"My thing was I was trying to give Russ Parr the best advice that I could...the way I was playing manager is similar to how Floyd's manager is, without the gambling issues that I had, but more so making sure his team is doing the right things. You're there to make sure everyone is doing what's right...It was real and we had the great Sam Watson in the movie. We wanted to make it realistic. There are certain things in there, don't get me wrong, you're going to know that that's not that real, but at least 98% of it, we kept it so real," stated Jackie Long, actor, comedian, and co-star of the new TV One Original Movie, 'Ringside', which debuts this Sunday. Check out what else he had to say about the movie, his role, and much more.
PC: Jackie, you probably have the most experience, as far as being around the sport and the business side of the sport, of anyone on the cast. When the idea of 'Ringside' was brought to you, what were your thoughts?
JL: Ah man, I was real excited. I thought I was playing the boxer at first; that's how excited I was.
PC: (Laughing)!
JL: (Laughing) But Russ Parr threw me for a loop. He was like, "Nah man, you're playing manager." So my hopes got shot down real fast, but I read the script and realized what type of character I was playing and I got back excited because it was real deep. So I missed out on doing a little workout preparing to be the boxer, but other than that, I'm all good about it, man.
PC: I think the two people they picked to play the boxers, they may have picked them because they felt they look better than you without their shirt on, man.
JL: (Laughing) You know what it is. They don't want the chocolate dude to outshine them light-skin brothers (laughing). They want the chocolate dudes to keep their clothes on; that's all that was. They don't want me to shine, man.
PC: You have been around Floyd Mayweather, so like I mentioned before, you kind of had a firsthand account of some of the situations you guys played out in the movie. So what was it like being a part of this?
JL: It was really natural. It was like, "Okay, I see what Russ is doing." I can see his vision. I've been around the real, so I got to see...even though a lot of stuff on TV is always fake, we kind of make as much as we could be real. My thing was I was trying to give Russ Parr the best advice that I could, like, "This what Floyd did. This is what Floyd does when he would do mitts," just so he could get a real feel of how it should be, you know what I'm saying?
PC: Definitely!
JL: I was letting them know how the camp was and how the people around you does what and who is doing what. So it was like, the way I was playing manager is similar to how Floyd's manager is, without the gambling issues that I had, but more so making sure his team is doing the right things. You're there to make sure everyone is doing what's right.
PC: Without giving away too much, tell us who Payton Waiters is in the movie.
JL: Payton is a Cal State Northridge graduate with a business degree and he's the manager to one of the best fighters in the world. He has a gambling addiction and he has a daughter that he owes back child support with and he's going through a lot, man. There is no comedy involved in this at all, which I really appreciated the movie for because a lot of people know me for my comedic side. So it was good to show the world my dramatic side, which I think I did a hell of a job. Things can always be better, but I think I did a great job in this role. Payton Waiters is a guy who is about business and he's tired of people taking care of him and he's at a stage in his life where he wants to do it himself and he don't always have to depend on people. That's Payton Waiters and it's going to show when the people see it September 4th.
PC: You've been privy enough to see the side of the fight game that a lot of us haven't been able to see. Again, the movie points out some of the behind the scenes stuff with keeping groupies at bay and out of camps, which is definitely a part of the game. It's at an all-time high actually. But then there is scandal and deception and all of the other things that come along with being a high level athlete.
JL: I think Tyler Lepley and Allen Maldonado definitely got into character big time. You know I've been around real situations, so I know. And they had real dudes that was training them, so to see it and watch them, it brought me into character even more because I'm like, "Okay, these dudes really doing this, so I gotta get my character down to make this come out good." So any advice I could give them in the ring or out of the ring, I could tell them. "This is how Floyd did this, he didn't do this. This is what I seen." It was real and we had the great Sam Watson in the movie. We wanted to make it realistic. There are certain things in there, don't get me wrong, you're going to know that that's not that real, but at least 98% of it, we kept it so real. You might see a few flaws where you would say, "They don't do that in boxing," but when you have a certain budget you have to work with, you have to pay certain people to be around. So you know if the budget wasn't right, we had to make it do what it do, baby! And we was shooting the movie literally in 2 weeks, man. I applaud Russ Parr to the fullest for doing this movie in 2 weeks. And I commend all of the actors for just coming out there as hard as we did and worked to make this boxing movie what it is. I can't wait; ah, I can't wait for the world to see it. It's just something different that the world hasn't seen yet. Yes, there are boxing movies out there, but I think this movie is good enough to become a series. And I think that's what they are looking towards doing is to make this a series and that might be the best thing for this because it's an opportunity to let new actors and actresses step to the forefront. It's a perfect window and it's black tv. Come on, man, we gotta make waves.
PC: I spoke with Allen and Tyler and I asked both of them about a sequel or a series and they echoed your sentiments. It has the makings of us getting more for sure.
JL: Right! Real talk, man. It's a great concept, great story, great plot and a great cast. You couldn't ask for nothing better, man, and it has great production and this all got done in 2 weeks. Look where we're at now. We're doing interviews; on the phone with you. We did something, man, and I'm very proud of everybody. If I wasn't in this movie, and I've seen it a couple of times already, I would have been jealous if I wasn't in this movie. I'm excited, man. I'm very excited.
PC: You spoke earlier about stepping outside of your comfort zone and not having any comedy involved in this movie. Some actors become content with the roles they are used to. It has to be refreshing for you to be able to showcase something that I'm sure you always knew you could do, but now to be able to show you can play a dramatic role.
JL: Ah man, first you gotta thank God, and second you gotta thank good directors that give you an opportunity and that know your talent, and third, honestly, people wouldn't know it, but my favorite is a dramatic role. I love dramatic more than I love comedy because comedy is so natural to me. I'm not saying I'm the best at it or I'm the greatest at it, but I'm saying I know how to do it. And at the end of the day, it's been so natural to me all my life, I love what I do, but I like having the best of both worlds to where it's believable to people. If you can do comedy and it's believable and then you can do a dramatic role and it's believable, you can't do nothing but commend yourself and pat yourself on the back because you're doing something that's not so easy to do. Comedy is not easy to do, man, to make somebody laugh. Being in a dramatic role is not easy to do, to make somebody believe you that you are sad, upset, or that you went through an emotion. This shit is not easy, man, and I'm not going to say acting is easy because it's not. When people ask me, "Jackie, what do I have to do to get into acting?" I say, "Man, either you do it or you don't. Stay out of this business. Don't get in this business for the girls and the chains and things. You get into this because you love this and you want the trophies, man. You want to leave something behind where you look at it in your house and say, 'Damn, I got this for that.' It's not about, I had sex with this big booty girl and now we got 30 kids and I haven't done shit with my life." You gotta know what you're doing it for, man. I do this because I love the craft. I breath and sleep it, man. That's all I want to do. When I get into a character, I'm not going to give you 100%, I'm going to give 200%. I'm going to learn it to the best of my ability so when you see the film, it's like, "Okay, Jackie was impressive in this." I'm going to do it the right way. So anyone that's a fan of mine, I just want y'all to know that I appreciate it and it's more coming my way that I'm going to bless y'all with and y'all let me know. If I'm terrible, let me know because I got to get better. If I'm good, let me know.
PC: I'll tell you two things that I took away from this as far as your character goes. If I had never saw anything from Jackie Long before, I wouldn't have been able to tell you were a comedian, and the other thing is, and it's the mark of a good actor, by the end of the movie, I didn't like you. So great job, man.
JL: (Laughing) I appreciate that too, man. I really do appreciate that.
PC: Tell us when, where, and how we can watch 'Ringside'!
JL: Man, September 4th, Labor Day Weekend, make sure you catch it. Set your cable box, your TiVo, DVR, everything man on TV One baby on September 4th at 7 pm. Get ready for the one and only 'Ringside' man; Tyler Lepley, Allen Maldonado, Jackie Long, Tequan Richmond, Raney Branch, Julissa Bermudez, Sevyn Streeter, and if I missed your name, just know that it's because I'm turnt up! I'm lit right now on this phone. Labor Day weekend, please tell everybody it's a great movie with a great concept and a great plot; please tell your friends, tell your neighbor, tell your Facebook, tell your Twitter, tell your Instagram and your SnapChat. Make sure y'all promote that 'Ringside' because it's going to be real interesting. I'm telling you, you will want to see more of it, so tune in!
PC: For sure! Give me your social media handles so everyone can keep up with you!
JL: Man, if you want to hit me on my Twitter, @jackielong, you want to hit me on my Instagram, @jackielong, you want to hit me on my SnapChat, it's @actorgang. That's my company. Actor Gang Entertainment; it's an "AGE" because in this business, as an actor, you can be any age. It don't matter, you can be 300 if you're able to live that long. It's all about Actor Gang Entertainment, so if you want to follow me on SnapChat and see all of this crazy stuff I'm doing, hit me up right there. Facebook is Jackie Long too!
[ Follow Percy Crawford on Twitter @MrLouis1ana ]