Denise Boutte – The Bounce Back

By starrymag | December 13, 2016

By: Kelly Kearney

 

Q) You play Julie in the new film The Bounce Back. Can you tell us a little bit about the film and how your character fits in?

Denise: Well the funny thing about my character is, I actually divorce Shemar Moore’s character. So, when I was reading the script I was like, “Wait what? She left Shemar Moore? What woman in their right mind leaves Shemar Moore?” [laugh] Of course, we are portraying characters so this isn’t real life. We actually share a daughter in the film and what I really like about their relationship is that they are doing what’s right for their child. They’re making sure their past issues as a couple don’t hurt their child. Julie really and truly wants what is best for him. She sees Matthew [Shemar Moore] is going through some things and not taking the divorce very well. She really wants him to find true love because they share a daughter together and she [Julie] knows that he loves her [daughter] with all his heart and she wants him to be happy. Julie has moved on and Michael Beach plays the man she forms a relationship with. She knows Matthew is a great guy, but he just wasn’t for her and she just truly wants the best for him.

Q) What was your audition process like for The Bounce Back?

Denise: I didn’t audition for this role. It was funny because Michelle Adams, I have actually worked with her before and she was the casting director for this film. I received a call and found out a little later on that it was the director and Michelle who went through the options for the character and the two of them came up with who they wanted to make offers to. I ended up being the person they thought would be perfect to play Julie. Youssef Delara, who was the director and Michelle came together and got approval from Mr. Moore.

Q) What was it about the film that made you want to take on this project?

Denise: I think that a lot of times you see folks with relationships that didn’t work out and they’re at each other’s throats or they truly hate each other’s guts and hope the world falls down on them. That is not what these characters want. Shemar’s character is just trying to get past the heartbreak and what happens is he becomes a relationship guru and writes this book like a protective mechanism so he doesn’t get hurt again. The cool thing is that Nadine Velazquez’s character [Kristin] calls him out on it and shows him how he comes up with all these rules for love to protect himself but there is nothing validated or based in reality. He’s just basically putting up a wall so he doesn’t get hurt again. So, she calls him out on his B.S. and it takes him a while to own up to it. I really love that these two people [Julie and Matt] genuinely loved each other and love their daughter and they’re not trying to hurt each other. Matthew is having a hard time with it, but it is coming out of a place of hurt and love. Julie recognizes that and is very cautious and understanding, she only wants him to find true love like she has.

Q) What is it that will draw the viewers to this film?

Denise: It’s a fresh take on finding love after loss so I would definitely say that’s a refreshing side of a somewhat complicated situation that many can relate to. It’s also a comedy and really very funny. Bill [comedian Bill Bellamy] of course adds a comedic element like he always does. He plays a friend/manager and basically tells Shemar’s character to get his head together. He has all these ladies swooning over him, he has a bestselling book, so ride the wave. Matthew is kind of tortured because he is still in love with his former wife and is putting up this road block that is preventing him from finding love again. In the midst of this home hitting and serious message there is this comedic side to this that makes it fun. It is definitely not a film where you come out of the theater, and you want to go to a coffee shop and ponder the seriousness of the film. It’s fun, It’s lighthearted and a joyride. You’ll also a see an amazing performance by the young lady who plays our daughter and she is phenomenal in this piece. It is lighthearted and fun but will give you a different take on relationships, past relationships and being open to new ones.

Q) Shemar Moore is known from the hit show “Criminal Minds” and raised $630,000 on Indiegogo to help fund the film. Had you heard of crowdfunding before you got the part or was this a new experience for you?

Denise: No, I had not done any [crowd funded films] before and I didn’t find out until we were shooting and things were well underway. I knew Shemar because he had done a couple of film with Tyler [Perry] and so I knew him and we had small chats before working together, but I didn’t know him, know him. Beforehand, I guess except for not going through a casting call, I kind of didn’t know much about it. I didn’t know the private matters of how the money was raised, all I knew was that I got a sweet contract and I read the script and thought I could bring some sensitivity to it. It was very refreshing actually because I had been playing witches lately. So, that was a big draw for me. As a matter of fact, I watched Wendy Williams like everybody did last week and I know Shemar put up something, but I didn’t realize…Shemar more than matched the money that was donated. I was not aware of the financial logistics I just knew it was a really great script and a chance to do something different.

Q) Working alongside the veteran actor, did you learn anything from the experience?

Denise: The beauty of acting for me is that it allows you to kind of freefall. You can’t gage it. Whenever you’re playing opposite someone, and I don’t mean to give an acting lesson here, but acting is reacting. So when you are playing across a Shemar Moore or a Bill Bellamy, that’s simply what it is – a free fall. I can be pretty anal with regards to my personal calendar, with crossing every T and dotting every I, and for me acting is freedom away from that. It lets me freefall and lets me respond…For me that was the hardest part because I want to control the dialogue and everything around me and I had a preconceived notion about how I was going to respond. But once I learned how to kind of freefall and let it go, that was the biggest release. I love the work. The freedom on set was great. Shemar and Bill are practical jokers and they wouldn’t allow things to get too heavy or let you take yourself too seriously, just let it fly.

Q) What about your character did you connect with?

Denise: Overall, she is just a woman with a heart. She cares for this man, and for me, now that I’m a mom that stands out the most. Even if I did have something against Matthew, I would try and work it out for my daughter. She has a beautiful spirit and she wants to do everything she can to protect her child even if it means she herself has to sacrifice she will do what she has to do to protect the best interest of the child. Coming from my perspective of being a mom, even when I get calls to do something as simple as a meeting or an audition, whatever it is, the first thing I think to check my calendar and what will happen to my daughter? Will I have time to pick her up? I mean this is Los Angeles, I need an hour and a half buffer time to pick her up. So, motherhood changes your whole thought process. You think about their needs before you think about yours so having that in my psyche now allows me to understand that Julie was always going to do what’s in the best interest of her daughter. That I would say was the most resounding thing to me about the character of Julie. She’s a strong woman.

Q) Also in the film is actor/comedian Bill Bellamy. Were there any funny behind the scenes stories from set that you can share with us?

Denise: I don’t remember anything specific. I know there was some stuff left in my trailer a few times that I didn’t expect. Also, Shemar had a pool party at his house and a few people got tossed into the pool. Although, I made sure I left beforehand. He’s known for throwing some pretty awesome parties at his house. His house is a resort of sorts or like a single man’s kingdom. One time he had a BBQ and another time he had a taco guy come to the house. What you see is what you get with Shemar, honestly. That genuine smile and positive energy is who he is. He even invited me to an event where his mom was getting honored. He is a total mama’s boy, he loves his mama and he is going to make some woman very happy one day.

Q) You’ve done both film and television. Would you say you have a preference of one over the other? If so, why?

Denise: They’re both really and truly different animals. The beauty of a television series is that you become so use to each other with improvising and vibing off each other that you get this family type atmosphere, which what we had on “Meet the Browns.” We were doing three to four episodes a week so that is where I learned to just throw caution to the wind and just roll with it. You can’t over think it – you have to freefall with it. What I miss most about working on a series is that family atmosphere and learning each other’s pacing and vibe to the point it just becomes a dance. You really and truly can create magic when you come to that point. Film is a totally different animal. When you are given opportunity, you can play characters that are the farthest from who you really are. In TV, I feel like they cast you pretty close to what you naturally bring into the room. Film, you really get to transform and a lot of times when you play characters very far from who you are as a person, you get to dabble, you get to kind of change things up. From your look to your overall character, you get to do a lot more exploration in film.

Q) I read that originally you had plans to go to school to be a doctor. What was it that led you away from medicine and towards acting?

Denise: Oh girl…[laughs] I’m kind of embarrassed to admit this, but it is kind of true. I grew up on a farm in southwest Louisiana and I honestly wasn’t all that exposed to what was out there. In my mind whenever someone was beaming about their kid for being a success in life, they were either a doctor or a lawyer. So, I thought I didn’t want to do all that reading. I thought, “Ok, I want to be a doctor!” I mean I was aware there were other things, but we didn’t have career day. I mean we did have one, but we didn’t have all those events that exposed us to all that was out there. I was aware, but didn’t have the facts. My motivation was getting off that farm. It was some hard work and I’m not trying to stay in the backwoods of Louisiana so I had to go! My parents were hard working, but couldn’t afford for me to go away to college – to one I couldn’t drive to – so I got a scholarship. I graduated top of my class and that was my motivation, thank you Jesus. I went to LSU and once I got into my major I knew enough that first semester. Since I am a tad germophobic, I said “Hell no! I don’t know why I thought I could make this happen.” Now my roommate, honey, she’s in physical therapy and has the yoga mats and all, she is off the chain! She was meant for that program, but not me! So, once I got to LSU I was in the dorms and found out what other people were doing and a friend of mine was in communications and I thought that was interesting. So, I went and sat in on a couple of her classes and then a few others and I had a counselor who helped me as well. Then, I started interning at a local news station and loved it in the beginning and then it got morbid quick so I switched gears and went into advertising and got a job right out of school where I packed up and headed out to Texas. I was there for five years and worked for four different agencies and was an account director before I left. It was cool and fun and I liked what I did, but acting just swooped me up and I loved it. I had to get in front of the camera for some clients and my boss, of course, was like, “Will do it if the client asks?” A local agent had a meeting with me and I thought, “Can I really make a living at this?” I started working and leaving work for auditions until my boss told me I had to make a choice and I did. Basically, I went from one extreme to the next, threw caution to the wind and said, “Jesus take the wheel.” That’s my life right there in a nutshell.

Q) You are active on social media like most of the world. Do you enjoy the instant fan feedback on your work?

Denise: First, I would say without the fans, without people caring about your work, you wouldn’t have a job. So, thank you fans thank you anybody who cares and follows what I’m doing thank you because without you there is no career for me. I will admit that I am not the best with social media. I honestly do it because I owe it to the fans to let them know what is going on but it’s not my favorite because I like in person interactions. I like the tangible stuff and to me the world of social media can sometimes portray this perfect world to folks and, honestly, I know people who take the perfect selfie and then go cry in their cereal. It can be the world of make believe and if it ain’t real I’m not posting it. I don’t want to create a façade. I portray characters in movies and TV. I don’t want live a façade for social media. I’m not the most active on it. I don’t do a lot of family posts because I think there is a point that you can cross that can become too invasive. Social media is absolutely a necessity. If you are going to get any traffic on what you are putting out there you better believe you will be asked to use it. I mean, it’s in our contracts now. You have to do it. So, for me, I post food and work because girl I can do that all day. I am passionate about cooking, I love it. If I commit to a character, I am passionate about that character, but If I don’t have anything of significant to say that day I don’t say anything at all. I’ll check out what somebody else is doing on their stuff, but if it’s not genuine I am not doing it girl.

Q) Is there anyone you dream of working with but haven’t as of yet?

Denise: I don’t want to sound cliché, but I really want to work with Denzel [Washington] so bad. There’s certain actors who are just so brilliant and subtle and fascinating in a whole other realm that you know that if you ever got an opportunity to play alongside them and create that your game is just going to go out of the freaking stratosphere. For me, that’s kind of where I am right now. To play and create alongside of Denzel, he’s an actor that would challenge you and push your performance to the next level. I would love to play alongside him. There is also an actress I’d love to work with (and don’t get it twisted she is always working so I am not crying for her), but I think she doesn’t get the accolades that other actors do and that’s Naomie Harris. She is a British actress and she is fascinating to me. I think we could literally play sisters so I’m claiming it now. One day we are going to play sisters or something because she is so underrated, but like I said Hollywood loves her. She is working so don’t cry for Naomie. She is just captivating to me. There is always someone whose work you admire and she is definitely that person for me.

Q) Besides your film and television endeavors, you also host a cooking web series called “Denise’s Dish.” What inspired you to start that and where can the fans find it?

Denise: It started after I had my daughter. I was chilling for a minute and trying to nest and I was cooking constantly. A lot of people just didn’t know that about me and, honestly, I didn’t know that about me until I moved to Dallas. I was so homesick it was ridiculous and that was my way of getting a little taste of home. I’d think, “Mama’s gumbo would taste so good today. I’m going to make Mama’s gumbo.” So, I started calling my mom every single week and asking her to give me step by step cooking lessons and then when I came to L.A. and had my daughter it kind of brought it up again. So, it has evolved into when I post a dish it is now called D-Lish or Denise’s Dish. That’s just me when I go out or whatever and take some photos and post of the food I see or make. I’m not a food stylist or anything and it may not look the best, but it sure as heck tastes good – I’ll tell you that much. So, what happened was I looked at my little file folders and they were filled with food ideas. I went to my Nanny, my Aunt and Godmother because I don’t like okra. I hate it actually. My grandfather used to harvest the okra, pack the okra. I can’t stand the okra! I just didn’t like the sliminess of it, but I love my mom’s. So, I went home and step by step learned the dish alongside of her and I can say I’m pretty darn on point. It’s not an exact replica, but pretty close. So, I thought, “Ya know, I should share this with people.” I called my Nanny and asked if I could use this recipe in a cookbook and she said, “Oh boo, you do what you need to do.” So, that is something that when I am on set during the down time, the hurry up and wait time, I’m working on my cookbook. The latest date I am targeting for right now is February 2017. So, you can check that out for your all your foodie love.

Q) Now that we are in the midst of the holidays, what are some of your favorite holiday dishes that you cook? Which foods get you into the holiday spirit?

Denise: Oh boy…so one of the things I always get requests for is my bourbon bread pudding. At first I couldn’t stand bread pudding until I found this recipe and it knocked my socks off. Ok, it’s a bourbon sauce bread pudding with a nice little spiced whipped topping. It is to die for, absolutely amazing. Every time the holidays come around that is the number one request. This year I made some additional pans of it, packaged it up and gave it out to a few of my family members for them to eat at home. My husband’s first cousin is here so we were at the cousin’s house and they were so excited about taking home their own bread pudding. I also do pecan pralines. It’s my Mom’s mother’s recipe and I can whip those suckers up in a second. There are times when I am good on pralines because I make them so much. I make them as gifts, too. Tyler [Perry] will call or text me sometimes and be like, “Hey, I need my pralines fix,” and I’ll make up a batch and overnight them to him. I also do a great stuffed catfish. I’m from Louisiana so it is a must. I just do it a little differently. I remove that little brown liner from the bottom that people leave on. I get that bad boy out but yes, that’s another favorite dish.

Q) Between your acting career and your culinary aspirations, how do you keep a healthy balanced between the two?

Denise: Girl, by the grace of God! That is all I can say! [laughs] I have this handy dandy color coordinated calendar. Ask me all about my calendar! I have it highlighted with bullet points and I just kind of freefall. Next month might look open and suddenly it fills up in no time so when you are in this business you take downtime as a blessing honestly. Your calendar could be empty and this job is like feast or famine so when it’s a feast you stay thankful and when it’s famine you just say, “Jesus take the wheel” and you keep on moving. That’s all there is to it. I always can’t wait to go back home. We go for a few weeks during the holidays and that’s the time where I get to chill, my mom does the cooking and there’s every babysitter known to man right there to help out and that is when I let my hair down. Around this time of the year I get so homesick it’s not even funny. So, I love going home for the holidays. I am ready to go like yesterday. This is the longest stretch we have had without being home. We haven’t been home in five months and we never do that. We go home constantly. My daughter thinks Louisiana is her home. The poor kid is five years old and she’s trying to figure how Santa brings her presents to Louisiana when she’s now living in California. That’s how much we go home. So, we are ready for the holidays.

Q) Do you have any other projects in the works that the fans should look out for?

Denise: Yes, I have a movie Secrets and they are doing a kick ass job promoting it! They’ve been doing a whole bunch of sneak peek previews around the country. It doesn’t have a release date yet, but they are using social media and getting folks excited about it. As soon as they announce this thing is coming, it sells out. They are doing an excellent job promoting this film. I have also got a TV drama called “Media.” It will be on TVOne and this is actually the fourth time I have had the pleasure of working with TVOne. This one is different from the others in that it is Catherine Hughes’ baby. I was actually on the Tom Joyner cruise this past summer doing cooking demos and my gumbo was the demo. I was going to prep the ingredients for the gumbo and who did I meet but Ms. Catherine Hughes. So, I worked with TVOne several times, but never met the woman behind I guess what you would call an empire. She was so open and sweet and down to earth. She is so nurturing and kind and since then, they did the dedication to her and it was amazing. I had actually studied her at LSU. I had to do a paper on someone I admired and Ms. Cathy was that person. Minded here I am, a communications major and I am looking at her as a mega mogul giant and low and behold years later I actually meet the mogul herself. So, that was so weird how my life has taken these twists and turns. I am doing that for TVOne and it is coming out in February. The show “Media” focuses on the Jones family who were born into and operate an empire called JUMP, which stands for Jones Universal Media Production. I married into the family. I am married to Brain White’s character so it is very intense and keeps you on your seats so watch out for that. It is jam packed with an amazing cast. I also filmed a movie in DC called Couples Night. We wrapped it days before the elections and I was so scared because I hadn’t done my absentee ballot, but we wrapped days before it so I made it home in time. We were the first independent film that got permission to shoot in front of the White House. It was a lot of fun and I got to do comedy again. I realized how much I missed it while I was playing all these devious chicks. It reignited my flame comedy.