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Speaker 1: Wake that ass up in the morning. The Breakfast Club.

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Speaker 2: You op, it's the world's most dangerous morning show.

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Speaker 3: To Breakfast Club shall mean the God Lauren le Rossa

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Speaker 3: and Bey and Jess are out, but we got a

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Speaker 3: special guest, David o' Yellowwoe was here.

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Speaker 2: Did I say it?

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Speaker 1: Did you did? Okay? I had to ask you beforehand.

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Speaker 1: You know, I appreciate that you did.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, I see it all the time, but I'm like,

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Speaker 3: I don't want to hack it when I try to

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Speaker 3: say it.

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Speaker 1: Now everyone everyone does. But yeah, you nailed that.

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Speaker 2: How are you, sir?

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Speaker 1: I'm very good, very good. It's great to be here.

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Speaker 2: Absolutely So.

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Speaker 4: You got a government cheese happening right now on Apple TV.

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Speaker 4: So and watching this but also some of the other

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Speaker 4: things that I've seen you playing. Can you just first

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Speaker 4: talk about your career and like the roles that you select,

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Speaker 4: all of the roles that I know you for are

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Speaker 4: very powerful, very like you. You tell stories that are

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Speaker 4: like so important to black people coming out the gate

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Speaker 4: you are. Is that something you were like, Hey, this

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Speaker 4: has to be it for me, this is what I

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Speaker 4: want to do or did you just fall into these roles?

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Speaker 5: Because how did it happen.

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Speaker 6: No, thank you for saying that. It's very intentional. You know,

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Speaker 6: I was incredibly influenced by film and television growing up,

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Speaker 6: and I was aware quite early that the images I

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Speaker 6: was taking in were in some ways informing me of

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Speaker 6: what blackness means globally speaking. And then I had this

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Speaker 6: incredible moment where, having been born and grown up in

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Speaker 6: the UK, we moved back to Nigeria for six years

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Speaker 6: from the age of six to thirteen, and I was

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Speaker 6: suddenly in a country, in an environment where I was

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Speaker 6: not a minority. Everything on offer in that society was

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Speaker 6: mine for the taking, and I realized that these images

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Speaker 6: that I was internalizing that often had black people on

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Speaker 6: the periphery or playing what I deemed to be caricatures

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Speaker 6: or stereotypes, were insidious, were detrimental to us as a people.

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Speaker 6: And so, having moved back to the UK becoming an actor,

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Speaker 6: I felt that if I'm not part of the solution,

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Speaker 6: I'm part of the problem. And so I've definitely gravitated

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Speaker 6: towards roles and projects that mean that I am trying

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Speaker 6: to change what I saw growing up. I'm trying to

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Speaker 6: widen the aperture and contextualize who and what we are

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Speaker 6: as black people.

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Speaker 2: That's interesting. I wonder how did you know that?

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Speaker 3: You know, they were characatures and stereotypes if you've never

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Speaker 3: if you hadn't been to America to see for yourself.

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Speaker 6: Yet, because I was living in communities where black people

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Speaker 6: were central to their own lives, and I knew that

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Speaker 6: what I was saying, because it wasn't just America, it

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Speaker 6: was in the UK as well. You know, if if

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Speaker 6: every time you see a black person they are on

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Speaker 6: the periphery of the narrative, if so often they are

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Speaker 6: criminalized or marginalized, that was not my experience walking through

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Speaker 6: the earth, and so I felt that's intentional, that's political,

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Speaker 6: that's propaganda in a sense, and it's having a a

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Speaker 6: detrimental effect on me because there is a disconnect between

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Speaker 6: my lived experience and what I'm internalizing on screen. And

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Speaker 6: so that's how I knew it was something to become batter.

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Speaker 3: You know, it's so interesting, right because I have that

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Speaker 3: conversation often, because you know, when you watch film in

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Speaker 3: television in the nineties, if everything had some type of

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Speaker 3: socially redeeming value, right, you.

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Speaker 2: Know what I mean?

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Speaker 3: And I always wonder what the hell happened to it.

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Speaker 3: It felt like it was intentional. Yeah, put them to

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Speaker 3: stop showing us that and start giving us like the

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Speaker 3: reality television.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, well, I can tell you exactly what happened. So

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Speaker 6: often why you got you had those films that were

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Speaker 6: bringing context to who we are as black people is

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Speaker 6: because it was largely being framed and made.

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Speaker 1: By black people.

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Speaker 6: What has happened a lot is that our stories, we

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Speaker 6: craft them, we developed them. But at some point you've

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Speaker 6: got to take it to people who have green light power,

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Speaker 6: who are not from our demographic and so therefore you're

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Speaker 6: having to push who we are through their perception of

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Speaker 6: who we are, and it almost always gets eroded, watered down,

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Speaker 6: or marginalized. And that's what's happening. For some reason in

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Speaker 6: the nineties that there were there were producers, there were creatives,

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Speaker 6: there were directors who were just doing it all themselves,

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Speaker 6: and it was getting celebrated and it was less watered down.

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Speaker 1: And that's why I think we had that golden era.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, how you go from The Cosby Show being the

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Speaker 3: number one show on television, Different World being the number

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Speaker 3: two show on television, and then all of a sudden,

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Speaker 3: it's just like, Okay, that don't work no more.

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Speaker 1: Right right.

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Speaker 6: I think there's some intention behind it, you know, you

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Speaker 6: look at what's happening in the education system. There's a

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Speaker 6: reason why they're trying to reduce what we have access

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Speaker 6: to by way of knowledge as to who we are.

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Speaker 6: Because knowledge is power. So you take that power away,

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Speaker 6: you can continue to subjugate people. So you know, in

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Speaker 6: relation to what you said, I love what I get

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Speaker 6: to do. I love being a storyteller, but I do

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Speaker 6: often feel like it's also a politic act get our

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Speaker 6: stories told.

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Speaker 5: Is it ever heavy for you?

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Speaker 4: Because I remember watching you and the story about doctor

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Speaker 4: Martin Luther King and yeah, Selma, And like, I know

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Speaker 4: there's a lot because you also have done theater. Yeah,

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Speaker 4: you're very serious about what you do, so I know

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Speaker 4: that there's a lot of study and like deep study

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Speaker 4: and things of that nature. So you're probably doing that

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Speaker 4: for every single role. And there's a lot of like

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Speaker 4: just trauma that you take on differently because you get

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Speaker 4: so close to your characters. How does that stick with you,

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Speaker 4: like in that pressure from outside world too, of like

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Speaker 4: these are characters and people that you know have shaped

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Speaker 4: our world.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean I try to stay away from the

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Speaker 6: trauma component. What I mostly gravitate towards aspirational representations of us.

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Speaker 6: So in playing Doctor King, the gift for me was

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Speaker 6: to see a leader, to see someone who was an icon,

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Speaker 6: but who was a human being as well. And I

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Speaker 6: am interested in stories where we get to be triumphant,

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Speaker 6: where we get to someone you would aspire to be,

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Speaker 6: no matter what demographic of person you are. More often

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Speaker 6: than not, when you see black people in a historical context,

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Speaker 6: we are browbeaten, we're broken down, and often we don't

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Speaker 6: we're not allowed to ascend. You won't catch me in

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Speaker 6: that narrative. For me personally, we have got to for

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Speaker 6: me be on an upward trajectory in whatever we do,

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Speaker 6: so it's less traumatic, it's more celebratory of who we

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Speaker 6: are without shying away from the challenges we've faced.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, they never want to show you the slave revolting right.

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Speaker 6: Right exactly exactly. And for me, you know, that's why

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Speaker 6: I resist slave narratives because it's very hard to find

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Speaker 6: the triumphant in that. The closest I came to that

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Speaker 6: was playing bass Reefs. In that this show Low Man

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Speaker 6: bass Reefs, he starts enslaved. But the great thing about

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Speaker 6: being a producer is that you can ensure or be

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Speaker 6: a voice in where the narrative goes. I would not

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Speaker 6: have taken that on if he didn't go from enslavement

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Speaker 6: to empowerment. Staying in enslavement is not something that I

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Speaker 6: want to project to our people, because there are people

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Speaker 6: who enjoy that narrative as a means of.

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Speaker 1: Keeping us down.

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Speaker 4: You said something interesting, you said it being a producer

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Speaker 4: you get to kind of like, you know, help to

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Speaker 4: figure out where the character development goes and stuff like that.

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Speaker 4: What part of your career did that become an option

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Speaker 4: for you, because not all actors have the ability to

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Speaker 4: be on a set and say, hey, I think that

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Speaker 4: we should change this or empower differently because of how

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Speaker 4: my people will see this.

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Speaker 5: When did that happen first in your career?

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Speaker 1: It happened by accident. It was on Selma.

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Speaker 6: I got the script just as an actor in two

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Speaker 6: thousand and seven, felt a real calling to play that role.

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Speaker 6: But I auditioned for it and the first director said,

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Speaker 6: David o'yelowo is not Doctor King. That was literally the feedback,

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Speaker 6: And it took another seven years before the film came

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Speaker 6: to fruition. But what I could never had anticipated was

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Speaker 6: that I would go from being an actor who was

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Speaker 6: rejected initially to three directors later because they just kept

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Speaker 6: on not wanting to make that movie because black doesn't travel,

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Speaker 6: The audience is not going to gravitate towards it.

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Speaker 1: Whatever the excuses are. Say that, well they did back then.

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Speaker 6: Oh yeah, I mean, yeah, you think this is a

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Speaker 6: film about doctor king Ala Perry.

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Speaker 4: Because they said that, They told Tyler Perry black people

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Speaker 4: would in lead the theater to go to the movies.

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Speaker 5: They don't travel beyond the.

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Speaker 2: Global you meant like global global box office, right.

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Speaker 1: Globally, but here as well.

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Speaker 6: Then the narrative was black people don't want to see

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Speaker 6: black struggle. White people don't want to see, you know,

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Speaker 6: feel white guilt and things like that. But you know,

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Speaker 6: it wasn't until twenty ten. Lee Daniels actually came along

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Speaker 6: and was the one who actually cast me in it.

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Speaker 6: Still couldn't get the film made. In the meantime, I

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Speaker 6: did a small film with Averduvener called Middle of Nowhere,

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Speaker 6: small two hundred thousand dollars movie, and I felt.

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Speaker 1: She is a genius.

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Speaker 6: Lee had moved on from the project because they wouldn't

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Speaker 6: give him enough money to make it, and I went

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Speaker 6: in and fought very hard for Ava to be the

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Speaker 6: one to direct it. She rewrote the script. It was

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Speaker 6: a brilliant rewrite of the script. Still couldn't get it made.

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Speaker 6: I'd done the Butler with Oprah at that time. I

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Speaker 6: invited Oprah on to be a producer on the film.

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Speaker 6: Twelve Years a Slave came out and had done well,

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Speaker 6: which had broken down this notion of our stories not traveling.

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Speaker 6: And so the aggregation of all of those things is

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Speaker 6: what went on to mean Selma got made well. I

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Speaker 6: didn't realize I was doing by bringing on Ava, bringing

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Speaker 6: on Oprah, fighting daily to try and get the thing made,

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Speaker 6: was producing and so I thought, oh, okay, well I

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Speaker 6: can do that again for the things that I believe

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Speaker 6: in and I'm passionate about. And so you know, that

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Speaker 6: was ten eleven years ago now and I haven't stopped since.

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Speaker 2: Why didn't it.

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Speaker 4: I was just gonna say, that's so crazy, because twel

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Speaker 4: Years a Slave came out in twenty thirteen, that was

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Speaker 4: even still a conversation then.

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Speaker 6: It was the conversation back then. I mean, I had

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Speaker 6: done the last King of Scotland before that, and people

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Speaker 6: may not remember. But even though we think of Forest

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Speaker 6: Whitaker in that film, the lead of that film was

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Speaker 6: actually James McAvoy. They would not have made that film

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Speaker 6: unless there was the Scottish white doctor as the lead

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Speaker 6: of the role. It was the sheer force of Forest

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Speaker 6: Whitaker's performance that meant he went on to win Best Actor.

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Speaker 6: I was in The Help. It was the character played

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Speaker 6: by Emma Stone who was the lead character of The Help,

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Speaker 6: not Viola Davis, not Octavius Spencer. It was the sheer

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Speaker 6: force of their performances that means that they are the

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Speaker 6: ones we think about. So when I first read Selma

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Speaker 6: in two thousand and seven, Lyndon Johnson was the lead character.

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Speaker 6: Doctor King was a supporting character. This is how these

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Speaker 6: films were getting made back there.

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Speaker 1: Then.

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Speaker 6: They were always fronted by by white characters and you

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Speaker 6: were sort of on the on the periphery. But it's

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Speaker 6: this year force of who we are as performers that

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Speaker 6: meant that you go, oh, that's you know the same.

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Speaker 1: Thing with Glory.

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Speaker 6: You know, Matthew Broderick is the lead of that movie,

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Speaker 6: but we think of Denzel and Morgan Freeman, you know,

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Speaker 6: in that movie. So that's how these films always got

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Speaker 6: made until you know, twenty thirteen there was twelve Years

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Speaker 6: a Slave without Twelve Years a Slave. I don't think

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Speaker 6: Selma gets green lit in twenty fourteen.

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Speaker 2: Is there racism or business?

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Speaker 1: Is racism real? No? I mean it's that it's not business.

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Speaker 6: When the Butler, we couldn't get the film made because

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Speaker 6: no one would put money in. We had to go

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Speaker 6: to can to raise the funds. We sold seventeen maybe

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Speaker 6: eighteen foreign territories got the eighteen million dollars to make

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Speaker 6: the movie. The only reason the film got completed, because

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Speaker 6: that wasn't enough money to make it, is because a

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Speaker 6: hurricane hit the set. So we use the insurance money

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Speaker 6: to complete the movie.

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Speaker 1: So we made it.

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Speaker 6: I think at the end of the day was a

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Speaker 6: twenty five million dollars we made that movie for it

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Speaker 6: made one hundred and seventy two million dollars. So it's

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Speaker 6: not business because you know, anytime we end up making

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Speaker 6: these shows or these films and they succeed, they then

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Speaker 6: get deemed that they have overperformed, which in my even

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Speaker 6: with the white lead, yes, but because because well in

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Speaker 6: The Butler, for as witzakers the lead and its centers

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Speaker 6: around a black family. So that's why there was resistance

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Speaker 6: to making it. But there's no way you're struggling to

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Speaker 6: raise twenty five million dollars to make a movie if

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Speaker 6: you knew it was going to make one hundred and

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Speaker 6: seventy two million dollars. The assumption is that it won't

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Speaker 6: make that money. So that's why I say it's not

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Speaker 6: a business decision, it's a yea.

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Speaker 3: I just wonder what those assumptions are based off. Are

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Speaker 3: they based off box office success? I mean, you know

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Speaker 3: now in twenty twenty five, it would be much harder

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Speaker 3: to have those conversations because of the success of a

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Speaker 3: lot of black laid movies.

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Speaker 6: Then, you know, because we've eroded the lie we have

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Speaker 6: too many we have draw data. And that's the thing

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Speaker 6: that streaming has done as well, you know, streaming. For

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Speaker 6: I saw a clear uptick in my career when streaming

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Speaker 6: came along. Because the reason why it's racism is it's

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Speaker 6: tied to the opinion of a very small sample size

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Speaker 6: of people who are not our demographic, who make these

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Speaker 6: decisions purely based on opinion, not on raw data. Now, Netflix, Amazon, Apple.

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Speaker 6: You know there is data we see the you know

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Speaker 6: law men bass Reeves. I tried to get that show

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Speaker 6: made for ten years. It got rejected by Hollywood three times.

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Speaker 6: Went on to be the most successful widely viewed show

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Speaker 6: on Apple TV plus globally in twenty twenty three. There's

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Speaker 6: no way would that was the estimation of what it

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Speaker 6: would be, you know, in relation to how many times

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Speaker 6: it was rejected.

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Speaker 1: So we have consistently.

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Speaker 6: Eroded them, but we still are being saddled with this

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Speaker 6: what I deem to be a pejorative, which is it overperformed. No,

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Speaker 6: didn't overperform, just performed. The audience gravitated towards it because

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Speaker 6: we're human beings telling great stories in a great way

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Speaker 6: and the global audience are rewarding us for it.

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Speaker 2: I do get mad at uh.

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Speaker 3: I do get mad at us sometimes when we don't

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Speaker 3: show up for certain projects, right, because you have to, like,

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Speaker 3: at the end of the day, it's still I understand

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Speaker 3: everything you're saying, and you're right, but it is still

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Speaker 3: a business, yeah, at the end of the day, and

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Speaker 3: we make it easy for them to say no when

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Speaker 3: we don't show up.

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Speaker 6: Well, I guess it depends on when you deem us

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Speaker 6: not showing up. I've definitely had projects where I was like, oh,

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Speaker 6: come on, guys, show up. But you know, I think

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Speaker 6: we're fourteen percent of the population here, but black and

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Speaker 6: brown people.

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Speaker 2: You know, we're trillion dollars in spending exactly here.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, but we over index. It's like forty percent of

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Speaker 6: viewership on a on streaming. It's us, you know. So

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Speaker 6: we show up for the art form. We are the culture.

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Speaker 6: We are the drivers of the culture. And so to

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Speaker 6: constantly have the folks who are driving that culture on

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Speaker 6: the margins of it doesn't really make sense.

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Speaker 2: I wonder if it's the type of art too, though.

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Speaker 3: That is either because they're quick to make a comedy, right,

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Speaker 3: they'll make a right, you know what I mean, But

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Speaker 3: when it's actually something of some substance, Yeah, it's a

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Speaker 3: little harder to make.

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Speaker 6: Well, that's why, And to your point, that's why I

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Speaker 6: try to push the envelope with what I do. I'm

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Speaker 6: always trying to find something that is a fresh way

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Speaker 6: into telling a story. So, you know, Government Cheese is

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Speaker 6: a comedy, but it's a surrealist, parabolic, fantastical comedy that

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Speaker 6: has this sort of spiritual journey element, something you'd probably

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Speaker 6: expect more from Wes Anderson than from us. So it's

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Speaker 6: it's comedy, but I like to think it has more substance,

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Speaker 6: you know, artistically, that there's there's there's layers to it,

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Speaker 6: and so it's a little bit chicken and egg as well,

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Speaker 6: because if we get opportunities to do one thing and

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Speaker 6: that one thing is doing well, well, you're going to

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Speaker 6: keep feeding that machine. If it's harder for us to

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Speaker 6: color outside the lines, and then there's so much pressure

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Speaker 6: on whether that thing succeeds or not. That's really difficult

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Speaker 6: because you know, if I'm a white person and I'm

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Speaker 6: taking a big swing, the chances are I'm going to

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Speaker 6: have about four, five, six, maybe seven at bats, you know,

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Speaker 6: with us one maybe two, and so that puts a

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Speaker 6: lot of pressure. So the temptation is to keep on

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Speaker 6: doing the safe thing. But that's the thing I've I've

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Speaker 6: told myself, I can't afford to be safe.

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Speaker 2: I want to ask real quick, why didn't they want you?

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Speaker 2: Why didn't the director want you to play Mlkay?

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Speaker 1: Well?

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Speaker 6: His reason, well, he was he was entitled to his opinion.

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Speaker 6: I mean he was a white male director. Who I

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Speaker 6: think was more focused on the LBJ character and he

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Speaker 6: had another actor in mind, Like I say, his his

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Speaker 6: his his choice. But to be honest, when I think

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Speaker 6: about it now, that's not the version of the story

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Speaker 6: I would have ever truly been proud of. Or you know,

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Speaker 6: that's in line with those other movies I talked about.

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Speaker 6: You see it with The Constant Gardener or Blood Diamond

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Speaker 6: as well. You know, these these films that insist on

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Speaker 6: a white protagonist when we are central to the story,

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Speaker 6: and that's what that version of someone was going to be.

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Speaker 6: So I'm actually really glad that that version isn't isn't

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Speaker 6: the one that got made.

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Speaker 5: What's success for you now?

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Speaker 4: Because when I think about the Semmer movie, I remember

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Speaker 4: the Ascar situation where you guys were up for these

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Speaker 4: wars like the movie itself within you and able to

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Speaker 4: do rene and you spoke out and said that you

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Speaker 4: feel like you guys were snub because you protested wearing

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Speaker 4: that I can't breath t shirts.

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Speaker 5: So it can't be a war shows for you at

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Speaker 5: this point, right.

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Speaker 1: No, no, no, no, no, I mean.

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Speaker 6: The the the opportunity that adversity has afforded is to

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Speaker 6: know that Ultimately, I don't know that those accolades are

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Speaker 6: necessarily designed with us in mind. Don't get me wrong,

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Speaker 6: happy to get them if and when they come along.

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Speaker 6: But the reward which I couldn't have for seeing with

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Speaker 6: Selma was Oscar so white. You know, the fact that

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Speaker 6: Selma started that movement and meant that our industry was

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Speaker 6: held to account from without the industry. The culture literally

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Speaker 6: said we do not agree with how you treated that

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Speaker 6: film or how you're treating us generally, and that pressure

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Speaker 6: really did change the face of Hollywood for a time anyway.

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Speaker 1: You know, it definitely moved the needle.

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Speaker 5: Because that year all twenty act nominees were white.

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Speaker 1: Right.

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Speaker 4: But so for you when you come in after that

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Speaker 4: year and you're you know what I mean, you do

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Speaker 4: your whole back. You're very vocal about how you feel

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Speaker 4: what you're experiencing on the business side of it as

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Speaker 4: a producer, someone that is directing and doing all these

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Speaker 4: things that you're doing. Are studios welcoming you with opening

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Speaker 4: arms like in an ideal world or do you feel

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Speaker 4: the resistance more after a moment like that.

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Speaker 6: It's complicated because you know, in that situation, it was

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Speaker 6: that first year and then the next year it was.

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Speaker 1: The same thing.

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Speaker 5: Right.

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Speaker 6: So you know what was helpful about that is that

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Speaker 6: you again, like I said earlier, data, it's I'm not

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Speaker 6: just playing the race card. I'm not just complaining you

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Speaker 6: have two years in a row where every nominee is

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Speaker 6: a white person and not a person of color. That

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Speaker 6: suggests there is something wrong with our industry when you

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Speaker 6: consider how much our communities support this industry, how prolific

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Speaker 6: we are within this industry, the work that we're producing,

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Speaker 6: which the audience is saying they value and are remunerating

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Speaker 6: at the box office, and so that becomes something you

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Speaker 6: can hold the industry accountable to. And that's something, like

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Speaker 6: you say, I've been vocal about. I've been very energized about,

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Speaker 6: and that has been a big driver for my work.

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Speaker 2: I love something you say.

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Speaker 3: You said, an opportunity that adversity has afforded.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, you expound on it for well, you know, when

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Speaker 6: you're in the middle of it, it's no fun, you know,

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Speaker 6: when your film is being attacked, when it's being accused

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Speaker 6: of inaccuracy, when people are saying, actually, the Selmer March

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Speaker 6: was Lyndon Johnson's idea, not doctor King's idea, all of

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Speaker 6: which is completely true. Sorry, all of which is completely false.

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Speaker 6: But you can feel the reason you're being attacked is

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Speaker 6: because you're actually doing something worthwhile. Doesn't feel great, breaking

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Speaker 6: new ground doesn't feel great, but the ultimate reward is

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Speaker 6: there is nowhere in the world I go now where

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Speaker 6: you know black people in particular are not just hugely

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Speaker 6: supportive of me. Because that adversity that we face publicly,

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Speaker 6: people are facing in their lives privately and say they go,

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Speaker 6: I see you, I see what you're trying to do.

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Speaker 1: I'm with you.

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Speaker 6: I'm going to support you. And so that level of

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Speaker 6: support is something no one can take from me. And

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Speaker 6: since that adversity, I can feel it, and it's a

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Speaker 6: continuing ground swell because my contracts not just with black

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Speaker 6: people as an audience, but with the audience generally, is

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Speaker 6: I'm going to just consistently try to contextualize who we

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Speaker 6: are as black people. If you're down for that, come

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Speaker 6: on the ride with me. And that may have not

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Speaker 6: been something I was so focused on if I had

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Speaker 6: had all the accolades that you know could have been afforded.

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Speaker 4: I want to talk about government cheese. So the name

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Speaker 4: itself of the series. Let's talk about that first, because

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Speaker 4: it's referring to the government Cheese program, which is a

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Speaker 4: kind of like an overarching conversation that you guys have

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Speaker 4: throughout the series without.

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Speaker 5: Really having it all the way.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, so talk about the you know, just the choice

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Speaker 4: to title it that, and you know what, you hope

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Speaker 4: the hope is that people get just from looking at

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Speaker 4: the title before they even see it.

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Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean, government cheese for us was symbolic of

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Speaker 6: what we tend to do as black people. You know,

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00:21:52,440 --> 00:21:55,560
Speaker 6: necessity being the mother of invention. We will take nothing

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Speaker 6: and make it into something. And government cheese, as people

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00:21:59,119 --> 00:22:02,159
Speaker 6: may know, as government subsidized food. There was powdered eggs,

438
00:22:02,160 --> 00:22:05,360
Speaker 6: there was powdered milk as well, and with government cheese

439
00:22:05,400 --> 00:22:07,919
Speaker 6: in particular. You talk to people even now they have this,

440
00:22:08,080 --> 00:22:10,359
Speaker 6: you know, they go into this place in their heads

441
00:22:10,359 --> 00:22:13,040
Speaker 6: when they think about those grilled cheese sandwiches or the

442
00:22:13,119 --> 00:22:16,120
Speaker 6: mac and cheese, and they talk about it incredibly fondly

443
00:22:16,200 --> 00:22:20,399
Speaker 6: because it was, you know, a not particularly nutritious food

444
00:22:20,440 --> 00:22:23,520
Speaker 6: that people made into a delicacy. And what you have

445
00:22:23,680 --> 00:22:27,400
Speaker 6: with the Chambers family is that they are this black

446
00:22:27,480 --> 00:22:31,359
Speaker 6: family in the valley in the sixties, making something out

447
00:22:31,480 --> 00:22:35,920
Speaker 6: of nothing. This guy starts the show incarcerated, has this

448
00:22:36,040 --> 00:22:39,560
Speaker 6: epiphany about making a self sharpening drill. It's going to

449
00:22:39,600 --> 00:22:42,399
Speaker 6: be the means by which his family comes out of

450
00:22:42,440 --> 00:22:46,320
Speaker 6: the challenging situations they're in. So it's aspirational. You have

451
00:22:46,480 --> 00:22:49,320
Speaker 6: the character that Simone Misic plays. She's a receptionist, but

452
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:52,560
Speaker 6: she wants to be an interior designer. You have our

453
00:22:52,640 --> 00:22:54,720
Speaker 6: son who's aspiring to be a pole vaulter. You have

454
00:22:54,840 --> 00:22:58,040
Speaker 6: this other son of ours who you know is completely

455
00:22:58,040 --> 00:23:01,880
Speaker 6: obsessed with Native American culture. Every One is looking beyond

456
00:23:01,920 --> 00:23:04,199
Speaker 6: where they are from an aspirational point of view, and

457
00:23:04,280 --> 00:23:07,119
Speaker 6: in many ways, government cheese is sort of symbolic of that.

458
00:23:07,359 --> 00:23:09,639
Speaker 2: What's the equivalent of government cheese in the UK? I

459
00:23:09,920 --> 00:23:12,120
Speaker 2: don't as a british Man, did you understand what that was?

460
00:23:12,800 --> 00:23:16,560
Speaker 6: Yes, I mean we don't have exactly the same thing,

461
00:23:16,600 --> 00:23:19,159
Speaker 6: but I remember, you know, you got bottles of milk

462
00:23:19,280 --> 00:23:22,639
Speaker 6: that everyone got, you know, that would get dropped at

463
00:23:22,680 --> 00:23:26,000
Speaker 6: your house every morning, and that was something that was

464
00:23:26,600 --> 00:23:29,520
Speaker 6: across the nation. Super rich people were not getting that necessarily,

465
00:23:29,560 --> 00:23:31,960
Speaker 6: but it was you know, lower income families. So that's

466
00:23:32,000 --> 00:23:35,639
Speaker 6: the closest that we got in terms of that situation.

467
00:23:35,720 --> 00:23:38,240
Speaker 6: But the thing I know from living in the UK,

468
00:23:38,680 --> 00:23:42,160
Speaker 6: living in Nigeria and Africa, living here is that wherever

469
00:23:42,200 --> 00:23:44,760
Speaker 6: you go, the resilience of black people in terms of

470
00:23:45,240 --> 00:23:48,600
Speaker 6: you know, making something out of nothing is just something

471
00:23:48,600 --> 00:23:49,679
Speaker 6: that feels pretty universe.

472
00:23:50,320 --> 00:23:52,760
Speaker 3: You've had other roles that have highlighted black life in

473
00:23:52,800 --> 00:23:56,120
Speaker 3: the sixties. What about Government Cheese felt different from those

474
00:23:56,119 --> 00:23:56,800
Speaker 3: other projects.

475
00:23:56,880 --> 00:24:00,520
Speaker 6: This is the amount of joy on display and just

476
00:24:00,560 --> 00:24:01,840
Speaker 6: the relatability.

477
00:24:02,000 --> 00:24:02,359
Speaker 1: I think.

478
00:24:02,440 --> 00:24:07,600
Speaker 6: You know, our experience is very specific, especially in the

479
00:24:07,640 --> 00:24:10,520
Speaker 6: sixties as it pertains to civil rights and black struggle.

480
00:24:11,600 --> 00:24:15,640
Speaker 1: But you know, with this family, they are dealing not.

481
00:24:15,720 --> 00:24:20,840
Speaker 6: Only with economic challenges but marital challenges, and they're raising

482
00:24:20,960 --> 00:24:25,399
Speaker 6: kids and you know, just just trying to make ends meet,

483
00:24:24,640 --> 00:24:29,160
Speaker 6: and I think all of those things are what make

484
00:24:29,280 --> 00:24:32,600
Speaker 6: it fresh and familiar. At the same time, you know,

485
00:24:32,680 --> 00:24:35,439
Speaker 6: you've seen black people in the sixties, but never quite

486
00:24:35,520 --> 00:24:39,800
Speaker 6: like this, never quite in this place, and never this family.

487
00:24:39,960 --> 00:24:42,000
Speaker 1: You know, they're kind of out there.

488
00:24:43,240 --> 00:24:47,080
Speaker 6: But you know, I have a four kids myself, and

489
00:24:47,720 --> 00:24:49,639
Speaker 6: you know it's weird. It's not until you go to

490
00:24:50,080 --> 00:24:52,479
Speaker 6: a restaurant and you see people looking at you. Finally

491
00:24:52,480 --> 00:24:54,960
Speaker 6: you realize how weird and quirky your own family is

492
00:24:55,000 --> 00:24:57,640
Speaker 6: because you're just being super loud and people are king

493
00:24:57,680 --> 00:25:00,840
Speaker 6: into your conversation. So I think we're probably a little

494
00:25:00,880 --> 00:25:02,680
Speaker 6: bit more quick and with than we can to admit.

495
00:25:03,119 --> 00:25:05,520
Speaker 4: Well, this this series is definitely a lot more like

496
00:25:05,640 --> 00:25:07,640
Speaker 4: light and fun and you know, even though it takes

497
00:25:07,680 --> 00:25:09,560
Speaker 4: on like some serious undertones. But I was reading this

498
00:25:09,640 --> 00:25:12,359
Speaker 4: article that you did with a mentalth magazine and you

499
00:25:12,400 --> 00:25:15,120
Speaker 4: were talking about going out into Wyoming on a ranch

500
00:25:15,160 --> 00:25:17,960
Speaker 4: with your kids. Oh yeah, And I when I saw

501
00:25:18,000 --> 00:25:20,160
Speaker 4: the article, I was like, this is like a random

502
00:25:20,240 --> 00:25:22,040
Speaker 4: interview for him to have right now. And then I

503
00:25:22,080 --> 00:25:24,040
Speaker 4: was reading and I was like, I get it because

504
00:25:25,359 --> 00:25:27,399
Speaker 4: you put yourself in the light of like a person

505
00:25:27,400 --> 00:25:30,840
Speaker 4: who has had to learn again to just like relax

506
00:25:30,920 --> 00:25:32,879
Speaker 4: and just be fun and just be a person.

507
00:25:32,960 --> 00:25:35,399
Speaker 5: Because you know, you're studying your acting, you're working.

508
00:25:35,520 --> 00:25:37,320
Speaker 4: Then there's clauses where you can't go out and do

509
00:25:37,359 --> 00:25:39,400
Speaker 4: stuff like that, which makes a lot of sense. Yeah,

510
00:25:39,480 --> 00:25:41,880
Speaker 4: but those moments with your kids where you're just they're

511
00:25:41,880 --> 00:25:44,000
Speaker 4: seeing you as like a human or as like Dad

512
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:46,320
Speaker 4: is fun, dad can do these things. How does that

513
00:25:46,440 --> 00:25:49,199
Speaker 4: reignite you when you get back on these sets, you know,

514
00:25:49,240 --> 00:25:51,040
Speaker 4: and you take on these characters like the one in

515
00:25:51,080 --> 00:25:52,280
Speaker 4: a government cheese.

516
00:25:52,280 --> 00:25:54,879
Speaker 6: I'm so glad you brought that up, because you know,

517
00:25:54,920 --> 00:25:59,600
Speaker 6: everything I'm saying is hard work. And you know, when

518
00:25:59,640 --> 00:26:04,239
Speaker 6: I make a show, probably in the past, to an

519
00:26:04,400 --> 00:26:08,240
Speaker 6: unhealthy degree, I feel like it's a political act. I

520
00:26:08,280 --> 00:26:10,840
Speaker 6: feel like it's not just about me going to work

521
00:26:11,080 --> 00:26:14,720
Speaker 6: and taking on a story. I'm bringing my paper with me,

522
00:26:15,680 --> 00:26:18,040
Speaker 6: and you could argue that there are elements of that

523
00:26:18,040 --> 00:26:24,000
Speaker 6: that are unhealthy. And so to smell the roses while

524
00:26:24,000 --> 00:26:29,320
Speaker 6: you're on the journey, to continue to intentionally enjoy your family,

525
00:26:29,440 --> 00:26:32,159
Speaker 6: enjoy your marriage, enjoy your home has been something that

526
00:26:32,280 --> 00:26:35,560
Speaker 6: I've tried to afford myself more and more as I've

527
00:26:35,560 --> 00:26:38,320
Speaker 6: got deeper into my career, especially as there are now

528
00:26:38,400 --> 00:26:41,720
Speaker 6: more wins on the board. You know, there are really

529
00:26:41,800 --> 00:26:45,199
Speaker 6: significant things I've done that are absolutely in line with

530
00:26:45,280 --> 00:26:48,720
Speaker 6: what I set out to do, and the temptation is

531
00:26:48,760 --> 00:26:51,240
Speaker 6: to just be like, Okay, what's next, what's next, What's next?

532
00:26:51,440 --> 00:26:54,399
Speaker 6: And you know, I have four kids, three boys and

533
00:26:54,440 --> 00:26:56,520
Speaker 6: a girl. I have a wife who I deeply love,

534
00:26:56,560 --> 00:27:00,159
Speaker 6: and you know that is just as important and a

535
00:27:00,280 --> 00:27:05,200
Speaker 6: life well lived is not really about what you did.

536
00:27:05,480 --> 00:27:09,280
Speaker 6: It's how you made people feel. And the thing, well,

537
00:27:09,280 --> 00:27:11,440
Speaker 6: there you go, and you're right, and and I want

538
00:27:11,520 --> 00:27:14,480
Speaker 6: the people closest to me to feel like I was present,

539
00:27:14,960 --> 00:27:19,240
Speaker 6: to feel like I didn't just say I loved them,

540
00:27:19,280 --> 00:27:22,080
Speaker 6: but my actions demonstrated that as well. And I think

541
00:27:22,119 --> 00:27:26,240
Speaker 6: that's time. That's just constantly demonstrating to the people you

542
00:27:26,320 --> 00:27:29,080
Speaker 6: love that you value being in their presence. And so

543
00:27:29,640 --> 00:27:31,879
Speaker 6: that is That's what I'm working on it. I'm not

544
00:27:31,880 --> 00:27:33,840
Speaker 6: going to tell you that you know, I'm all the

545
00:27:33,880 --> 00:27:36,520
Speaker 6: way there, but that's definitely an intention. I'm trying to

546
00:27:36,520 --> 00:27:37,360
Speaker 6: bring more into my life.

547
00:27:37,520 --> 00:27:38,879
Speaker 3: Is that what you meant when you said in the

548
00:27:38,960 --> 00:27:40,840
Speaker 3: article that you came back a different dad.

549
00:27:41,800 --> 00:27:46,680
Speaker 1: From which in that yeah, I came back a different Wow.

550
00:27:46,720 --> 00:27:49,280
Speaker 1: You guys really do your research. You really read that article.

551
00:27:52,920 --> 00:27:55,600
Speaker 4: Whoever whoever was that pitched that that was so smart

552
00:27:55,600 --> 00:28:00,520
Speaker 4: because in looking you up everything else. Okay, okay, I've knowed, Well,

553
00:28:00,680 --> 00:28:02,520
Speaker 4: you don't just end up in mental magazine.

554
00:28:02,760 --> 00:28:03,440
Speaker 2: Oh I thought.

555
00:28:06,520 --> 00:28:08,440
Speaker 4: I would have ran it up too, but no, when

556
00:28:08,440 --> 00:28:10,160
Speaker 4: I saw that, I was like, it was so genius

557
00:28:10,200 --> 00:28:13,119
Speaker 4: because I think your reputation as an actor is so

558
00:28:13,359 --> 00:28:17,160
Speaker 4: like it. It's very like stern and you know, silent

559
00:28:17,240 --> 00:28:20,160
Speaker 4: and serious. And then I said this article about you

560
00:28:20,520 --> 00:28:22,080
Speaker 4: doing all this stuff with my ooman with your kids,

561
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:24,360
Speaker 4: I'm like, wait, hold on, what maybe having fun?

562
00:28:24,840 --> 00:28:27,400
Speaker 2: So it made that's what I guess.

563
00:28:27,600 --> 00:28:29,560
Speaker 3: Yeah, when you said you came back a different dad,

564
00:28:29,560 --> 00:28:32,040
Speaker 3: I guess you just realized, like, I can't just be

565
00:28:32,119 --> 00:28:33,280
Speaker 3: so much into my work.

566
00:28:33,560 --> 00:28:35,399
Speaker 2: I still got to be pops.

567
00:28:35,520 --> 00:28:40,040
Speaker 6: But but also, you know, I was a really rambunctious kid.

568
00:28:40,120 --> 00:28:42,760
Speaker 6: I would throw myself all over the place. I was

569
00:28:42,800 --> 00:28:44,920
Speaker 6: one of three boys. And then I had my own

570
00:28:45,000 --> 00:28:50,000
Speaker 6: kids and I got super like wrapping them in cotton wool,

571
00:28:50,080 --> 00:28:52,840
Speaker 6: like careful, careful, don't do that, you know. And then

572
00:28:52,880 --> 00:28:55,680
Speaker 6: we went on this trip where we're horse riding and

573
00:28:55,720 --> 00:28:59,160
Speaker 6: the ATVing and we're you're shooting arrows and bike riding,

574
00:28:59,480 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 6: and I just really just let myself go, probably a

575
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:05,240
Speaker 6: bit too much because I went flying over the handlebars

576
00:29:05,240 --> 00:29:08,720
Speaker 6: of the ATV at one point. But you know, I

577
00:29:09,880 --> 00:29:13,320
Speaker 6: do that when I'm playing a role, because it's like

578
00:29:13,560 --> 00:29:16,440
Speaker 6: throw yourself into the role, do whatever the role requires.

579
00:29:16,800 --> 00:29:19,200
Speaker 6: But for my kids to see me having fun in

580
00:29:19,280 --> 00:29:21,560
Speaker 6: that way was an eye opener for them, and I

581
00:29:21,600 --> 00:29:23,760
Speaker 6: came back differently because I was like, you know what,

582
00:29:23,960 --> 00:29:28,000
Speaker 6: I am almost playing a role for my kids in

583
00:29:28,160 --> 00:29:31,200
Speaker 6: order for them to be safe, but they also need

584
00:29:31,240 --> 00:29:35,120
Speaker 6: to see dad sort of letting loose and having fun,

585
00:29:35,160 --> 00:29:38,440
Speaker 6: because then they'll hopefully take the right kind of risks,

586
00:29:38,520 --> 00:29:42,040
Speaker 6: not just you know, careless risks. And it was a

587
00:29:42,080 --> 00:29:44,040
Speaker 6: shift in the dynamic, and it was something I actually

588
00:29:44,080 --> 00:29:46,720
Speaker 6: didn't want to go on. Particularly my wife won it

589
00:29:46,760 --> 00:29:49,000
Speaker 6: in a raffle, this trip to this dude runch and

590
00:29:49,000 --> 00:29:51,360
Speaker 6: then sent us all out. And you know, I'm so

591
00:29:51,440 --> 00:29:53,440
Speaker 6: grateful that we did it, and we've done so many

592
00:29:53,480 --> 00:29:55,280
Speaker 6: more things like that since.

593
00:29:55,000 --> 00:29:57,520
Speaker 1: Then because it was a hugely beneficial for our family.

594
00:29:57,920 --> 00:30:00,760
Speaker 2: Want a trip at a raffle? Yeah, I get you

595
00:30:00,800 --> 00:30:01,600
Speaker 2: more money for a movie?

596
00:30:01,720 --> 00:30:07,680
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, hell yeah yeah. I know. I know that

597
00:30:07,760 --> 00:30:08,520
Speaker 1: made it sound bad.

598
00:30:08,680 --> 00:30:12,360
Speaker 3: Did you have any reservations about playing MLK because you

599
00:30:12,400 --> 00:30:14,560
Speaker 3: are a British actor and you know there's always that

600
00:30:14,640 --> 00:30:16,680
Speaker 3: thing or why are all the British actors playing the

601
00:30:16,760 --> 00:30:19,000
Speaker 3: roles of American icons?

602
00:30:19,880 --> 00:30:22,040
Speaker 6: No, because of the way it came in. You know,

603
00:30:22,080 --> 00:30:24,400
Speaker 6: when I read the script in two thousand and seven,

604
00:30:24,640 --> 00:30:27,320
Speaker 6: I had never been thinking of myself as doctor King,

605
00:30:28,760 --> 00:30:30,920
Speaker 6: you know, but I'm a Christian. I was in a

606
00:30:30,960 --> 00:30:33,600
Speaker 6: time of praying and fasting and I felt God, tell

607
00:30:33,640 --> 00:30:36,840
Speaker 6: me you were going to play this role. And then

608
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:41,680
Speaker 6: the way it came about eventually, which is that, you know,

609
00:30:41,800 --> 00:30:45,720
Speaker 6: I can safely say pretty much no one worked as

610
00:30:45,760 --> 00:30:46,800
Speaker 6: hard to get that.

611
00:30:46,680 --> 00:30:48,280
Speaker 1: Film made as I did.

612
00:30:48,440 --> 00:30:51,120
Speaker 6: And I would probably say no one else was quite

613
00:30:51,160 --> 00:30:54,800
Speaker 6: as influential in getting that film made, between bringing on Ava,

614
00:30:54,960 --> 00:30:58,600
Speaker 6: between bringing on Oprah, between all the work done behind

615
00:30:58,600 --> 00:31:01,600
Speaker 6: the scenes to try and get the film. So for me,

616
00:31:02,240 --> 00:31:05,400
Speaker 6: I just found it unacceptable that the only American who

617
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:08,200
Speaker 6: had a holiday named after him in the twentieth century,

618
00:31:08,240 --> 00:31:10,960
Speaker 6: who happens to be a black man, had not had

619
00:31:11,000 --> 00:31:14,280
Speaker 6: a film made about him. Yet I wasn't feeling like

620
00:31:14,400 --> 00:31:16,000
Speaker 6: I have to be the one to make it. But

621
00:31:16,080 --> 00:31:19,360
Speaker 6: this was already fifty years after his assassination. Why do

622
00:31:19,480 --> 00:31:23,400
Speaker 6: we not have the movie? And I'm a big believer

623
00:31:23,640 --> 00:31:27,840
Speaker 6: in if not me, then who, And so I was

624
00:31:27,920 --> 00:31:30,440
Speaker 6: never really thinking I'm British, it should be someone else.

625
00:31:30,480 --> 00:31:34,320
Speaker 6: And the reality is that when Lee Daniels was casting

626
00:31:34,360 --> 00:31:37,280
Speaker 6: for it, he met everyone I met. I saw the

627
00:31:37,360 --> 00:31:39,000
Speaker 6: list of some of the people he met, I was like,

628
00:31:39,080 --> 00:31:42,760
Speaker 6: oh my lord, I cannot believe I'm going up against

629
00:31:42,800 --> 00:31:45,600
Speaker 6: my heroes to even dare think I'm going to be

630
00:31:45,640 --> 00:31:48,720
Speaker 6: the one to play this. But I eventually got the role,

631
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:52,719
Speaker 6: and so for me it's a question of Okay, now

632
00:31:52,760 --> 00:31:55,600
Speaker 6: I've been given the opportunity, It's less about whether or

633
00:31:55,600 --> 00:31:57,720
Speaker 6: not I should play it. It's more about how well

634
00:31:57,800 --> 00:31:59,360
Speaker 6: I do it, and that is going to be, at

635
00:31:59,400 --> 00:32:01,320
Speaker 6: the end of the day, the thing that I want

636
00:32:01,400 --> 00:32:05,160
Speaker 6: people to judge. And so I never really thought about

637
00:32:05,160 --> 00:32:06,840
Speaker 6: it in that way, because at the end of the day,

638
00:32:06,880 --> 00:32:08,400
Speaker 6: I have no interest in playing.

639
00:32:08,120 --> 00:32:09,240
Speaker 1: Myself on Spain.

640
00:32:09,320 --> 00:32:12,520
Speaker 6: I'm always going to be gravitating towards the most extreme

641
00:32:12,640 --> 00:32:15,000
Speaker 6: challenge in terms of playing someone who's not necessarily me.

642
00:32:15,160 --> 00:32:16,920
Speaker 3: Oh, you answer that question when people say why do

643
00:32:17,000 --> 00:32:20,880
Speaker 3: British actors often portray Americans in movies and on TV,

644
00:32:21,000 --> 00:32:24,000
Speaker 3: but American actors rarely play British.

645
00:32:23,720 --> 00:32:26,800
Speaker 6: Character I would say that the question comes from a

646
00:32:26,800 --> 00:32:30,440
Speaker 6: place of scarcity as opposed to the artistry of what

647
00:32:30,480 --> 00:32:33,560
Speaker 6: we do. Daniel day Lewis is never having to feel

648
00:32:33,600 --> 00:32:38,840
Speaker 6: that question when he plays Lincoln. You know, white British

649
00:32:38,920 --> 00:32:42,440
Speaker 6: actors who play a myriad of American roles Christian Bale,

650
00:32:42,600 --> 00:32:46,320
Speaker 6: Kate Winslet you know, they just not ask that question.

651
00:32:46,400 --> 00:32:48,440
Speaker 6: We don't ask that question when Meryl Streep goes and

652
00:32:48,440 --> 00:32:49,959
Speaker 6: plays Margaret Thatcher.

653
00:32:50,640 --> 00:32:52,960
Speaker 1: Really we'd actually don't really ask that question.

654
00:32:52,840 --> 00:32:56,520
Speaker 6: When Forrest Whitaker goes and plays idiomein an African character,

655
00:32:56,680 --> 00:33:00,040
Speaker 6: or Morgan Freeman goes and plays Nelson Mandela, or the

656
00:33:00,080 --> 00:33:04,160
Speaker 6: Great and late Chadwick Boseman plays an African character in

657
00:33:04,520 --> 00:33:08,360
Speaker 6: Black Panther. I think it's to do with scarcity here

658
00:33:09,120 --> 00:33:11,600
Speaker 6: as it pertains to the work we have. And so

659
00:33:11,840 --> 00:33:16,040
Speaker 6: if there's scarcity, there are less opportunities, who gets the

660
00:33:16,080 --> 00:33:20,440
Speaker 6: opportunity is more scrutinized, and I think it's a function

661
00:33:20,480 --> 00:33:24,440
Speaker 6: of that, and so I'm less concerned with that debate.

662
00:33:24,680 --> 00:33:29,360
Speaker 6: I'm more engaged with let's create more opportunity and let's

663
00:33:29,400 --> 00:33:34,959
Speaker 6: actually realize there's more pie than we care to realize

664
00:33:35,120 --> 00:33:38,000
Speaker 6: or admit. And if you don't know that, create that,

665
00:33:38,480 --> 00:33:42,160
Speaker 6: you know, because Morgan Freeman tried to get Bassries made

666
00:33:42,160 --> 00:33:45,640
Speaker 6: for thirty years. I just don't understand how Morgan Freeman

667
00:33:46,040 --> 00:33:48,800
Speaker 6: couldn't get that made. You know, I came along one

668
00:33:48,880 --> 00:33:51,640
Speaker 6: hundred and fifty years after Bassrides was walking the earth,

669
00:33:51,680 --> 00:33:54,400
Speaker 6: and you know, I feel very blessed that I managed

670
00:33:54,440 --> 00:33:57,000
Speaker 6: to get it made. My question becomes, would you rather

671
00:33:57,440 --> 00:34:01,640
Speaker 6: didn't get made or that just wait another one hundred

672
00:34:01,680 --> 00:34:04,800
Speaker 6: and fifty years. You know, I can't speak to why

673
00:34:05,560 --> 00:34:08,040
Speaker 6: I've been the one afoord of the opportunity, but I

674
00:34:08,040 --> 00:34:11,400
Speaker 6: will tell you that it's pretty tough to outwork me

675
00:34:11,680 --> 00:34:14,080
Speaker 6: when it comes to getting these stories right.

676
00:34:14,640 --> 00:34:16,680
Speaker 1: And I welcome, you know.

677
00:34:17,960 --> 00:34:22,480
Speaker 6: A situation whereby Biola Davis gets to play an African

678
00:34:22,560 --> 00:34:26,160
Speaker 6: warrior in Woman King. You know, that's that's what we

679
00:34:26,200 --> 00:34:28,960
Speaker 6: should be doing because we are all from that place.

680
00:34:29,920 --> 00:34:32,680
Speaker 6: And so you know, like I say, all those African

681
00:34:32,719 --> 00:34:37,240
Speaker 6: Americans playing African characters is beautiful. I don't see why

682
00:34:37,320 --> 00:34:40,839
Speaker 6: it is so contested when the flow is the other way.

683
00:34:41,200 --> 00:34:42,480
Speaker 2: Yeah, I forgot who we were talking to.

684
00:34:42,480 --> 00:34:44,239
Speaker 3: It was an American actor, I can't remember, and they

685
00:34:44,239 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 3: were just simply they simply said, because British actors are

686
00:34:47,200 --> 00:34:49,600
Speaker 3: better and they take the craft more serious.

687
00:34:49,840 --> 00:34:51,520
Speaker 1: And yeah, I challenge that.

688
00:34:51,719 --> 00:34:53,920
Speaker 6: I challenged that because I think it's also to do

689
00:34:54,000 --> 00:34:58,759
Speaker 6: with opportunity. Look, the tradition in the UK is you

690
00:34:58,800 --> 00:35:03,600
Speaker 6: go to Drama school for three years. It's an expensive education.

691
00:35:03,800 --> 00:35:06,160
Speaker 6: My son is at Lambda, the same school I went

692
00:35:06,200 --> 00:35:08,880
Speaker 6: to right now, it's expensive. I managed to get a

693
00:35:08,880 --> 00:35:14,000
Speaker 6: scholarship to go there. Here there are great actors who

694
00:35:14,000 --> 00:35:17,760
Speaker 6: have trained. There's Andre Holland, There's Coleman Domingo, There's Grantham Coleman,

695
00:35:18,840 --> 00:35:22,680
Speaker 6: there are there are these extraordinary actors who have trained

696
00:35:23,040 --> 00:35:26,560
Speaker 6: and are getting those opportunities. Chad Chad, Chad Boseman was

697
00:35:26,880 --> 00:35:31,000
Speaker 6: trained as well, and so I wouldn't say that it's

698
00:35:31,000 --> 00:35:34,680
Speaker 6: a question of better. There's just a tradition in the

699
00:35:34,760 --> 00:35:38,279
Speaker 6: UK where it's almost an apprenticeship. You do those three years,

700
00:35:38,360 --> 00:35:40,560
Speaker 6: then I went I was at the Royal Shakespeare Company

701
00:35:40,600 --> 00:35:43,799
Speaker 6: for another three years, so that's six year training, you know.

702
00:35:43,880 --> 00:35:46,719
Speaker 6: So when I then eventually turn up to Hollywood ten

703
00:35:46,840 --> 00:35:50,200
Speaker 6: years after I've graduated, I'm coming in with a wealth

704
00:35:50,480 --> 00:35:53,120
Speaker 6: of opportunity and training that I had.

705
00:35:52,960 --> 00:35:53,560
Speaker 1: In the UK.

706
00:35:54,040 --> 00:35:58,080
Speaker 6: And that's a tougher thing to get here economically speaking,

707
00:35:58,239 --> 00:36:01,279
Speaker 6: the great schools that provide that kind of education. But

708
00:36:01,440 --> 00:36:05,239
Speaker 6: I'm working with African American actors who are just extraordinary.

709
00:36:05,280 --> 00:36:06,719
Speaker 6: I mean, you know, it was one of the things

710
00:36:06,719 --> 00:36:08,880
Speaker 6: I was very focused on when we did Bass Reefs.

711
00:36:08,880 --> 00:36:09,600
Speaker 1: You have Lauren E.

712
00:36:09,760 --> 00:36:13,480
Speaker 6: Banks who went to Howard and Yale. You have Jorquina

713
00:36:13,600 --> 00:36:17,680
Speaker 6: Kalakango who was at Juilliard. You have Granthan Coleman who trained,

714
00:36:17,719 --> 00:36:22,440
Speaker 6: You have these extraordinary actors. It's just that they're not

715
00:36:22,440 --> 00:36:25,600
Speaker 6: getting the opportunities to advance at the rate that their

716
00:36:25,640 --> 00:36:28,040
Speaker 6: white counterparts will, and so we don't get It's why

717
00:36:28,080 --> 00:36:30,080
Speaker 6: we don't get to know who Denzel is or Morgan

718
00:36:30,080 --> 00:36:32,640
Speaker 6: Freeman is or Don Chiedo is they're in their thirties

719
00:36:32,680 --> 00:36:35,000
Speaker 6: their forties, because it's all tied to opportunity.

720
00:36:35,560 --> 00:36:38,080
Speaker 4: I saw a quote when you were talking about just

721
00:36:38,239 --> 00:36:40,960
Speaker 4: African stories that are being told right now. Yeah, because

722
00:36:41,040 --> 00:36:44,680
Speaker 4: you mentioned us being able to play roles for those

723
00:36:44,680 --> 00:36:46,759
Speaker 4: type of movies and you said that you don't feel

724
00:36:46,760 --> 00:36:50,080
Speaker 4: like there's enough stories out of Africa that don't involve

725
00:36:50,120 --> 00:36:50,880
Speaker 4: a white savior.

726
00:36:51,120 --> 00:36:52,920
Speaker 5: Yeah, Like, can you.

727
00:36:52,880 --> 00:36:54,759
Speaker 4: Expand more on that and like the feeling around that,

728
00:36:54,880 --> 00:36:56,839
Speaker 4: And I know you have your production company and your

729
00:36:56,840 --> 00:36:58,360
Speaker 4: wife and some of the things that you're doing to

730
00:36:58,440 --> 00:36:59,040
Speaker 4: kind of count that.

731
00:36:59,239 --> 00:37:02,440
Speaker 6: Yeah, I mean tradition speaking like I said before, for

732
00:37:02,560 --> 00:37:07,440
Speaker 6: a narrative to come out of Africa and be deemed global.

733
00:37:08,160 --> 00:37:10,200
Speaker 6: There tends to be a mindset that it needs to

734
00:37:10,200 --> 00:37:15,000
Speaker 6: be fronted by a white person to make it palatable,

735
00:37:15,440 --> 00:37:18,799
Speaker 6: to make it so that the West is going to

736
00:37:18,880 --> 00:37:20,000
Speaker 6: in some ways embrace it.

737
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:22,319
Speaker 1: The weird thing about that is that the.

738
00:37:22,280 --> 00:37:26,760
Speaker 6: Global majority is black and brown people, not white people,

739
00:37:27,880 --> 00:37:32,759
Speaker 6: and that's over a billion Africans who now you know,

740
00:37:32,880 --> 00:37:38,319
Speaker 6: the piracy issue is becoming solved by streaming, and you know,

741
00:37:38,360 --> 00:37:40,200
Speaker 6: the diaspora is huge.

742
00:37:40,640 --> 00:37:41,480
Speaker 1: So some of this.

743
00:37:41,560 --> 00:37:44,400
Speaker 6: Thinking, in my opinion, is antiquated and comes from a

744
00:37:44,440 --> 00:37:48,359
Speaker 6: time where it was still twelve people in Hollywood dictating

745
00:37:48,760 --> 00:37:50,759
Speaker 6: what should be made and how it's going to be

746
00:37:50,800 --> 00:37:52,799
Speaker 6: seen and whether or not it's going to be successful.

747
00:37:53,160 --> 00:37:54,040
Speaker 1: When you have.

748
00:37:53,960 --> 00:37:57,719
Speaker 6: Squid Gain being one of the biggest shows on Netflix

749
00:37:57,800 --> 00:38:02,320
Speaker 6: and it's not even English speaking, that shows that globally speaking,

750
00:38:02,680 --> 00:38:05,640
Speaker 6: we've been being told lies about what an audience is

751
00:38:05,680 --> 00:38:09,120
Speaker 6: going to gravitate towards on the basis of who's fronting

752
00:38:09,160 --> 00:38:12,400
Speaker 6: it or not. And some of that mindset still exists

753
00:38:12,400 --> 00:38:15,320
Speaker 6: because a lot of the gatekeepers still retain that mindset

754
00:38:15,320 --> 00:38:19,279
Speaker 6: because they are still the gatekeepers in power, being able

755
00:38:19,320 --> 00:38:22,320
Speaker 6: to say what gets made or not. So my point

756
00:38:22,360 --> 00:38:26,200
Speaker 6: is that We need more African stories. We just need

757
00:38:26,239 --> 00:38:30,319
Speaker 6: more stories. And I think a huge untapped source of

758
00:38:30,440 --> 00:38:35,480
Speaker 6: amazing global storytelling is Africa, absolutely and so, and for

759
00:38:35,560 --> 00:38:38,000
Speaker 6: those stories to be authentic, they need to be made

760
00:38:38,480 --> 00:38:43,799
Speaker 6: by people who are integrated in that culture, because I

761
00:38:43,800 --> 00:38:46,960
Speaker 6: truly believe the universal is found in the specific. The

762
00:38:46,960 --> 00:38:49,480
Speaker 6: more authentic those stories are, I actually think the more

763
00:38:49,520 --> 00:38:50,280
Speaker 6: potent they become.

764
00:38:50,640 --> 00:38:54,080
Speaker 4: Do you ever, could you have your production companies Euroba Saxon,

765
00:38:55,080 --> 00:38:57,000
Speaker 4: Eorba Saxon, So I know that you and your wife

766
00:38:57,080 --> 00:38:59,120
Speaker 4: co run that production company, and I'm sure a lot

767
00:38:59,120 --> 00:39:01,399
Speaker 4: of the stories that you guys tell are very close

768
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:03,360
Speaker 4: to the heart as far as like black stories just

769
00:39:03,440 --> 00:39:06,399
Speaker 4: by your passion here do you get backlasher all because

770
00:39:06,400 --> 00:39:08,200
Speaker 4: you're not married to a black woman doing that?

771
00:39:08,280 --> 00:39:09,160
Speaker 5: And how do you deal with that?

772
00:39:09,200 --> 00:39:17,200
Speaker 6: If sol not to my face, I'm sure there are

773
00:39:17,239 --> 00:39:19,279
Speaker 6: plenty of people who feel some kind of way about that.

774
00:39:19,320 --> 00:39:21,600
Speaker 6: But we called it Yuba Saxon because you know, I'm

775
00:39:21,600 --> 00:39:25,560
Speaker 6: from the Yuoba tribe in Nigeria. She's Anglo Saxon, and

776
00:39:25,600 --> 00:39:31,080
Speaker 6: so you know, our company is a demonstration of the

777
00:39:31,080 --> 00:39:33,560
Speaker 6: fact that we are more alike than we are different

778
00:39:33,640 --> 00:39:38,560
Speaker 6: as human beings. Generally speaking, you know, in making government cheese. Yes,

779
00:39:38,600 --> 00:39:41,840
Speaker 6: it's a black family. But my hope and my bet

780
00:39:42,360 --> 00:39:45,920
Speaker 6: is that everyone is going to see their family in

781
00:39:45,960 --> 00:39:50,480
Speaker 6: that family because of the relatable themes and components that

782
00:39:50,520 --> 00:39:54,879
Speaker 6: we've woven into it. And so, you know, I'm incredibly

783
00:39:54,960 --> 00:39:56,880
Speaker 6: proud of my family. I fell in love with my

784
00:39:56,920 --> 00:39:59,440
Speaker 6: wife when Gusha. We met when we were teenagers. We

785
00:39:59,480 --> 00:40:01,239
Speaker 6: got married with she was twenty, I was twenty two.

786
00:40:02,040 --> 00:40:05,200
Speaker 6: And everything we have we built together. So you know,

787
00:40:05,320 --> 00:40:09,719
Speaker 6: for me, sometimes the accusation, you know, in marrying a

788
00:40:09,800 --> 00:40:12,560
Speaker 6: white woman is you know, they say things like there's

789
00:40:12,560 --> 00:40:16,680
Speaker 6: self loathing in there, or what's the other one, or

790
00:40:17,800 --> 00:40:21,000
Speaker 6: that she's a trophy or something like that we she

791
00:40:21,880 --> 00:40:24,960
Speaker 6: we were so poor when we started out, they couldn't

792
00:40:24,960 --> 00:40:30,640
Speaker 6: be less trophy or if it tried. But you know,

793
00:40:30,800 --> 00:40:37,680
Speaker 6: I am an incredibly proud black man, African Christian husband, father.

794
00:40:37,880 --> 00:40:40,839
Speaker 6: There are so many things that I am on top

795
00:40:40,880 --> 00:40:43,800
Speaker 6: of my demographic and who I'm married to, and those

796
00:40:43,840 --> 00:40:46,440
Speaker 6: are all reflected in the work that I and we do.

797
00:40:46,920 --> 00:40:49,239
Speaker 5: And it's been twenty five years which are together.

798
00:40:49,480 --> 00:40:53,919
Speaker 6: Twenty six years married, thirty years next month that we've

799
00:40:53,920 --> 00:40:54,439
Speaker 6: known each other.

800
00:40:54,480 --> 00:40:57,120
Speaker 4: What have y'all learned, just as like co producers and

801
00:40:57,200 --> 00:41:00,000
Speaker 4: working partners on projects like race or just like.

802
00:41:00,840 --> 00:41:02,960
Speaker 6: Oh god, I mean work life balance. That's a real

803
00:41:03,040 --> 00:41:05,839
Speaker 6: thing to try and find. We have a two week

804
00:41:05,920 --> 00:41:08,320
Speaker 6: rule whenever apart for more than two weeks. We managed

805
00:41:08,320 --> 00:41:11,920
Speaker 6: that for twenty six years. Yeah, because you know, to

806
00:41:11,960 --> 00:41:14,000
Speaker 6: be in a relationship, you have to be in proximity

807
00:41:14,080 --> 00:41:16,680
Speaker 6: to be able to relate. Ours is a very tough

808
00:41:16,920 --> 00:41:19,920
Speaker 6: business on marriages, and so you know, we we we

809
00:41:20,000 --> 00:41:22,560
Speaker 6: made that choice because we didn't want to be another

810
00:41:22,600 --> 00:41:26,520
Speaker 6: statistic in our in our business. We learned that, you know,

811
00:41:27,040 --> 00:41:30,080
Speaker 6: the marriage is the center. The kids are a welcome addition.

812
00:41:30,280 --> 00:41:34,280
Speaker 6: Do not let the kids be the glue between you,

813
00:41:34,280 --> 00:41:38,520
Speaker 6: you know, always keep stay invested in in that relationship.

814
00:41:38,600 --> 00:41:41,560
Speaker 6: And those things have all stood us in good stead

815
00:41:41,680 --> 00:41:45,000
Speaker 6: as business partners, you know, respect, never taking each other

816
00:41:45,040 --> 00:41:48,120
Speaker 6: for granted, you know the thing, those are the things

817
00:41:48,160 --> 00:41:49,000
Speaker 6: that have kept us strong.

818
00:41:49,040 --> 00:41:50,680
Speaker 3: You and your wife should be thinking about producing a

819
00:41:50,719 --> 00:41:53,760
Speaker 3: biopic on a great man named doctor Umar Johnson.

820
00:41:53,880 --> 00:41:56,200
Speaker 2: He's an activist here in America. Scholar.

821
00:41:56,480 --> 00:41:57,640
Speaker 1: Oh wow, yeah, yeah, yeah.

822
00:41:57,520 --> 00:41:58,440
Speaker 2: Yeah, think about that.

823
00:41:59,080 --> 00:42:04,120
Speaker 7: Just look look at look into it. Listen here, listen

824
00:42:05,040 --> 00:42:07,800
Speaker 7: I'm going to keep looking at you. He's about to

825
00:42:07,880 --> 00:42:12,160
Speaker 7: get in trouble. Was that about to become a mean?

826
00:42:12,360 --> 00:42:12,680
Speaker 1: Just then?

827
00:42:12,920 --> 00:42:14,560
Speaker 5: That was about me?

828
00:42:14,360 --> 00:42:14,759
Speaker 1: A mean?

829
00:42:14,880 --> 00:42:16,200
Speaker 5: There's a whole change.

830
00:42:17,440 --> 00:42:21,440
Speaker 3: Trust me, they'll love you for that role.

831
00:42:21,280 --> 00:42:23,240
Speaker 2: That you will pitch that you morally said to yourself,

832
00:42:23,280 --> 00:42:23,920
Speaker 2: I can't do this.

833
00:42:24,440 --> 00:42:24,640
Speaker 1: Well.

834
00:42:24,680 --> 00:42:26,640
Speaker 6: What tends to happen is the minute you play a

835
00:42:26,680 --> 00:42:29,520
Speaker 6: civil rights leader, you get every civil rights leader who's

836
00:42:29,560 --> 00:42:34,280
Speaker 6: ever lived, which so I definitely definitely said though to those.

837
00:42:34,719 --> 00:42:37,920
Speaker 6: The minute you play a groundbreaking character, there's a whole

838
00:42:38,000 --> 00:42:41,279
Speaker 6: genre called the first black man who. You know, I

839
00:42:41,320 --> 00:42:43,839
Speaker 6: get a lot of first black man who, which I'm

840
00:42:43,880 --> 00:42:45,319
Speaker 6: not interested in.

841
00:42:45,600 --> 00:42:47,319
Speaker 5: What's the craziest thing? You was like, you don't even

842
00:42:47,320 --> 00:42:48,239
Speaker 5: know a black man? Didn't it?

843
00:42:50,000 --> 00:42:54,160
Speaker 6: I mean, I want to say that there have been one.

844
00:42:54,520 --> 00:42:58,480
Speaker 6: There have been like windscreen wipers, the guy who invented

845
00:42:58,520 --> 00:43:02,200
Speaker 6: the paper clip, the guy like like it's it's it's ridiculous.

846
00:43:02,239 --> 00:43:04,520
Speaker 6: It gets as ridiculous as that, and people will come

847
00:43:04,520 --> 00:43:06,400
Speaker 6: to you like full of passion. The other one you

848
00:43:06,440 --> 00:43:10,080
Speaker 6: want to really avoid is when someone goes, man, I

849
00:43:10,120 --> 00:43:13,600
Speaker 6: got this script, it's a boy, my dad and h

850
00:43:14,160 --> 00:43:16,400
Speaker 6: he the first person who had a car wash in

851
00:43:16,440 --> 00:43:18,840
Speaker 6: Alabama and all that kind of stuff, and it's just like,

852
00:43:19,960 --> 00:43:21,239
Speaker 6: I don't know how.

853
00:43:21,360 --> 00:43:24,800
Speaker 1: To tell you that that is not a movie.

854
00:43:26,800 --> 00:43:29,200
Speaker 6: I'm just I'm just so sorry, but that's not going

855
00:43:29,280 --> 00:43:30,600
Speaker 6: to be my next but I got your.

856
00:43:30,480 --> 00:43:32,799
Speaker 2: Next project, go in and out.

857
00:43:32,800 --> 00:43:33,880
Speaker 5: It is crazy.

858
00:43:35,239 --> 00:43:37,200
Speaker 6: Because it happens a lot of a lot to me.

859
00:43:38,239 --> 00:43:40,960
Speaker 6: So so yeah, those are the ones to avoid as well.

860
00:43:41,239 --> 00:43:41,839
Speaker 2: Absolutely.

861
00:43:42,239 --> 00:43:46,600
Speaker 4: Oh you mentioned so casually multiple times, Oprah, but.

862
00:43:46,800 --> 00:43:47,960
Speaker 5: Just just very casually.

863
00:43:48,600 --> 00:43:50,799
Speaker 4: I read another story about when you invite her to

864
00:43:50,880 --> 00:43:52,960
Speaker 4: Odello opening night and she had to sit on the

865
00:43:53,040 --> 00:43:54,839
Speaker 4: hard benches and she never let you let that down.

866
00:43:55,520 --> 00:44:01,040
Speaker 6: She just never stopped talking about child those benches. But

867
00:44:01,239 --> 00:44:04,080
Speaker 6: she came to Coriolanus, which I just did in London,

868
00:44:04,160 --> 00:44:07,279
Speaker 6: and they had cushionsy, yes, so you know we are

869
00:44:07,320 --> 00:44:11,359
Speaker 6: beyond the bad benches now. But yeah, and they were

870
00:44:11,600 --> 00:44:13,920
Speaker 6: very tough benches towards three hours of Shakespeare.

871
00:44:15,239 --> 00:44:18,400
Speaker 1: So she fair point. But I'm glad that we've broken

872
00:44:18,440 --> 00:44:18,920
Speaker 1: the deadlock.

873
00:44:19,120 --> 00:44:20,359
Speaker 5: She show up a lot for you, though.

874
00:44:20,640 --> 00:44:22,319
Speaker 4: It sounds like just in what I'm hearing you say,

875
00:44:22,360 --> 00:44:24,880
Speaker 4: like what's that relationship? And like, because you know, Oprain,

876
00:44:24,960 --> 00:44:26,279
Speaker 4: come at the house for everybody.

877
00:44:26,480 --> 00:44:30,279
Speaker 1: She she is not, She's not. Yeah, you know.

878
00:44:30,400 --> 00:44:33,680
Speaker 6: We met doing The Butler together, and I remember being

879
00:44:33,719 --> 00:44:37,120
Speaker 6: stood at a party at Lee Daniel's house that he

880
00:44:37,239 --> 00:44:39,839
Speaker 6: was renting in New Orleans when we were shooting that film,

881
00:44:39,920 --> 00:44:41,800
Speaker 6: and it was at a time when I just felt

882
00:44:41,920 --> 00:44:43,239
Speaker 6: I felt very isolated.

883
00:44:43,280 --> 00:44:44,280
Speaker 1: I felt very alone.

884
00:44:44,960 --> 00:44:48,480
Speaker 6: I'd moved here with my family, If I'm totally honest,

885
00:44:48,520 --> 00:44:52,640
Speaker 6: I felt like there were other actors who saw me

886
00:44:52,760 --> 00:44:55,720
Speaker 6: as a threat in a way that confused me, because

887
00:44:55,760 --> 00:44:57,680
Speaker 6: I was like, I'm just you know, I'd come out

888
00:44:57,680 --> 00:45:00,839
Speaker 6: of theater in the UK. It's an environment where it's

889
00:45:00,880 --> 00:45:03,560
Speaker 6: all about, you know, about the work and working together,

890
00:45:03,719 --> 00:45:06,480
Speaker 6: and there are people who are like, you know, that

891
00:45:06,920 --> 00:45:09,919
Speaker 6: coming here to take our jobs thing was a real

892
00:45:10,000 --> 00:45:12,480
Speaker 6: thing I was feeling. And I just remember still being

893
00:45:12,480 --> 00:45:15,640
Speaker 6: stood in a corner at this party, and Oprah came

894
00:45:15,680 --> 00:45:17,120
Speaker 6: up to me and said, you okay, I said, you

895
00:45:17,160 --> 00:45:19,160
Speaker 6: know what, you know, I'm really glad to have gotten

896
00:45:19,239 --> 00:45:19,800
Speaker 6: this movie.

897
00:45:19,840 --> 00:45:23,160
Speaker 1: But it's just I don't know if you've ever felt this, just.

898
00:45:23,200 --> 00:45:28,879
Speaker 6: Like like your own community is is resisting you, which

899
00:45:28,880 --> 00:45:29,600
Speaker 6: is what I'm feeling.

900
00:45:33,080 --> 00:45:36,080
Speaker 7: She's the first, whatever you said earlier, the first ever

901
00:45:36,719 --> 00:45:39,080
Speaker 7: I know, and so exactly your reaction.

902
00:45:39,239 --> 00:45:43,880
Speaker 6: There was her reaction. She was like baby, and she

903
00:45:44,080 --> 00:45:49,240
Speaker 6: talked about how Sidney Poitier was the one who took

904
00:45:49,480 --> 00:45:52,160
Speaker 6: her under his wing and said, no, you're not crazy.

905
00:45:52,239 --> 00:45:53,279
Speaker 1: This is a real thing.

906
00:45:53,400 --> 00:45:58,080
Speaker 6: It's something that is unfortunately part of ascending in our community.

907
00:45:58,280 --> 00:46:01,520
Speaker 6: And he mentored her and she literally said to me,

908
00:46:01,920 --> 00:46:04,000
Speaker 6: I am going to do for you what he did

909
00:46:04,040 --> 00:46:07,840
Speaker 6: for me. And she has never abated on that. You know,

910
00:46:07,960 --> 00:46:12,200
Speaker 6: summer doesn't happen without her, My directorial debut doesn't acting

911
00:46:12,400 --> 00:46:15,799
Speaker 6: happen without her. So much of the advice, so much

912
00:46:15,840 --> 00:46:19,000
Speaker 6: that of the financial literacy I have came from her

913
00:46:19,080 --> 00:46:21,560
Speaker 6: because I didn't come from means. My parents were not

914
00:46:21,600 --> 00:46:25,080
Speaker 6: particularly good business people, even though they had a business.

915
00:46:25,800 --> 00:46:28,880
Speaker 6: And so yeah, she has really really made good on

916
00:46:28,880 --> 00:46:31,000
Speaker 6: that promise and it's been absolutely life changing.

917
00:46:31,520 --> 00:46:37,840
Speaker 4: People definitely hate you now, just pop outside.

918
00:46:38,400 --> 00:46:40,439
Speaker 6: I know, I know, I know, I made a rod

919
00:46:40,480 --> 00:46:42,880
Speaker 6: for my back. I should have shut up. Would you

920
00:46:42,920 --> 00:46:47,400
Speaker 6: can pass? Would you consider that a moment of divine intervention? Absolutely?

921
00:46:47,719 --> 00:46:51,960
Speaker 6: So many moments in my life have been divine intervention.

922
00:46:52,200 --> 00:46:56,920
Speaker 6: And when I when I look at how indisputably my

923
00:46:57,080 --> 00:47:01,120
Speaker 6: life changed for having met her. But you look at

924
00:47:01,120 --> 00:47:04,440
Speaker 6: the journey towards even playing Doctor King in Selma. You know,

925
00:47:04,560 --> 00:47:08,680
Speaker 6: like I said when I first read that script in seven,

926
00:47:09,080 --> 00:47:11,840
Speaker 6: the reason I ever even met Ava Duverna.

927
00:47:11,840 --> 00:47:13,920
Speaker 1: Is because I sat down next to.

928
00:47:13,920 --> 00:47:16,920
Speaker 6: A guy on a plane who was watching a TV

929
00:47:17,000 --> 00:47:19,480
Speaker 6: show I had done in the UK on his iPad.

930
00:47:20,040 --> 00:47:22,040
Speaker 6: He looks to me and says, is this you I'm

931
00:47:22,080 --> 00:47:25,760
Speaker 6: watching on my iPad? I said yes. He pauses it says, oh, okay,

932
00:47:25,800 --> 00:47:28,719
Speaker 6: you're an actor. Give me some advice. Someone just asked

933
00:47:28,719 --> 00:47:31,160
Speaker 6: me to put fifty thousand dollars into this film called

934
00:47:31,200 --> 00:47:34,280
Speaker 6: Middle of Nowhere. It's been directed by this lady, Ava DuVernay.

935
00:47:34,840 --> 00:47:36,440
Speaker 6: You know what do you think? I was like, well,

936
00:47:36,800 --> 00:47:38,719
Speaker 6: send me the script. I'll give you my opinion. I

937
00:47:38,760 --> 00:47:42,480
Speaker 6: read it, blew my head off, And on the script

938
00:47:42,760 --> 00:47:45,200
Speaker 6: was the title, her name and her number, and I

939
00:47:45,280 --> 00:47:47,640
Speaker 6: called her asked her if I could be in her movie.

940
00:47:47,920 --> 00:47:53,360
Speaker 6: That's how I met Abra Wow. That was in twoenty eleven,

941
00:47:55,160 --> 00:47:57,960
Speaker 6: and that's how Ava came to direct Selma. If i'd

942
00:47:58,080 --> 00:48:01,080
Speaker 6: literally been sat in the rob I'm that guy. I

943
00:48:01,120 --> 00:48:03,920
Speaker 6: don't know that I'm meeting abad Vine. So you know,

944
00:48:04,320 --> 00:48:07,080
Speaker 6: to your point about divine intervention. That has been a

945
00:48:07,120 --> 00:48:09,160
Speaker 6: big part of my life. So this Hampton character is

946
00:48:09,239 --> 00:48:11,160
Speaker 6: kind of a little bit of type there you go,

947
00:48:11,239 --> 00:48:13,160
Speaker 6: a little bit, there you go. I love how you

948
00:48:13,200 --> 00:48:15,279
Speaker 6: want that back in because that is one of the

949
00:48:15,320 --> 00:48:20,160
Speaker 6: things I just loved about Hampton Chambers. Paul Hunter approached

950
00:48:20,200 --> 00:48:24,840
Speaker 6: me six years ago with a short film called Government Cheese,

951
00:48:25,000 --> 00:48:28,120
Speaker 6: based on his youth growing up in the Valley in

952
00:48:28,160 --> 00:48:30,960
Speaker 6: the sixties and seventies. And I'm playing a version of

953
00:48:30,960 --> 00:48:35,600
Speaker 6: his dad this in this show. And Paul has has

954
00:48:35,640 --> 00:48:40,040
Speaker 6: his own relationship with God. I have my very clear

955
00:48:40,120 --> 00:48:43,600
Speaker 6: relationship with God, and when I read that script, I

956
00:48:43,760 --> 00:48:49,400
Speaker 6: just related so deeply to a complicated relationship with God.

957
00:48:49,520 --> 00:48:52,680
Speaker 6: Mine is I like to think, very functional, but it

958
00:48:52,760 --> 00:48:55,400
Speaker 6: is a back and forth. There are moments where I'm confused.

959
00:48:55,440 --> 00:48:57,680
Speaker 6: There are moments where I'm like, what are you doing?

960
00:48:58,120 --> 00:49:01,520
Speaker 6: And That's what my character is doing throughout these ten episodes.

961
00:49:01,560 --> 00:49:03,759
Speaker 6: It's like he's trying to be a better man. He's

962
00:49:03,800 --> 00:49:06,839
Speaker 6: trying to be guided by God, but he is very,

963
00:49:07,040 --> 00:49:11,360
Speaker 6: very challenged at seeding control to God. And the tension

964
00:49:11,440 --> 00:49:14,000
Speaker 6: in the show is you take the wheel, no, I'll

965
00:49:14,000 --> 00:49:14,600
Speaker 6: take the whill. No.

966
00:49:14,719 --> 00:49:15,400
Speaker 1: You take the wheel.

967
00:49:15,400 --> 00:49:17,480
Speaker 6: No, I'll take the wheel, which I think is some

968
00:49:17,480 --> 00:49:20,400
Speaker 6: something that no matter where you are on the religious spectrum,

969
00:49:20,440 --> 00:49:22,480
Speaker 6: we can all relate absolutely.

970
00:49:23,480 --> 00:49:26,040
Speaker 2: David, thank you for joining us, brother, Thank you. Government

971
00:49:26,120 --> 00:49:28,920
Speaker 2: Cheese is on Apple TV right now and it was

972
00:49:29,000 --> 00:49:31,600
Speaker 2: a pleasure talking to you. Man, don't be a stranger.

973
00:49:31,640 --> 00:49:35,839
Speaker 3: It's David Oh yellow yellow yeah, Yellow, Yes, David O Yellow.

974
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:38,200
Speaker 1: Definitely not making that film. He was recommended.

975
00:49:38,320 --> 00:49:40,439
Speaker 2: Now, I'm telling you, doctor Umar johnthan Biden.

976
00:49:40,480 --> 00:49:41,839
Speaker 5: I mean it depends on when you want to live.

977
00:49:42,160 --> 00:49:51,359
Speaker 5: You want to go. Drew Ski sto, he is it?

978
00:49:51,640 --> 00:49:52,239
Speaker 1: Please?

979
00:49:52,320 --> 00:49:54,440
Speaker 5: Please please let us like something.

980
00:49:55,000 --> 00:49:58,040
Speaker 1: We got to see it first, Okay, Okay.

981
00:49:57,800 --> 00:49:59,640
Speaker 5: Go look up doctor Umar and let us know how

982
00:49:59,640 --> 00:50:00,000
Speaker 5: you feel.

983
00:50:00,080 --> 00:50:04,080
Speaker 1: Okay, it's the Breakfast Reading to see what you love it.

984
00:50:04,160 --> 00:50:08,160
Speaker 3: Man, okay a just google doctor Lumar Johnson.

985
00:50:08,680 --> 00:50:09,720
Speaker 2: Nobody's never.

986
00:50:11,080 --> 00:50:15,400
Speaker 1: See what comes happened, just happened this joy.

987
00:50:15,200 --> 00:50:20,240
Speaker 7: When you do me like that, Oh my gosh, nobody's watching.

988
00:50:23,360 --> 00:50:27,360
Speaker 1: It's okay, it's I'm so glad you're here. Wake that

989
00:50:27,480 --> 00:50:29,040
Speaker 1: ass up in the morning.

990
00:50:29,160 --> 00:50:30,200
Speaker 2: The Breakfast Club