First look: 'American Gangster'

Matt Lauer 'Today' anchor • Profile

Harlem in the 1970s has been called the worst period in the history of this famed neighborhood – with abject poverty, abandoned tenements, and drugs. Lots of drugs.

It now forms the vivid backdrop for 'American Gangster' -- the new movie from Universal Pictures, which is owned by the same company as NBC. The film is an explosive tale burning with politically -- and emotionally -- charged themes, and not without controversy. At its center is Frank Lucas, a black man from the south who became one of Harlem's most notorious drug lords.

Denzel Washington: Frank ran 85 percent of the business, the heroin business in the tri-state area.

Matt Lauer: Tell me about Frank Lucas.
Denzel Washington: He didn't have an education. He came from extreme poverty. He saw some very violent acts in his life as a youth. Now I'm not to say-- not to say those were excuses for what he became. But they are a part of why he became what he became. And he became very good at it.

We recently brought the film's two stars back to the historic Lenox lounge in Harlem, where part of "American Gangster" was shot.

Denzel Washington: Initially he became a thief to feed-- help feed his family. He went from stealing chickens to stealing pigs to robbing people. And moved up the line. Came to New York and ran across the most notorious gangster in Harlem who became his mentor. So he's got his-- did his undergraduate work in North Carolina and his graduate-- with his PhD. Work--
Russell Crowe: Got his Ph.D. in the streets of Harlem.
Denzel Washington: Exactly.
Matt Lauer: He was ingenious when it came to business, and yet his plan was like a business plan you would use for any other product. It was, "give people the best possible quality at a lower price than your competition."
Denzel Washington: There you go!
Matt Lauer: Why was that so revolutionary at the time?
Denzel Washington: The bottom line was he found a supply at a price much cheaper than anyone else because he was willing to go directly to the source.
Matt Lauer: Here is a guy who's selling dope to the kids on the street and killing them. And yet Thanksgiving rolls around, he's opening up a truck and handing them turkey. So on the one hand he's giving, the other hand he's taking away their lives. Did he see the contradiction in that?
Denzel Washington: Of course. Of course. And paid the price for it. You know, it's a dirty business.

Web extra video   Preview of 'American Gangster' Denzel Washington plays a Harlem heroin dealer in the '70s, under questioning by a detective played by Russell Crowe. NBC News Web Extra

Russell Crowe: You've got to understand, this bloke sells heroin.
Matt Lauer: I know, but you know--
Russell Crowe: He kills people--
Denzel Washington: That's right.
Russell Crowe: --nine to five during the course of his week.
Matt Lauer: However-- however, he's more likeable at sometimes in this movie because of the way he conducts his life than your character is.
Russell Crowe: Right, just goes to show just because you take mum to church every Sunday doesn't mean you're a great man. You know? Life's really complex, Matt. And you look at it, you know, the situation where-- where Frank came from and the ambitions that Frank had. If he'd been in a different situation, if he'd grown up in a different situation, you'd be talking about a guy who they'd name universities after!
Matt Lauer: Yeah.
Russell Crowe: You'd be talking about a really smart bloke who moved African Americans in this country had, you know, fought, you know, for the greater good. But he's not in a situation where he's got that opportunity. The opportunity that he had was to do this. And the thing about his personality is that it did this really very well.
Matt Lauer: Yeah, as we talked about before--
Denzel Washington: I'm running with that now. That's mine now. I took that all down!

Russell Crowe plays Richie Roberts, a cop-turned-prosecutor who is an honest lone wolf in a police force rife with corruption. It's left to him to take on the task of taking down Lucas.

Matt Lauer: Tell me about Richie.

Russell Crowe: Well, Richie's a-- to me, I think he's a-- he's a patriot. But he's the right sort of patriot. He's a patriot that understands that there's got to be a balance in this country. And somebody's always going to ask the questions.

(Clip from the film "American Gangster")
Cop: I heard that you found a million dollars in unmarked cash and you gave it back.
Richie: Yeah, I did...anybody got a problem with that? (cops raise hands and laugh)

Matt Lauer: My take on him when I was watching this, not he doesn't do the right thing in his life because he doesn't want to. He's distracted.
Russell Crowe: He's kind of a funny bloke, because he said to me, "Look, I don't want to be portrayed in this movie as a womanizer, you know." And he said-- "OK, cool." So then like about two breaths later he's telling me about how this one time during a supreme court case, you know. OK, Richie. Not a problem.
Denzel Washington: Did he win the case?
Russell Crowe: But the thing is-- he did.

Inevitably the real lives of two complex men -- a notorious drug-dealer and his straight-arrow pursuer -- clash in an explosive way.

Director Ridley Scott: What you're doing is evolving two little universes of two paradoxical characters who are going to gradually come together. And you know it's inevitable.

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