Q&A WITH OMARION
Omarion chats about his new movie and dishes on what J.Lo's really like.
By REBECCA SILVERSTEIN
O man -- Omarion is totally hot these days! And he has a sizzlin' new movie out. In Feel The Noise, O plays an aspiring rapper from New York who escapes to Puerto Rico to live with his dad after a nasty run-in with some thugs. There, he discovers Reggaeton and retools his music to include the genre's spicy sound. Read on to find out what weird music he listens to, what Jennifer Lopez is really like, and more!
What was it like filming Feel The Noise in Puerto Rico?
It was amazing filming in Puerto Rico -- to go out there and actually get the culture and see it. I wasn't really that big of a fan of Reggaeton before. I knew of Daddy Yankee and Pit Bull, but I got to learn about Voltio and stuff like that.
Do you think you'd do a Reggaeton song now?
If it's with a hot young Reggaeton female artist, I might definitely step up in that!
In the movie, your character goes to live with his father, whom he'd never met. What's your relationship like with your father?
My relationship is great. Actually, at one point in time, me and my father weren't as close as we are right now, so I really understood the character. I knew how to find that feeling like, well I don't really know my dad. I'm gonna visit this guy, I don't like this idea. I think that if a man can be man enough to try to step into your life and explain why some things went wrong, I think that if you're mature enough to understand, you should accept it.
Is there a lot of dancing in the movie, like in You Got Served?
It's not as extensive. I'm not doing the difficult moves I did in You Got Served. This film is more like, you're with a girl, you're dancing -- it's more sensual.
So is there gonna be a You Got Served 2?
I'm working on another dance film called Back Down that I'm gonna be shooting in March. That'll be the next dance film. Me and Marques [Houston] are gonna be in that film and working with Marques is like working with my brother.
Do you think you're gonna stick with dance/music films?
Nah, I'm gonna branch out. That's what this movie was for me. I really wanted to showcase my acting more. I think those are the scripts I usually get because I'm a musician. It's like Beyoncé doing Dreamgirls. I'm definitely gonna step out though, because acting is something that I do.
Have you done any straight acting before?
Before I became a musician, that's what I started to do. I had a national Pops commercial and a McDonald's commercial.
What was it like working with Jennifer Lopez, who produced Feel The Noise?
J.Lo's mad cool. She came to the set, showed love. Said I saw the dailies, you're really doing a great job. I'd met her a bunch of times [before the movie,] but never worked with her, so it was cool.
Tell us something about her that we wouldn't expect.
She's a really sweet lady, a very sweet lady. I may have gotten the impression that you can't really talk to her, maybe snobby, but she's really cool.
What's the biggest misconception people have about you?
I feel like sometimes people count me out, like I can't rise to the occasion. I think that in the public eye, what matters to people is relevance. People forget stats, and that's something people can never take away from you. [But] when you come back, you remind people.
Who's your dream collaboration?
Movie-wise, it would be Leonardo DiCaprio. Definitely Will [Smith] or Denzel [Washington]. Music-wise, I like to do the unexpected. Maybe doing a record with the Jonas Brothers -- something off the wall that people would be like, "What?! I need to hear that!" It's interesting how all the different worlds combine, like writing a record with Rascal Flatts, or working with John Mayer. I really want to work with [Justin Timberlake] -- that'd be dope. That's something that could happen in the future.
What's the weirdest thing on your iPod?
This electronic guy named Brian Eno. I have a lot of diverse music on my iPod. Bluegrass -- haha, I'm just kidding.
You have a joint album with Bow Wow in the works, Face Off. How's that coming along?
We've done about 20 records, so it'll be just picking and choosing what we're gonna use, what we're not gonna use. But it's been an amazing project because we've been able to be hands-on. Most of the time, people can't accept that I'm 23 years old. I'm a grown man -- I do grown-up things! We're both taking that approach and talking about what we've been doing now that we're grown.
You've done movies and music -- what's next?
I've got a lot of entrepreneurial ideas. Next year, I'm planning on opening my own dance studio in L.A. called Omazing Dance Studio. It's gonna be an academy in the morning, and then after that, it'll be open; I'm gonna teach a master class every six months. I want to do my own tee-shirt line, my own shoe line.
Catch Feel The Noise, in theatres now!