Ade M'Cormack. You probably don't recognize the name. But if you were a fan of Lost (and who wasn't?), you probably remember his character, Yemi. Yemi was the priest who was shot while the Beechcraft was being loaded with heroin to be smuggled out of the country, also known as the brother of Mr. Eko.
Ade was born in Sierra Leone as the son of a diplomat, and as a result, traveled a lot during his childhood. He had wanted to be an actor since the age of four, when he first performed on stage. By the age of 12, he had won his first film role in The Great Elephant Escape. In 1999 he was accepted into SUNY Purchase and moved to the United States. He majored in Acting, graduating Magna Cum Laude.
Before his current role in Jonathan Liebesman's upcoming feature film Battle: Los Angeles, the most visible roles he had were Yemi in Lost and Tuko in Heroes. I asked him which of those two roles he enjoyed most and he replied, "Lost. The writing was amazing, (and I) had great costars." He told me that he really enjoyed playing Yemi. He felt that viewers could empathize with the brothers and their relationship. He commented that the creators did a "good job with everything" related to the production, including the scenery. The majority of his scenes were set in Nigeria, where Ade lived for a short time. He added that the production team did a wonderful job making Hawaii looking like Nigeria.
Battle: Los Angeles is a different take on the normal ‘end of the world via alien attack' genre. Rather than focus on major world leaders, like Independence Day did, this movie focuses on a single platoon of Marines defending Los Angeles and the relationships between them as the planet is assaulted by extraterrestrials. Ade plays Corpsman Jibril Adukwu, under the command of Aaron Eckhart (The Dark Knight)'s Sgt. Michael Nantz. He described the movie as "Blackhawk Down, but with aliens. It's got lots of action, but a lot of heart as well". He discussed how the film was shot documentary-style and "(makes you) feel like you are going to war. It feels real."
Hollywood magic helps convey a sense of realism. Battle: Los Angeles was not actually filmed in Los Angeles but rather in Louisiana, mainly Shreveport and Baton Rouge. Yet from what I've seen from the movie so far (the trailer), you can't tell that it wasn't actually filmed in Los Angeles. In order to fulfill the director's vision for the movie, he sent the cast to boot camp in Shreveport for three weeks. Ade said it was the "hardest (he'd) ever trained for a role in (his) life." He discussed how they had to run several miles each day, and how he learned the technical aspects of being a marine. "(Liebesman) wanted the movie to be authentic. To force us to ‘go there'." By ‘go there' he explained, "you really are in the middle (of a war)" while filming, and he thinks the audience will feel the same.
The movie is about the relationship between the platoon mates, so I asked him about the rest of the cast. He had nothing but good things to say about the other stars in the film. "We all became really good friends." He described Cory Hardrict as very talented, and likewise Bridget Moynihanan. Ade has a few scenes with her, and calls those scenes "touching". She is a wonderful actress, very talented, and a lot of fun to work with."
Ade concluded with discussing the demands of the shoot itself. He called it physically demanding, and that "getting bloody or chip(ping) teeth were common (occurrences)." He also chuckled recalling a story about how he felt bad for the maids at their hotel. "Every night after the shoot the bath tub would be black (with) dirt from the day's shooting."
One thing I really took away from the interview was how intelligent and down to earth Ade is. He's acting because he enjoys it, and it's obvious when he's on screen. His final thoughts on the film are that it is "well thought-out" and he enjoys "how intelligent the film really is." For his own future, he is very excited. He is working on writing and producing his first feature film that will be set in Africa. From what I gleaned from our conversation, it too will be a very intelligent and well thought-out film. Battle: Los Angeles opens March 11, 2011.
