When Malcolm Lee got the call over the weekend that Bernie Mac had died, the director says he was overcome by grief. When he got a call the side by side day that Isaac Hayes also died, he began to question reality.
(Getty Images)
"It was surreal," Lee says. "It had to be some sort of bad dreaming that these two giants would die on the same weekend, and both would be in my movie."
Lee's motion picture, "Soul Men", featuring Mac, Hayes and Samuel Jackson, tells the story of two alienated soul singers (Mac and Jackson) wHO reunite to honor their deceased band leader.
Mac, 50, died Saturday from complications relating to pneumonia; Hayes, 65, died Sunday subsequently collapsing at his menage near Memphis. The cause of Hayes' death has not been released.
The picture, out Nov. 14, now shoulders the weight of being one of the last deeds by two icons. (Mac also stars in the Robin Williams comedy "Old Dogs", taboo next year.)
Though Lee and distributor The Weinstein Co. have announced no changes to the movie or its release date, the director says he feels the pressure of creating a appointment farewell to the performers.
"This isn't like "Dark Knight", where Heath Ledger died while editing was in its babyhood," Lee says. "Most of our editing is through with. We'll go back and see if there is anything we can do better. But (Mac) left us with an indelible performance. I think I got him at the top of his game."
Mac's game included keeping cast and crew laughing. Lee says the actor, world Health Organization had sarcoidosis, a continuing disorder that can reason inflammation in the lungs, never let the disease cut his days short.
If anything, Lee says, Mac worked harder than most stars and practiced stand up for crew and be sick members on long days.
"He was constantly ready to perform," Lee says. "We'd have some days that ran 12 hours, and in between takes Bernie would be cracking them up, giving them an impromptu routine."
Lee says he regularly told Mac that he didn't have to entertain the crew and bystanders, but the comedian wouldn't see it.
"He aforesaid, 'These people made me what I am,' " Lee says. "He aforementioned that if it weren't for the fans of his stand up comedy, he wouldn't have the vocation he had."
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