On Monday, August 5, The Source Magazine was on the red carpet for the star-studded New York premiere of The Weinstein Company’s highly anticipated film “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” at the famed Ziegfeld Theater presented by DeLeón Tequila. 

We caught up with one of the film’s stars David Banner on the red carpet. The rapper and producer has been busy with many film projects these days and was especially proud of his latest role in “Lee Daniels’ The Butler,” out August 16. In the film, he plays Forest Whitaker’s character’s father, who slaves away on the cotton fields. Banner’s wife is played by Mariah Carey.

Check out our exclusive interview with David Banner below:

Q: How did you get involved with the film?

Banner: I auditioned!

Q: It was that simple?

Banner: No, it wasn’t that simple. Hopefully, I did a great job. I think what happened was… Lee was slated to do the Martin Luther King movie earlier… and I auditioned for that. And something happened with the movie. And I think they told me that they were impressed with that audition, so when I came in I had a little extra space in there, you know. And I did well in this one and here we are.

Q: You were in a very, very powerful scene, at the top of the film. How was that day for you?

Banner: The day was powerful. You know, being from Mississippi, and knowing the history of my people…it was a deep time because you know… it was an eerie feeling and it was a real cotton field. We were really out there; we were really in the yard. And for a minute I wanted to go home. It was hot, I was thinking about the past, and then thought…my great-great grandparents couldn’t go home. So that’s what I drew from.

Q: Mariah plays your wife in the film, what was it like working with Mariah?

Banner: It was amazing man…great connection… you know, me and Nick [Cannon] are really good friends. It was really cool, I learned a lot.

Q: Any chance you and Mariah may collaborate on some music?

Banner: I don’t know…maybe! That’s a possibility.

Q: What about your music? Any new music in the works?

Banner: I start on my next album in two months after I finish the movie that I’m shooting currently. I finish up a couple of campaigns that I’m working on. Then I’ll be back to the music.

Q: Did you always know you wanted to be an actor, too?

Banner: Well, what people don’t know is that I had been going to acting school since I did “Like A Pimp.” You know, where a lot of people were buying cars and a lot of different stuff like that I was going to L.A. every week. So I’ve been in acting school for ten years now.