Here's our conversation. So who was the first person in this business to tell you to Change slightly who you are, whether it was your voice or your look.
I would say the first time it was criticized or talked about was in the press. Um, you know, and that shocked me because I didn't know I had an accident. You know, do you hear yourself? Um But then after that it was I you know, I had gotten this agent and She wasn't top tier agent, but it was what I could get at the time. And um she's the one that told me if I lose the accent Get a nose job, dye my hair blonde. Pass more for white. I would get more rolls. And I was like, I'm not doing that and she goes, Well then maybe like if you get darker and then You know, where your hair frizzy you could pass for black. And I said you're fired.
Okay, I I didn't remember that story. I think you told me a version of that story. I did I was not going for that at all. Um everything you mentioned in that made it progressively worse. Like it it just kept her whole kept getting Deeper. That was yeah. Um, I was really getting at your voice. I was thinking that it was Don Cornelius. I thought, if I re heard that right or read that right, that that he didn't like your accent. Yes, he did it.
You're right. I forgot all about that. Yes, he oh my god, he hated it. He told me it sounds like you have a mouthful of marbles. And um I was like, Oh, okay. And it was like, that's it. Did I go, yo well what the fuck you want me to say? You say I fucking sound like I have a mouthful of marvels.
Mm.
I uh I think about you when I think about my brother sometimes. My brother, who's a Dateline MBC correspondent, he's been doing that for for thirty years. He's a great reporter, he's a great big brother. And he uh
But he has a bit of a nasally voice and he talks a little bit like this. But police tell a very different story. Right.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What is the introduction and premise of the Talking Pictures episode with Rosie Perez?
0:00–9:14
2
How did Rosie Perez’s childhood in a Catholic home and the abuse she endured shape her path to acting?
9:14–16:20
3
What was Rosie Perez’s experience getting discovered on Soul Train and how did it affect her career?
16:20–23:33
4
How did Rosie Perez land her breakthrough film roles like *Do the Right Thing* and *Fearless*?
23:33–30:15
5
What challenges did Rosie Perez face with industry bias, racism, and sexism, and how did she overcome them?
30:15–38:28
6
Which early movies (e.g., *Saturday Night Fever*, *Double Indemnity*) had the biggest impact on Rosie Perez?
38:28–46:29
7
What is the Super 8 boxing story Rosie Perez wants to see turned into a film?
46:29–52:56
8
What final reflections and take‑aways does Rosie Perez share about her career and legacy?
52:56–59:50