Erin Cummings will be seen next as Sally in the upcoming feature Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. With a chance to finally show off her comedic skill, Erin talks about her role in the film, what she’s been doing during the writer’s strike, and everyone must see Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.
THE STAR SCOOP:
Tell us about the movie you’ve got coming out, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins.
ERIN CUMMINGS:
Well, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins is Universal film that is about a Jerry Springer/Oprah Winfrey style talk show host played by Martin Lawrence, who goes back home to visit his family who he’s been estranged from for quite some time. It’s sort of a combination of the world that he used to come from and the world that he now lives in where he’s a big celebrity.
Opening the movie, is shot in the studio where his talk show is and I play his guest on the talk show for that day. I play a woman named Sally who is unhappy with her life and is sort of going through an identity crisis and decides that she wants to be black. But instead of aspiring to be a positive black female role model like Oprah Winfrey, she decides to be more like Lil’ Kim. My character is introduced on the show and has gone through this physical transformation. Her hair is in corn rows, and an afro. She’s been spending a lot of time in a tanning salon, so her skin is super, super, super dark. She’s gotten a botched lip job so I had to wear this weird bulbous prosthetic lip. I was dressed like, for lack of a better term, a video ho, with the tiny little short skirt, big prosthetic butt, crazy long, acyllic, air brushed nails.
Sally is the guest on the talk show who then thinks that her boyfriend is going to propose to her and then we find out later that he’s actually been dating her sister. So, Sally, who, even though she looks like she’s down on the outside, she’s still very much a wonder bread, country club, ivy league white girl on the inside, until she finds out that her boyfriend’s been cheating. Then the gloves come off, and it’s all sista sista from there.
I don’t live in an urban area. I live in West Hollywood. There’s not a lot of urban slang being thrown around in the area that I live. I had to do a lot of research on my own. I watched a lot of movies that featured characters that were very similar to the character that I was playing. I did a lot of research online and found a lot of slang. I talked to people.
THE STAR SCOOP:
Why did you want to be involved in this movie?
ERIN CUMMINGS:
I wanted to be part of the movie because first of all the cast is incredible. I mean, Martin Lawrence, Mo’Nique, James Earl Jones, Mike Epps, Cedric The Entertainer. These are all people who obviously are at a place in their career where they have reached an incredible amount of success, and I have watched their movies and admired and looked up to these performers for a very long time. To be in a movie with that caliber of comedian performer was a huge thrill for me.
Also, the role was exciting for me. Even though I’ve done some comedy on stage; I have more of a theater background, I hadn’t done any comedy in television or in film. This was a unique and wonderful opportunity to showcase my comedic talent as well, and also to showcase myself in a completely different light. I really hope that this is an opportunity for people to go, Oh, wow, I didn’t realize that Erin Cummings could do that or could be that kind of actress. I wonder what else she can do…I feel like this could certainly open the door for varrried roles for me in the future.
THE STAR SCOOP:
So from this point, what kind of roles do you want to do next?
ERIN CUMMINGS:
There are certainly dream roles that I always think, Oh wow, it’d be really great to play this. As most women are doing right now, I would love to do an action film. I have a background as a dancer; I’m very physical. Anything that allows me to use that physicality is really exciting for me. I love doing stunts and fight scenes. I come from Texas, so I’ve always had this affinity for movies that are based in…country. I’ve always wanted to do a sort of Texas movie, cowboy, something like that. Anything that’s different. What I look for in a script is a character I haven’t played before, a character that’s gonna cause me to have to learn something.
One of the many reasons why I became an actress is because I couldn’t decide what I wanted to do with my life. I wanted to be a teacher. I wanted to be an astronaut. I wanted to be a nurse. I wanted to do a million different things, and so, fortunately as an actress, you have the opportunity to dabble in every profession, you’re role playing. You can sort of live vicariously through the life of your character.
THE STAR SCOOP:
What is going on in your life at the moment?
ERIN CUMMINGS:
Well, there’s a big strike going on right now. So, it’s an interesting time period in the industry right now, because television has come to a standstill, and even a lot of features are not happening. A lot of actors are really having to be creative about what they’re doing with their time right now. For me, I’ve really chosen this time to focus on myself and my craft. I think that a lot of times, especially when you’re working a lot, you tend to get a little lazy on your craft and it’s important to take time for yourself to go back to class and to really reach in and get to the next level as an actor. That’s what I’ve been doing, is really focusing on my class work, and being really picky and choosy about what auditions I’m going out for. I’m not going out for just anything for the sake of having an audition, but really making sure that it’s a role that is right for me and is challenging for me and something that I really want to do. Hopefully when the movie comes out, that will also open people’s minds to the type of characters that I can play.
THE STAR SCOOP:
What do you want the readers to know about you? And what do you want to say to the fans?
ERIN CUMMINGS:
I think that one thing about me people always find surprising is that I don’t really seem to fall under one definition. People put me in a certain category because I’m from Texas. My dad was in the military. I come from an extremely conservative background, and I hold on to that, and at the same time I’m very open minded. I have a lot of liberal view points on certain things. I’m very opinionated, also very open minded. I think sometimes because I’m not afraid to share my opinion with people, there may be a perception that I’m not open minded to other people’s opinions. One thing about me is that I’m certainly interested in constantly learning. A good friend of me gave me savory advice. He said if you’re not smart, you should hang around smart people. If you are smart, you should hang around people who disagree with you. I like to think of myself as a moderately intellectual person, so I like to hang around with people who disagree with me.
I would tell them [the fans], there’s so much going on in the world today, it’s important to pay attention to those things, but it’s also important to laugh, so take two hours out, and go see Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, and then you can go back out into the world and fight another battle. But take time to laugh.
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