Speaker 1: M m m. You're listening to playback a Variety I
Speaker 1: Heart Radio podcast. I'm your host, Variety Awards editor Chris Tapley.
Speaker 1: This week we have John David Washington, the thirty four
Speaker 1: year old star of director Spike Lee's latest film, Black Klansman.
Speaker 1: We discussed taking the dive into leading man territory, growing
Speaker 1: up the son of a cinema legend, and a whole
Speaker 1: lot more so, sit tight, this is playback. Why it's
Speaker 1: something important? Okay, let me thinking, somebody pullow me on. Wow,
Speaker 1: it's called baby mama. You guys can pay that child.
Speaker 1: I know. I'm like, you just dropped it on me,
Speaker 1: like I might explain yourself, all right, right, Ah, he's
Speaker 1: just gonna take a quick as a kid. I yeah,
Speaker 1: look at that. Two years old. There as a birthday party.
Speaker 1: His name Foster Faster. Yeah you got any Oh. I
Speaker 1: don't know why. That was a reaction almost like I
Speaker 1: was a kid. Might have been my reaction. Crazy around.
Speaker 1: I'll watch m man, I'll be watching that. You are
Speaker 1: not the find have you been man doing this a lot?
Speaker 1: Which way? Yeah? Last night I was just night Friday,
Speaker 1: Wednesday was a Wednesday? Was that it was dope man,
Speaker 1: just people seem to be just receiving the film with
Speaker 1: just so much pation, and and they like they feel
Speaker 1: it seems like they're affected by some of the questions
Speaker 1: that I got. I think I got a question. I
Speaker 1: got it in France too, and I got it. It
Speaker 1: might have been in Chicago, something like how do we
Speaker 1: solve racist one? Take the Sea? Yeah, but I just
Speaker 1: like the foundation of where it came from. They infected
Speaker 1: about what they just saw. So yeah, I'm always curious how,
Speaker 1: you know, just different audiences around the globe, their reactions
Speaker 1: to the movies. When someone comes off a press tour
Speaker 1: like that, and it was, it was, it was. I
Speaker 1: think it's like looking back in and now I'm glad
Speaker 1: that the first time I saw what people was overseas
Speaker 1: for something to feel like I was. I don't know
Speaker 1: if that was protective, but it was like house money,
Speaker 1: because if they don't connect with it, well at least
Speaker 1: it ain't you know, my neighbor, so like you got
Speaker 1: to see him every day. But but then but when
Speaker 1: they received it, then the pressure became more because they
Speaker 1: get it. Uh as our country donna get it, they're
Speaker 1: gonna connect to it. So it was interesting. It's kind
Speaker 1: of late in the festival too, right when it was
Speaker 1: it was, oh yeah, maybe it was kind of deeper
Speaker 1: end of the week. I think it was right in
Speaker 1: the middle. Wasn't in the middle. What do you think
Speaker 1: of that? Just in front of me? It was like, man,
Speaker 1: it was like the super Bowl. Man, it was. It
Speaker 1: was like, not seriously, just embarrassment of riches, like people
Speaker 1: just seem to love film. They're just like they're just
Speaker 1: like film enthusiasts and also fashion enthusiasts, like you gotta
Speaker 1: put your tucks on and everything. But but it didn't
Speaker 1: seem pretentious in any way. It was. It wasn't. It
Speaker 1: wasn't like an era of elitism. It was more like
Speaker 1: we're just here to to welcome film and celebrate storytelling,
Speaker 1: you know, with some champagne, you know, some great yeah. Yeah.
Speaker 1: So it was I enjoyed it, man, I've never been
Speaker 1: in an environment like that before. Um, and just to
Speaker 1: be able to do with Spike Lee, it's like, you know,
Speaker 1: there's the practical sum return, so to speak, because they
Speaker 1: seemed to have embraced them since the night you know,
Speaker 1: early eighties nineties. So it was nice, Well we're up
Speaker 1: and running. Uh we here with John David Washington the
Speaker 1: start of Black Klansmen. We were just talking about the
Speaker 1: cann experience for that film. Thanks for coming on the show,
Speaker 1: and thanks they having me. Really appreciated this movie is awesome.
Speaker 1: I loved it so about a month or two ago
Speaker 1: before we get into the movie, and you know, just
Speaker 1: very curious about your movie, from football to acting and
Speaker 1: all that as well. I just wanted to kind of
Speaker 1: play get to know you, like, you know, like what
Speaker 1: what movies do you like? Let's start there, what kind
Speaker 1: of movies did you grow up like? I mean from
Speaker 1: Dances with Wolves to Tim Burton's Batman, Ninja Turtles, not
Speaker 1: divanilla Ice when although I saw that one, but the
Speaker 1: first one, you know, uh, I was the Shining super
Speaker 1: super Fly. You know, I just I love all different
Speaker 1: types of genres a film, and you know, I just
Speaker 1: I lost myself in these characters. I wanted to be them.
Speaker 1: I knew every line and glory, every character. You know.
Speaker 1: I I wanted for Christmas. I wanted the blue suit
Speaker 1: and a rifle. I wanted the VH I know you
Speaker 1: might be too young to remember VHS tapes, but I
Speaker 1: had the VHS you just tell me. I'm too remember
Speaker 1: saying I don't know you got the young I'm just
Speaker 1: saying like, and then I broke it. I watched it
Speaker 1: so many times I broke the tape. So all I
Speaker 1: wanted was that blue suit and the tape the take
Speaker 1: for Christmas, and I got it. So yeah, Robin Hood
Speaker 1: the Kevin Costner one. And I didn't mind it. He
Speaker 1: didn't have an English accent. I didn't care. I was
Speaker 1: just I believed that, you know, Morgan Freeman being izine like,
Speaker 1: so it's all those kinds of movies. I just love
Speaker 1: about Robin hoodman and tight are you kidding me? You
Speaker 1: know that's my that's my joint man, right, Yeah, well
Speaker 1: it was either that or he was in the Eddie
Speaker 1: Murphy joint too. He was the stand up comedian. I
Speaker 1: don't know which one was first. But yeah, what about
Speaker 1: you know actors other than the obvious that maybe you
Speaker 1: grew up inspired by everybody in Glory? I mean Adre
Speaker 1: Browner um um uh just but honestly to um Alfred
Speaker 1: Wood she's one of my favorites, like all the time.
Speaker 1: She can do anything, like for her communic time and
Speaker 1: to her dramatic performances are great. Um, A big fan
Speaker 1: of Jack Nicholson. Uh, just the way he was able,
Speaker 1: to the way he the way he says, like his cadence,
Speaker 1: and how he can change like tones in one sentence,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean, It just seems like it's
Speaker 1: just so natural and easy, as if he didn't even
Speaker 1: need to do any research. That's how free he seemed
Speaker 1: to be on screen. Obviously, the Niro and the whole
Speaker 1: Scorsese packing everybody in Spike Lee films, you know, like
Speaker 1: Spike Lee really gave us a platform. I want to say,
Speaker 1: as people, men and women of color and different personalities.
Speaker 1: We weren't just the generic you know, gangst number five,
Speaker 1: Pimp number two on the call sheet, but we were
Speaker 1: actually he was actually celebrating our differences, the nuances and
Speaker 1: behavior of different cultures within the neighborhoods, different neighborhoods as well.
Speaker 1: So and he did it such in such an extraordinary way,
Speaker 1: you know, and of that time. So I really appreciated that.
Speaker 1: I mean, the Huge Brothers films growing up, I loved
Speaker 1: and I'm friends with Alan. You's just like Alan, he
Speaker 1: was just like a mentor to me, you know, he
Speaker 1: he introduced me to hiking and and sort of, yeah,
Speaker 1: I hike all the time now it's it's I get
Speaker 1: like great um inspiration and like just creative ideas when
Speaker 1: I do that, when I do those hikes. And uh,
Speaker 1: I live in Brooklyn now, but but just when I
Speaker 1: was out here, so, you know, just just all kind
Speaker 1: of films, man, I mean I love Clueless. Growing up
Speaker 1: that that movie was I was off the chain, man,
Speaker 1: I mean I'm from the valley, so like I could
Speaker 1: connect with it a little bit. So I just saw
Speaker 1: that Love Jones nil. I got to meet me a
Speaker 1: long last night and I fell out. I was like,
Speaker 1: she and she looks great. By the way, we had
Speaker 1: our guy was on the carpet doing some video doing
Speaker 1: some interviews, and I saw, yeah, yeah, she looks great.
Speaker 1: Yeah yeah. Regina King, I got to see her as well.
Speaker 1: She's a monster beast of an actress. She's incredible. She
Speaker 1: was very nice. I presented how at the uhwere Yeah,
Speaker 1: so that was great. So just I'm you know, I'm
Speaker 1: just in the I mean I got to meet the hole.
Speaker 1: I got to meet Vinicio del Toro at the at
Speaker 1: the at Can Film Festival. He saw the film I mean,
Speaker 1: he's one of my favorites of all time. Did you
Speaker 1: really is cool? It's awesome having back to back with
Speaker 1: Josh Brolin and they're completely different people, Like h is
Speaker 1: really extroverted and then you get Benicio and he's just
Speaker 1: reserved a little more reserved really. But then when when
Speaker 1: I when I turn it off, he really lit up,
Speaker 1: like maybe it's just the thing when he's like, you
Speaker 1: got to be before arm and stuff when you were
Speaker 1: growing up, you know, and your dad is Denzel Washington. Uh,
Speaker 1: you know, do you ever have did you have these
Speaker 1: kinds of ambitions or is it the kind of thing
Speaker 1: where you want to run in the other direction of
Speaker 1: what your dad's doing? You know? It was a combination
Speaker 1: of both. I wanted seeing him before him at Shakespeare
Speaker 1: in the Park when I was four, I guess four,
Speaker 1: four or five or four or three three to five
Speaker 1: around that time. Uh, he did rich in the third
Speaker 1: h Shakespeare in the Park of New York, and um,
Speaker 1: I would just I loved the whole process. He would say,
Speaker 1: reside his lines. He would take me around the city
Speaker 1: and reside his lines, you know, all the time, and
Speaker 1: like that language. I got introduced to Shakespeare four years old,
Speaker 1: and I love that fell in love with the language
Speaker 1: because you know, he would talk different at home or
Speaker 1: some places or at like school or when he was
Speaker 1: coaching me, but then he'd say these words. I was like,
Speaker 1: how did he do that? I just noticed that my
Speaker 1: mom too, I mean she was able to just go
Speaker 1: up to a piano and play this Beethoven and play
Speaker 1: this classical stuff just off the whim I got. I
Speaker 1: I just loved the process of it all, and so
Speaker 1: that was inspiring. I just knew I want to do
Speaker 1: with that and glory and its ascension into the business.
Speaker 1: As he was starting to get more recognizable and really,
Speaker 1: my colm X, things started to change. We needed more security.
Speaker 1: We started getting an answering service, like you had to
Speaker 1: be more protective. It was what they did with that
Speaker 1: film in those times, and the business was I mean,
Speaker 1: it's legendary and it was very dangerous as well. So um,
Speaker 1: so life changed for us and people started treating me different.
Speaker 1: And so that resentment and anxiety I was getting from
Speaker 1: this um from people around me that started to treat
Speaker 1: me different because of him. I needed to put that
Speaker 1: and filter that into something positive. Otherwise I was gonna
Speaker 1: go off the rails, and football was what it was from.
Speaker 1: And I love this, I love football, but it was
Speaker 1: so it was more like a mechanism to help I
Speaker 1: don't say copes, I'm not making me feel like I'm
Speaker 1: like I'm a victim, but to help me get through
Speaker 1: certain you know, regular teenage year stuff than the rebellious time.
Speaker 1: You know, it just was like a positive rebellion. And
Speaker 1: so I was able to go through a lot of
Speaker 1: pain and and and endure these injuries because of the motivation.
Speaker 1: The mandate was my own man, and I'm independent. I
Speaker 1: was able to earn my own scholarship more House College,
Speaker 1: and I made the NFL and played overseas as well,
Speaker 1: and made my own money because of it. So I
Speaker 1: felt like I found that independence. But what was happening, Unfortunately,
Speaker 1: unfortunately every time I'd have these great games, it would
Speaker 1: be Denzel. The papers would read, to the radio stations say,
Speaker 1: Denzel's son ran for a hundred plus yards and two touchdowns.
Speaker 1: Denzel's son sets you know, the more House record at school.
Speaker 1: So like it didn't matter, it was inescapable. Uh, speaking
Speaker 1: of that, just curious, like, what's your favorite protein? Oh,
Speaker 1: Philadelphia Eagles I got to leave Randy Randall Cunningham, the
Speaker 1: great Randall Cunningham when I was I think Pops was
Speaker 1: doing Philadelphia with Tom Hanks at the time, and he
Speaker 1: took me to a game and we went to the
Speaker 1: sideline and Randa Cunningham, he I got to shake his
Speaker 1: hand and he gave me some advice. I'm like this
Speaker 1: little kid with the squeaky high voice. He kept saying,
Speaker 1: just always do the right thing, and like, always make
Speaker 1: sure you have your glove, and he gave me his glove.
Speaker 1: He always wore a glove on his off hand and
Speaker 1: he gave it to me, and uh, I was like
Speaker 1: the best one with in my life. So from then,
Speaker 1: thank you, I'll take that was gonna yeah, I was
Speaker 1: gonna wait on the thank you. Thank you, No, I
Speaker 1: mean because I've never seen anybody that looked like me
Speaker 1: at that position and sort of revolutionized the position in
Speaker 1: the way it was played that and he looked cool
Speaker 1: with that twelve and the Eagle wings on his helmet. So,
Speaker 1: I mean, I've been an Eagles fan ever since I
Speaker 1: was hooked. I don't mention that I'm a Washington fan. Okay,
Speaker 1: you don't want to that, you don't want to, alright,
Speaker 1: but I do want to. There is something I want
Speaker 1: to pack. Are you at all like me? I'm having
Speaker 1: trouble watching this year because of what's happened with the
Speaker 1: protests and everything in the way the week's reacted. I'm
Speaker 1: just curious if you have any strong feelings about that.
Speaker 1: I have strong feelings. I'm pro player. You know, a
Speaker 1: lot of these young men, this is their ticket out
Speaker 1: out of the their situation ones that they can better themselves,
Speaker 1: they can provide for their families. That's what the NFL provides,
Speaker 1: and I appreciate that. That's what the NFL provides it
Speaker 1: through the fans. Us. We pay the money to see
Speaker 1: them do extraordinary things on Sundays and Mondays. So if
Speaker 1: the product is getting polluted, we got to find out
Speaker 1: what the root the root of that problem, you know,
Speaker 1: because it's not the game. The game is pure high
Speaker 1: school football still pure. College football to something degree is
Speaker 1: still pure. They seem to want to be out there.
Speaker 1: I mean, there's nothing like to me, this is what
Speaker 1: the differences in the NFL and college in high school
Speaker 1: there's nothing like motivated millionaires. When you see these guys
Speaker 1: getting paid an incredible amounts of money, but they still care.
Speaker 1: They still risk their lives and I say lives, but
Speaker 1: they really do. But their with their limbs put them
Speaker 1: on the line to to win for their teammates. That's
Speaker 1: what gets me going. That's what's exciting about the sport
Speaker 1: and the nature of the sport itself, I mean so violent,
Speaker 1: but the brotherhood. I mean, you cannot win. The prerequisite
Speaker 1: of victory is being on the same page with your teammate,
Speaker 1: and you have to be almost ego less in a way.
Speaker 1: It doesn't guarantee the win, but at least that's that's
Speaker 1: the only way you can at least set yourself up
Speaker 1: to do it. So when everybody's working together, that mechanism
Speaker 1: is something relatable to the country about that. We Americans
Speaker 1: love that, and uh, we got to find out how
Speaker 1: to just deliver that product again to us right now.
Speaker 1: When you came out of college and and and you
Speaker 1: went through football for a while and then you started
Speaker 1: to make that transition to acting with ballers just you
Speaker 1: know several years ago, Uh, did it feel right? Did
Speaker 1: it feel natural? Did it feel like this is this
Speaker 1: is what I want to do? Can I cuts on here? Hell? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it's encouraged. Yeah, well, I never felt more like, I
Speaker 1: must say, like having a great day on set. I
Speaker 1: can't compare it to any great that I had on
Speaker 1: the football field, but I think the motivations were different
Speaker 1: because I was I was just so I was just against,
Speaker 1: so relentless in my pursuit of independence. It took away
Speaker 1: a lot of the joy and like, do you even
Speaker 1: like what you're doing or you just need I feel
Speaker 1: they need to be independent, you know what I mean.
Speaker 1: So maybe that's sort of saturated the joy a little bit.
Speaker 1: But but yeah, I mean I wanted to again, I
Speaker 1: wanted to do this since Pops was doing Shakespeare in
Speaker 1: the Park. So here I am doing it, getting to express,
Speaker 1: getting to put all these emotions and put them into
Speaker 1: a character, you know. And and this there's the whole
Speaker 1: bunch of similarities from football to here. I mean, you
Speaker 1: still have so many people on set that you depend on.
Speaker 1: Everybody needs to do their job, and I love that.
Speaker 1: I love the comparrider of it all. And when there's egos,
Speaker 1: when the egos are set aside and you're just there
Speaker 1: to service to film with the project, that's a beautiful feeling.
Speaker 1: I mean, that's a high I'm constantly chasing. Yeah. Uh.
Speaker 1: The last question on this the obvious one that maybe
Speaker 1: you get tired of hearing. But you know, being the
Speaker 1: son of Denzel Washington, do you does that make you
Speaker 1: feel like you have something more to prove as an actor?
Speaker 1: Like just taking me through my journey and football, what
Speaker 1: do you think? I mean, I got a lot to
Speaker 1: I got a lot to prove to myself. You know
Speaker 1: that that's that's bad fuel. They used to be. They
Speaker 1: used to feel me like, I'll show them, I'll show him.
Speaker 1: But that that that that there's no longevy and that
Speaker 1: that's short money. Um, I gotta do it for me,
Speaker 1: you know, I gotta do it for for who I believe,
Speaker 1: and I believe in God. I pray every day. So
Speaker 1: if this is if this is what he wants, it
Speaker 1: feels really good. So I'm like, God, thank you this
Speaker 1: because this is if this is what you want me
Speaker 1: to do, this is great because I love it. But yeah,
Speaker 1: I um, I just want It's all about the work though,
Speaker 1: you know. I mean I had the helmet syndrome where
Speaker 1: I didn't want people knowing my face. I just wanted
Speaker 1: to get out there with a helmet on and run
Speaker 1: front of yards. So it's not about recognition necessarily. I
Speaker 1: if I can inspire somebody, anybody, one person, to make
Speaker 1: them feel the way I felt watching the movies I
Speaker 1: described to you earlier, and I told you about earlier,
Speaker 1: and I did my job well. As far as you know,
Speaker 1: taking the lead in the movie is concerned, I can't
Speaker 1: think of a better trial by fire than fronting a
Speaker 1: Spike Lee joint if you will. Uh, you know, there's
Speaker 1: obviously plenty of familiarity. They're going way back with Spike,
Speaker 1: But did you still come into it with confidence? Did
Speaker 1: he have to sell you to get you into this?
Speaker 1: Like I'm because again I have to sell me man,
Speaker 1: Spike Lee and this incredible, crazy story that I thought was,
Speaker 1: you know, maybe like an adaptation of the Dave Chappelle's
Speaker 1: kit or something. But when I found out it was
Speaker 1: real that this is his good old fashioned American backyard hate,
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh wow, told by the tone master, like
Speaker 1: Spike Lee is a master of cinema tone like and
Speaker 1: he and he's at the top of his game. But
Speaker 1: this film, as far as tone is concerned and subject matter,
Speaker 1: I mean, this couldn't have been done by anybody else
Speaker 1: but Spike Lee. You know. Thank god Jordan peele gave
Speaker 1: it to him. Jordan peele knew what was up, you know,
Speaker 1: and he and he knows tone. He understands tone as well.
Speaker 1: And coming off the success of Get Out, so this
Speaker 1: was a what you call a no brainer, you know.
Speaker 1: And so because of that, because this legend trusted me
Speaker 1: with the material, I wasn't nervous, I wasn't anxious. I
Speaker 1: was inspired. I was encouraged. I was inspired too because
Speaker 1: I saw him on set every day like a little kid.
Speaker 1: He had this exuberance. It's you full exuberance about filmmaking,
Speaker 1: about the world. You can get cutted out and I
Speaker 1: don't get a twist. You better be on your game.
Speaker 1: But it was just but it's one of those things
Speaker 1: that just get over it because just service the film,
Speaker 1: your ego and your feelings at the door just come
Speaker 1: into work because we're doing something and you feel like
Speaker 1: you're part of this family. I'm a part of this
Speaker 1: Rich Panthey on this history when he's like I was
Speaker 1: telling you about earlier, how he's just brought so many people.
Speaker 1: Sam Jackson's in the world, you know, just uh, was
Speaker 1: the Perezids of the world. So all these people that
Speaker 1: I'm a part of now we're connected forever, a cinema life.
Speaker 1: So um, I was excited, I was motivated, and I
Speaker 1: was I've never been more confident because of the confidency
Speaker 1: and stilling me this this this hero of mine believing
Speaker 1: and telling me to trust my instincts. That's why, that's
Speaker 1: why you're here. So I was off to the racist
Speaker 1: where we were in Ostining, up state New York and
Speaker 1: then in Brooklyn. Okay, well, I'm always curious how environments
Speaker 1: shape a performance, you know, being in those environments and
Speaker 1: and just you know the atmosphere of that, can you
Speaker 1: speak to them? Absolutely? Man Um, it was a it
Speaker 1: was an environment of inclusion, collaboration, um and honestly, the
Speaker 1: spirit of the spirits of the people we were talking about.
Speaker 1: Toker Grace channel the spirit of David Dooke. I know
Speaker 1: he'd be like, I don't know if that it is
Speaker 1: a compliment, offer like he's amazing. Corey Hawkins captured the
Speaker 1: spirit of quamit to Ray, I mean, and that's because
Speaker 1: of who was at the helm. I'm telling you, I've
Speaker 1: working on sets and have been in being a part
Speaker 1: of different projects. I've never been a part of something
Speaker 1: like this where he understands. He's a master of tone
Speaker 1: and also a master of momentum, understanding momentum and energy
Speaker 1: like a coach, like a Phil Jackson. No or not
Speaker 1: to call a time out if the other team is
Speaker 1: going on to run, Let them figure it out. You know.
Speaker 1: He he understands when not to say anything. He understands
Speaker 1: when to yell at somebody else, even if he's actually
Speaker 1: that energy is directed towards you, but he's given to
Speaker 1: somebody else because he knows you're watching. He just understands.
Speaker 1: He just understands energy. And he created such an environment
Speaker 1: of of of fluidity, of inclusion that it was just
Speaker 1: we didn't have to think about anything else but what
Speaker 1: we were doing. All I had to do was listen
Speaker 1: to my same partner because the platform that the canvas
Speaker 1: was set to paint on and that kind of freedom,
Speaker 1: I I honestly gotta I gotta like snap out of
Speaker 1: it because that doesn't happen like that, and that's I
Speaker 1: feel like that's gonna be a once in lifetime thing.
Speaker 1: I think so a little bit. To be honest, I
Speaker 1: think I got spoiled because of the freedom and the trust.
Speaker 1: People don't trust. And I'm not saying other people other
Speaker 1: experiences are are are bad because of that. This everybody
Speaker 1: trusted differently. But it was one of those free fla
Speaker 1: like trust falls like right, So it was great. That
Speaker 1: was great environment. Uh did you know anything about the
Speaker 1: story beforehand? And I feel I felt at first a
Speaker 1: little embarrassed, but now I'm like, there's a lot of
Speaker 1: people that know. I felt the bars because I went
Speaker 1: to more House College, historically black school, and I learned
Speaker 1: a lot about my culture. Uh, and this one slipped
Speaker 1: through the cracks. A lot of people didn't know about
Speaker 1: this story. But once you explain it briefly, so the
Speaker 1: h it's it's a It's about a man named ron Stalwarth,
Speaker 1: the first African American detective in Colorado Springs in the
Speaker 1: seventies to infiltrate He ran a sting operation infiltrate the
Speaker 1: kol Klux Klan posing as a white supremacist and he
Speaker 1: found a partner uh in his department to play him
Speaker 1: when they when he when they encountered them face to face,
Speaker 1: so he would get intel from his partner and they
Speaker 1: would exchange information back and forth, and they were successful
Speaker 1: in their mission. I can't give away how they were successful,
Speaker 1: but it was successful, and I think it's a true
Speaker 1: act of heroism. I think he was a true American
Speaker 1: hero because he did it and he all So the
Speaker 1: rig take away from the film as well for me
Speaker 1: was that the support that he got from people, from
Speaker 1: men that look like you, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: Like they were about the mission, they were about the
Speaker 1: staying operation. They put whatever differences they might have personally had,
Speaker 1: they put it aside to achieve greatness to do their job,
Speaker 1: which is protect and serve their community. And another thing
Speaker 1: is what was inspired to me was I didn't know
Speaker 1: much about you know, African American police officers until I
Speaker 1: did the research, and they it's a tough jo. It's
Speaker 1: a thankless job for police officers period, but it's specifically
Speaker 1: for men and women of colors protecting and serving because
Speaker 1: here a lot of people think that they're not for
Speaker 1: their people for the cause, they're not aware, they're not
Speaker 1: what they call woke because they were blue and then
Speaker 1: they're not blue enough for the people in their own department.
Speaker 1: So it's it's really unfair. So I want them people
Speaker 1: out there that are protecting and serving doing it the
Speaker 1: right way. I want you to be proud, you know.
Speaker 1: I hope you're proud when you watch this and know
Speaker 1: that you are recognized and we we salute you the
Speaker 1: ones that are doing it the right way. Yeah. What
Speaker 1: it meeting the real run? Do you informed me of everything?
Speaker 1: It gave me this calm and the sense of confidence
Speaker 1: that also that also needed from him to know that
Speaker 1: he trusted me. Again, the big world is trusted. I
Speaker 1: put Aford his trust because he this is his life,
Speaker 1: his legacy in the hands of the Spike Lee and
Speaker 1: the hands of this John David guy. He doesn't really know,
Speaker 1: you know, but like, actually, actually that I take that back.
Speaker 1: He his his daughters, his wife daughters, they knew the
Speaker 1: show balls and they were like, no, Dad, just he's
Speaker 1: he's we love him. Oh my. That so that that
Speaker 1: the thank you kids appreciate that. Um. But yeah, it
Speaker 1: was a meant admitt the world to me and playing
Speaker 1: never I've never played somebody that real person and that's alive.
Speaker 1: More less so, that was an incredible challenge that I
Speaker 1: welcomed with a what was what was the most unbelievable
Speaker 1: part of the story when you finally heard everything about it,
Speaker 1: like what just made you your jaw dropped because it
Speaker 1: is such a when not even the movie. I gotta say, really,
Speaker 1: I mean, which is in the movie. But when he
Speaker 1: passed so I met him for the first time at
Speaker 1: the table read he passed around his membership car. He
Speaker 1: is a Ku Klux claim member. He's I'm not lying,
Speaker 1: it's insane, Like he has the caryo. He passed it
Speaker 1: around to everybody like we're looking at it and it's
Speaker 1: signed by David Duke. Has got these rules on the
Speaker 1: back like first rule of flight club, don't talk about
Speaker 1: club like it's crazy. Like I'm like, and he's got
Speaker 1: the certificate too. He took a he can't find the
Speaker 1: big I can't. I don't want give it away. But
Speaker 1: it's crazy, you'll see. But that card really it really
Speaker 1: affected me in a way. I mean because he was
Speaker 1: like it was almost like an avenger, Like I've been
Speaker 1: reading about him and doing all the reachers. Then I
Speaker 1: finally meet him, like, dude, this dude's like a real person. Yeah,
Speaker 1: like my god, and then he shows the car like,
Speaker 1: oh my god. He really had a relationship with David,
Speaker 1: how did this This is a black guy those prints
Speaker 1: in the seventies, y'o, Like this is crazy. So yeah,
Speaker 1: that was that was That was a very wowing moment.
Speaker 1: But speaking of Ballers, by the way, I just wanted
Speaker 1: to talk just about the rock working with him. I mean,
Speaker 1: that guy, he seems like he's got a kind of
Speaker 1: energy that you'd make money off of it if you
Speaker 1: can sell it or something. Energies, right, I mean, and
Speaker 1: that's contagious and and it's one of those things that
Speaker 1: it doesn't matter how big or famous you get, you oh,
Speaker 1: don't forget about the people. And he seems to always
Speaker 1: make time for the people, his fans and everything to him.
Speaker 1: So I and I appreciate that. Yeah, we're also going
Speaker 1: to see you in uh just later this year. The
Speaker 1: Old Man of the Gun and Monsters and Men and
Speaker 1: Monsters and men. Uh, particularly with Old Man and the Gun.
Speaker 1: I'm a big David Lowry fan. So I love that
Speaker 1: you want people talk more about that the perspective of
Speaker 1: the like it took me once I settled in around
Speaker 1: like when she's eating that pie right and she just
Speaker 1: stayed with it. I was like, Oh, he's gonna she's
Speaker 1: gonna eat the whole thing, you know, like, oh, she's
Speaker 1: gonna eat the whole thing. I was into it. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I love that movie. I love them. But a lot
Speaker 1: of people look at me like, like, what's your favorite.
Speaker 1: That's what I said. I swear I got that's what
Speaker 1: I said. So you know that. So you hear my enthusiasm.
Speaker 1: I love working with That's another again. He's he's a
Speaker 1: man that just just created an environment that was safe
Speaker 1: to play and explore and and just to connect with
Speaker 1: your partners. I gotta say, I went to go I
Speaker 1: watched it was my day off that that was my
Speaker 1: day off, and I went to go see Robert Redford
Speaker 1: and uh and uh Danny Glover and Tom Waite's work
Speaker 1: tell my master class that. I mean, they would like
Speaker 1: share stories while they're setting up and then then you
Speaker 1: actually just jump right into the character. I mean you
Speaker 1: were talking about poise and just all that was just
Speaker 1: the wealth of experience. It was great. I mean, Robert
Speaker 1: Redford is crazy like he he he's right referend right.
Speaker 1: So you see him and he's like this regular, you know,
Speaker 1: nice little like older gentleman, and then then you're action
Speaker 1: and that charm. That movie start just turns on. It
Speaker 1: was just like activated. I was like, yo, I see now,
Speaker 1: So I got no excuse. I gotta be a d MT.
Speaker 1: Still be on my game. That's the juice, baby, Um
Speaker 1: what do you what do you want to do next?
Speaker 1: What do you think you'll do next? What's being able
Speaker 1: to work with? Again? I got to work with Ronaldo
Speaker 1: Marcus grid on Monsters and Men and uh he's a
Speaker 1: student of Spike Lee. I've been lucky for between David
Speaker 1: and Ronaldo and Spike, I got master classes. I got
Speaker 1: to work. I mean maybe I'm spoiled now, but and
Speaker 1: spoiled in the way of working how to tell the truth.
Speaker 1: There's more than one way to get to the truth.
Speaker 1: But they don't skip None of those directors skipped any steps.
Speaker 1: They were all about process. So that's the mandate for
Speaker 1: me right now because I'm still learning. Man, I need
Speaker 1: to learn more. And they helped me with that. They
Speaker 1: helped me with that, They helped me find myself as
Speaker 1: an artist. They helped me. They gave me more confidence
Speaker 1: that these guys know what they're doing and they believe
Speaker 1: in me to help them with their vision and operative
Speaker 1: for there is help, not like they're gonna tell me
Speaker 1: what their vision is and you do it, help me
Speaker 1: with the best idea in the room, wins. I want
Speaker 1: more of that, you know. That's the high I'm chasing
Speaker 1: because that's what's gonna get me better. So it's not necessary. Mean,
Speaker 1: obviously that's about what's on the script and all of that.
Speaker 1: But I want to work with film enthusiasts that really
Speaker 1: care about this. And if you don't, if you're trying
Speaker 1: to make a buck, if you try call show business,
Speaker 1: that's cool too, But like finding that balance of art
Speaker 1: and commerce is is the priority for me right now,
Speaker 1: just here. And you talk about film and talking about
Speaker 1: masters of tone and things like this, do you have
Speaker 1: any sort of ambitions to be a filmmaker? Do you
Speaker 1: want to direct? That's how hard man, and uh don't again,
Speaker 1: let me. I gotta keep learning first. I need I
Speaker 1: need more. I need more set experiences with some masters,
Speaker 1: you know, and then we'll see. We'll see what I
Speaker 1: get after after a couple more years, we'll see what
Speaker 1: I mean. I might I maybe maybe not right, Maybe
Speaker 1: I might have something, but I need to I need
Speaker 1: to learn more. I need to learn more. First, we'll
Speaker 1: keep it up. Man, this movie is awesome. Of your
Speaker 1: performance is great, and then looking forward to the others
Speaker 1: as well. Appreciate it's black plans. Man, it comes out.
Speaker 1: It should be out by the time you're listening to this.
Speaker 1: Actually go to see it immediately after you hearing this
Speaker 1: conversation people, thanks for doing the show. Man, really appreciate it.