A future in the past?

MUSIC video ace Bryan Barber admits that in retrospect, he might have bitten off more than he could chew, mounting “Idlewild� (which hits theaters Aug. 25 from Universal Pictures) as his first feature-length writing-directing effort. “I had to fight constant battles every day,� he says.

It didn’t help that he scripted the movie’s most bankable assets -- stars “Andre 3000� Benjamin and Antwan “Big Boi� Patton, better known as the multiplatinum-selling, Grammy-winning hip-hop duo OutKast -- in separate story lines about two childhood friends who get caught up in a gangster turf grab. Barber limited their screen time together to just three scenes rather than showcase them in a buddy picture a la “Beverly Hills Cop.�

Further, Barber had to battle Hollywood’s seeming aversion to African American historical dramas (to say nothing of the kind of drama/musical/action-adventure hybrid the director was suggesting). He says several studio executives tried to talk him out of making “a black period piece,� but Barber stuck to his guns, and the $27-million film, named for a fictional town peopled with Runyonesque lovable rubes, is set in the Prohibition-era Deep South. Not least among the writer-director’s formidable worries was his limited experience with actors -- especially heavyweight performers like Ving Rhames, Cicely Tyson and Terrence Howard, whom Barber cast in key supporting roles.

“I was apprehensive,� Barber admits. “It was my first film. And you hear the horror stories about video directors crossing over and trying to relay their ideas to professionals.�

Oscar nominee Howard plays Trumpy, a smooth gin runner who serves as the chief antagonist of Patton’s and Benjamin’s characters in “Idlewild.� He has worked with some highly acclaimed writer-directors in recent years, Taylor Hackford in “Ray� and Paul Haggis, who won Oscars for directing and screenwriting in last year’s “Crash,� among them. And Howard has strong opinions about the strengths and weaknesses of their various modes of operation.

“Bryan is an artist in every sense of the word,� Howard says, noting that whatever Barber lacked in experience he made up for in enthusiasm. “He’s like a child that’s just discovered something. It’s obvious to everyone else, but he’s discovered it. He goes about explaining it and shows you the world anew.� Hackford, says the actor, “keeps his ideas to himself and gives his actors just what they need to know at a given time. And Paul tries to lead you on his journey -- he’s thinking 20 answers, 20 questions beyond the one he just asked you.�

Judging by “Idlewild’s� trailer (a finished print was unavailable for review), the film owes at least some of its visual panache to Barber’s videography: He directed many of OutKast’s best-known videos, including those for “Hey Ya!� and “Roses,� over the course of a nine-year creative relationship with the group. In the film, a wall of synchronized cuckoo clocks bursts open to cuckoo in unison, a hall full of couples Charleston extravagantly to music Patton has described as “hip-hop ragtime,� and there’s at least one love scene (between Benjamin’s and Paula Patton’s characters) during a dramatically lighted thunderstorm.

Barber had the advantage of an autobiographical connection to the script that allowed him to give his actors additional entry points to their characters.

“They were based on people I knew, family members,� he says. “I had a real vision of who they were and how they would behave.�

In the end, Barber is gratified by the results, even if he still can’t quite put his finger on what kind of movie “Idlewild� aims to be.

“You can relate it to ‘Chitty Chitty Bang Bang’ or ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks,’ � says Barber. “There’s a childlike quality to it. But some people have compared it to ‘The Color Purple.’ It’s all over the place.�