David Oyelowo in Lee Daniels' the Butler

Lee Daniels' The Butler, starring an all star cast including Oprah Winfrey, Forest Whitaker, David Oyelowo, Liev Schreiber, John Cusack, Mariah Carey, Lenny Kravitz, Robin Williams, Jane Fonda and Yaya DaCosta Alafia will be releasing this Friday, August 16. It's been termed "a compelling drama and an illuminating look at America's history and a love story all in one."  The movie is loosely on the life of Eugene Allen, a real White House butler who served eight United States Presidents.

Recently, David Oyelowo sat with Oprah Winfrey, Lee Daniels, and Forest Whitaker to talk about filming the movie and much more. Here are some excerpts from that interview:

David Oyelowo on his mother's reaction when she heard Oprah would play his mother in the movie:

"My mom, she doesn't know how to delineate between reality and what happens in the movies. So, for instance, when I did this film called Red Tails she saw it, big historical film and I thought 'mommy, what did you think?', and she said [In Nigerian Accent] 'I do not like this movie' and I said why and she said 'why do you have to die in this movie? I do not like what Hollywood is doing to my son." Then there was another film Small Island I did with Naomie Harris and we play husband and wife in it and there's a bedroom scene in it, beautiful film, 'mommy what did you think of the film?' [In Nigerian Accent] 'I do not like this movie...this is promiscuity and fornication on the film, did this actress know that you are married?'"

"So you can imagine what I'm thinking when I tell her I'm about to do this film, and Oprah Winfrey is going to play my mother and I'm expecting a similar reaction, I said, 'Mommy, okay look, someone else is going to be playing my mother in this film and it's Oprah Winfrey' and she goes [In Nigerian Accent] 'Oh, this is perfect, this is absolutely perfect.' So that's a big compliment to you."

Director Lee Daniels on why David Oyelowo is so in demand in Hollywood: 

"He is the truth, he's the truth. He's a bad mother*#$^!"

David on the portrayal of African American families in movies: 

"So often, with African American families, what we see portrayed is absent fathers, dysfunction and all that. There's too much of that and not enough of this (loving families as portrayed in The Butler) to balance out what the true story is and what I love about this family is that it has it's own dysfunction, like every family but they get through it, which is what you have to do in every family. But just getting to see this dynamic play out, beyond race, beyond that was going on with the civil rights, we see a father and son growing apart and back together and I just think that that's something universally beautiful and profound." 

Here's a video of David describing his mother's reaction:


 I have to say that I enjoyed watching the interview. David was so funny when he described his mother's reaction to some of his movies and I loved hearing him speak. He spoke eloquently.

I can't wait to see the movie!