Andre Braugher has been busy since he left “Homicide: Life on the Street,” the critically acclaimed NBC series that often revolved around his character, Detective Frank Pembleton.
“One of the reasons it was of vital importance to leave the show was so I could experiment with my own craft to the point where I could make different kinds of choices,” he says. “If I played Pembleton one more year, I’d be making more Frank Pembleton choices.”
Since departing “Homicide,” for which he won an Emmy last September, Braugher has shot the films “Thick as Thieves” with Alec Baldwin, Rebecca De Mornay, Michael Jai White and Richard Edson, and “All the Rage” with Joan Allen, Anna Paquin, Jeff Daniels and David Schwimmer. He also made his directorial debut in “Love Songs” for the Showtime cable network. His first post-“Homicide” project, “Passing Glory,” recently aired on TNT.
And he’s now filming the Bruce Paltrow movie “Duets” with Paltrow’s daughter Gwyneth Paltrow, Paul Giamatti, Maria Bello and Huey Lewis.
Braugher directed “A Love Song for Dad,” the third part of “Love Songs,” three interlocking stories written by Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright Charles Fuller (“A Soldier’s Play”) and starring Louis Gossett Jr., Robert Townsend and Lynn Whitfield. In “Song for Dad,” Gossett plays a father who has to deal with his son’s violent reaction to the physical abuse of an in-law. It premieres April 25 on Showtime.
“I didn’t realize how exciting it would be,” Braugher says. “It was quite novel to leap out of bed every morning at 4:30 a.m. with a kind of glee that I had never experienced before. I loved the interaction, the hurlyburly. There’s always a time bomb ticking away or a landmine that we’ll step on. It’s quite interesting to be flying by the seat of one’s pants at times.”
