'Just Wright' takes rapper to starring screen role

Typically, when you ask a musician what he's working on, you get some information, some passion, some hype.

When Common, the Chicago hip-hop artist born Lonnie Rashid Lynn Jr., was presented that question the other day, he practically shrugged: his new album is The Believer; he's aiming for a fall release.

"But I'm really looking forward to doing some more films," he hastened to add. "I'm hungry to do great work and work with great actors and directors."

Seriously hungry.

In Philadelphia to promote Just Wright - the Cinderella rom-com that he stars in opposite Queen Latifah - Common was visibly excited as he rattled off the names of movies and actors and directors he admires. The Usual Suspects, Pulp Fiction, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind. Geoffrey Wright, Don Cheadle, Sean Penn, Matt Damon, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Robert Downey Jr. Quentin Tarantino, Ron Howard, Lee Daniels.

It's not, um, uncommon for rappers to appear on film, and Common has been showing up as a gun-toting dude in action and crime pics since 2006: Smokin' Aces (his screen debut), American Gangster, Street Kings, Wanted, Terminator Salvation.

But in Just Wright, which opens Friday, Common, 38, is the romantic lead, Scott McKnight, a star basketball player on the New Jersey Nets who sustains a career-threatening injury, and whose comeback is aided by an agreeable, independent-minded physical therapist, Latifah's Leslie Wright. The relationship between patient and therapist is complicated when she falls for him, and he - despite serious competition from a gold-digging beauty played by Paula Patton - ultimately falls for her.

"It's a good feel-good movie," said Common, who adds that he approached his first starring role with a bit of trepidation, but also with confidence. Like the NBA star he plays in Just Wright, Common has been training for this moment - studying acting with top-tier coach Greta Seacat, watching directors and actors at work, learning how to imbue characters with truth.

"Put it this way: Everything is not going to be the groundbreaking story, everything is not going to be The Usual Suspects or Seven," he acknowledged. "But I actually really feel blessed to be a part of this movie. It has a relevance to life - I've heard young girls who've seen the movie say, 'Man, this makes me feel like I can be in love, or I can be loved, and I'm beautiful.'