WEBVTT - Questlove Supreme: Erika Alexander Part 2 0:00:00.160 --> 0:00:03.040 Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. 0:00:05.640 --> 0:00:06.520 What's Up Everybody? 0:00:06.559 --> 0:00:09.560 This is Sugar Steve from Questlove Supreme. We are back 0:00:09.680 --> 0:00:13.440 with part two of our conversation with the incredible Erica Alexander. 0:00:13.800 --> 0:00:16.079 If you have not heard part one, please check that 0:00:16.160 --> 0:00:19.520 out before this. In that episode, Erica spoke about her 0:00:19.600 --> 0:00:23.120 upbringing living in Arizona and New Mexico before moving to Philly. 0:00:23.560 --> 0:00:26.360 She really opened up about her experiences playing cousin Pam 0:00:26.400 --> 0:00:29.680 on The Cosby Show and Maxine on Living Single, two 0:00:29.760 --> 0:00:30.960 very memorable roles. 0:00:31.280 --> 0:00:33.040 One thing I want to add too is that you 0:00:33.080 --> 0:00:33.839 won't hear me or. 0:00:35.760 --> 0:00:37.320 One thing I want to add too is that you 0:00:37.360 --> 0:00:39.840 won't hear me or unpaid bill in this part too, 0:00:39.960 --> 0:00:45.280 because one thing I want to add too is that 0:00:45.360 --> 0:00:48.600 you won't hear me or unpaid bill in this part too, because. 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:57.800 Theyre so here's the thing, when, of course it's revealed 0:00:58.680 --> 0:01:04.480 that you know Living Singles main sort of influence, of 0:01:04.520 --> 0:01:09.399 course being right, and you've talked about this time and 0:01:09.440 --> 0:01:12.040 time again about friends, but I do want to know 0:01:12.080 --> 0:01:14.600 because here's the deal. I had to go to the 0:01:14.800 --> 0:01:17.880 Warner Brothers a lot, maybe like a month ago. I 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:22.000 did a cameo on Avid Elementary, which I think might 0:01:22.040 --> 0:01:25.360 be on right now as we speak. And I remember 0:01:26.240 --> 0:01:28.640 seeing an interview where you were like, yeah, you know, 0:01:28.680 --> 0:01:31.039 we were on the same lot. You know, both shows 0:01:31.080 --> 0:01:34.480 were Warner Brothers shows, and I go there now, and 0:01:34.520 --> 0:01:38.720 of course you know, you'll you'll go past the wherever 0:01:38.880 --> 0:01:41.080 what do you call it? Like the buildings that they 0:01:41.800 --> 0:01:49.800 build sets, like oh, the house stages, right, you know, 0:01:49.880 --> 0:01:52.160 I always wanted to know what sound stage you guys 0:01:52.160 --> 0:01:54.400 were on, because they now mark off like this is 0:01:54.440 --> 0:01:57.920 where Ozzie and Harriet and and Da Da Da and 0:01:58.000 --> 0:01:59.680 friends and Da Da Da, And I wanted to know 0:01:59.680 --> 0:02:03.680 where the living single one was, but we weren't there. 0:02:03.680 --> 0:02:07.680 We were on the ghetto a lot, I'm not kidding, right. 0:02:07.960 --> 0:02:10.560 So not even in that whole area, a whole different 0:02:10.560 --> 0:02:12.120 area location address. 0:02:12.160 --> 0:02:14.440 You're saying, yeah, what's something. 0:02:14.280 --> 0:02:17.720 Called the ranch And they had all the big shows 0:02:17.800 --> 0:02:21.160 or all the shows with white casts on the big 0:02:21.200 --> 0:02:24.040 lot and we were on the ranch lot. We didn't 0:02:24.040 --> 0:02:28.480 have air conditioning, wed No, we had to. We staged 0:02:28.520 --> 0:02:34.200 a walk out because we didn't have craft service correct 0:02:34.480 --> 0:02:38.160 or you know those types of things. 0:02:38.240 --> 0:02:40.240 Yeah, we were hot in sale on that stage. 0:02:40.600 --> 0:02:43.760 So okay, I add when I asked the Avid people 0:02:43.760 --> 0:02:46.520 that like, okay, so where's this in proximity to work 0:02:46.600 --> 0:02:48.480 for it? They're like, we're right next door to them, 0:02:48.680 --> 0:02:50.720 And they were like, that's a big deal to be 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:53.560 right next door to where they shot Friends, and I 0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:55.800 briefly mentioned the whole living single thing, but then I 0:02:55.840 --> 0:02:59.360 got distracted and never got the answer. But obviously, to 0:02:59.400 --> 0:03:02.280 shoot any where in proximity to where Friends was means 0:03:02.320 --> 0:03:06.400 that you're going to get treated better, like you're things work, 0:03:07.200 --> 0:03:09.680 and so you're saying that a lot of those things 0:03:09.760 --> 0:03:12.280 you actually wanted the stage a walk out, that's crazy. 0:03:12.480 --> 0:03:13.519 We did stay the watch on. 0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.480 Yeah, really, yeah. 0:03:16.680 --> 0:03:17.320 I was very. 0:03:17.280 --> 0:03:18.079 Political even then. 0:03:18.120 --> 0:03:20.320 I wrote a letter and I said that you have 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:21.880 to understand I had to come off of the biggest 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.320 show in the world, right. I understood that we weren't 0:03:25.360 --> 0:03:27.919 going to get those types of niceties to Cosby got, 0:03:28.680 --> 0:03:31.640 but I understood what we were being treated like niggas 0:03:32.680 --> 0:03:35.520 say that, yeah, so wait with the number one show 0:03:35.600 --> 0:03:38.800 in America, Black and Latino Household and we didn't have 0:03:38.840 --> 0:03:41.360 any air condition at the time, we need to that's 0:03:41.480 --> 0:03:45.120 crazy advocate for it now. They wouldn't do those types 0:03:45.120 --> 0:03:48.240 of things, and it's nice to be in proximity to 0:03:48.520 --> 0:03:53.040 power and things that are, you know, in the zeitgeist. 0:03:53.120 --> 0:03:57.000 But we were over there building still for the black 0:03:57.040 --> 0:03:57.840 people who were on. 0:03:57.880 --> 0:04:00.800 Those sets, that's the same part of the stories that 0:04:00.800 --> 0:04:02.480 I wish you would have been able to finish that story. 0:04:02.520 --> 0:04:05.000 So they understood how much of a real big deal 0:04:05.040 --> 0:04:06.520 it was to be there in that moment, and who 0:04:06.560 --> 0:04:10.800 fought for them to be there, because that's fucking ridiculous. 0:04:11.080 --> 0:04:13.680 Yeah, real quick, what other shows shot at the Ranch? 0:04:14.440 --> 0:04:15.320 The Wayne's Brothers? 0:04:16.800 --> 0:04:17.440 Oh wow. 0:04:21.360 --> 0:04:25.159 For a long time it was mostly us, and then 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.520 season three or so, the Wayne's Brothers dropped in and 0:04:28.600 --> 0:04:31.520 we had a good time with those young fellas. And 0:04:31.520 --> 0:04:36.000 then the Waltons actually came to do like a limited series. 0:04:36.680 --> 0:04:39.320 And I had done a series of something called Common 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:43.320 Ground with Richard Thomas and we had already won friends, 0:04:43.600 --> 0:04:46.040 so we said, oh, there goes the neighborhood with all 0:04:46.040 --> 0:04:48.679 these white folks. We all got along. We all got along, 0:04:49.200 --> 0:04:51.320 We all joked about it, and they got it. But yeah, 0:04:51.360 --> 0:04:53.520 that's who was on that lot before they fixed it up. 0:04:53.560 --> 0:04:55.800 We were on the Ranch lot, and you know that 0:04:57.400 --> 0:05:01.800 fountain it's on our lot that wanted to film around 0:05:01.800 --> 0:05:03.600 that fountain, but they didn't let us. 0:05:03.640 --> 0:05:06.479 That's why we're behind the couch eight. That's some shit. 0:05:07.279 --> 0:05:10.760 Wow, that's the things I learned. 0:05:10.839 --> 0:05:15.960 Oh, was there any truth to the rumor that initially 0:05:16.240 --> 0:05:20.159 NBC was going to pick up the show initially before 0:05:20.160 --> 0:05:20.920 it went to Fox? 0:05:21.640 --> 0:05:24.839 Never because we are a Warner Brothers show and we 0:05:24.960 --> 0:05:25.960 played on the Fox. 0:05:27.120 --> 0:05:30.240 Okay, so Warren Littlefields. 0:05:30.920 --> 0:05:35.240 The story goes that when we made our first debut, 0:05:35.560 --> 0:05:39.120 they said, is there anything show there was any show 0:05:39.160 --> 0:05:41.520 that you saw that you wish it was yours? And 0:05:41.560 --> 0:05:44.880 he said single And he was the head of NBC 0:05:45.720 --> 0:05:48.359 and then the next year he created with a different 0:05:48.400 --> 0:05:49.760 team France. 0:05:51.120 --> 0:05:55.720 I never heard of the cast members response to jay 0:05:55.800 --> 0:06:01.440 Z's Moonlight video. Jay Z infamously uh Alan Alan Yang, 0:06:01.480 --> 0:06:07.320 who who directed uh uh with with Disease and Sorry Yeah, 0:06:07.360 --> 0:06:11.799 Masters of None, and also uh Maya's current series Lut. 0:06:12.240 --> 0:06:16.919 Jay Z got Alan Yang to basically get the friend 0:06:17.000 --> 0:06:21.080 set to actually recreate Do you remember this vine? 0:06:21.680 --> 0:06:24.600 Remember it was it was? Was it was it? Four 0:06:24.640 --> 0:06:26.240 four four? Was it? Yeah? Yeah? 0:06:26.279 --> 0:06:29.280 The Moonlight song or four four four? What were your 0:06:29.279 --> 0:06:30.240 feelings of that? 0:06:30.440 --> 0:06:30.799 I guess. 0:06:30.839 --> 0:06:33.880 Once that story broke out, and then jay Z also 0:06:33.880 --> 0:06:35.800 gave a statement on it as well, what were your 0:06:36.240 --> 0:06:38.400 Did you have a response to that video at all? 0:06:39.080 --> 0:06:40.240 No, I was unaware of it. 0:06:40.760 --> 0:06:44.640 Oh okay, basically, when you're that story got out, jay 0:06:44.720 --> 0:06:53.640 Z made a video in which Tessa Thompson, Uh, Tiffany 0:06:53.680 --> 0:06:57.480 Hattish Hannibal and. 0:06:57.920 --> 0:07:01.800 Yeah, yeah, basically I think I did see that. Just 0:07:01.800 --> 0:07:03.800 wanted to know if you word okay, I think that. 0:07:03.839 --> 0:07:07.839 We're understand and I understand that in marketing that you 0:07:07.880 --> 0:07:10.760 want to also speak to a wide audience. If you 0:07:10.840 --> 0:07:14.400 have this huge part of the world that understands that 0:07:14.480 --> 0:07:17.840 friends is this juggernaut. I'm sure that jay Z who 0:07:17.960 --> 0:07:21.000 understands that you stand next to things you want to 0:07:21.480 --> 0:07:25.320 shine on you and vice versa. I don't think he 0:07:25.360 --> 0:07:28.280 needs to stand next to living single, okay, and and 0:07:28.400 --> 0:07:30.360 and not that he needs to stand next to friends, 0:07:30.360 --> 0:07:31.000 But I get it. 0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:32.680 I get it as a branding. 0:07:32.920 --> 0:07:34.840 Was that his homage to living single in a way 0:07:34.880 --> 0:07:37.400 like was it the supposed to feel like, yeah, okay, 0:07:37.640 --> 0:07:39.280 it was supposed to feel like this is we know 0:07:39.400 --> 0:07:40.440 what the real truth is? 0:07:40.480 --> 0:07:43.600 And I guess so, But it could also be seen 0:07:43.600 --> 0:07:44.360 in the opposite. 0:07:44.840 --> 0:07:47.520 Yes, it came right, you know, right, you're right. 0:07:47.680 --> 0:07:49.720 Yeah, So but I get it, you. 0:07:49.640 --> 0:07:53.520 Know, at one hundred and eighteen episodes, I mean, that's 0:07:53.520 --> 0:07:58.160 nothing to sneeze at for in most shows. Basically, if 0:07:58.160 --> 0:08:01.880 we're really being honest with ourselves, most shows are at 0:08:01.920 --> 0:08:05.880 their best during a five season arc, and then it 0:08:05.920 --> 0:08:07.960 gets a little shaky with season six, seven, eight. 0:08:08.000 --> 0:08:15.400 You know they Fraser was consistent all I didn't watch. 0:08:15.560 --> 0:08:17.640 Yeah, yeah, I watched pretty consistent. 0:08:17.720 --> 0:08:21.200 Yeah, I mean I agree with that five season or 0:08:21.360 --> 0:08:23.520 like the favor like I mean Breaking Bad or like 0:08:23.560 --> 0:08:26.280 the wh Like five seasons is kind of it's perfect. 0:08:26.360 --> 0:08:28.800 Yeah, yeah, but we're greedy, and so it's like what's 0:08:29.000 --> 0:08:29.960 ringing for? All? Right? 0:08:30.080 --> 0:08:32.840 Like right now, fell down a suit hole and now 0:08:32.840 --> 0:08:35.640 I'm a little upset that it ended that eight seasons, 0:08:35.679 --> 0:08:40.559 even though two said it ended a season five or whatever. 0:08:41.559 --> 0:08:42.559 But are you. 0:08:44.600 --> 0:08:48.679 Satisfied with that particular arc, like those one hundred and 0:08:48.720 --> 0:08:52.960 eighteen episodes or do you feel as though there was 0:08:53.000 --> 0:08:54.959 more in it? Because I'm not I'm not too sure. 0:08:55.320 --> 0:08:57.080 But by the time you guys ended. 0:08:57.280 --> 0:09:01.839 Max is pregnant, right ended, and with her gonad, I'm 0:09:01.840 --> 0:09:04.520 gonna get together and and then Kadija goes on to 0:09:04.559 --> 0:09:06.439 another country to be with Scooters. 0:09:06.760 --> 0:09:08.679 Yeah, well that was just them wrapping it up. 0:09:09.400 --> 0:09:13.240 We didn't even really have passed together, like was you know, 0:09:13.480 --> 0:09:14.880 TC wasn't really there. 0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:16.960 That was my comedy partner. 0:09:17.040 --> 0:09:20.520 That's like I'm dancing with Redistare and Ginger and something 0:09:20.520 --> 0:09:21.880 I ain't got nobody to dance with. 0:09:23.120 --> 0:09:24.559 I love watching y'all dance. 0:09:25.120 --> 0:09:26.280 Yes, there you go. 0:09:27.280 --> 0:09:29.720 We had a Dallas and we had met Williams and 0:09:29.800 --> 0:09:31.480 things like that. We're starting to be incorporated, and I 0:09:31.480 --> 0:09:35.040 think that it was again it found its peak and 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:36.440 was starting to round over. 0:09:37.160 --> 0:09:39.479 You have you need everybody to be engaged. 0:09:40.320 --> 0:09:46.480 We're saying very intentional words of writers, and they are. 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:51.160 They're building these characters in these worlds, and if they're 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.120 not as engaged, then we can only. 0:09:53.960 --> 0:09:56.720 Do We're like puppets. We can only do so much. 0:09:58.040 --> 0:10:01.440 I've uh one one last living single, which is totally 0:10:01.600 --> 0:10:04.400 just off of character. But I gotta know one of 0:10:04.440 --> 0:10:07.840 your directors of the show, John's first thing, JD Lube. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.440 This sounds like a weird poor name. Are you familiar 0:10:12.440 --> 0:10:16.040 with JD Lube? L o U l O b U 0:10:16.120 --> 0:10:19.640 e okay, see, I would imagine that on a sitcom 0:10:19.679 --> 0:10:21.760 there are a gazillion directors or whatnot. 0:10:21.800 --> 0:10:22.520 I wanted to know. 0:10:23.040 --> 0:10:28.280 I know you're looking like, well, no, no, he JD 0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:33.520 was sort of the longest director of Soul Train, which 0:10:33.720 --> 0:10:37.400 I'm absolutely obsessed with, and so the moment that I 0:10:37.480 --> 0:10:42.800 felt that Soul Trained the shark ish, he had left 0:10:42.960 --> 0:10:45.880 to go do living single. But you know, I always 0:10:45.920 --> 0:10:47.600 just wanted to know what what was he like as 0:10:47.640 --> 0:10:48.120 a director. 0:10:48.160 --> 0:10:50.959 But you don't remember, Sorry we ruined show. 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:55.400 Right to go on listen? 0:10:56.240 --> 0:11:01.400 But but but my question is actually in that in 0:11:01.760 --> 0:11:07.360 sitcom world or in television world, can you explain to 0:11:07.400 --> 0:11:13.520 me it's weird that the director isn't consistent from soup 0:11:13.559 --> 0:11:16.360 to nuts, Like in most comedies they have different directors 0:11:16.400 --> 0:11:21.560 come in and direct one Do you know generally why 0:11:21.600 --> 0:11:24.840 that's a rule, Like why isn't there just one director 0:11:25.559 --> 0:11:28.640 and one writing staff? I know the staff writers can 0:11:28.920 --> 0:11:33.439 change throughout the seasons or whatnot, but what does the 0:11:33.520 --> 0:11:36.640 deal with like having multiple directors for. 0:11:39.240 --> 0:11:40.840 A series, Like why is that? 0:11:40.920 --> 0:11:41.319 Yeah? 0:11:41.360 --> 0:11:44.840 I'm not quite sure, but I would imagine that it 0:11:44.920 --> 0:11:47.160 keeps the show from getting stale. 0:11:47.360 --> 0:11:49.720 They're also performers favorites. 0:11:50.280 --> 0:11:55.319 Some people don't jail with the performers, and if they 0:11:55.440 --> 0:11:58.040 notice a change or they might want to mix it 0:11:58.120 --> 0:12:02.320 up so people don't get disrespectful and start just doing 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:04.480 what they want. Sometime it keeps you on your toes. 0:12:05.840 --> 0:12:09.120 It depends on your cast. If you have a problematic 0:12:09.559 --> 0:12:12.559 cast or somebody at the lead, that's a. 0:12:12.480 --> 0:12:14.880 Tough when you mix it up. I don't know. 0:12:14.960 --> 0:12:18.960 I just think that that energy, that new energy, is important. 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:25.120 But our shows were mostly directed by Ellen Gettleson, and 0:12:25.240 --> 0:12:28.000 she knew us very well, so I actually seen it 0:12:28.200 --> 0:12:33.200 both ways. I've always been happy with new directors sometimes 0:12:33.200 --> 0:12:34.800 because I know people are getting a chance to build 0:12:34.840 --> 0:12:38.440 their resume. I really really to see somebody I have 0:12:38.559 --> 0:12:40.640 worked with over and over again because I don't explain 0:12:40.760 --> 0:12:44.679 myself and they know what you're capable of, so they 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:47.480 also pull you back if they're saying, oh, come on, Erica. 0:12:47.880 --> 0:12:49.560 Like I wanted to do a whole scene on the 0:12:49.600 --> 0:12:51.240 floor and they wouldn't let me, and I said, why, 0:12:51.400 --> 0:12:55.800 you can hear me, but you know fine, I'll set up. 0:12:55.880 --> 0:12:59.520 I was pissed, but that was a director I knew. 0:12:59.800 --> 0:13:02.040 I kept I didn't feel like I was pushing it. 0:13:02.040 --> 0:13:04.800 It's just that these things happen. So I think on 0:13:04.840 --> 0:13:07.840 a drama, I would say it's because you get burned out. 0:13:07.880 --> 0:13:09.600 You can't be the same director. You have to prep 0:13:09.640 --> 0:13:11.600 and do each show, and each show you have to 0:13:11.600 --> 0:13:15.160 prep them, so it's tough. But I think with comedy 0:13:15.240 --> 0:13:19.840 you're more likely to get return directors who are for 0:13:19.880 --> 0:13:22.360 the most part, doing most of the shows because the 0:13:22.440 --> 0:13:25.000 casts and the writers know that they can pull it off. 0:13:25.000 --> 0:13:26.920 Sometimes for you. 0:13:26.800 --> 0:13:30.880 As an actor, is there a particular like in terms 0:13:30.920 --> 0:13:36.160 of comedic acting versus dramatic acting? Is one more exhausting? 0:13:36.240 --> 0:13:37.680 What kind of strenuous than the other? 0:13:39.640 --> 0:13:42.120 No, I never thought about that. 0:13:42.160 --> 0:13:45.079 I never have. I haven't again. I don't have the 0:13:45.160 --> 0:13:48.640 luxury of choosing my roles, and I think that people 0:13:48.679 --> 0:13:52.520 think that you can. I took the roles that I got, 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:54.880 and if I didn't do well, I try to do 0:13:54.920 --> 0:13:59.360 better the next time. So I got dramas at first, 0:13:59.400 --> 0:14:01.079 and I was known as drama girl for a very 0:14:01.080 --> 0:14:04.719 long girl a long time, excuse me. And then I 0:14:04.840 --> 0:14:07.920 got comedy and suddenly people are like, oh, you were comedian. 0:14:09.000 --> 0:14:09.400 And I was. 0:14:09.440 --> 0:14:11.480 They didn't know I did drama. There was a surprise. 0:14:11.600 --> 0:14:13.880 I'm like, you kidding, That's what I grew up in. 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:17.680 And then I do podcasts and I do this or that, 0:14:17.800 --> 0:14:19.360 But what I'm really trying to do is make a 0:14:19.360 --> 0:14:22.280 living and make a life preach. 0:14:23.360 --> 0:14:28.440 I do remember you and uh the book that Alex 0:14:28.520 --> 0:14:30.040 Hilly didn't get to finish. 0:14:30.400 --> 0:14:32.520 Mama's by a Flora's Family. 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:34.600 Yes, okay, sorry, it was. 0:14:35.440 --> 0:14:37.000 You know, remember. 0:14:39.120 --> 0:14:44.040 One time and they gave me and Cecily Tyson a 0:14:44.080 --> 0:14:46.800 Black Emmy and anybody that has it from that award show. 0:14:47.520 --> 0:14:49.480 It never was done again. We have black I have 0:14:49.520 --> 0:14:49.880 an Emmy. 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.240 It's a Black Emmy, but it was a it was 0:14:52.240 --> 0:14:54.200 a Blackamy show, right, a black Emmy section. 0:14:54.400 --> 0:14:55.440 It was a black Emmy show. 0:14:55.800 --> 0:14:58.120 It was a Blackamy Award show. Because they weren't even. 0:14:59.280 --> 0:15:03.640 He got I ain't got no. How come I didn't 0:15:03.680 --> 0:15:03.880 know this? 0:15:04.680 --> 0:15:07.320 No, I remember, I remember. 0:15:07.560 --> 0:15:08.920 It's a real thing. It only happened once. 0:15:08.960 --> 0:15:12.440 I'm sure they got sued c distance letter, but I 0:15:12.480 --> 0:15:14.600 got one. 0:15:16.760 --> 0:15:16.960 See. 0:15:16.960 --> 0:15:18.960 That's why we got to keep telling history and telling 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:20.840 these stories. 0:15:21.560 --> 0:15:23.200 You said that, I thought you meant like, yeah, yeah, 0:15:23.320 --> 0:15:25.800 n w A C. People were I didn't realize that there. 0:15:25.720 --> 0:15:30.520 Was the great felicierer shod has no Emmy eight years 0:15:30.560 --> 0:15:34.120 on the top show in the world created helped create 0:15:34.200 --> 0:15:38.840 must see TV. They weren't given back any awards, they complained. Now, 0:15:38.880 --> 0:15:42.560 I'm like, it was a drought and a durst, so 0:15:42.640 --> 0:15:45.760 they created the Black Immys and I have one yo. 0:15:45.960 --> 0:15:47.480 Not to move fast forward, boss. 0:15:47.480 --> 0:15:49.480 But in my mind, I'm like, so when somebody said 0:15:49.480 --> 0:15:51.360 to Erica, we got this roll for you and get Out, 0:15:51.560 --> 0:15:57.680 she must have been like, hell, yeah, just get all this, Like, oh. 0:15:57.480 --> 0:16:00.920 I like to choose great material on the you find it, 0:16:01.080 --> 0:16:06.120 great material chooses you. So I read the part and thought, oh, 0:16:06.160 --> 0:16:09.880 this is lovely. But frankly I thought it was a 0:16:09.920 --> 0:16:11.680 college students film. 0:16:12.200 --> 0:16:14.320 Okayecond, so listen. 0:16:15.240 --> 0:16:20.240 I often wondered more with Us than get Out. I 0:16:20.440 --> 0:16:25.120 obsessed with how something looks on paper before it even 0:16:25.160 --> 0:16:28.680 gets to the screen. Fante and I sort of had 0:16:28.720 --> 0:16:31.120 this debate before, especially with US. 0:16:31.520 --> 0:16:33.480 Yeah. I wasn't big on US. I didn't right. 0:16:33.680 --> 0:16:37.520 I liked US, but I also chose to invest eight 0:16:38.720 --> 0:16:41.560 watch throughs. And if you have to watch something eight 0:16:41.600 --> 0:16:45.600 times to see probably the Easter Eggs or whatever. I 0:16:45.640 --> 0:16:48.040 still enjoyed it because you know, I like looking for 0:16:48.120 --> 0:16:51.880 Easter eggs and mystery and whatever. But get out to 0:16:51.960 --> 0:16:56.400 me on screen was amazing to be whole. But I 0:16:56.560 --> 0:16:59.640 always wondered, what did that script, how did it look 0:16:59.680 --> 0:17:02.440 on paper at the time, and did anyone see what 0:17:02.600 --> 0:17:05.560 was coming? And the fact that you played such a 0:17:05.600 --> 0:17:09.040 straight role in it. I was like, I'm glad she 0:17:09.280 --> 0:17:11.240 because when you came, I was like, oh boy, this 0:17:11.440 --> 0:17:13.560 is about to turn up now. But they didn't let 0:17:13.600 --> 0:17:17.200 you really put your teeth into it. But I don't 0:17:17.240 --> 0:17:18.879 know if you were fine. 0:17:18.640 --> 0:17:22.280 With that one thing. I thought it was a comedy. 0:17:24.840 --> 0:17:29.199 It was. I remember, my scene is only between me 0:17:29.280 --> 0:17:30.080 and little real. 0:17:31.920 --> 0:17:34.639 Outrageous story, and I bring in my team and we 0:17:34.720 --> 0:17:37.560 laugh at him. But at first I am supposed to 0:17:37.600 --> 0:17:40.120 look like I'm about to get into it. We're gonna 0:17:40.160 --> 0:17:40.800 ratchet it up. 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:41.760 Yeah. 0:17:42.080 --> 0:17:44.439 Jordan always told me when I came on the scream 0:17:44.600 --> 0:17:45.440 beside people. 0:17:45.160 --> 0:17:48.240 Going hey that's Max. Oh my god, they were like, okay, 0:17:48.280 --> 0:17:52.600 now now something going to happen. That's gonna happen. 0:17:53.000 --> 0:17:54.399 So he would joke and say, we need to make 0:17:54.440 --> 0:17:58.960 a Detective LaToya movie. Yes, that character, And that's when 0:17:58.960 --> 0:18:01.080 I started thinking about the ping panther or somebody who 0:18:01.119 --> 0:18:06.040 is a hapless person who stumbles into success. But it's 0:18:06.040 --> 0:18:07.239 not because they're looking for it. 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:08.359 So no, I do. 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.320 On the paper it looked exactly like it looked. Only 0:18:13.119 --> 0:18:17.439 Jordan knew how it was going to go. And unless 0:18:17.480 --> 0:18:21.119 you were part imagine, you know, there were fantastic actors 0:18:21.200 --> 0:18:25.960 they had all around, and they were cutting people's brains 0:18:26.000 --> 0:18:29.919 open and you know what I mean, and replacing them. 0:18:30.160 --> 0:18:34.199 So I wonder if they thought, hey, this is an 0:18:34.240 --> 0:18:36.199 interesting thing, let's go do it. 0:18:36.240 --> 0:18:39.439 He's a great guy. That's that's what I thought. I 0:18:39.520 --> 0:18:40.840 loved Jordan Peel. 0:18:41.240 --> 0:18:44.160 But I can assure you I had a call from 0:18:44.400 --> 0:18:47.640 a friend, my co founder Ben at Color Farm here 0:18:47.800 --> 0:18:48.080 and he. 0:18:48.040 --> 0:18:51.760 Says, Yoe, I just saw the trailer. Didn't you say 0:18:51.760 --> 0:18:54.399 you were in a comedy. This is a hard film. 0:18:54.520 --> 0:18:58.840 And wait, even then, you didn't realize where he was 0:18:58.880 --> 0:18:59.440 going with it. 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:02.120 No, because you didn't get to read the whole thing. 0:19:02.160 --> 0:19:03.720 Did you just read your scenes? 0:19:04.119 --> 0:19:05.960 I read my scene? But not only that. 0:19:06.040 --> 0:19:10.640 It was during the election. I was Hillary Clinton's most 0:19:10.640 --> 0:19:14.160 traveled surrogate, that's right. I was on the road Leicester. 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:16.680 And so for your service, and I was doing. 0:19:16.480 --> 0:19:19.800 Also at the same time Queen Sugar and I was 0:19:19.880 --> 0:19:21.320 playing there a bipolar. 0:19:22.280 --> 0:19:22.600 Yeah. 0:19:23.520 --> 0:19:27.080 So I had flown in from Baton Rouge straight to 0:19:27.160 --> 0:19:31.200 Alabama in one night, did all of those things, then 0:19:31.200 --> 0:19:35.240 went to Harlem for a rally for Hillary. I did 0:19:35.280 --> 0:19:39.159 it all like this without even looking. Sometimes you just 0:19:39.200 --> 0:19:41.399 have to go forward. And that was one of those moments. 0:19:43.440 --> 0:19:46.679 Wait wait, wait, wait wait. 0:19:46.720 --> 0:19:48.720 So did you ever get going sneak into a theater 0:19:48.800 --> 0:19:50.560 and hear the reaction of people when you come on 0:19:50.600 --> 0:19:51.000 the screen. 0:19:51.119 --> 0:19:52.280 Did you get to feel that? 0:19:52.880 --> 0:19:55.320 Yes? I did get to feel it once and it 0:19:55.440 --> 0:19:56.840 was really once. 0:19:56.960 --> 0:19:59.720 Yeah, okay once, Yeah, my first time seeing it. I 0:19:59.720 --> 0:20:01.400 saw it in Detroit, so it was all the way 0:20:01.480 --> 0:20:07.639 laugh very different, very different. Yeah. I was gonna say, 0:20:08.080 --> 0:20:09.760 I think I watched that. 0:20:09.760 --> 0:20:17.160 Film twelve times and purposely chose various I chose the 0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:22.119 whitest theater in Denver, Colorado, where the film was absolutely silent. 0:20:23.240 --> 0:20:23.720 In parts. 0:20:23.760 --> 0:20:27.560 That and then I saw I went to Magic Johnson 0:20:27.600 --> 0:20:31.800 to see say that evening Ready Dog, and that's when 0:20:31.840 --> 0:20:34.240 I was like, oh, now that's where it's a comedy, 0:20:34.400 --> 0:20:36.119 Like that's it's not a totally different movie. 0:20:36.800 --> 0:20:44.800 Different movie. Yeah, that's hilarious. 0:20:44.840 --> 0:20:49.800 Now that I think about it, there's another iconic film 0:20:49.880 --> 0:20:53.720 role you did. I'll be very brief, but can you 0:20:53.880 --> 0:20:56.840 talk about Tony Braxton's You're Making Me High? 0:20:56.920 --> 0:21:01.160 Video? Yeah, let's go. 0:21:02.200 --> 0:21:04.720 Can you just talk. I think that was maybe the 0:21:04.800 --> 0:21:07.919 last time. Like, once you're in the industry, you just 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:12.120 watch things different. But I do remember well one I 0:21:12.160 --> 0:21:15.840 was happy because if you were around in the nineties whatever, 0:21:16.480 --> 0:21:21.000 Bryce Wilson's growth theory kind of yeah, Bryce Wilson his 0:21:21.280 --> 0:21:26.359 uh uh and I'm understating this. His adoration for Tony 0:21:26.400 --> 0:21:31.080 Braxton was well known throughout circles. So the fact that 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.720 he got to play in that video, like I was like, yo, 0:21:34.000 --> 0:21:37.399 he like he he's made his crush in love for 0:21:37.680 --> 0:21:41.600 the Stalk of on right exactly, very very much known. 0:21:41.880 --> 0:21:46.239 And so when this sort of came to fruition in 0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:50.199 a video whatnot? Like I actually found myself watching the 0:21:50.280 --> 0:21:54.160 video as like a fan, not an industry person, even 0:21:54.200 --> 0:21:58.720 though I experienced everything, listening to records, watching videos whatever 0:21:58.760 --> 0:22:01.120 you do, like, you see different once you're in it. 0:22:01.960 --> 0:22:05.120 But to me, that looked so much fun. I was like, wow, 0:22:05.240 --> 0:22:06.640 like they were having the time there life. 0:22:06.760 --> 0:22:07.440 What was it? Like? 0:22:07.960 --> 0:22:13.080 I was pretty intimidated. Really, yeah, because I don't know. 0:22:13.160 --> 0:22:15.640 Teacher Campbell once asked me about this. She said, Erica, 0:22:15.680 --> 0:22:18.240 we don't see you out much. You don't go out, 0:22:19.200 --> 0:22:22.720 and I didn't have. I came into business when there 0:22:22.720 --> 0:22:26.959 were no Ange News, there were no going out, There 0:22:27.000 --> 0:22:31.320 were no young women yet performing, and they didn't have 0:22:31.400 --> 0:22:32.639 many roles for young women. 0:22:33.400 --> 0:22:36.600 So I didn't come in hanging out. 0:22:36.880 --> 0:22:38.520 And even though I came up in the hip hop 0:22:38.520 --> 0:22:41.240 era and there's Wu Tang and this and that and 0:22:41.240 --> 0:22:43.520 I'm in LA, it was dangerous to go out. 0:22:44.440 --> 0:22:47.920 You get captain the ads. Yeah, So you just didn't 0:22:47.960 --> 0:22:48.320 hang out. 0:22:48.520 --> 0:22:52.320 And so that was the first time me meeting those people. 0:22:53.480 --> 0:22:55.239 And so to me, I was a fan and that's 0:22:55.280 --> 0:22:57.320 something here I am, and they're like, they want me 0:22:57.359 --> 0:23:00.280 to be in that video with Tony Braxton and next 0:23:00.280 --> 0:23:04.160 to the Vivica Fox and blah blah, and I get. 0:23:04.080 --> 0:23:05.879 I kind of shut down a little bit when I'm. 0:23:05.720 --> 0:23:09.480 Intimidated, and so I tried to just do what they 0:23:09.560 --> 0:23:12.440 told me to do. I didn't necessarily know how a 0:23:12.560 --> 0:23:17.000 music video was shot. It was a learning experience and 0:23:17.040 --> 0:23:18.840 I was glad to be there, but for the most part, 0:23:18.920 --> 0:23:21.360 I was if you didn't know I was in there, 0:23:21.680 --> 0:23:22.439 wouldn't know I was in. 0:23:24.400 --> 0:23:24.480 Ye. 0:23:26.280 --> 0:23:28.639 When I think of it, I think of you first, 0:23:28.880 --> 0:23:34.439 and maybe I think at tis Campbell like, but yeah, no, 0:23:34.600 --> 0:23:37.080 when when you're there, we noticed. 0:23:37.680 --> 0:23:40.040 Thanks always, Yeah. 0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:42.720 We noticed. I wanted to ask about Queen Sugar. 0:23:43.000 --> 0:23:45.240 You talk about, you know, shows that didn't get Emmys 0:23:45.320 --> 0:23:46.000 or recognition. 0:23:46.359 --> 0:23:48.080 What was it like working on that show? 0:23:48.119 --> 0:23:51.480 Because that was just such a beautifully shot show and 0:23:51.760 --> 0:23:53.320 beautifully lit, like you know. 0:23:53.240 --> 0:23:55.200 It was just a beautiful show to watch. Why do 0:23:55.320 --> 0:23:57.359 they not announci you a while? 0:23:57.520 --> 0:24:04.200 Ara Angela blame Ralph angel for me now having subtitles on. 0:24:08.520 --> 0:24:10.520 Ava does everything with intention. 0:24:11.200 --> 0:24:15.240 Avid Duvenet came in this world with a black power 0:24:15.359 --> 0:24:21.479 sign stamped on her breast in the front. It's her 0:24:21.480 --> 0:24:25.639 shield and it's her mantra. And I think that you 0:24:25.760 --> 0:24:31.280 see that as an expression of love, and she wants 0:24:31.320 --> 0:24:35.280 to rebrand black people. That's what I want to do. 0:24:37.200 --> 0:24:40.800 She wanted to show a family that had land. We 0:24:40.880 --> 0:24:42.600 came in and we worked the land, but we didn't 0:24:42.600 --> 0:24:45.600 own that land. And once we owned the land, we 0:24:45.600 --> 0:24:47.720 were sharecropping for that land, and then we were thrown 0:24:47.760 --> 0:24:49.640 off the land. And now they say, we're not country 0:24:50.000 --> 0:24:54.119 and we are country. So there's all these things mixed 0:24:54.200 --> 0:24:57.400 in to Queen Sugar. She's talking about money ownership, she's 0:24:57.400 --> 0:25:00.400 talking about families, she's talking about generational trauma, she's talking 0:25:00.400 --> 0:25:03.160 about politics, she's talking about real estate. She's talking about 0:25:03.200 --> 0:25:09.040 all these things. And she did it. So I bravoed 0:25:09.080 --> 0:25:11.160 to her. And that's what it was like. You knew 0:25:11.280 --> 0:25:13.840 when you walked on that you were contributing to something 0:25:14.320 --> 0:25:17.120 that had very little to do with you, but more 0:25:17.160 --> 0:25:20.639 to do with how could we tell this story about 0:25:20.800 --> 0:25:23.480 a generational family that owned land. 0:25:24.320 --> 0:25:27.000 Did you see your work in American fiction? You mentioned 0:25:27.640 --> 0:25:30.720 kind of rebanded, rebranding black people. Did you see American 0:25:30.720 --> 0:25:32.360 fiction as an extension of that? 0:25:33.680 --> 0:25:34.160 For sure? 0:25:34.480 --> 0:25:38.720 I mean, poor Jefferson is made for the moment. I 0:25:38.720 --> 0:25:43.119 mean you have to understand American fiction is a satire. Okay, 0:25:43.200 --> 0:25:45.240 let's mention the greater Jeffrey Wright. You just got one 0:25:45.240 --> 0:25:47.560 of the best actors of all time to do it. 0:25:48.680 --> 0:25:51.560 But that character wants to be free of a narrative 0:25:51.600 --> 0:25:54.600 that's been keeping him in the cheap seats. He's a 0:25:54.640 --> 0:25:58.280 spectator in his own life and his reality. Our reality 0:25:58.400 --> 0:26:01.600 is much more complicated and plex then the narratives that 0:26:01.760 --> 0:26:04.959 drive the market. And so we have a problem with 0:26:05.000 --> 0:26:09.240 these stories that endure because black people have been amazingly 0:26:09.280 --> 0:26:14.000 successful by catering to those forces, and they've successfully produced, 0:26:14.040 --> 0:26:20.960 they've supported and these impoverished narratives. But this very durable 0:26:20.960 --> 0:26:26.160 and very self sustained universe is rejected. So that's the question, 0:26:28.119 --> 0:26:31.560 why do we see black people locked in these stereotypes? 0:26:32.160 --> 0:26:35.240 And has blackness become a victim of its own success? 0:26:35.720 --> 0:26:40.400 And that's what that that movie is about. When you're 0:26:40.480 --> 0:26:46.359 playing a narrative that you don't own and yet you, 0:26:46.359 --> 0:26:48.120 you know, push it out. 0:26:48.000 --> 0:26:49.040 So you could be successful. 0:26:49.160 --> 0:27:00.200 You it's I'm surprised we haven't all gone that shit crazy. 0:27:00.720 --> 0:27:04.120 We have, But I also feel like, well, I'm under 0:27:04.160 --> 0:27:08.719 the impression that the reset of twenty twenty is what 0:27:08.840 --> 0:27:12.280 actually allowed us to recharge. 0:27:11.680 --> 0:27:16.679 And come forth. But yeah, I too wonder that. 0:27:16.840 --> 0:27:20.439 Can I ask you something though, because it's been a 0:27:20.520 --> 0:27:26.520 minute since a movie sparked any type of conversation use 0:27:27.000 --> 0:27:29.280 especially with me, like I'll see moving like okay, it's 0:27:29.280 --> 0:27:32.720 dope or whatever, you know, the ending of American fiction, 0:27:33.280 --> 0:27:35.679 or at least I would and we should probably have 0:27:35.760 --> 0:27:38.960 Chord on the show. We should have chord on the show. 0:27:39.240 --> 0:27:42.320 So here's the thing with the last fifteen minutes of 0:27:42.320 --> 0:27:46.760 the show without spoiling the movie for people was talked about, 0:27:47.119 --> 0:27:50.640 and the thing was I told the group of people 0:27:50.720 --> 0:27:53.359 I went to see it with, I said, look, they 0:27:53.359 --> 0:27:57.720 could have easily did a Hollywood ending where all's well, 0:27:57.720 --> 0:27:59.760 that ends well. Now, for me, the ending of that 0:28:00.280 --> 0:28:02.600 was much akin to like you remember, like maybe the 0:28:02.600 --> 0:28:07.879 first seven Spike Lee films really never ended right, it 0:28:08.200 --> 0:28:12.080 never yeah, but even think of do the right thing 0:28:12.200 --> 0:28:15.240 like it wasn't happily ever after No Better Blues was 0:28:16.119 --> 0:28:17.080 QUI fied. 0:28:18.320 --> 0:28:21.200 He found love, but he lost his gifts right, And 0:28:21.600 --> 0:28:24.280 for me, the ending of. 0:28:26.320 --> 0:28:31.280 American fiction was not only I felt the right choice 0:28:31.280 --> 0:28:36.720 of an ending, but I mean as a person, and 0:28:36.800 --> 0:28:40.400 I know I'm not alone like I often find myself 0:28:40.520 --> 0:28:44.440 in that ending where sometimes you're just like all right, 0:28:44.520 --> 0:28:48.640 fuck it, you know what I mean. And even though 0:28:48.840 --> 0:28:52.320 it wasn't the ideal Hollywood ending, I felt that was the. 0:28:52.240 --> 0:28:54.960 Most realistic, the realistic ending. 0:28:55.240 --> 0:28:57.440 And for those that were just like yo, man, what 0:28:57.480 --> 0:29:00.160 do you think about the end? And I felt like 0:29:00.840 --> 0:29:03.040 that's how that shit goes that was the truth and 0:29:03.200 --> 0:29:07.000 it's the sad truth. Did you guys sort of wonder that, 0:29:07.120 --> 0:29:10.680 like in the film of How It Ends? Because even 0:29:10.720 --> 0:29:14.120 for me, I was wondering, like, okay, when the big 0:29:14.160 --> 0:29:17.680 revelation happens, is, you know, is it redemption for all 0:29:17.680 --> 0:29:17.959 of us? 0:29:18.040 --> 0:29:19.560 Is in my mind? 0:29:19.720 --> 0:29:22.800 I started predicting houses sick going end. I can't wait 0:29:22.840 --> 0:29:25.600 for this at the end, And when it ended, I 0:29:25.680 --> 0:29:32.040 was like, yeah, I guess that's how it ends. How 0:29:32.080 --> 0:29:33.960 did you feel about that at the time? And was 0:29:33.960 --> 0:29:38.120 that ever a subject of discussion where their alternate ending 0:29:38.240 --> 0:29:38.880 shot for it? 0:29:39.040 --> 0:29:42.160 Or I knew the one I was in. I was 0:29:42.200 --> 0:29:44.880 in two of them, the happy ending and the more 0:29:44.920 --> 0:29:45.680 tragic endings. 0:29:46.160 --> 0:29:49.520 Wait, wait, time out you're talking about American fiction? Or yeah? 0:29:49.640 --> 0:29:53.440 Yeah, yeah, oh, because you also, I don't know if 0:29:53.480 --> 0:29:57.120 you inadvertently know this. I didn't realize that Get Out 0:29:57.200 --> 0:29:58.880 also had two endings as well. 0:29:58.920 --> 0:30:01.720 Oh yeah, the we did, Yeah. 0:30:02.000 --> 0:30:08.040 But I didn't ours just like I felt like it 0:30:08.080 --> 0:30:08.920 was clue yeah. 0:30:08.800 --> 0:30:11.800 Yeah, get it Out and never showed you other endings. 0:30:12.440 --> 0:30:13.920 But I think we have to just take it from 0:30:13.920 --> 0:30:17.040 the point of view of an author. Okay, and the 0:30:17.120 --> 0:30:22.800 author has posited this question that And this could be metaverse, 0:30:23.040 --> 0:30:24.840 by the way, and you appreciate this, You guys are 0:30:24.840 --> 0:30:30.760 all nerds. When Jeffrey starts to sip his cognact and 0:30:30.800 --> 0:30:35.600 write the movie, he goes into a matter verse and 0:30:35.760 --> 0:30:39.000 makes me wonder what movie are we watching? Is it 0:30:39.080 --> 0:30:42.600 still his real life or is it something he's writing? 0:30:43.520 --> 0:30:43.800 Wait? 0:30:43.920 --> 0:30:46.040 Was that an Eastern third ending? 0:30:46.120 --> 0:30:46.239 Right? 0:30:46.240 --> 0:30:47.920 He's saying that was the third ending that we didn't win, 0:30:47.960 --> 0:30:49.040 the fourth ending that we didn't see. 0:30:50.360 --> 0:30:53.640 I'm saying that there's a lot of things that switch 0:30:54.560 --> 0:30:58.080 and start to be different once we see Keith David 0:30:58.640 --> 0:31:02.720 and start before we started to get the idea that 0:31:02.760 --> 0:31:06.040 he can manipulate his reality through his fiction. 0:31:07.120 --> 0:31:09.800 So I think we need to ask the original source. 0:31:09.640 --> 0:31:16.560 Material, Percival ever, because maybe in erasure exactly, maybe that's 0:31:16.600 --> 0:31:19.840 where the true ending lies. But they shot the ending 0:31:19.920 --> 0:31:24.120 you saw after we were all gone, so I was 0:31:24.160 --> 0:31:30.320 surprised to see the ending. Oh okay, so Corty's to 0:31:30.360 --> 0:31:33.480 come in here and stand and deliver he used this all. 0:31:34.480 --> 0:31:34.720 Yeah. 0:31:34.720 --> 0:31:36.600 One of my favorite things about that film was I 0:31:36.680 --> 0:31:42.320 liked how it showed relationship, romantic relationships, black romantic relationships 0:31:42.320 --> 0:31:43.880 with people of different ages. 0:31:44.280 --> 0:31:44.960 You know what I'm saying. 0:31:45.880 --> 0:31:49.320 Yeah, generational. Yeah, that was so beautiful like you and Jeffrey. 0:31:49.360 --> 0:31:53.120 But then also I forgot the name, but the Old House. 0:31:55.160 --> 0:31:58.400 Is a boss listen, I mean dead pull along. I'm 0:31:58.400 --> 0:32:00.840 like the fact that she pulls American fixture the dead pool. 0:32:00.920 --> 0:32:05.160 She's fucking yeah, she's a back and I got to 0:32:05.200 --> 0:32:07.800 share a green room with her and get all those stories. 0:32:08.040 --> 0:32:12.480 These people are walking around with such genius inside of 0:32:12.800 --> 0:32:17.920 it's such the blueprints to our lives and to the future. 0:32:18.160 --> 0:32:18.920 And she's one of them. 0:32:18.960 --> 0:32:21.200 So that's the other ones is excellent, And you're right, 0:32:21.800 --> 0:32:24.240 that was remember the housekeepers. 0:32:24.920 --> 0:32:27.000 The housekeeper in the security Guard. 0:32:27.640 --> 0:32:30.440 But you know what, it's trying to give truth to 0:32:30.560 --> 0:32:32.520 the lie that black people. 0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:36.400 Don't have generational stories, that we only exist inside of 0:32:36.440 --> 0:32:39.960 the generation we're in and we're not having this back 0:32:40.000 --> 0:32:45.520 and forth communication wisdom and also building and architecture in 0:32:45.520 --> 0:32:48.680 our lives and it's so normal in that movie. 0:32:49.360 --> 0:32:52.080 Yeah, I really I literally got like emotional watching you 0:32:52.120 --> 0:32:54.640 and Jeffrey because it's just something that we just don't 0:32:54.680 --> 0:32:57.440 see seeing you in that role and seeing you get 0:32:57.480 --> 0:33:00.560 a chance to show love in that way, like you 0:33:00.680 --> 0:33:03.720 like seeing you as the actors that we know play 0:33:03.760 --> 0:33:06.520 that role was so important and kind of I think 0:33:06.520 --> 0:33:09.400 I'm not the only person that got emotional overseeing you, 0:33:09.520 --> 0:33:10.120 just in that. 0:33:11.040 --> 0:33:13.520 You know, people have said that I get to meet cute, 0:33:14.160 --> 0:33:17.400 I get to meet like and make Ryan. I dropped 0:33:17.440 --> 0:33:22.000 my tomatoes and did he talk over Ryan? I imagine 0:33:22.040 --> 0:33:25.200 that you're not jumping each other phones. I got lotion 0:33:25.520 --> 0:33:28.360 afterwards after we do our little do. 0:33:29.240 --> 0:33:30.600 It's a seduction. 0:33:32.680 --> 0:33:34.520 And you think high enough of yourself to be like, 0:33:34.640 --> 0:33:35.800 I don't have to be there here. 0:33:36.080 --> 0:33:43.720 No you confused, don't bring that king, don't disturb my peace. Yeah, 0:33:43.880 --> 0:33:46.480 she's not pining for him. She just let go of 0:33:46.520 --> 0:33:49.680 aok A relationship, and I'm sure it was difficult for her. 0:33:50.160 --> 0:33:54.080 So what she took to regain that kind of stability, 0:33:54.160 --> 0:33:56.920 She wasn't willing to give it up his drama and 0:33:56.960 --> 0:33:58.320 that's self empowerment. 0:33:58.560 --> 0:34:01.920 And it was lovely. It wasn't mean or angry. It 0:34:02.000 --> 0:34:03.920 was just sort of like, you gotta. 0:34:03.720 --> 0:34:05.120 Go, Erica. 0:34:05.160 --> 0:34:07.640 Please tell me what it's like going back and forth 0:34:07.680 --> 0:34:09.960 and playing this game with Jeffrey Wright, Like, what is 0:34:10.000 --> 0:34:13.600 it like in a scene like what he's just he's it, 0:34:13.880 --> 0:34:15.239 He's it. 0:34:15.560 --> 0:34:16.720 And then talk about sterling. 0:34:16.800 --> 0:34:21.239 Okay, well, Jeffrey is a nerd too. He only watches documentaries. 0:34:21.239 --> 0:34:25.200 He doesn't watch TV, but he knows all for references, 0:34:25.200 --> 0:34:27.919 so he would get along with all of you guys. 0:34:27.760 --> 0:34:31.760 It's from DC. You know those DC light skinned brothers, 0:34:31.960 --> 0:34:34.520 me too and all there you go. 0:34:34.600 --> 0:34:37.240 But he's from Southeast though. He went to Anacostia High School. 0:34:37.400 --> 0:34:40.560 Okay, so you know who you are. He loves his 0:34:40.600 --> 0:34:43.120 mother and he loves his auntie who raised him. He's 0:34:43.120 --> 0:34:46.759 a great lover of women, black women, and he understands. 0:34:47.080 --> 0:34:50.279 So he's not intimidated by me. He doesn't think that 0:34:50.320 --> 0:34:54.399 I'm a thread and in fact feel like, yeah, well, 0:34:54.440 --> 0:34:58.440 he feels like he's taking care of business. He is 0:34:58.480 --> 0:35:01.160 a man that's perspected on and he understands what he's 0:35:01.200 --> 0:35:03.040 there to do. But here's what he's not there to do. 0:35:03.600 --> 0:35:07.160 He's not there not to make mistakes. So he's trying 0:35:07.200 --> 0:35:09.400 things and experimenting. He's frustrated that. 0:35:09.480 --> 0:35:14.040 You can see. He wants a certain result and he's 0:35:14.080 --> 0:35:14.640 going for it. 0:35:14.680 --> 0:35:18.680 So I like somebody who was expectation is high, but 0:35:18.719 --> 0:35:22.840 he's like, that's your expectation. I came on here to 0:35:22.920 --> 0:35:27.000 be an actor and make my mistakes like everybody else 0:35:27.160 --> 0:35:30.400 and put it together and you it reminds you that 0:35:32.080 --> 0:35:35.680 you have to give yourself grace. Everybody can expect you 0:35:35.800 --> 0:35:38.839 to be perfect, but that's not what you're here for. 0:35:40.280 --> 0:35:43.960 And that's who Jeffrey is. And once he gets permission 0:35:43.960 --> 0:35:46.240 to do those things, he gives everyone else permission. 0:35:46.880 --> 0:35:48.319 And then the set runs. 0:35:49.040 --> 0:35:53.400 When you are paired with an acting partner that you 0:35:53.440 --> 0:35:58.080 know that your your characters sort of connected to. Are 0:35:58.120 --> 0:36:02.120 there conversations beforehand of what the chemistry is going to be? 0:36:02.120 --> 0:36:05.399 Because I've heard, and I'm asking this as a new 0:36:05.480 --> 0:36:09.000 director and as a director that hasn't done scripted yet, 0:36:09.520 --> 0:36:12.080 I've heard. I've talked to a lot of directors and 0:36:12.120 --> 0:36:16.560 they've told me ideal stories of like, these actors are 0:36:16.600 --> 0:36:20.920 the ones who gravitates towards I've heard nightmare stories of 0:36:21.200 --> 0:36:26.359 established actors who you know, this actor will only give 0:36:26.400 --> 0:36:29.560 you two takes and if you don't got it, tough titties, 0:36:29.600 --> 0:36:32.720 that's your fault. I don't give a fuck next scene. 0:36:33.120 --> 0:36:36.160 That sort of thing. Is it a speed dating process? 0:36:36.280 --> 0:36:36.839 Like how long? 0:36:36.840 --> 0:36:40.000 Because the thing is is that one with Jeffrey, but 0:36:40.080 --> 0:36:45.040 also your relationship with uh, what's his name? No, no, no, no, 0:36:45.520 --> 0:36:59.240 I'm going back to to Bobby, to h who's playing him? Okay, 0:36:59.760 --> 0:37:04.799 So I'm wondering how long is the speed quote air 0:37:04.880 --> 0:37:08.279 quote speed day process between you and an actor to know, 0:37:08.640 --> 0:37:11.719 like to at least get to know each other or 0:37:11.760 --> 0:37:15.279 is this just like cold like you automatically know what 0:37:15.400 --> 0:37:15.719 to do. 0:37:16.239 --> 0:37:18.600 So I want to first say something about the bad 0:37:18.640 --> 0:37:20.680 behavior that they might be speaking to. I have not 0:37:20.880 --> 0:37:25.200 experienced that, and I've been in Shobiz forty years, so. 0:37:25.320 --> 0:37:29.239 I've been a little bit. I don't know. 0:37:29.560 --> 0:37:31.719 I give a little side eye to the stories because 0:37:31.719 --> 0:37:38.759 I think that people attract certain things because they put either, oh, 0:37:38.800 --> 0:37:41.560 that person must be in that role, knowing that the 0:37:41.600 --> 0:37:44.759 person is problematic, instead of giving somebody who can do 0:37:44.840 --> 0:37:49.320 the role just as well and not give those type 0:37:49.320 --> 0:37:53.160 of problems. And so everybody has a reputation. No one 0:37:54.040 --> 0:37:56.640 is operating in a vacuum. So if they're experiencing that, 0:37:57.080 --> 0:38:00.000 I think it's hard for you not to know where 0:37:59.800 --> 0:38:02.839 actor lands, and you have to consider do you really 0:38:02.920 --> 0:38:06.160 want that, because that could be that can ruin you. 0:38:06.200 --> 0:38:10.520 A bad attitude can ruin everything, the crew, everything. 0:38:10.640 --> 0:38:12.399 So I haven't but I haven't experienced that. 0:38:13.480 --> 0:38:17.040 I've experienced some issue with younger actors because they haven't 0:38:17.040 --> 0:38:19.680 been properly trained. And I'm not talking about on stage 0:38:19.680 --> 0:38:22.280 because I only did a very small amount of training. 0:38:22.520 --> 0:38:24.200 I mean, no one tells them the truth and they 0:38:24.280 --> 0:38:27.640 get away with bad behavior and there's no consequences. If 0:38:27.640 --> 0:38:29.880 somebody did that on my set, I would replace them 0:38:29.920 --> 0:38:30.879 almost immediately. 0:38:31.760 --> 0:38:31.960 Yeah. 0:38:32.000 --> 0:38:33.840 So when you check after check a young actor, what 0:38:34.320 --> 0:38:36.239 do you say, like, how do you check them? 0:38:36.320 --> 0:38:39.600 You take them aside, You don't embarrass them. You ask 0:38:39.680 --> 0:38:42.200 them if there's something wrong, because sometimes they can come 0:38:42.239 --> 0:38:45.960 to set and there's something wrong and you ask them 0:38:46.000 --> 0:38:50.719 if they need help. You have identify somebody they can 0:38:50.760 --> 0:38:53.400 talk to. It could be another actor who's willing to 0:38:54.480 --> 0:38:57.600 mentor them and they can be open, honest with and vulnerable. 0:38:57.800 --> 0:39:01.400 It could be a psychiatrist. They could just be scared 0:39:02.640 --> 0:39:05.319 and not know how to say it. They may need 0:39:05.360 --> 0:39:09.719 help with lines and they're freaking out. Get them a 0:39:09.800 --> 0:39:12.919 dialogue coach, get them the help they need. They'll calm down. 0:39:13.800 --> 0:39:17.880 They also need sleep, and some people these people sleep 0:39:20.160 --> 0:39:24.160 working these kids, what's too they're more soft than not. 0:39:24.320 --> 0:39:26.920 We work that is actual and factual. 0:39:27.080 --> 0:39:29.040 Thank you, But I'm saying that all those things are 0:39:29.040 --> 0:39:30.680 playing in part. So that's what I would say. I 0:39:30.760 --> 0:39:33.480 first maybe see that, and then I might have a 0:39:33.640 --> 0:39:38.640 conversation outside, whether their manager or agents, and not. 0:39:38.520 --> 0:39:40.520 To scare them, but they need. 0:39:40.400 --> 0:39:43.719 Warning that it is and they need to know that 0:39:43.760 --> 0:39:47.160 you're on their side. If it continues, then you need 0:39:47.200 --> 0:39:50.719 to start looking into it right away and reshift your 0:39:50.760 --> 0:39:53.400 schedule to shoot things they're not in. 0:39:54.239 --> 0:39:57.200 Did you have any like any ogs who was who 0:39:57.200 --> 0:39:58.160 did that for you? 0:39:58.200 --> 0:39:58.279 Like? 0:39:58.320 --> 0:39:59.480 Who gave you that need. 0:39:59.360 --> 0:40:03.040 To I came into the set pristine. I'm a preacher's daughter. 0:40:03.960 --> 0:40:06.120 I know how to act, I cook, and I'm from 0:40:06.160 --> 0:40:10.200 girls high studied. I know and I'm learned. And if 0:40:10.239 --> 0:40:12.719 I was scared, I might not have known you talked 0:40:12.719 --> 0:40:15.880 to That's true. I think I experienced a lot of 0:40:15.880 --> 0:40:19.040 trauma because I couldn't really tell what I was feeling. 0:40:19.800 --> 0:40:21.120 But that came later on in life. 0:40:21.200 --> 0:40:23.600 But I didn't have problems showing up, knowing my lines, 0:40:24.000 --> 0:40:26.879 being prepared. We did twenty six show a year. Now 0:40:26.880 --> 0:40:29.640 people do ten and they freak out. I'm learning to 0:40:29.640 --> 0:40:36.759 play a week. No, I ain't got no problem. 0:40:36.840 --> 0:40:38.759 All right, this is this hit me right now when 0:40:38.800 --> 0:40:42.000 you started saying those words like it's something wrong and 0:40:42.840 --> 0:40:45.759 can I help you? You know, sometime I just realized, 0:40:46.719 --> 0:40:50.400 surely Ralph just sunned me. And I'm realizing it, right. 0:40:51.400 --> 0:40:52.960 Baby, Oh yeah you. 0:40:55.080 --> 0:40:55.239 Are. 0:40:56.440 --> 0:40:56.920 I love that. 0:40:57.040 --> 0:40:59.160 She pulled me to his side. She pulled me to 0:40:59.200 --> 0:41:03.239 the side. Are you a little nervous right now? And 0:41:03.280 --> 0:41:06.000 I was like, and just hit me. I got the 0:41:06.440 --> 0:41:09.319 quasi defensive no no, no, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm I'm good. 0:41:09.640 --> 0:41:13.560 No no, no, listen, listen. You could just breathe and 0:41:13.600 --> 0:41:18.000 say it is lower. No, no, no, and she like, now 0:41:18.120 --> 0:41:18.480 do it. 0:41:18.719 --> 0:41:21.600 And I was like, and I just realized, oh shit, 0:41:21.920 --> 0:41:22.680 I was fucking up. 0:41:22.760 --> 0:41:25.440 I was that perfect. I didn't realize it until you 0:41:25.560 --> 0:41:26.040 said that. 0:41:26.680 --> 0:41:28.399 But a mirror. 0:41:29.480 --> 0:41:32.520 She did that with respect. What she was trying to 0:41:32.560 --> 0:41:34.360 do is give you permission. And if you said to 0:41:34.400 --> 0:41:36.720 her me, I'm a little nervous, then it goes away. 0:41:36.840 --> 0:41:39.120 You know how if you say something, you could lean 0:41:39.120 --> 0:41:41.680 into it because everyone's nervous. 0:41:42.520 --> 0:41:46.239 But the thing was that in my mind, like when 0:41:46.239 --> 0:41:49.440 you said that, then I'm like, okay, you're an experienced actress. 0:41:49.560 --> 0:41:52.759 You could tell what a newbie doesn't know any better, 0:41:52.840 --> 0:41:54.560 or they might be doing something wrong, or da da 0:41:54.640 --> 0:41:58.480 da da da. And I'm now realizing that maybe the 0:41:58.520 --> 0:42:00.440 first three takes that I did, because you know, they 0:42:00.440 --> 0:42:02.399 do ship over there like nine times in a row. 0:42:02.840 --> 0:42:05.480 So now I'm realizing my first four takes were like 0:42:06.320 --> 0:42:08.640 he's not getting it. And they kind of had this 0:42:08.760 --> 0:42:11.640 magic circle thing, you know, when people were together and 0:42:11.640 --> 0:42:13.919 they just look at each other and you know you're 0:42:13.920 --> 0:42:16.560 being talked about, but no one's saying it, Like I 0:42:16.600 --> 0:42:21.399 felt like maybe there's something on my teeth or it was. 0:42:21.520 --> 0:42:25.239 It was rather significant nice and so she was the 0:42:25.320 --> 0:42:27.520 designated She's the leader of the group. 0:42:27.600 --> 0:42:28.640 Chat damn. 0:42:30.080 --> 0:42:34.440 That an elder sister who was like mighty queen because. 0:42:35.760 --> 0:42:38.399 Thinking that a lot of the I don't know if 0:42:38.480 --> 0:42:40.880 you did a read through and all that, but some 0:42:40.920 --> 0:42:46.080 of these things, yeah, and that's that's the issue. You're 0:42:46.160 --> 0:42:48.840 fitting into their world and you're trying to take it 0:42:48.880 --> 0:42:50.920 all in all at once, and you're also trying to 0:42:50.960 --> 0:42:54.080 do all this other stuff. By the way, any guests 0:42:54.600 --> 0:42:58.960 feature performer has that extra burden. So I think that 0:42:59.040 --> 0:43:01.880 she was just giving you PERMISSI, but she wasn't sonning you. 0:43:02.160 --> 0:43:08.360 She was just sort of like a big sister going yeah. 0:43:07.880 --> 0:43:08.759 Oh no, no, no cool. 0:43:08.760 --> 0:43:11.359 I mean, let me let me make it clear. Yes, 0:43:11.560 --> 0:43:15.640 she wasn't sonning me disrespect. Yeah, but you know, I 0:43:15.680 --> 0:43:19.719 think maybe because I only entered situations that I know, 0:43:19.920 --> 0:43:22.319 like the back of my hand, like if it were 0:43:22.400 --> 0:43:24.759 music or that sort of thing. Is like, I'm not 0:43:24.800 --> 0:43:26.840 saying you can't tell me nothing, but you know, this 0:43:26.960 --> 0:43:28.200 is definitely an area that. 0:43:29.440 --> 0:43:31.759 In your world you're king, it's hard to come in 0:43:31.960 --> 0:43:35.560 spaces and you direct and you do all these things, 0:43:35.560 --> 0:43:39.080 and then you're putting in a position where suddenly it's like, okay, 0:43:39.120 --> 0:43:43.800 wait a minute, I'm not on you know what what again, 0:43:44.719 --> 0:43:47.160 you're an artist, So she approached you as one, and 0:43:47.160 --> 0:43:50.719 that's respectful, and she it wasn't a matter of whether 0:43:50.719 --> 0:43:52.399 you could do it. It was a matter of sort 0:43:52.440 --> 0:43:54.880 of saying, you know who told me that cely Tithe 0:43:54.920 --> 0:43:58.839 it her cold breathe, breathe. When these sisters tell you 0:43:59.040 --> 0:44:02.560 it sounds ridiculous, like I am breathing, but you know, 0:44:03.960 --> 0:44:05.759 but she they're trying to remind you to be in 0:44:05.840 --> 0:44:09.439 your body also to give you permission that you ain't 0:44:09.440 --> 0:44:12.279 got to be perfect. And she I've been told that 0:44:12.400 --> 0:44:15.320 by whoopee, I've been doing and these people are that. 0:44:15.400 --> 0:44:18.560 I'm there for those Wu Tang kids to come up 0:44:18.600 --> 0:44:23.040 and say, you're tired, you're not getting you sleep, okay, 0:44:23.640 --> 0:44:25.919 so let's let's get you some water. 0:44:27.360 --> 0:44:27.960 You know what I mean? 0:44:28.280 --> 0:44:32.520 Stand up, stand up, shake your body, let's go outside 0:44:32.520 --> 0:44:35.520 and get some sun. And I remind them that they're human, 0:44:36.800 --> 0:44:39.560 They're not a freaking robot. But they're talented and that's 0:44:39.600 --> 0:44:42.479 why they're there, and they need to not think about 0:44:42.480 --> 0:44:46.640 the talent, just think about being present. And it's all 0:44:46.719 --> 0:44:50.680 right to have that. But I do want to say 0:44:50.680 --> 0:44:53.960 something to what you said. You asked about you know, 0:44:54.120 --> 0:44:55.600 how do you how do you. 0:44:55.600 --> 0:44:56.840 Talk to your scene partner? 0:44:57.520 --> 0:45:02.319 You don't usually it if when I say, you don't 0:45:02.360 --> 0:45:05.560 usually if unless you need to. I'm at a point where, 0:45:05.800 --> 0:45:08.600 for the most part, if somebody needs to talk to me, 0:45:08.640 --> 0:45:09.480 they'll pick you aside. 0:45:09.520 --> 0:45:14.439 So, Erica, I'm not sure about this scene. I don't 0:45:14.440 --> 0:45:16.719 know where it's headed, but I think this and that. 0:45:16.760 --> 0:45:17.279 What do you think? 0:45:17.280 --> 0:45:19.440 And I said, I don't know. I don't know, Jeffrey, 0:45:19.480 --> 0:45:22.080 but I'll follow your lead. He goes, okay, we'll work 0:45:22.120 --> 0:45:24.480 it out and then it's just one of those things 0:45:24.480 --> 0:45:27.520 where in a way he's just convincing that maybe hasn't 0:45:27.680 --> 0:45:31.480 settled on how the scene goes or I and I 0:45:31.600 --> 0:45:36.480 know to be ready for changes, and he's just putting 0:45:36.480 --> 0:45:39.560 me on blasts, but also not on a blast. He's 0:45:39.600 --> 0:45:42.560 giving me a heads up, but he's also telling me, 0:45:43.760 --> 0:45:45.920 support me, look out for me. 0:45:46.640 --> 0:45:48.839 And I'm glad when somebody says that because I've said that. 0:45:48.880 --> 0:45:51.640 By the way, when I was on Queen Sugar, I 0:45:51.719 --> 0:45:55.120 had medication because I have colitus, and sometimes it can 0:45:55.200 --> 0:45:55.840 it's a steroid. 0:45:55.840 --> 0:45:56.839 It can make you feel like. 0:45:56.800 --> 0:46:00.680 Really like if you can get emotional, everything feel heightened, 0:46:01.440 --> 0:46:02.680 like you can faint. 0:46:03.640 --> 0:46:05.879 And so I told Omar, who plays. 0:46:08.120 --> 0:46:12.080 I said, I've got to do this emotional scene and 0:46:12.160 --> 0:46:16.000 if I get overwhelmed and faint, because that's how I said, 0:46:16.000 --> 0:46:17.799 you got to tell them I'm all right. 0:46:18.040 --> 0:46:20.680 But you know what happened. He says, I got you, girl, 0:46:20.800 --> 0:46:21.239 I got you. 0:46:21.880 --> 0:46:25.240 And once I did that, I actually calm calm down 0:46:25.920 --> 0:46:27.279 and I was able to do the scene because I 0:46:27.280 --> 0:46:28.240 was worried about fainting. 0:46:29.239 --> 0:46:30.080 That's what it is. 0:46:31.000 --> 0:46:34.160 The director can sometime give you that kind of confidence 0:46:34.200 --> 0:46:37.279 because that's the person you want to impress, and you 0:46:37.360 --> 0:46:38.520 sometimes don't want. 0:46:38.400 --> 0:46:41.680 To be too friendly with the performers, but. 0:46:41.560 --> 0:46:44.440 You do have to make a connection with him that 0:46:45.080 --> 0:46:48.839 you're they're not there to hit a line, a bar, 0:46:49.040 --> 0:46:52.920 a vis or that, and that you enjoy their mistakes. 0:46:52.920 --> 0:46:53.760 So that was fun. 0:46:54.600 --> 0:46:58.000 Give them encouragement, and don't give them encouragement just because 0:46:58.040 --> 0:47:01.160 they get it and cried. Just say thank you each time, 0:47:01.200 --> 0:47:03.680 say thank you for whatever they get me. It's no 0:47:03.760 --> 0:47:07.239 different thank you for the crime. Then when if they 0:47:07.360 --> 0:47:10.680 don't do it, and then they say, okay, they're not 0:47:10.800 --> 0:47:12.120 making a big deal out of it. 0:47:12.480 --> 0:47:15.040 I can be whatever and still get approval. 0:47:16.080 --> 0:47:18.200 The actors will do anything for you because they know 0:47:18.239 --> 0:47:18.920 they can't fail. 0:47:20.000 --> 0:47:23.000 I want to ask about the Wu Tang show, which 0:47:23.200 --> 0:47:27.480 I loved. How did you get that role? And did 0:47:27.480 --> 0:47:30.360 you actually meet Rizz's mom before you know? 0:47:32.480 --> 0:47:36.320 Oh man, I didn't know that long straight short. 0:47:36.560 --> 0:47:39.040 I loved the Woutang, but at the time, I didn't 0:47:39.040 --> 0:47:41.440 think it was a role for me. I didn't know 0:47:41.440 --> 0:47:43.680 if I wanted to be a mother of all these 0:47:43.800 --> 0:47:45.239 may ask kids. 0:47:47.280 --> 0:47:49.040 Well, you look like you could be their sister on 0:47:49.120 --> 0:47:50.560 the camera, So I mean. 0:47:50.480 --> 0:47:56.440 Yeahreer, but I didn't know, so I didn't really step 0:47:56.560 --> 0:47:59.160 up for the audition because there was an audition and 0:47:59.200 --> 0:48:01.920 they said, Erica, they coming back to you, would you 0:48:02.080 --> 0:48:06.640 And I said, all right, so I did and they said, well, Rizzon. 0:48:06.520 --> 0:48:07.279 Wants to meet you. 0:48:07.360 --> 0:48:08.799 And I said, oh, I don't know if I wanted 0:48:08.800 --> 0:48:10.640 to go any further, and I don't want to lead 0:48:10.680 --> 0:48:13.920 anybody on, but I decided, you know what, Erica, go on, 0:48:14.040 --> 0:48:14.920 do what's in front of you. 0:48:15.480 --> 0:48:16.040 So I met. 0:48:15.920 --> 0:48:21.520 Him and Ris is very you know, charismatic and lovely 0:48:21.600 --> 0:48:25.359 and respectful, and I did my thing, and he said 0:48:26.080 --> 0:48:28.400 after I got the partner, I accepted it because I 0:48:28.400 --> 0:48:32.640 did get it that you know, there's only four represented 0:48:32.680 --> 0:48:35.040 in the show, but I got eleven brothers and sisters 0:48:35.080 --> 0:48:39.920 including me, and they all had to say you were 0:48:39.920 --> 0:48:41.200 okay to play our mother. 0:48:44.640 --> 0:48:45.799 Because the whole. 0:48:45.640 --> 0:48:55.280 Real America can play Linding Diggs. So then I learned 0:48:55.400 --> 0:48:59.640 about their mother, and their mother had experienced abuse and 0:48:59.680 --> 0:49:01.440 it's one of the reason why they think she died. 0:49:01.719 --> 0:49:06.200 She was married twice and unfortunately she experienced domestic abuse, 0:49:06.280 --> 0:49:10.600 which is portrayed into there. So I knew that it 0:49:10.680 --> 0:49:15.520 was something very special that Rizzo wanted me to project. 0:49:15.600 --> 0:49:17.920 So I said to her, and I'm not very religious, 0:49:17.920 --> 0:49:22.040 but those spiritual said, miss miss Linda, your children want 0:49:22.040 --> 0:49:26.920 to see you. You showed me the way. And then 0:49:26.960 --> 0:49:30.160 I didn't do anything because I knew they had already 0:49:30.200 --> 0:49:34.320 seen what they wanted and I just needed to not perform. 0:49:34.760 --> 0:49:36.239 I need to just get out of the way and 0:49:36.320 --> 0:49:39.280 let her be there. And to me, she's a ghost. 0:49:39.480 --> 0:49:42.839 In that series, Rizza wanted to see his mother, so 0:49:42.880 --> 0:49:45.000 he wrote her in I. 0:49:45.400 --> 0:49:46.080 Fulfil the mean? 0:49:47.120 --> 0:49:50.440 Yeah, Wow, were you Au Tang fan? Prior to the 0:49:51.120 --> 0:49:52.640 did you Tang fan? 0:49:52.719 --> 0:49:55.080 Not as much as everybody didn't know their music as much. 0:49:55.200 --> 0:49:57.359 But I'm a Wu Tang fan because I really love 0:49:57.840 --> 0:50:01.840 how intellectual they are are. I love methic man and 0:50:01.840 --> 0:50:04.719 and I like men who are working it out and 0:50:04.800 --> 0:50:08.960 they're individualists. Again, they're an individualists and then they decide 0:50:08.960 --> 0:50:11.719 to come together to make a super group and then 0:50:11.800 --> 0:50:14.520 their brand becomes bigger than them all. 0:50:14.760 --> 0:50:16.920 I'm sorry. I love that kind of story. 0:50:18.040 --> 0:50:18.560 Did you see? 0:50:18.640 --> 0:50:20.920 And I'm curious because there's a lot of great actors, 0:50:20.960 --> 0:50:23.440 great young actors in that cast. Do you see a 0:50:23.480 --> 0:50:26.720 couple of them as like leading in the in the future, 0:50:26.840 --> 0:50:28.120 like the next like not the next. 0:50:28.320 --> 0:50:29.040 They're doing their thing. 0:50:29.120 --> 0:50:36.400 But Julian Elijah Martinez who played my son, he played 0:50:36.440 --> 0:50:37.440 the elder. 0:50:38.120 --> 0:50:39.480 Yeah, he played divine. 0:50:40.280 --> 0:50:41.360 Sometimes he. 0:50:44.160 --> 0:50:44.719 Does look like. 0:50:47.800 --> 0:50:51.440 There of course Ashton Sanders there, You've got Marcus Callender, 0:50:51.680 --> 0:50:58.319 their genius performers, and Elijah is on fire. There is 0:50:58.360 --> 0:51:02.560 not enough film are television to absorb this talent, and 0:51:02.600 --> 0:51:05.520 my goal is to find ways so they can show 0:51:05.520 --> 0:51:08.440 the world what they can do. We've got more talent 0:51:08.480 --> 0:51:12.520 than we've got content for them to be in. So yeah, 0:51:12.560 --> 0:51:15.879 look out. All of them are wonderful. I love them all. 0:51:16.560 --> 0:51:20.440 I have one last question, Eric, I need the face routine. 0:51:20.440 --> 0:51:21.800 I need what's what's your face routine? 0:51:21.840 --> 0:51:30.560 What's your so thank you for that. 0:51:31.120 --> 0:51:33.400 I had a huge breakout because I came here and 0:51:33.440 --> 0:51:34.799 started eating stuff I didn't know. 0:51:35.000 --> 0:51:38.080 But you know what, I think I really appreciate that 0:51:38.160 --> 0:51:40.320 when you saw me in person, you see the lines. 0:51:40.640 --> 0:51:42.839 See no, no, no, that's not true. I just weeks ago. 0:51:43.480 --> 0:51:45.000 Don't tell tales. 0:51:45.200 --> 0:51:47.760 Well you know what black does crack. 0:51:48.440 --> 0:51:51.120 But I think if you keep yourself smiling and laughing 0:51:51.160 --> 0:51:53.759 about things, I think people see the brightness in my 0:51:53.800 --> 0:51:57.520 face really and the openness and I like to believe 0:51:57.560 --> 0:52:03.640 that I can still be young and enthusiastic and not 0:52:03.880 --> 0:52:07.960 jaded and not tired. I'm enthusiastic after forty years to 0:52:08.000 --> 0:52:10.279 be here, and I know what it feels like to 0:52:10.320 --> 0:52:10.920 be tired. 0:52:11.640 --> 0:52:15.719 But Harriet wasn't tired until she was tired. So I'm 0:52:15.760 --> 0:52:16.120 all right. 0:52:17.800 --> 0:52:19.000 My hair is strenders ship. 0:52:19.400 --> 0:52:23.400 That's in your DNA. I'm good, by the way. I 0:52:23.440 --> 0:52:26.040 don't believe in all this hustle. I get your sleep, 0:52:26.120 --> 0:52:27.480 get your rest. It's important. 0:52:27.840 --> 0:52:30.520 Listen, read and go outside and let the sun hit 0:52:30.640 --> 0:52:34.120 you and listen to read. Take off all the things 0:52:34.120 --> 0:52:36.640 and just the ambient noise get to you. 0:52:37.280 --> 0:52:39.239 I don't think I ever heard an episode where I 0:52:39.280 --> 0:52:40.840 don't want to say goodbye to the person. 0:52:41.920 --> 0:52:42.080 No. 0:52:42.280 --> 0:52:44.959 Once again, thank you so much for coming on our show. 0:52:45.239 --> 0:52:49.640 And this is definitely you know, this is a dream 0:52:49.680 --> 0:52:51.399 for us. We talked about this for a long time 0:52:51.480 --> 0:52:52.200 of having you. 0:52:52.160 --> 0:52:53.280 And shout out your organization. 0:52:53.320 --> 0:52:55.400 Please, because when you say you're trying to uplift these 0:52:55.400 --> 0:52:57.439 people and these creatives, you're doing it in real time. 0:52:57.560 --> 0:52:59.799 Please please Color Farm. 0:53:00.400 --> 0:53:03.399 We call ourselves the town of film, television and tech. 0:53:03.719 --> 0:53:05.680 You're trying to change the face to the media and 0:53:05.680 --> 0:53:10.319 rebrand blackness. We produced John Was Good Trouble. I co 0:53:10.400 --> 0:53:14.640 directed the reparations documentary The Big Payback. You're doing a 0:53:14.680 --> 0:53:20.120 Diet and Carol documentary. You're also doing collaborations partnerships in 0:53:20.160 --> 0:53:23.920 the scripted space as well. Remember us a mirror and 0:53:24.280 --> 0:53:27.720 for everyone there, we appreciate your support because. 0:53:29.080 --> 0:53:29.919 We don't have a deal. 0:53:30.600 --> 0:53:33.200 Just worked really hard and we got the DuPont Columbia 0:53:33.239 --> 0:53:35.440 word for something we did called Finding Tamika, which was 0:53:35.480 --> 0:53:39.600 the top true crime audio series that I created a 0:53:39.680 --> 0:53:43.239 road and I really am very proud of that because 0:53:43.239 --> 0:53:45.799 we're talking about missing white woman syndrome and to do 0:53:45.880 --> 0:53:51.520 what we use this black girl's life to show Mika. 0:53:51.880 --> 0:53:55.760 She was used as the discussion around it. 0:53:55.719 --> 0:53:59.360 And we maybe made Neil Noir ghost story and we 0:53:59.480 --> 0:54:02.400 thought it was lovely and their family was lovely to 0:54:02.480 --> 0:54:03.040 let us do it. 0:54:03.120 --> 0:54:06.880 But I'm here, I want to say something to you. Yes, 0:54:07.400 --> 0:54:09.000 you are not only. 0:54:09.160 --> 0:54:14.160 An agot, You're a person who is in power to 0:54:14.320 --> 0:54:19.680 empower and I'm very gratified that you're from Philly. I 0:54:19.719 --> 0:54:21.480 see all the stuff that you do, and I say 0:54:21.480 --> 0:54:23.120 stuff that you do, the amazing. 0:54:22.719 --> 0:54:24.440 Things that you accomplish. 0:54:25.200 --> 0:54:31.000 But I also love that you have the curiosity intellectual 0:54:31.560 --> 0:54:35.240 and the deep dives that most people don't allow themselves 0:54:35.239 --> 0:54:38.080 to have. And so you're very generous with your mind 0:54:38.320 --> 0:54:42.560 and your brilliance. And I appreciate that, brother, because all 0:54:42.600 --> 0:54:46.719 the people, all those people would recognize that you are 0:54:46.800 --> 0:54:52.920 their son. So thank you all for creating this for 0:54:53.080 --> 0:54:57.120 us to have these long conversations, because I think we're 0:54:57.120 --> 0:54:58.400 also archiving history. 0:54:59.360 --> 0:55:02.000 One. Thank you, Yeah you made it. 0:55:02.040 --> 0:55:03.359 Thank you, thank you for making that. 0:55:03.400 --> 0:55:05.560 Thank you for yeah doing your ship. 0:55:05.719 --> 0:55:07.000 Thank you, thank you. 0:55:07.200 --> 0:55:10.799 I appreciate you, and you're back. 0:55:11.040 --> 0:55:14.320 That is probably the greatest ending of quest love Supreme. 0:55:15.840 --> 0:55:18.759 We could just get that plate of Patty. 0:55:19.120 --> 0:55:23.520 Okay, yes, to let the world know Patty invited me 0:55:23.920 --> 0:55:27.000 and the guy who sang about her pies and talked about. 0:55:26.880 --> 0:55:29.520 Oh yeah, yeah, the viral a viral. 0:55:29.600 --> 0:55:32.200 Yeah all right, she invited both of us to our 0:55:32.239 --> 0:55:36.200 house for Thanksgiving, and I ate my ass off. 0:55:36.320 --> 0:55:39.640 It was oh this happened like this happened in twenty 0:55:39.719 --> 0:55:42.799 fourteen years ago. Oh okay, gotcha. Yes, after a lot 0:55:42.880 --> 0:55:43.600 of begging. 0:55:44.160 --> 0:55:46.759 Erica wants to be invited. I will guest if you 0:55:46.880 --> 0:55:50.160 watched eightieth birthday. I'm saying, we just make it a family. 0:55:51.000 --> 0:55:51.839 Thank you, gol face. 0:55:51.880 --> 0:55:57.279 I appreciate, thank you, Thanks see all the next around, y'all. 0:55:58.960 --> 0:56:01.800 Thank you for listening to Quest Love Free. This podcast 0:56:02.000 --> 0:56:02.719 is hosted by. 0:56:02.680 --> 0:56:07.360 Emir West, Love Thompson, Boss Man, Like Here, Saint Clair 0:56:07.520 --> 0:56:12.720 So Blackly Black, Myself, Fontigerlo Fonte, Coleman, Sugar, Steve Mandel 0:56:13.160 --> 0:56:18.200 and Unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are a Mere Quest Love, Thompson, 0:56:18.400 --> 0:56:22.279 Sean g and the US Father Brian Calhoun. Produced by 0:56:22.560 --> 0:56:26.960 Freaking Benjamin, my dog cousin, Jake Payne, my Motherfucking Man 0:56:27.280 --> 0:56:31.759 and like Is Saint Clair My work wife edited by Alex. 0:56:31.520 --> 0:56:34.319 Conrad, Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown and. 0:56:44.560 --> 0:56:51.000 First Love Supreme is the production of iHeart Radio. For 0:56:51.120 --> 0:56:54.200 more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, 0:56:54.440 --> 0:56:57.480 Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.