Smokin' Keys

ALICIA KEYS's included in a new action/chaos(whatever) flick, entitled SMOKIN' ACES! It will be out in the US this Friday!

DETAILS:
This Friday, director Joe Carnahan (NARC) is back with his first film in over four years. What took him so long? Well, for a while he was busy developing a little movie called MISSION IMPOSSIBLE 3 . Fifteen months into it, however, Carnahan left the project over creative differences with the film’s producers. The experience left Carnahan with a bad taste in his mouth, so he decided to take out all of his rage on a movie. The result is SMOKIN' ACES, a violent, chaotic film that just might put Carnahan back on the map.

Alicia was interviewed during their Presscon, here are some excerpts:

Alicia, You've probably gotten offers in the past to starting a movie career before. What made you want to do this project?

Keys: I did not want to play a character that was a reflection of who I am. I also wanted my first film to be something where I was surrounded by an amazing cast. This fit that criteria to the fullest. I wanted to do something that was completely unexpected, totally out of the box, something that would blow people's minds, that the last thing on the planet earth that they would ever think I would do would be– this met that criteria as well. It was very exciting and it totally took me out of my element and out of my comfort zone completely and it challenged me in a way that was very rewarding for me.

Alicia, what did you learn about acting that will inform you now as an artist and vocalist?

Keys: I felt that I rediscovered how tremendously close the two worlds are. I grew up in the theater. My mother is an actress. I was always around the world of acting and theater and I was always amazed the way that people would come in looking one way and transform completely to the point where I couldn't recognize their language and their accent, the way that looked and their hair and their faces even changed in becoming so inside of the character. So, I think that I reconnected to the way that that affects me so much when I see a film that moves me in one way or another, either angers me or makes me feel good or saddens me – whatever – and how that connects so much to what I do as an artist as well.

The casts also include Ben Affleck, Jeremy Piven, Common, Ray Liotta, and Ryan Reynolds.