The Butler: Different faces for different people

In the film The Butler, a former slave who works his way up to become head butler at the White House learns that in order to succeed in a white-dominated world, African-Americans must have two faces: one for themselves and another to show the white man.

The movie is set against the backdrop of a country divided by the civil rights movement of the 1950s to 1970s, but director Lee Daniels and several members of the all-star cast - including singer Mariah Carey and actors Cuba Gooding Jr and Terrence Howard - say that as black Americans today, they have had to do the same to get where they are.

After hearing television personality Oprah Winfrey, who plays the wife of butler Cecil Gaines (Forest Whitaker), declare that she has never had to alter the way she presents herself to the world, 53-year-old Daniels respectfully disagrees.

"That's the reason why you're Oprah Winfrey," he says to the 59-year-old at a recent press conference in New York. "Unfortunately, many of the people whom I know have had to experience that," he says, adding that this is especially true for black men.

This then sparks a heartfelt debate among the cast about the issue, with the discussion skirting around the issue of whether putting on this presumably deferential "face" means selling out, which is what Gaines' freedom-fighter son seems to believe in the movie.

Daniels - who was behind the acclaimed 2009 film Precious, about an abused and disadvantaged black teenager trying to change her life - hints that he himself felt he compromised his integrity as his career as a producer and director progressed in Hollywood.

"I had to put on a face. I had to talk with a certain diction, dress in a certain way and present myself in a certain light so I could get ahead.

"And it wasn't until I found myself - and then President Barack Obama was elected - that I was able to be me, and the two faces met," says Daniels, who was nominated for Best Director at the 2010 Oscars for Precious.

Gooding Jr, the 45-year-old actor best known for the 1996 film Jerry Maguire, which won him the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor, says he has had similar experiences in various social settings.

A keen ice hockey player, the actor - who plays one of Gaines' fellow butlers at the White House - reveals that he assumes a different identity when he enters the rink in this predominantly white sport.

"There's a certain face that I wear in that locker room when I am surrounded by people who have very definite opinions about black people, although they have to respect me because of my skill level."

He puts on another persona when he goes to his boxing gym, where it is "predominantly black and Hispanic aggressive men" and "an environment where you have to watch what you say or you will be held accountable, physically".

And then there is "the very specific face that I wear as a celebrity", as well as the one "that I wear with my children in these very expensive schools that I have them in", he says of his three children with wife Sara Kapfer.

The movie, he believes, is a good reflection of what it was like to be a black man during the 1950s to 1980s, "specifically in the South, and specifically for domestic servants or professional people".

"That's what attracted me to the film, the duality of the African-American male during this time. The face that the butler's son wore around Dr Martin Luther King, and the very different face that his father would have had to wear around President Richard Nixon."

Carey, who grew up in a bi-racial household with a black father and an Irish-American mother, recalls how this affected her parents during that period.

The 43-year-old pop star, who has a small role as Gaines' mother early in the film, says the movie should be required viewing for the children of multiracial families growing up today as they may not be familiar with the struggles of that era.

The idea of presenting different facets of oneself to white America is something her own parents experienced when they tried to buy a house in a better neighbourhood.

"My mom was very active in the civil rights movement, but she was the one who had to go and buy the house, because my dad wanted to assimilate and give his children a chance to get to another level."

Still, this is not necessarily an experience unique to African-Americans, notes Howard, who plays Gaines' neighbour.

"As long as human beings are fragmented and not whole in themselves, even white people have a face they show to other white people," says the 44-year-old actor from films such as Crash (2004) and played Nelson Mandela in Winnie Mandela (2011).

"Everyone shows what they hope will gain acceptance in the world, but once you accept it yourself, recognise your connection to the universe and are moving in a cooperative manner, it will be balanced.

"Until then, we're going to blame people if we see they have a false face or a false tone, when it's a reflection of our own falseness. You know, we're all playing games."

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