Speaker 1: Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2: What's Up Everybody?
Speaker 3: This is Sugar Steve from Questlove Supreme. We are back
Speaker 3: with part two of our conversation with the incredible Erica Alexander.
Speaker 3: If you have not heard part one, please check that
Speaker 3: out before this. In that episode, Erica spoke about her
Speaker 3: upbringing living in Arizona and New Mexico before moving to Philly.
Speaker 3: She really opened up about her experiences playing cousin Pam
Speaker 3: on The Cosby Show and Maxine on Living Single, two
Speaker 3: very memorable roles.
Speaker 2: One thing I want to add too is that you
Speaker 2: won't hear me or.
Speaker 3: One thing I want to add too is that you
Speaker 3: won't hear me or unpaid bill in this part too,
Speaker 3: because one thing I want to add too is that
Speaker 3: you won't hear me or unpaid bill in this part too, because.
Speaker 4: Theyre so here's the thing, when, of course it's revealed
Speaker 4: that you know Living Singles main sort of influence, of
Speaker 4: course being right, and you've talked about this time and
Speaker 4: time again about friends, but I do want to know
Speaker 4: because here's the deal. I had to go to the
Speaker 4: Warner Brothers a lot, maybe like a month ago. I
Speaker 4: did a cameo on Avid Elementary, which I think might
Speaker 4: be on right now as we speak. And I remember
Speaker 4: seeing an interview where you were like, yeah, you know,
Speaker 4: we were on the same lot. You know, both shows
Speaker 4: were Warner Brothers shows, and I go there now, and
Speaker 4: of course you know, you'll you'll go past the wherever
Speaker 4: what do you call it? Like the buildings that they
Speaker 4: build sets, like oh, the house stages, right, you know,
Speaker 4: I always wanted to know what sound stage you guys
Speaker 4: were on, because they now mark off like this is
Speaker 4: where Ozzie and Harriet and and Da Da Da and
Speaker 4: friends and Da Da Da, And I wanted to know
Speaker 4: where the living single one was, but we weren't there.
Speaker 5: We were on the ghetto a lot, I'm not kidding, right.
Speaker 6: So not even in that whole area, a whole different
Speaker 6: area location address.
Speaker 7: You're saying, yeah, what's something.
Speaker 8: Called the ranch And they had all the big shows
Speaker 8: or all the shows with white casts on the big
Speaker 8: lot and we were on the ranch lot. We didn't
Speaker 8: have air conditioning, wed No, we had to. We staged
Speaker 8: a walk out because we didn't have craft service correct
Speaker 8: or you know those types of things.
Speaker 5: Yeah, we were hot in sale on that stage.
Speaker 4: So okay, I add when I asked the Avid people
Speaker 4: that like, okay, so where's this in proximity to work
Speaker 4: for it? They're like, we're right next door to them,
Speaker 4: And they were like, that's a big deal to be
Speaker 4: right next door to where they shot Friends, and I
Speaker 4: briefly mentioned the whole living single thing, but then I
Speaker 4: got distracted and never got the answer. But obviously, to
Speaker 4: shoot any where in proximity to where Friends was means
Speaker 4: that you're going to get treated better, like you're things work,
Speaker 4: and so you're saying that a lot of those things
Speaker 4: you actually wanted the stage a walk out, that's crazy.
Speaker 5: We did stay the watch on.
Speaker 2: Yeah, really, yeah.
Speaker 7: I was very.
Speaker 5: Political even then.
Speaker 8: I wrote a letter and I said that you have
Speaker 8: to understand I had to come off of the biggest
Speaker 8: show in the world, right. I understood that we weren't
Speaker 8: going to get those types of niceties to Cosby got,
Speaker 8: but I understood what we were being treated like niggas
Speaker 8: say that, yeah, so wait with the number one show
Speaker 8: in America, Black and Latino Household and we didn't have
Speaker 8: any air condition at the time, we need to that's
Speaker 8: crazy advocate for it now. They wouldn't do those types
Speaker 8: of things, and it's nice to be in proximity to
Speaker 8: power and things that are, you know, in the zeitgeist.
Speaker 8: But we were over there building still for the black
Speaker 8: people who were on.
Speaker 6: Those sets, that's the same part of the stories that
Speaker 6: I wish you would have been able to finish that story.
Speaker 6: So they understood how much of a real big deal
Speaker 6: it was to be there in that moment, and who
Speaker 6: fought for them to be there, because that's fucking ridiculous.
Speaker 7: Yeah, real quick, what other shows shot at the Ranch?
Speaker 5: The Wayne's Brothers?
Speaker 7: Oh wow.
Speaker 8: For a long time it was mostly us, and then
Speaker 8: season three or so, the Wayne's Brothers dropped in and
Speaker 8: we had a good time with those young fellas. And
Speaker 8: then the Waltons actually came to do like a limited series.
Speaker 8: And I had done a series of something called Common
Speaker 8: Ground with Richard Thomas and we had already won friends,
Speaker 8: so we said, oh, there goes the neighborhood with all
Speaker 8: these white folks. We all got along. We all got along,
Speaker 8: We all joked about it, and they got it. But yeah,
Speaker 8: that's who was on that lot before they fixed it up.
Speaker 8: We were on the Ranch lot, and you know that
Speaker 8: fountain it's on our lot that wanted to film around
Speaker 8: that fountain, but they didn't let us.
Speaker 5: That's why we're behind the couch eight. That's some shit.
Speaker 2: Wow, that's the things I learned.
Speaker 4: Oh, was there any truth to the rumor that initially
Speaker 4: NBC was going to pick up the show initially before
Speaker 4: it went to Fox?
Speaker 8: Never because we are a Warner Brothers show and we
Speaker 8: played on the Fox.
Speaker 5: Okay, so Warren Littlefields.
Speaker 8: The story goes that when we made our first debut,
Speaker 8: they said, is there anything show there was any show
Speaker 8: that you saw that you wish it was yours? And
Speaker 8: he said single And he was the head of NBC
Speaker 8: and then the next year he created with a different
Speaker 8: team France.
Speaker 4: I never heard of the cast members response to jay
Speaker 4: Z's Moonlight video. Jay Z infamously uh Alan Alan Yang,
Speaker 4: who who directed uh uh with with Disease and Sorry Yeah,
Speaker 4: Masters of None, and also uh Maya's current series Lut.
Speaker 4: Jay Z got Alan Yang to basically get the friend
Speaker 4: set to actually recreate Do you remember this vine?
Speaker 2: Remember it was it was? Was it was it? Four
Speaker 2: four four? Was it? Yeah? Yeah?
Speaker 4: The Moonlight song or four four four? What were your
Speaker 4: feelings of that?
Speaker 2: I guess.
Speaker 4: Once that story broke out, and then jay Z also
Speaker 4: gave a statement on it as well, what were your
Speaker 4: Did you have a response to that video at all?
Speaker 5: No, I was unaware of it.
Speaker 4: Oh okay, basically, when you're that story got out, jay
Speaker 4: Z made a video in which Tessa Thompson, Uh, Tiffany
Speaker 4: Hattish Hannibal and.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, basically I think I did see that. Just
Speaker 2: wanted to know if you word okay, I think that.
Speaker 8: We're understand and I understand that in marketing that you
Speaker 8: want to also speak to a wide audience. If you
Speaker 8: have this huge part of the world that understands that
Speaker 8: friends is this juggernaut. I'm sure that jay Z who
Speaker 8: understands that you stand next to things you want to
Speaker 8: shine on you and vice versa. I don't think he
Speaker 8: needs to stand next to living single, okay, and and
Speaker 8: and not that he needs to stand next to friends,
Speaker 8: But I get it.
Speaker 5: I get it as a branding.
Speaker 6: Was that his homage to living single in a way
Speaker 6: like was it the supposed to feel like, yeah, okay,
Speaker 6: it was supposed to feel like this is we know
Speaker 6: what the real truth is?
Speaker 8: And I guess so, But it could also be seen
Speaker 8: in the opposite.
Speaker 7: Yes, it came right, you know, right, you're right.
Speaker 5: Yeah, So but I get it, you.
Speaker 4: Know, at one hundred and eighteen episodes, I mean, that's
Speaker 4: nothing to sneeze at for in most shows. Basically, if
Speaker 4: we're really being honest with ourselves, most shows are at
Speaker 4: their best during a five season arc, and then it
Speaker 4: gets a little shaky with season six, seven, eight.
Speaker 2: You know they Fraser was consistent all I didn't watch.
Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I watched pretty consistent.
Speaker 9: Yeah, I mean I agree with that five season or
Speaker 9: like the favor like I mean Breaking Bad or like
Speaker 9: the wh Like five seasons is kind of it's perfect.
Speaker 2: Yeah, yeah, but we're greedy, and so it's like what's
Speaker 2: ringing for? All? Right?
Speaker 4: Like right now, fell down a suit hole and now
Speaker 4: I'm a little upset that it ended that eight seasons,
Speaker 4: even though two said it ended a season five or whatever.
Speaker 2: But are you.
Speaker 4: Satisfied with that particular arc, like those one hundred and
Speaker 4: eighteen episodes or do you feel as though there was
Speaker 4: more in it? Because I'm not I'm not too sure.
Speaker 4: But by the time you guys ended.
Speaker 6: Max is pregnant, right ended, and with her gonad, I'm
Speaker 6: gonna get together and and then Kadija goes on to
Speaker 6: another country to be with Scooters.
Speaker 5: Yeah, well that was just them wrapping it up.
Speaker 8: We didn't even really have passed together, like was you know,
Speaker 8: TC wasn't really there.
Speaker 5: That was my comedy partner.
Speaker 8: That's like I'm dancing with Redistare and Ginger and something
Speaker 8: I ain't got nobody to dance with.
Speaker 7: I love watching y'all dance.
Speaker 5: Yes, there you go.
Speaker 8: We had a Dallas and we had met Williams and
Speaker 8: things like that. We're starting to be incorporated, and I
Speaker 8: think that it was again it found its peak and
Speaker 8: was starting to round over.
Speaker 5: You have you need everybody to be engaged.
Speaker 8: We're saying very intentional words of writers, and they are.
Speaker 8: They're building these characters in these worlds, and if they're
Speaker 8: not as engaged, then we can only.
Speaker 5: Do We're like puppets. We can only do so much.
Speaker 4: I've uh one one last living single, which is totally
Speaker 4: just off of character. But I gotta know one of
Speaker 4: your directors of the show, John's first thing, JD Lube.
Speaker 4: This sounds like a weird poor name. Are you familiar
Speaker 4: with JD Lube? L o U l O b U
Speaker 4: e okay, see, I would imagine that on a sitcom
Speaker 4: there are a gazillion directors or whatnot.
Speaker 2: I wanted to know.
Speaker 4: I know you're looking like, well, no, no, he JD
Speaker 4: was sort of the longest director of Soul Train, which
Speaker 4: I'm absolutely obsessed with, and so the moment that I
Speaker 4: felt that Soul Trained the shark ish, he had left
Speaker 4: to go do living single. But you know, I always
Speaker 4: just wanted to know what what was he like as
Speaker 4: a director.
Speaker 2: But you don't remember, Sorry we ruined show.
Speaker 5: Right to go on listen?
Speaker 4: But but but my question is actually in that in
Speaker 4: sitcom world or in television world, can you explain to
Speaker 4: me it's weird that the director isn't consistent from soup
Speaker 4: to nuts, Like in most comedies they have different directors
Speaker 4: come in and direct one Do you know generally why
Speaker 4: that's a rule, Like why isn't there just one director
Speaker 4: and one writing staff? I know the staff writers can
Speaker 4: change throughout the seasons or whatnot, but what does the
Speaker 4: deal with like having multiple directors for.
Speaker 2: A series, Like why is that?
Speaker 5: Yeah?
Speaker 8: I'm not quite sure, but I would imagine that it
Speaker 8: keeps the show from getting stale.
Speaker 5: They're also performers favorites.
Speaker 8: Some people don't jail with the performers, and if they
Speaker 8: notice a change or they might want to mix it
Speaker 8: up so people don't get disrespectful and start just doing
Speaker 8: what they want. Sometime it keeps you on your toes.
Speaker 8: It depends on your cast. If you have a problematic
Speaker 8: cast or somebody at the lead, that's a.
Speaker 5: Tough when you mix it up. I don't know.
Speaker 8: I just think that that energy, that new energy, is important.
Speaker 8: But our shows were mostly directed by Ellen Gettleson, and
Speaker 8: she knew us very well, so I actually seen it
Speaker 8: both ways. I've always been happy with new directors sometimes
Speaker 8: because I know people are getting a chance to build
Speaker 8: their resume. I really really to see somebody I have
Speaker 8: worked with over and over again because I don't explain
Speaker 8: myself and they know what you're capable of, so they
Speaker 8: also pull you back if they're saying, oh, come on, Erica.
Speaker 8: Like I wanted to do a whole scene on the
Speaker 8: floor and they wouldn't let me, and I said, why,
Speaker 8: you can hear me, but you know fine, I'll set up.
Speaker 8: I was pissed, but that was a director I knew.
Speaker 8: I kept I didn't feel like I was pushing it.
Speaker 8: It's just that these things happen. So I think on
Speaker 8: a drama, I would say it's because you get burned out.
Speaker 8: You can't be the same director. You have to prep
Speaker 8: and do each show, and each show you have to
Speaker 8: prep them, so it's tough. But I think with comedy
Speaker 8: you're more likely to get return directors who are for
Speaker 8: the most part, doing most of the shows because the
Speaker 8: casts and the writers know that they can pull it off.
Speaker 2: Sometimes for you.
Speaker 10: As an actor, is there a particular like in terms
Speaker 10: of comedic acting versus dramatic acting? Is one more exhausting?
Speaker 10: What kind of strenuous than the other?
Speaker 5: No, I never thought about that.
Speaker 8: I never have. I haven't again. I don't have the
Speaker 8: luxury of choosing my roles, and I think that people
Speaker 8: think that you can. I took the roles that I got,
Speaker 8: and if I didn't do well, I try to do
Speaker 8: better the next time. So I got dramas at first,
Speaker 8: and I was known as drama girl for a very
Speaker 8: long girl a long time, excuse me. And then I
Speaker 8: got comedy and suddenly people are like, oh, you were comedian.
Speaker 5: And I was.
Speaker 8: They didn't know I did drama. There was a surprise.
Speaker 8: I'm like, you kidding, That's what I grew up in.
Speaker 8: And then I do podcasts and I do this or that,
Speaker 8: But what I'm really trying to do is make a
Speaker 8: living and make a life preach.
Speaker 4: I do remember you and uh the book that Alex
Speaker 4: Hilly didn't get to finish.
Speaker 5: Mama's by a Flora's Family.
Speaker 2: Yes, okay, sorry, it was.
Speaker 5: You know, remember.
Speaker 8: One time and they gave me and Cecily Tyson a
Speaker 8: Black Emmy and anybody that has it from that award show.
Speaker 8: It never was done again. We have black I have
Speaker 8: an Emmy.
Speaker 6: It's a Black Emmy, but it was a it was
Speaker 6: a Blackamy show, right, a black Emmy section.
Speaker 7: It was a black Emmy show.
Speaker 5: It was a Blackamy Award show. Because they weren't even.
Speaker 2: He got I ain't got no. How come I didn't
Speaker 2: know this?
Speaker 7: No, I remember, I remember.
Speaker 5: It's a real thing. It only happened once.
Speaker 8: I'm sure they got sued c distance letter, but I
Speaker 8: got one.
Speaker 2: See.
Speaker 6: That's why we got to keep telling history and telling
Speaker 6: these stories.
Speaker 4: You said that, I thought you meant like, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 4: n w A C. People were I didn't realize that there.
Speaker 8: Was the great felicierer shod has no Emmy eight years
Speaker 8: on the top show in the world created helped create
Speaker 8: must see TV. They weren't given back any awards, they complained. Now,
Speaker 8: I'm like, it was a drought and a durst, so
Speaker 8: they created the Black Immys and I have one yo.
Speaker 7: Not to move fast forward, boss.
Speaker 6: But in my mind, I'm like, so when somebody said
Speaker 6: to Erica, we got this roll for you and get Out,
Speaker 6: she must have been like, hell, yeah, just get all this, Like, oh.
Speaker 8: I like to choose great material on the you find it,
Speaker 8: great material chooses you. So I read the part and thought, oh,
Speaker 8: this is lovely. But frankly I thought it was a
Speaker 8: college students film.
Speaker 2: Okayecond, so listen.
Speaker 4: I often wondered more with Us than get Out. I
Speaker 4: obsessed with how something looks on paper before it even
Speaker 4: gets to the screen. Fante and I sort of had
Speaker 4: this debate before, especially with US.
Speaker 2: Yeah. I wasn't big on US. I didn't right.
Speaker 4: I liked US, but I also chose to invest eight
Speaker 4: watch throughs. And if you have to watch something eight
Speaker 4: times to see probably the Easter Eggs or whatever. I
Speaker 4: still enjoyed it because you know, I like looking for
Speaker 4: Easter eggs and mystery and whatever. But get out to
Speaker 4: me on screen was amazing to be whole. But I
Speaker 4: always wondered, what did that script, how did it look
Speaker 4: on paper at the time, and did anyone see what
Speaker 4: was coming? And the fact that you played such a
Speaker 4: straight role in it. I was like, I'm glad she
Speaker 4: because when you came, I was like, oh boy, this
Speaker 4: is about to turn up now. But they didn't let
Speaker 4: you really put your teeth into it. But I don't
Speaker 4: know if you were fine.
Speaker 5: With that one thing. I thought it was a comedy.
Speaker 5: It was. I remember, my scene is only between me
Speaker 5: and little real.
Speaker 8: Outrageous story, and I bring in my team and we
Speaker 8: laugh at him. But at first I am supposed to
Speaker 8: look like I'm about to get into it. We're gonna
Speaker 8: ratchet it up.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 8: Jordan always told me when I came on the scream
Speaker 8: beside people.
Speaker 5: Going hey that's Max. Oh my god, they were like, okay,
Speaker 5: now now something going to happen. That's gonna happen.
Speaker 8: So he would joke and say, we need to make
Speaker 8: a Detective LaToya movie. Yes, that character, And that's when
Speaker 8: I started thinking about the ping panther or somebody who
Speaker 8: is a hapless person who stumbles into success. But it's
Speaker 8: not because they're looking for it.
Speaker 5: So no, I do.
Speaker 8: On the paper it looked exactly like it looked. Only
Speaker 8: Jordan knew how it was going to go. And unless
Speaker 8: you were part imagine, you know, there were fantastic actors
Speaker 8: they had all around, and they were cutting people's brains
Speaker 8: open and you know what I mean, and replacing them.
Speaker 8: So I wonder if they thought, hey, this is an
Speaker 8: interesting thing, let's go do it.
Speaker 5: He's a great guy. That's that's what I thought. I
Speaker 5: loved Jordan Peel.
Speaker 8: But I can assure you I had a call from
Speaker 8: a friend, my co founder Ben at Color Farm here
Speaker 8: and he.
Speaker 5: Says, Yoe, I just saw the trailer. Didn't you say
Speaker 5: you were in a comedy. This is a hard film.
Speaker 4: And wait, even then, you didn't realize where he was
Speaker 4: going with it.
Speaker 6: No, because you didn't get to read the whole thing.
Speaker 6: Did you just read your scenes?
Speaker 5: I read my scene? But not only that.
Speaker 8: It was during the election. I was Hillary Clinton's most
Speaker 8: traveled surrogate, that's right. I was on the road Leicester.
Speaker 5: And so for your service, and I was doing.
Speaker 8: Also at the same time Queen Sugar and I was
Speaker 8: playing there a bipolar.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 8: So I had flown in from Baton Rouge straight to
Speaker 8: Alabama in one night, did all of those things, then
Speaker 8: went to Harlem for a rally for Hillary. I did
Speaker 8: it all like this without even looking. Sometimes you just
Speaker 8: have to go forward. And that was one of those moments.
Speaker 7: Wait wait, wait, wait wait.
Speaker 6: So did you ever get going sneak into a theater
Speaker 6: and hear the reaction of people when you come on
Speaker 6: the screen.
Speaker 7: Did you get to feel that?
Speaker 5: Yes? I did get to feel it once and it
Speaker 5: was really once.
Speaker 2: Yeah, okay once, Yeah, my first time seeing it. I
Speaker 2: saw it in Detroit, so it was all the way
Speaker 2: laugh very different, very different. Yeah. I was gonna say,
Speaker 2: I think I watched that.
Speaker 4: Film twelve times and purposely chose various I chose the
Speaker 4: whitest theater in Denver, Colorado, where the film was absolutely silent.
Speaker 2: In parts.
Speaker 4: That and then I saw I went to Magic Johnson
Speaker 4: to see say that evening Ready Dog, and that's when
Speaker 4: I was like, oh, now that's where it's a comedy,
Speaker 4: Like that's it's not a totally different movie.
Speaker 5: Different movie. Yeah, that's hilarious.
Speaker 4: Now that I think about it, there's another iconic film
Speaker 4: role you did. I'll be very brief, but can you
Speaker 4: talk about Tony Braxton's You're Making Me High?
Speaker 2: Video? Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 4: Can you just talk. I think that was maybe the
Speaker 4: last time. Like, once you're in the industry, you just
Speaker 4: watch things different. But I do remember well one I
Speaker 4: was happy because if you were around in the nineties whatever,
Speaker 4: Bryce Wilson's growth theory kind of yeah, Bryce Wilson his
Speaker 4: uh uh and I'm understating this. His adoration for Tony
Speaker 4: Braxton was well known throughout circles. So the fact that
Speaker 4: he got to play in that video, like I was like, yo,
Speaker 4: he like he he's made his crush in love for
Speaker 4: the Stalk of on right exactly, very very much known.
Speaker 4: And so when this sort of came to fruition in
Speaker 4: a video whatnot? Like I actually found myself watching the
Speaker 4: video as like a fan, not an industry person, even
Speaker 4: though I experienced everything, listening to records, watching videos whatever
Speaker 4: you do, like, you see different once you're in it.
Speaker 4: But to me, that looked so much fun. I was like, wow,
Speaker 4: like they were having the time there life.
Speaker 2: What was it? Like?
Speaker 8: I was pretty intimidated. Really, yeah, because I don't know.
Speaker 8: Teacher Campbell once asked me about this. She said, Erica,
Speaker 8: we don't see you out much. You don't go out,
Speaker 8: and I didn't have. I came into business when there
Speaker 8: were no Ange News, there were no going out, There
Speaker 8: were no young women yet performing, and they didn't have
Speaker 8: many roles for young women.
Speaker 5: So I didn't come in hanging out.
Speaker 8: And even though I came up in the hip hop
Speaker 8: era and there's Wu Tang and this and that and
Speaker 8: I'm in LA, it was dangerous to go out.
Speaker 5: You get captain the ads. Yeah, So you just didn't
Speaker 5: hang out.
Speaker 8: And so that was the first time me meeting those people.
Speaker 8: And so to me, I was a fan and that's
Speaker 8: something here I am, and they're like, they want me
Speaker 8: to be in that video with Tony Braxton and next
Speaker 8: to the Vivica Fox and blah blah, and I get.
Speaker 5: I kind of shut down a little bit when I'm.
Speaker 8: Intimidated, and so I tried to just do what they
Speaker 8: told me to do. I didn't necessarily know how a
Speaker 8: music video was shot. It was a learning experience and
Speaker 8: I was glad to be there, but for the most part,
Speaker 8: I was if you didn't know I was in there,
Speaker 8: wouldn't know I was in.
Speaker 5: Ye.
Speaker 4: When I think of it, I think of you first,
Speaker 4: and maybe I think at tis Campbell like, but yeah, no,
Speaker 4: when when you're there, we noticed.
Speaker 7: Thanks always, Yeah.
Speaker 2: We noticed. I wanted to ask about Queen Sugar.
Speaker 10: You talk about, you know, shows that didn't get Emmys
Speaker 10: or recognition.
Speaker 2: What was it like working on that show?
Speaker 10: Because that was just such a beautifully shot show and
Speaker 10: beautifully lit, like you know.
Speaker 2: It was just a beautiful show to watch. Why do
Speaker 2: they not announci you a while?
Speaker 4: Ara Angela blame Ralph angel for me now having subtitles on.
Speaker 5: Ava does everything with intention.
Speaker 8: Avid Duvenet came in this world with a black power
Speaker 8: sign stamped on her breast in the front. It's her
Speaker 8: shield and it's her mantra. And I think that you
Speaker 8: see that as an expression of love, and she wants
Speaker 8: to rebrand black people. That's what I want to do.
Speaker 8: She wanted to show a family that had land. We
Speaker 8: came in and we worked the land, but we didn't
Speaker 8: own that land. And once we owned the land, we
Speaker 8: were sharecropping for that land, and then we were thrown
Speaker 8: off the land. And now they say, we're not country
Speaker 8: and we are country. So there's all these things mixed
Speaker 8: in to Queen Sugar. She's talking about money ownership, she's
Speaker 8: talking about families, she's talking about generational trauma, she's talking
Speaker 8: about politics, she's talking about real estate. She's talking about
Speaker 8: all these things. And she did it. So I bravoed
Speaker 8: to her. And that's what it was like. You knew
Speaker 8: when you walked on that you were contributing to something
Speaker 8: that had very little to do with you, but more
Speaker 8: to do with how could we tell this story about
Speaker 8: a generational family that owned land.
Speaker 10: Did you see your work in American fiction? You mentioned
Speaker 10: kind of rebanded, rebranding black people. Did you see American
Speaker 10: fiction as an extension of that?
Speaker 5: For sure?
Speaker 8: I mean, poor Jefferson is made for the moment. I
Speaker 8: mean you have to understand American fiction is a satire. Okay,
Speaker 8: let's mention the greater Jeffrey Wright. You just got one
Speaker 8: of the best actors of all time to do it.
Speaker 8: But that character wants to be free of a narrative
Speaker 8: that's been keeping him in the cheap seats. He's a
Speaker 8: spectator in his own life and his reality. Our reality
Speaker 8: is much more complicated and plex then the narratives that
Speaker 8: drive the market. And so we have a problem with
Speaker 8: these stories that endure because black people have been amazingly
Speaker 8: successful by catering to those forces, and they've successfully produced,
Speaker 8: they've supported and these impoverished narratives. But this very durable
Speaker 8: and very self sustained universe is rejected. So that's the question,
Speaker 8: why do we see black people locked in these stereotypes?
Speaker 8: And has blackness become a victim of its own success?
Speaker 8: And that's what that that movie is about. When you're
Speaker 8: playing a narrative that you don't own and yet you,
Speaker 8: you know, push it out.
Speaker 5: So you could be successful.
Speaker 8: You it's I'm surprised we haven't all gone that shit crazy.
Speaker 4: We have, But I also feel like, well, I'm under
Speaker 4: the impression that the reset of twenty twenty is what
Speaker 4: actually allowed us to recharge.
Speaker 2: And come forth. But yeah, I too wonder that.
Speaker 4: Can I ask you something though, because it's been a
Speaker 4: minute since a movie sparked any type of conversation use
Speaker 4: especially with me, like I'll see moving like okay, it's
Speaker 4: dope or whatever, you know, the ending of American fiction,
Speaker 4: or at least I would and we should probably have
Speaker 4: Chord on the show. We should have chord on the show.
Speaker 4: So here's the thing with the last fifteen minutes of
Speaker 4: the show without spoiling the movie for people was talked about,
Speaker 4: and the thing was I told the group of people
Speaker 4: I went to see it with, I said, look, they
Speaker 4: could have easily did a Hollywood ending where all's well,
Speaker 4: that ends well. Now, for me, the ending of that
Speaker 4: was much akin to like you remember, like maybe the
Speaker 4: first seven Spike Lee films really never ended right, it
Speaker 4: never yeah, but even think of do the right thing
Speaker 4: like it wasn't happily ever after No Better Blues was
Speaker 4: QUI fied.
Speaker 2: He found love, but he lost his gifts right, And
Speaker 2: for me, the ending of.
Speaker 4: American fiction was not only I felt the right choice
Speaker 4: of an ending, but I mean as a person, and
Speaker 4: I know I'm not alone like I often find myself
Speaker 4: in that ending where sometimes you're just like all right,
Speaker 4: fuck it, you know what I mean. And even though
Speaker 4: it wasn't the ideal Hollywood ending, I felt that was the.
Speaker 2: Most realistic, the realistic ending.
Speaker 4: And for those that were just like yo, man, what
Speaker 4: do you think about the end? And I felt like
Speaker 4: that's how that shit goes that was the truth and
Speaker 4: it's the sad truth. Did you guys sort of wonder that,
Speaker 4: like in the film of How It Ends? Because even
Speaker 4: for me, I was wondering, like, okay, when the big
Speaker 4: revelation happens, is, you know, is it redemption for all
Speaker 4: of us?
Speaker 2: Is in my mind?
Speaker 4: I started predicting houses sick going end. I can't wait
Speaker 4: for this at the end, And when it ended, I
Speaker 4: was like, yeah, I guess that's how it ends. How
Speaker 4: did you feel about that at the time? And was
Speaker 4: that ever a subject of discussion where their alternate ending
Speaker 4: shot for it?
Speaker 8: Or I knew the one I was in. I was
Speaker 8: in two of them, the happy ending and the more
Speaker 8: tragic endings.
Speaker 2: Wait, wait, time out you're talking about American fiction? Or yeah?
Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, oh, because you also, I don't know if
Speaker 4: you inadvertently know this. I didn't realize that Get Out
Speaker 4: also had two endings as well.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the we did, Yeah.
Speaker 6: But I didn't ours just like I felt like it
Speaker 6: was clue yeah.
Speaker 8: Yeah, get it Out and never showed you other endings.
Speaker 8: But I think we have to just take it from
Speaker 8: the point of view of an author. Okay, and the
Speaker 8: author has posited this question that And this could be metaverse,
Speaker 8: by the way, and you appreciate this, You guys are
Speaker 8: all nerds. When Jeffrey starts to sip his cognact and
Speaker 8: write the movie, he goes into a matter verse and
Speaker 8: makes me wonder what movie are we watching? Is it
Speaker 8: still his real life or is it something he's writing?
Speaker 2: Wait?
Speaker 7: Was that an Eastern third ending?
Speaker 8: Right?
Speaker 6: He's saying that was the third ending that we didn't win,
Speaker 6: the fourth ending that we didn't see.
Speaker 8: I'm saying that there's a lot of things that switch
Speaker 8: and start to be different once we see Keith David
Speaker 8: and start before we started to get the idea that
Speaker 8: he can manipulate his reality through his fiction.
Speaker 5: So I think we need to ask the original source.
Speaker 8: Material, Percival ever, because maybe in erasure exactly, maybe that's
Speaker 8: where the true ending lies. But they shot the ending
Speaker 8: you saw after we were all gone, so I was
Speaker 8: surprised to see the ending. Oh okay, so Corty's to
Speaker 8: come in here and stand and deliver he used this all.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 10: One of my favorite things about that film was I
Speaker 10: liked how it showed relationship, romantic relationships, black romantic relationships
Speaker 10: with people of different ages.
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 10: Yeah, generational. Yeah, that was so beautiful like you and Jeffrey.
Speaker 10: But then also I forgot the name, but the Old House.
Speaker 6: Is a boss listen, I mean dead pull along. I'm
Speaker 6: like the fact that she pulls American fixture the dead pool.
Speaker 8: She's fucking yeah, she's a back and I got to
Speaker 8: share a green room with her and get all those stories.
Speaker 8: These people are walking around with such genius inside of
Speaker 8: it's such the blueprints to our lives and to the future.
Speaker 5: And she's one of them.
Speaker 8: So that's the other ones is excellent, And you're right,
Speaker 8: that was remember the housekeepers.
Speaker 2: The housekeeper in the security Guard.
Speaker 5: But you know what, it's trying to give truth to
Speaker 5: the lie that black people.
Speaker 8: Don't have generational stories, that we only exist inside of
Speaker 8: the generation we're in and we're not having this back
Speaker 8: and forth communication wisdom and also building and architecture in
Speaker 8: our lives and it's so normal in that movie.
Speaker 6: Yeah, I really I literally got like emotional watching you
Speaker 6: and Jeffrey because it's just something that we just don't
Speaker 6: see seeing you in that role and seeing you get
Speaker 6: a chance to show love in that way, like you
Speaker 6: like seeing you as the actors that we know play
Speaker 6: that role was so important and kind of I think
Speaker 6: I'm not the only person that got emotional overseeing you,
Speaker 6: just in that.
Speaker 8: You know, people have said that I get to meet cute,
Speaker 8: I get to meet like and make Ryan. I dropped
Speaker 8: my tomatoes and did he talk over Ryan? I imagine
Speaker 8: that you're not jumping each other phones. I got lotion
Speaker 8: afterwards after we do our little do.
Speaker 5: It's a seduction.
Speaker 6: And you think high enough of yourself to be like,
Speaker 6: I don't have to be there here.
Speaker 8: No you confused, don't bring that king, don't disturb my peace. Yeah,
Speaker 8: she's not pining for him. She just let go of
Speaker 8: aok A relationship, and I'm sure it was difficult for her.
Speaker 8: So what she took to regain that kind of stability,
Speaker 8: She wasn't willing to give it up his drama and
Speaker 8: that's self empowerment.
Speaker 5: And it was lovely. It wasn't mean or angry. It
Speaker 5: was just sort of like, you gotta.
Speaker 7: Go, Erica.
Speaker 6: Please tell me what it's like going back and forth
Speaker 6: and playing this game with Jeffrey Wright, Like, what is
Speaker 6: it like in a scene like what he's just he's it,
Speaker 6: He's it.
Speaker 7: And then talk about sterling.
Speaker 5: Okay, well, Jeffrey is a nerd too. He only watches documentaries.
Speaker 8: He doesn't watch TV, but he knows all for references,
Speaker 8: so he would get along with all of you guys.
Speaker 5: It's from DC. You know those DC light skinned brothers,
Speaker 5: me too and all there you go.
Speaker 7: But he's from Southeast though. He went to Anacostia High School.
Speaker 8: Okay, so you know who you are. He loves his
Speaker 8: mother and he loves his auntie who raised him. He's
Speaker 8: a great lover of women, black women, and he understands.
Speaker 8: So he's not intimidated by me. He doesn't think that
Speaker 8: I'm a thread and in fact feel like, yeah, well,
Speaker 8: he feels like he's taking care of business. He is
Speaker 8: a man that's perspected on and he understands what he's
Speaker 8: there to do. But here's what he's not there to do.
Speaker 8: He's not there not to make mistakes. So he's trying
Speaker 8: things and experimenting. He's frustrated that.
Speaker 5: You can see. He wants a certain result and he's
Speaker 5: going for it.
Speaker 8: So I like somebody who was expectation is high, but
Speaker 8: he's like, that's your expectation. I came on here to
Speaker 8: be an actor and make my mistakes like everybody else
Speaker 8: and put it together and you it reminds you that
Speaker 8: you have to give yourself grace. Everybody can expect you
Speaker 8: to be perfect, but that's not what you're here for.
Speaker 8: And that's who Jeffrey is. And once he gets permission
Speaker 8: to do those things, he gives everyone else permission.
Speaker 5: And then the set runs.
Speaker 4: When you are paired with an acting partner that you
Speaker 4: know that your your characters sort of connected to. Are
Speaker 4: there conversations beforehand of what the chemistry is going to be?
Speaker 4: Because I've heard, and I'm asking this as a new
Speaker 4: director and as a director that hasn't done scripted yet,
Speaker 4: I've heard. I've talked to a lot of directors and
Speaker 4: they've told me ideal stories of like, these actors are
Speaker 4: the ones who gravitates towards I've heard nightmare stories of
Speaker 4: established actors who you know, this actor will only give
Speaker 4: you two takes and if you don't got it, tough titties,
Speaker 4: that's your fault. I don't give a fuck next scene.
Speaker 4: That sort of thing. Is it a speed dating process?
Speaker 2: Like how long?
Speaker 4: Because the thing is is that one with Jeffrey, but
Speaker 4: also your relationship with uh, what's his name? No, no, no, no,
Speaker 4: I'm going back to to Bobby, to h who's playing him? Okay,
Speaker 4: So I'm wondering how long is the speed quote air
Speaker 4: quote speed day process between you and an actor to know,
Speaker 4: like to at least get to know each other or
Speaker 4: is this just like cold like you automatically know what
Speaker 4: to do.
Speaker 8: So I want to first say something about the bad
Speaker 8: behavior that they might be speaking to. I have not
Speaker 8: experienced that, and I've been in Shobiz forty years, so.
Speaker 5: I've been a little bit. I don't know.
Speaker 8: I give a little side eye to the stories because
Speaker 8: I think that people attract certain things because they put either, oh,
Speaker 8: that person must be in that role, knowing that the
Speaker 8: person is problematic, instead of giving somebody who can do
Speaker 8: the role just as well and not give those type
Speaker 8: of problems. And so everybody has a reputation. No one
Speaker 8: is operating in a vacuum. So if they're experiencing that,
Speaker 8: I think it's hard for you not to know where
Speaker 8: actor lands, and you have to consider do you really
Speaker 8: want that, because that could be that can ruin you.
Speaker 8: A bad attitude can ruin everything, the crew, everything.
Speaker 5: So I haven't but I haven't experienced that.
Speaker 8: I've experienced some issue with younger actors because they haven't
Speaker 8: been properly trained. And I'm not talking about on stage
Speaker 8: because I only did a very small amount of training.
Speaker 8: I mean, no one tells them the truth and they
Speaker 8: get away with bad behavior and there's no consequences. If
Speaker 8: somebody did that on my set, I would replace them
Speaker 8: almost immediately.
Speaker 2: Yeah.
Speaker 9: So when you check after check a young actor, what
Speaker 9: do you say, like, how do you check them?
Speaker 8: You take them aside, You don't embarrass them. You ask
Speaker 8: them if there's something wrong, because sometimes they can come
Speaker 8: to set and there's something wrong and you ask them
Speaker 8: if they need help. You have identify somebody they can
Speaker 8: talk to. It could be another actor who's willing to
Speaker 8: mentor them and they can be open, honest with and vulnerable.
Speaker 8: It could be a psychiatrist. They could just be scared
Speaker 8: and not know how to say it. They may need
Speaker 8: help with lines and they're freaking out. Get them a
Speaker 8: dialogue coach, get them the help they need. They'll calm down.
Speaker 8: They also need sleep, and some people these people sleep
Speaker 8: working these kids, what's too they're more soft than not.
Speaker 2: We work that is actual and factual.
Speaker 8: Thank you, But I'm saying that all those things are
Speaker 8: playing in part. So that's what I would say. I
Speaker 8: first maybe see that, and then I might have a
Speaker 8: conversation outside, whether their manager or agents, and not.
Speaker 5: To scare them, but they need.
Speaker 8: Warning that it is and they need to know that
Speaker 8: you're on their side. If it continues, then you need
Speaker 8: to start looking into it right away and reshift your
Speaker 8: schedule to shoot things they're not in.
Speaker 10: Did you have any like any ogs who was who
Speaker 10: did that for you?
Speaker 5: Like?
Speaker 2: Who gave you that need.
Speaker 8: To I came into the set pristine. I'm a preacher's daughter.
Speaker 8: I know how to act, I cook, and I'm from
Speaker 8: girls high studied. I know and I'm learned. And if
Speaker 8: I was scared, I might not have known you talked
Speaker 8: to That's true. I think I experienced a lot of
Speaker 8: trauma because I couldn't really tell what I was feeling.
Speaker 5: But that came later on in life.
Speaker 8: But I didn't have problems showing up, knowing my lines,
Speaker 8: being prepared. We did twenty six show a year. Now
Speaker 8: people do ten and they freak out. I'm learning to
Speaker 8: play a week. No, I ain't got no problem.
Speaker 4: All right, this is this hit me right now when
Speaker 4: you started saying those words like it's something wrong and
Speaker 4: can I help you? You know, sometime I just realized,
Speaker 4: surely Ralph just sunned me. And I'm realizing it, right.
Speaker 2: Baby, Oh yeah you.
Speaker 6: Are.
Speaker 7: I love that.
Speaker 4: She pulled me to his side. She pulled me to
Speaker 4: the side. Are you a little nervous right now? And
Speaker 4: I was like, and just hit me. I got the
Speaker 4: quasi defensive no no, no, I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm I'm good.
Speaker 4: No no, no, listen, listen. You could just breathe and
Speaker 4: say it is lower. No, no, no, and she like, now
Speaker 4: do it.
Speaker 2: And I was like, and I just realized, oh shit,
Speaker 2: I was fucking up.
Speaker 4: I was that perfect. I didn't realize it until you
Speaker 4: said that.
Speaker 5: But a mirror.
Speaker 8: She did that with respect. What she was trying to
Speaker 8: do is give you permission. And if you said to
Speaker 8: her me, I'm a little nervous, then it goes away.
Speaker 8: You know how if you say something, you could lean
Speaker 8: into it because everyone's nervous.
Speaker 4: But the thing was that in my mind, like when
Speaker 4: you said that, then I'm like, okay, you're an experienced actress.
Speaker 4: You could tell what a newbie doesn't know any better,
Speaker 4: or they might be doing something wrong, or da da
Speaker 4: da da da. And I'm now realizing that maybe the
Speaker 4: first three takes that I did, because you know, they
Speaker 4: do ship over there like nine times in a row.
Speaker 4: So now I'm realizing my first four takes were like
Speaker 4: he's not getting it. And they kind of had this
Speaker 4: magic circle thing, you know, when people were together and
Speaker 4: they just look at each other and you know you're
Speaker 4: being talked about, but no one's saying it, Like I
Speaker 4: felt like maybe there's something on my teeth or it was.
Speaker 4: It was rather significant nice and so she was the
Speaker 4: designated She's the leader of the group.
Speaker 2: Chat damn.
Speaker 7: That an elder sister who was like mighty queen because.
Speaker 8: Thinking that a lot of the I don't know if
Speaker 8: you did a read through and all that, but some
Speaker 8: of these things, yeah, and that's that's the issue. You're
Speaker 8: fitting into their world and you're trying to take it
Speaker 8: all in all at once, and you're also trying to
Speaker 8: do all this other stuff. By the way, any guests
Speaker 8: feature performer has that extra burden. So I think that
Speaker 8: she was just giving you PERMISSI, but she wasn't sonning you.
Speaker 5: She was just sort of like a big sister going yeah.
Speaker 2: Oh no, no, no cool.
Speaker 4: I mean, let me let me make it clear. Yes,
Speaker 4: she wasn't sonning me disrespect. Yeah, but you know, I
Speaker 4: think maybe because I only entered situations that I know,
Speaker 4: like the back of my hand, like if it were
Speaker 4: music or that sort of thing. Is like, I'm not
Speaker 4: saying you can't tell me nothing, but you know, this
Speaker 4: is definitely an area that.
Speaker 8: In your world you're king, it's hard to come in
Speaker 8: spaces and you direct and you do all these things,
Speaker 8: and then you're putting in a position where suddenly it's like, okay,
Speaker 8: wait a minute, I'm not on you know what what again,
Speaker 8: you're an artist, So she approached you as one, and
Speaker 8: that's respectful, and she it wasn't a matter of whether
Speaker 8: you could do it. It was a matter of sort
Speaker 8: of saying, you know who told me that cely Tithe
Speaker 8: it her cold breathe, breathe. When these sisters tell you
Speaker 8: it sounds ridiculous, like I am breathing, but you know,
Speaker 8: but she they're trying to remind you to be in
Speaker 8: your body also to give you permission that you ain't
Speaker 8: got to be perfect. And she I've been told that
Speaker 8: by whoopee, I've been doing and these people are that.
Speaker 8: I'm there for those Wu Tang kids to come up
Speaker 8: and say, you're tired, you're not getting you sleep, okay,
Speaker 8: so let's let's get you some water.
Speaker 5: You know what I mean?
Speaker 8: Stand up, stand up, shake your body, let's go outside
Speaker 8: and get some sun. And I remind them that they're human,
Speaker 8: They're not a freaking robot. But they're talented and that's
Speaker 8: why they're there, and they need to not think about
Speaker 8: the talent, just think about being present. And it's all
Speaker 8: right to have that. But I do want to say
Speaker 8: something to what you said. You asked about you know,
Speaker 8: how do you how do you.
Speaker 2: Talk to your scene partner?
Speaker 8: You don't usually it if when I say, you don't
Speaker 8: usually if unless you need to. I'm at a point where,
Speaker 8: for the most part, if somebody needs to talk to me,
Speaker 8: they'll pick you aside.
Speaker 5: So, Erica, I'm not sure about this scene. I don't
Speaker 5: know where it's headed, but I think this and that.
Speaker 5: What do you think?
Speaker 8: And I said, I don't know. I don't know, Jeffrey,
Speaker 8: but I'll follow your lead. He goes, okay, we'll work
Speaker 8: it out and then it's just one of those things
Speaker 8: where in a way he's just convincing that maybe hasn't
Speaker 8: settled on how the scene goes or I and I
Speaker 8: know to be ready for changes, and he's just putting
Speaker 8: me on blasts, but also not on a blast. He's
Speaker 8: giving me a heads up, but he's also telling me,
Speaker 8: support me, look out for me.
Speaker 5: And I'm glad when somebody says that because I've said that.
Speaker 8: By the way, when I was on Queen Sugar, I
Speaker 8: had medication because I have colitus, and sometimes it can
Speaker 8: it's a steroid.
Speaker 5: It can make you feel like.
Speaker 8: Really like if you can get emotional, everything feel heightened,
Speaker 8: like you can faint.
Speaker 5: And so I told Omar, who plays.
Speaker 8: I said, I've got to do this emotional scene and
Speaker 8: if I get overwhelmed and faint, because that's how I said,
Speaker 8: you got to tell them I'm all right.
Speaker 5: But you know what happened. He says, I got you, girl,
Speaker 5: I got you.
Speaker 8: And once I did that, I actually calm calm down
Speaker 8: and I was able to do the scene because I
Speaker 8: was worried about fainting.
Speaker 5: That's what it is.
Speaker 8: The director can sometime give you that kind of confidence
Speaker 8: because that's the person you want to impress, and you
Speaker 8: sometimes don't want.
Speaker 5: To be too friendly with the performers, but.
Speaker 8: You do have to make a connection with him that
Speaker 8: you're they're not there to hit a line, a bar,
Speaker 8: a vis or that, and that you enjoy their mistakes.
Speaker 5: So that was fun.
Speaker 8: Give them encouragement, and don't give them encouragement just because
Speaker 8: they get it and cried. Just say thank you each time,
Speaker 8: say thank you for whatever they get me. It's no
Speaker 8: different thank you for the crime. Then when if they
Speaker 8: don't do it, and then they say, okay, they're not
Speaker 8: making a big deal out of it.
Speaker 5: I can be whatever and still get approval.
Speaker 8: The actors will do anything for you because they know
Speaker 8: they can't fail.
Speaker 9: I want to ask about the Wu Tang show, which
Speaker 9: I loved. How did you get that role? And did
Speaker 9: you actually meet Rizz's mom before you know?
Speaker 2: Oh man, I didn't know that long straight short.
Speaker 8: I loved the Woutang, but at the time, I didn't
Speaker 8: think it was a role for me. I didn't know
Speaker 8: if I wanted to be a mother of all these
Speaker 8: may ask kids.
Speaker 2: Well, you look like you could be their sister on
Speaker 2: the camera, So I mean.
Speaker 8: Yeahreer, but I didn't know, so I didn't really step
Speaker 8: up for the audition because there was an audition and
Speaker 8: they said, Erica, they coming back to you, would you
Speaker 8: And I said, all right, so I did and they said, well, Rizzon.
Speaker 5: Wants to meet you.
Speaker 8: And I said, oh, I don't know if I wanted
Speaker 8: to go any further, and I don't want to lead
Speaker 8: anybody on, but I decided, you know what, Erica, go on,
Speaker 8: do what's in front of you.
Speaker 5: So I met.
Speaker 8: Him and Ris is very you know, charismatic and lovely
Speaker 8: and respectful, and I did my thing, and he said
Speaker 8: after I got the partner, I accepted it because I
Speaker 8: did get it that you know, there's only four represented
Speaker 8: in the show, but I got eleven brothers and sisters
Speaker 8: including me, and they all had to say you were
Speaker 8: okay to play our mother.
Speaker 5: Because the whole.
Speaker 8: Real America can play Linding Diggs. So then I learned
Speaker 8: about their mother, and their mother had experienced abuse and
Speaker 8: it's one of the reason why they think she died.
Speaker 8: She was married twice and unfortunately she experienced domestic abuse,
Speaker 8: which is portrayed into there. So I knew that it
Speaker 8: was something very special that Rizzo wanted me to project.
Speaker 8: So I said to her, and I'm not very religious,
Speaker 8: but those spiritual said, miss miss Linda, your children want
Speaker 8: to see you. You showed me the way. And then
Speaker 8: I didn't do anything because I knew they had already
Speaker 8: seen what they wanted and I just needed to not perform.
Speaker 8: I need to just get out of the way and
Speaker 8: let her be there. And to me, she's a ghost.
Speaker 8: In that series, Rizza wanted to see his mother, so
Speaker 8: he wrote her in I.
Speaker 5: Fulfil the mean?
Speaker 2: Yeah, Wow, were you Au Tang fan? Prior to the
Speaker 2: did you Tang fan?
Speaker 8: Not as much as everybody didn't know their music as much.
Speaker 8: But I'm a Wu Tang fan because I really love
Speaker 8: how intellectual they are are. I love methic man and
Speaker 8: and I like men who are working it out and
Speaker 8: they're individualists. Again, they're an individualists and then they decide
Speaker 8: to come together to make a super group and then
Speaker 8: their brand becomes bigger than them all.
Speaker 5: I'm sorry. I love that kind of story.
Speaker 7: Did you see?
Speaker 6: And I'm curious because there's a lot of great actors,
Speaker 6: great young actors in that cast. Do you see a
Speaker 6: couple of them as like leading in the in the future,
Speaker 6: like the next like not the next.
Speaker 7: They're doing their thing.
Speaker 8: But Julian Elijah Martinez who played my son, he played
Speaker 8: the elder.
Speaker 2: Yeah, he played divine.
Speaker 7: Sometimes he.
Speaker 5: Does look like.
Speaker 8: There of course Ashton Sanders there, You've got Marcus Callender,
Speaker 8: their genius performers, and Elijah is on fire. There is
Speaker 8: not enough film are television to absorb this talent, and
Speaker 8: my goal is to find ways so they can show
Speaker 8: the world what they can do. We've got more talent
Speaker 8: than we've got content for them to be in. So yeah,
Speaker 8: look out. All of them are wonderful. I love them all.
Speaker 9: I have one last question, Eric, I need the face routine.
Speaker 9: I need what's what's your face routine?
Speaker 6: What's your so thank you for that.
Speaker 5: I had a huge breakout because I came here and
Speaker 5: started eating stuff I didn't know.
Speaker 8: But you know what, I think I really appreciate that
Speaker 8: when you saw me in person, you see the lines.
Speaker 7: See no, no, no, that's not true. I just weeks ago.
Speaker 7: Don't tell tales.
Speaker 5: Well you know what black does crack.
Speaker 8: But I think if you keep yourself smiling and laughing
Speaker 8: about things, I think people see the brightness in my
Speaker 8: face really and the openness and I like to believe
Speaker 8: that I can still be young and enthusiastic and not
Speaker 8: jaded and not tired. I'm enthusiastic after forty years to
Speaker 8: be here, and I know what it feels like to
Speaker 8: be tired.
Speaker 5: But Harriet wasn't tired until she was tired. So I'm
Speaker 5: all right.
Speaker 7: My hair is strenders ship.
Speaker 5: That's in your DNA. I'm good, by the way. I
Speaker 5: don't believe in all this hustle. I get your sleep,
Speaker 5: get your rest. It's important.
Speaker 8: Listen, read and go outside and let the sun hit
Speaker 8: you and listen to read. Take off all the things
Speaker 8: and just the ambient noise get to you.
Speaker 4: I don't think I ever heard an episode where I
Speaker 4: don't want to say goodbye to the person.
Speaker 2: No.
Speaker 4: Once again, thank you so much for coming on our show.
Speaker 4: And this is definitely you know, this is a dream
Speaker 4: for us. We talked about this for a long time
Speaker 4: of having you.
Speaker 7: And shout out your organization.
Speaker 6: Please, because when you say you're trying to uplift these
Speaker 6: people and these creatives, you're doing it in real time.
Speaker 7: Please please Color Farm.
Speaker 8: We call ourselves the town of film, television and tech.
Speaker 8: You're trying to change the face to the media and
Speaker 8: rebrand blackness. We produced John Was Good Trouble. I co
Speaker 8: directed the reparations documentary The Big Payback. You're doing a
Speaker 8: Diet and Carol documentary. You're also doing collaborations partnerships in
Speaker 8: the scripted space as well. Remember us a mirror and
Speaker 8: for everyone there, we appreciate your support because.
Speaker 5: We don't have a deal.
Speaker 8: Just worked really hard and we got the DuPont Columbia
Speaker 8: word for something we did called Finding Tamika, which was
Speaker 8: the top true crime audio series that I created a
Speaker 8: road and I really am very proud of that because
Speaker 8: we're talking about missing white woman syndrome and to do
Speaker 8: what we use this black girl's life to show Mika.
Speaker 5: She was used as the discussion around it.
Speaker 8: And we maybe made Neil Noir ghost story and we
Speaker 8: thought it was lovely and their family was lovely to
Speaker 8: let us do it.
Speaker 5: But I'm here, I want to say something to you. Yes,
Speaker 5: you are not only.
Speaker 8: An agot, You're a person who is in power to
Speaker 8: empower and I'm very gratified that you're from Philly. I
Speaker 8: see all the stuff that you do, and I say
Speaker 8: stuff that you do, the amazing.
Speaker 5: Things that you accomplish.
Speaker 8: But I also love that you have the curiosity intellectual
Speaker 8: and the deep dives that most people don't allow themselves
Speaker 8: to have. And so you're very generous with your mind
Speaker 8: and your brilliance. And I appreciate that, brother, because all
Speaker 8: the people, all those people would recognize that you are
Speaker 8: their son. So thank you all for creating this for
Speaker 8: us to have these long conversations, because I think we're
Speaker 8: also archiving history.
Speaker 2: One. Thank you, Yeah you made it.
Speaker 7: Thank you, thank you for making that.
Speaker 2: Thank you for yeah doing your ship.
Speaker 5: Thank you, thank you.
Speaker 2: I appreciate you, and you're back.
Speaker 4: That is probably the greatest ending of quest love Supreme.
Speaker 5: We could just get that plate of Patty.
Speaker 4: Okay, yes, to let the world know Patty invited me
Speaker 4: and the guy who sang about her pies and talked about.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, yeah, the viral a viral.
Speaker 4: Yeah all right, she invited both of us to our
Speaker 4: house for Thanksgiving, and I ate my ass off.
Speaker 2: It was oh this happened like this happened in twenty
Speaker 2: fourteen years ago. Oh okay, gotcha. Yes, after a lot
Speaker 2: of begging.
Speaker 6: Erica wants to be invited. I will guest if you
Speaker 6: watched eightieth birthday. I'm saying, we just make it a family.
Speaker 5: Thank you, gol face.
Speaker 2: I appreciate, thank you, Thanks see all the next around, y'all.
Speaker 2: Thank you for listening to Quest Love Free. This podcast
Speaker 2: is hosted by.
Speaker 9: Emir West, Love Thompson, Boss Man, Like Here, Saint Clair
Speaker 9: So Blackly Black, Myself, Fontigerlo Fonte, Coleman, Sugar, Steve Mandel
Speaker 9: and Unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are a Mere Quest Love, Thompson,
Speaker 9: Sean g and the US Father Brian Calhoun. Produced by
Speaker 9: Freaking Benjamin, my dog cousin, Jake Payne, my Motherfucking Man
Speaker 9: and like Is Saint Clair My work wife edited by Alex.
Speaker 2: Conrad, Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown and.
Speaker 1: First Love Supreme is the production of iHeart Radio. For
Speaker 1: more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Speaker 1: Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.