WEBVTT - The Spirited Actor - Joe Morton (3/19/2024) 0:00:00.120 --> 0:00:03.320 Hello, and welcome to the Spirited Actor Podcast with me 0:00:03.560 --> 0:00:06.480 Tracy Moore. I was a casting director for film and 0:00:06.519 --> 0:00:10.640 TV and commercials for over thirty years. I transitioned to 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:14.240 a celebrity acting coach after I cast a film New 0:00:14.320 --> 0:00:19.440 Jersey Drive with executive producer Spike Lee and director Nick Domez. 0:00:20.079 --> 0:00:24.479 I auditioned every rapper from Biggie Smalls to Tupac, and 0:00:24.600 --> 0:00:28.240 I realized that rappers and musical artists they needed help 0:00:28.320 --> 0:00:32.640 transitioning to acting. My clients consist of musical artists from 0:00:32.800 --> 0:00:37.440 Buster Rhymes to Eve, Missy Elliott, Angela Yee from The 0:00:37.479 --> 0:00:41.159 Breakfast Club, and Vanessa Simmons, to name a few. I 0:00:41.280 --> 0:00:45.120 also coach sports stars and host as well. I feel 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.760 I have the best of both worlds. As a casting director, 0:00:48.800 --> 0:00:51.360 I know exactly what they're looking for, and as an 0:00:51.400 --> 0:00:53.840 acting coach, I can coach you to be remembered in 0:00:53.920 --> 0:00:57.120 that room. Now I know, I know actors want to 0:00:57.200 --> 0:01:00.240 get the job. I get that, but being remembered by 0:01:00.400 --> 0:01:04.720 casting director that is powerful. And now it's time for 0:01:04.840 --> 0:01:10.360 meditation of the day. Don't be nervous, work calmly, joyously, 0:01:11.120 --> 0:01:17.360 recklessly on whatever is in hand. Henry Miller, I just 0:01:17.400 --> 0:01:21.319 want to say to you guys that again, the joy 0:01:21.520 --> 0:01:24.039 is in the journey and anything that you are pursuing 0:01:24.080 --> 0:01:27.800 in life, but specifically speaking to actors, the joy is 0:01:27.920 --> 0:01:32.720 in the journey. You have to learn to extract the goodness. 0:01:33.080 --> 0:01:36.240 You may not have gotten that role, but continue to 0:01:36.360 --> 0:01:38.959 embed in your mind that there is a role out 0:01:39.000 --> 0:01:42.880 there for you. The problem that I see, the challenge 0:01:42.920 --> 0:01:46.200 that I see in my experience with actors is that 0:01:46.400 --> 0:01:49.960 it's easy to just go within and tear yourself and 0:01:50.040 --> 0:01:53.360 rip yourself apart when things don't go your way or 0:01:53.400 --> 0:01:59.480 you don't get that role. Understand, Timing is everything, and 0:02:00.160 --> 0:02:03.760 so blessed, so grateful to have Joe Morton on the 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:09.600 show today because as much as I wanted him in 0:02:09.639 --> 0:02:12.040 the beginning of Inside the Black Box and I wanted 0:02:12.080 --> 0:02:14.079 him to go, today was the day for him to 0:02:14.120 --> 0:02:18.320 come on, and what a phenomenal day it was. Timing 0:02:18.480 --> 0:02:21.839 is everything, and it's not always in your time. Learn 0:02:21.919 --> 0:02:24.400 to appreciate love the time in which you have to 0:02:24.639 --> 0:02:31.000 work calmly to keep building the truth in your mom 0:02:31.560 --> 0:02:34.560 that there is a role out there for you, that 0:02:34.960 --> 0:02:39.160 you are pursuing a career in which you will attain 0:02:39.480 --> 0:02:44.720 as a working actor. Today, I will not let useless 0:02:45.480 --> 0:02:51.359 thoughts occupy my mind about my path. Before we get started, 0:02:51.400 --> 0:02:54.400 I'd like to remind everyone to look out for my 0:02:54.600 --> 0:02:58.280 new show, Inside the Black Box. I'll be co hosting 0:02:58.320 --> 0:03:01.840 with the great Joe Morton. We'll be on Crackle Network 0:03:02.080 --> 0:03:06.679 real soon. I'll keep you posted. Welcome to the Spirited 0:03:06.680 --> 0:03:11.120 Actor Podcast with me Tracy Moore. You are in for 0:03:11.240 --> 0:03:16.000 a spectacal treat today. You need to get whatever you 0:03:16.200 --> 0:03:22.000 have that you document information, pen and paper, recorder, or 0:03:22.120 --> 0:03:26.600 your phone, whatever. This is a monumental podcast. 0:03:27.639 --> 0:03:30.800 I have been waiting for this podcast. I've been praying. 0:03:31.400 --> 0:03:34.640 What I do know in this process is that it's 0:03:34.680 --> 0:03:39.520 all in timing, and timing is always perfect. Ladies and gentlemen, 0:03:39.760 --> 0:03:46.320 I want to introduce you to a phenomenal actor. 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:51.440 You all know him so much love When you bring up. 0:03:51.320 --> 0:03:56.720 His name, his work, I don't want to. I want 0:03:56.720 --> 0:03:59.800 to give him every second of this podcast because he 0:04:00.080 --> 0:04:02.080 drops so many jewels. 0:04:02.120 --> 0:04:06.600 You'll need treasure chess to collect all the info that 0:04:06.680 --> 0:04:09.600 he's giving you right now. So, without any further ado, 0:04:09.640 --> 0:04:15.200 I'd like to introduce you to my friend, my partner, 0:04:16.560 --> 0:04:17.320 my ride. 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:26.600 And die mister Joe importantly, Hello, Hello. 0:04:23.680 --> 0:04:29.839 Hello, I'm so happy you are here, Joe. I knew 0:04:29.920 --> 0:04:31.919 that the day was going to come, but I was 0:04:32.000 --> 0:04:34.479 just patient when that day was going to be. 0:04:35.120 --> 0:04:40.080 So and Joe, like people are craving right now. 0:04:40.160 --> 0:04:41.440 I just want you to know if I have the 0:04:41.480 --> 0:04:45.040 black Box every single moment, and that just brings so 0:04:45.120 --> 0:04:45.600 much joy. 0:04:45.640 --> 0:04:47.280 But we're going to talk about that first. I want 0:04:47.279 --> 0:04:47.920 to start with you. 0:04:48.440 --> 0:04:51.640 I want to talk about one of the questions that 0:04:51.680 --> 0:04:55.320 I asked on the show is that did you choose 0:04:55.360 --> 0:04:57.240 acting or did acting choose you? 0:04:57.320 --> 0:04:58.080 Where did it begin. 0:05:00.240 --> 0:05:02.919 It's a little difficult to answer that question only because 0:05:04.800 --> 0:05:07.480 I entered Hosting University as a psychology major. They took 0:05:07.560 --> 0:05:09.720 us around the canvas to show us what that was 0:05:09.760 --> 0:05:11.360 going to be like. And then she goes into the 0:05:11.360 --> 0:05:15.360 theater and they put on a skit about what our 0:05:15.400 --> 0:05:17.920 first year was like. I don't remember anything about the skit. 0:05:17.920 --> 0:05:19.560 I don't even think it was very good. But when 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:22.479 that skit was over, I couldn't get up out of 0:05:22.480 --> 0:05:25.719 my seat. I sat in that theater looked at the worklight. 0:05:26.160 --> 0:05:29.160 I have been writing music on guitar and writing songs, 0:05:29.160 --> 0:05:31.719 and I thought to myself. I liked doing that. Maybe 0:05:31.720 --> 0:05:35.960 I could be an actor. So eventually I got up 0:05:35.960 --> 0:05:38.039 out of my seat, walked to the registrar's office, and 0:05:38.120 --> 0:05:40.480 changed all my majors from psychology to drama. 0:05:40.520 --> 0:05:44.280 So I guess the answer to your question is acting took. 0:05:44.160 --> 0:05:48.440 Me and what was it? 0:05:48.520 --> 0:05:51.400 Because I know I have an experience in my life 0:05:51.440 --> 0:05:54.240 where at twelve years old, my mother took me to 0:05:54.880 --> 0:05:57.520 on our Broadway in San Francisco for Colored Girls who 0:05:57.640 --> 0:06:02.360 considered suicide. When brambo Is enough into Zaki Shange and 0:06:02.680 --> 0:06:07.520 A Scott was the director changed my life. I was like, 0:06:07.640 --> 0:06:10.359 whatever they're doing, I want to be a part of 0:06:10.400 --> 0:06:13.840 it in some way, and then the rest is history. 0:06:13.880 --> 0:06:15.680 What was that moment like for you? 0:06:17.760 --> 0:06:21.200 The very first play I saw was Early. 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:24.960 Victorious, and at that time I didn't That was in 0:06:25.040 --> 0:06:28.239 high school and I wasn't thinking about acting at all. 0:06:28.440 --> 0:06:32.159 I think what changed it for me was the very 0:06:32.160 --> 0:06:34.039 first acting class I had. 0:06:34.480 --> 0:06:36.880 I'd never been an actor before, and I remember sitting 0:06:36.920 --> 0:06:37.760 down next to this. 0:06:37.800 --> 0:06:41.400 Young one young man who showed me his equity card, 0:06:41.400 --> 0:06:43.560 already showed me his SAG card, you showed me his 0:06:43.640 --> 0:06:46.240 whatever other union cards he had, and then asked me 0:06:46.240 --> 0:06:48.440 if I ever had acted before, and I thought to myself, 0:06:48.480 --> 0:06:50.240 I must be in the class school of professionals. 0:06:50.279 --> 0:06:52.600 I'm really really being very stupid right now. 0:06:53.120 --> 0:06:55.760 And the teacher got up and she gave us whatever 0:06:55.920 --> 0:06:57.960 kind of improv that she wanted us to do. And 0:06:58.000 --> 0:07:01.400 when I finished the improv, I loved every second of it. 0:07:01.600 --> 0:07:04.839 I thought, Oh, well, clearly this is what I meant 0:07:04.839 --> 0:07:05.080 to do. 0:07:07.160 --> 0:07:11.800 So in training, right, because you dropped so many tools 0:07:11.840 --> 0:07:14.400 on the show, and just in conversation that I have 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:19.360 with you, I want you, from your perspective to tell 0:07:19.400 --> 0:07:23.640 these actors because what I find in classes and a 0:07:23.640 --> 0:07:26.160 lot of them my capting director friends, is that like, 0:07:26.240 --> 0:07:28.480 after the class, you're supposed to get I guess, a 0:07:28.520 --> 0:07:31.200 contract to an episodic. 0:07:30.800 --> 0:07:35.800 Or a leading role in film, and I respect Like. 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:38.800 I grew up in New York City in nineteen eighty 0:07:38.840 --> 0:07:43.400 three Negro Ensemble Company, National Black Theater, So I grew 0:07:43.480 --> 0:07:48.680 up around actors that I saw weren't focused on the 0:07:48.720 --> 0:07:52.560 fame and making it. They were more focused on, you know, 0:07:52.640 --> 0:07:57.840 Adolph Caesar, the solid work of their Yeah, so can 0:07:57.880 --> 0:07:59.720 you speak to these people? 0:08:00.080 --> 0:08:00.200 Oh? 0:08:00.200 --> 0:08:00.640 Absolutely? 0:08:00.720 --> 0:08:02.760 I mean, you know, when young actors come up to me. 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:06.200 They always, you know, say well how do I get started? 0:08:06.320 --> 0:08:09.720 I always usually say get some training. Go go someplace 0:08:09.760 --> 0:08:11.600 and get training. If you wanted to be a doctor, 0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:13.200 you have to go to medical school. If you want 0:08:13.240 --> 0:08:15.200 to be a carpenter, or somebody has to show you 0:08:15.280 --> 0:08:17.080 how to use those kind of tools. The same thing 0:08:17.160 --> 0:08:19.920 is true with acting. You have to learn what the 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:22.400 tools are, how to use them, and you have to 0:08:22.440 --> 0:08:26.120 be trained otherwise what may or may not happen is 0:08:26.160 --> 0:08:29.200 you you then begin to just rely on your own 0:08:29.240 --> 0:08:32.600 personal charisma, and that may get you to a certain point, 0:08:32.960 --> 0:08:35.800 but then after that you have no place left to 0:08:35.920 --> 0:08:39.480 go in that you've given yourself, no engine in which 0:08:39.520 --> 0:08:41.760 to drive forward. All you've given yourself is a place 0:08:41.800 --> 0:08:43.480 to go around and around the circles, doing the same 0:08:43.520 --> 0:08:46.760 old thing. Whereas what training allows you to do is 0:08:47.920 --> 0:08:50.800 break down a script, even decide whether or not you 0:08:50.840 --> 0:08:54.000 want to do that script. You know, what contribution do 0:08:54.040 --> 0:08:56.160 you think you can give to this story? And in 0:08:56.240 --> 0:08:59.760 playing whatever character, let's say your agent or you decide 0:08:59.760 --> 0:09:01.640 you want to try out for which is another thing. 0:09:03.240 --> 0:09:05.760 Actors often feel like the agent says, well, here's the 0:09:05.800 --> 0:09:07.440 script and here's the character. 0:09:07.520 --> 0:09:12.120 That they want you to read. It's very It makes 0:09:12.120 --> 0:09:14.040 absolute sense to me for an actor to say, I'll 0:09:14.080 --> 0:09:16.319 read the character that they're asking me to read, but really, 0:09:16.320 --> 0:09:18.720 you know what, I like this character over here much better, 0:09:18.920 --> 0:09:21.200 and I think I could do a better job and 0:09:21.280 --> 0:09:23.760 actually pursue both those things. I mean that happened to me. 0:09:25.000 --> 0:09:27.360 There was a series called Equal Justice. 0:09:27.880 --> 0:09:31.600 Thomas Carter was the director producer, and when I went in, 0:09:31.800 --> 0:09:33.800 they had a character that they wanted me to read, 0:09:33.800 --> 0:09:35.240 and I said to Thomas, I'll read it for you. 0:09:35.280 --> 0:09:37.719 I said, but this lawyer is somebody I really understand. 0:09:38.520 --> 0:09:42.520 And eventually Thomas let me read it because they couldn't 0:09:42.520 --> 0:09:46.400 find anybody else that they liked. So when I finally 0:09:46.520 --> 0:09:51.480 read it, he took and this was like what nineteen 0:09:51.920 --> 0:09:56.720 Jesus seventies. And he was having a hard time because 0:09:56.800 --> 0:10:01.760 his fear was if he takes this television drama and 0:10:01.800 --> 0:10:03.960 he puts a black man at the lead, that the 0:10:03.960 --> 0:10:09.120 the audience will will will perceive it as a black show, right, 0:10:09.280 --> 0:10:12.360 So so that was his that was his problem. 0:10:12.800 --> 0:10:16.600 Fortunately he gave me the part. We did two seasons. 0:10:16.760 --> 0:10:18.640 But again I made the choice in terms of saying 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:20.840 them yes, I'll read this other character for you, but 0:10:21.120 --> 0:10:22.720 this is a character I'm really interested in. 0:10:22.760 --> 0:10:23.920 And then brought that to. 0:10:23.920 --> 0:10:27.400 Four So you said something I love. 0:10:27.520 --> 0:10:32.720 You said contribution, you know, and making decisions as an 0:10:32.760 --> 0:10:36.600 actor to the work. What is the contribution that this 0:10:37.320 --> 0:10:41.280 for you? What was the contribution in A Brother from 0:10:41.320 --> 0:10:42.120 Another Planet? 0:10:42.240 --> 0:10:47.040 Because I mean, you know, for me to. 0:10:48.040 --> 0:10:51.040 As an audience, because that you know, I was it 0:10:51.080 --> 0:10:52.560 was early in my casting career. 0:10:53.400 --> 0:10:55.720 But watching that film, there's. 0:10:55.520 --> 0:10:59.400 Certain films in the history of filmmaking, American history of 0:10:59.400 --> 0:11:03.160 filmmaking that's Edge in Stone, and that's a film that's 0:11:03.200 --> 0:11:10.040 edge in Stone. Generationally, you know, that's I'm sure ninety 0:11:10.120 --> 0:11:12.320 nine percent of the time, that's the first thing people 0:11:12.400 --> 0:11:14.840 hit you with where they talk to you, right, So 0:11:15.200 --> 0:11:21.120 that is beyond legendary. What what was that film like 0:11:21.160 --> 0:11:23.960 for you? Because we had never seen anything like that before. 0:11:24.880 --> 0:11:29.760 No, when I when I was told about the script, 0:11:30.280 --> 0:11:32.280 it was described in a way that didn't make any 0:11:32.400 --> 0:11:34.320 sense to me. And then when I was actually given 0:11:34.360 --> 0:11:37.480 the script and read it, I thought, oh, my goodness, 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:42.240 John actually has written a character that is black but 0:11:42.400 --> 0:11:44.920 knows nothing about what it means to be in the 0:11:45.040 --> 0:11:47.360 United States in Harlem and be black. 0:11:47.520 --> 0:11:50.080 So what he's allowed the audience. 0:11:49.679 --> 0:11:52.880 To do is go into a community that they also 0:11:53.240 --> 0:11:57.240 don't know and learn as he learns. So that was 0:11:57.320 --> 0:12:00.360 that was for me, the big contribution of this film 0:12:00.360 --> 0:12:04.040 and of this character that this guy had to learn 0:12:04.200 --> 0:12:05.080 as he went along. 0:12:05.160 --> 0:12:05.840 He had to learn. 0:12:06.880 --> 0:12:08.160 I mean, the one thing that I do with that 0:12:08.240 --> 0:12:11.320 character is he never understood the handshake. Every time somebody 0:12:11.320 --> 0:12:13.480 extended a sand with the handshake, he had no idea 0:12:13.520 --> 0:12:15.680 what to do with that. It didn't make any sense 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:17.720 to him. But on the other side of things, he 0:12:17.920 --> 0:12:21.680 was also looking for his own people who had also escaped. 0:12:21.679 --> 0:12:24.120 For those young people who don't know the film. Basically, 0:12:24.200 --> 0:12:24.760 the film. 0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:28.840 Is about a black slave that runs away from his 0:12:28.920 --> 0:12:32.760 planet and makes his way to Earth as an escaped slave, 0:12:32.840 --> 0:12:36.160 and is then pursued by two characters, one played by 0:12:36.200 --> 0:12:39.360 John Sales, the other by David Stetherin in order to 0:12:39.400 --> 0:12:42.320 recapture him and take him back something that's very familiar 0:12:42.400 --> 0:12:45.000 to us in our history, which is again what John 0:12:45.120 --> 0:12:50.079 was doing. And so that to me was the hope 0:12:50.080 --> 0:12:52.679 that I had for this film. It's interesting because at 0:12:52.720 --> 0:12:55.000 the time, I think one of the major critics said 0:12:55.040 --> 0:12:57.160 that he wished that John would take his homemade movies 0:12:57.200 --> 0:13:00.600 and keep them in New Jersey. But that was that 0:13:00.720 --> 0:13:01.840 was a sign of the times. 0:13:01.960 --> 0:13:03.880 Right, wow, right, that's true to. 0:13:03.760 --> 0:13:05.120 Have a black to have a black man. 0:13:05.280 --> 0:13:08.640 Because at one at one point in the film, he 0:13:08.760 --> 0:13:11.079 discovers that these kids who live in his building are 0:13:11.200 --> 0:13:14.920 are shooting dope, and he doesn't understand one why you 0:13:14.960 --> 0:13:17.240 would do that, So he actually shoots up some step 0:13:17.360 --> 0:13:19.680 himself to understand what the experience is. And then once 0:13:19.720 --> 0:13:23.400 he understands the experience, he then sets out and and 0:13:23.960 --> 0:13:28.800 kills the dealer. So again he becomes someone who he 0:13:28.840 --> 0:13:31.679 goes from someone who is learning about the world that 0:13:31.720 --> 0:13:35.320 he's in to someone who actually becomes active in that world. 0:13:36.640 --> 0:13:39.400 And ladies and gentlemen, what's so brilliant about the film 0:13:39.600 --> 0:13:41.840 is he does not speak at all. 0:13:42.040 --> 0:13:44.959 He does not speak at all, right, not a single 0:13:45.000 --> 0:13:47.720 word here is because you. 0:13:47.600 --> 0:13:50.720 Know, when when when I imagined. 0:13:50.840 --> 0:13:52.840 You know, when I first saw the film and I 0:13:52.880 --> 0:13:54.720 was sort of going through and didn't even know you 0:13:54.760 --> 0:13:58.199 but going through the process, and like what I you know. 0:13:58.240 --> 0:13:59.400 Was there someone you know? 0:13:59.440 --> 0:14:01.800 How like when you are speaking to another actor and 0:14:01.840 --> 0:14:03.880 it's your point of view, they're shooting, they have the 0:14:03.920 --> 0:14:05.320 actors standing by the camera. 0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:08.559 You got something that bite off? How was it? 0:14:08.600 --> 0:14:08.680 So? 0:14:09.600 --> 0:14:12.080 You know what was you know what does that make sense? 0:14:12.520 --> 0:14:12.760 Yeah? 0:14:12.840 --> 0:14:15.640 I mean what the two things that well, what I 0:14:15.720 --> 0:14:18.840 kept doing is I was to is looking for any 0:14:18.920 --> 0:14:23.080 any person, anything that was learning for the first time. 0:14:23.160 --> 0:14:27.240 So babies were really important to me. Dogs, animals, anything 0:14:27.280 --> 0:14:29.800 that was learning for the very first time in their 0:14:30.320 --> 0:14:32.960 environment was it was important to me. And what John 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:35.880 did when we he never gave the whole script to 0:14:35.880 --> 0:14:39.040 anybody else. So when they when they came on the set, 0:14:39.320 --> 0:14:41.880 they only had their scene, and all John would tell 0:14:41.880 --> 0:14:45.280 them is he's not going to talk to you. Wow, 0:14:45.600 --> 0:14:48.200 he's not going to talk to you. So it really 0:14:48.280 --> 0:14:51.080 became a kind of improv you know what I mean, 0:14:51.400 --> 0:14:53.520 where the actors would come on and I mean a 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:56.040 lot of them thought that I had written the script 0:14:56.040 --> 0:14:58.440 and not John, that John was just the director. But 0:14:58.560 --> 0:15:02.600 because it was so the dialogue was so perfectly black, 0:15:03.160 --> 0:15:05.400 that they thought, oh, this black man who doesn't speak 0:15:05.400 --> 0:15:07.120 in this movie must be the one who wrote it. 0:15:07.400 --> 0:15:09.600 Like I said, no, no, no, that white man over there, 0:15:10.160 --> 0:15:12.760 he's the guy who wrote this thing. But that's how 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:16.360 we did it. Is he would only give them their 0:15:16.480 --> 0:15:19.920 scene and then they would have to respond to what 0:15:19.960 --> 0:15:22.440 I did or did not do, certainly the fact that 0:15:22.480 --> 0:15:23.280 I wasn't speaking. 0:15:24.480 --> 0:15:27.600 So that's so fierce because it was genuine, it was authentic. 0:15:27.680 --> 0:15:29.360 It was just it was absolutely authentic. 0:15:29.440 --> 0:15:32.680 Yeah, oh my god, and before your time, because curb 0:15:32.720 --> 0:15:34.200 your enthusiasm, you know what I. 0:15:34.080 --> 0:15:38.160 Mean, like before Yeah, exactly exactly in. 0:15:38.160 --> 0:15:41.720 Terms of improv and not having a structured script. 0:15:42.320 --> 0:15:44.400 I mean, there was a structured script, but they didn't 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:49.280 have the entire blueprint as you will. Only I did, 0:15:50.320 --> 0:15:52.720 which is something actually similar that we did in a 0:15:52.800 --> 0:15:55.720 way with Scandal. 0:15:56.720 --> 0:15:58.200 Harry. 0:15:58.960 --> 0:16:01.360 None of the other actors is knew where we were going, 0:16:01.520 --> 0:16:05.440 including Terry Washington. Wow, because I remember when I got 0:16:05.520 --> 0:16:07.800 the job. She was so excited. She said, oh, you're 0:16:07.840 --> 0:16:09.720 one of my favorite actors. She said that you're the 0:16:09.760 --> 0:16:11.880 only one of the few actors that I've called my 0:16:11.920 --> 0:16:13.360 parents to say he's going to be on the show. 0:16:13.400 --> 0:16:15.160 And then she said, and I hope we have some 0:16:15.200 --> 0:16:18.040 scenes together, and I said, yeah, I do too. Let's see. 0:16:21.160 --> 0:16:25.080 And you know what, it makes so much sense because 0:16:25.800 --> 0:16:27.840 I mean, I love Carrie as the actress. 0:16:27.880 --> 0:16:29.400 She's Phidoulgal. 0:16:30.880 --> 0:16:35.640 Because there are seeds right where there is sheer terror 0:16:36.200 --> 0:16:40.080 in her eyes and it's and and when you think 0:16:40.120 --> 0:16:43.160 about like what you're saying now, you know every actor 0:16:43.320 --> 0:16:48.000 has the hebgb's and gets nervous, but she's authentically playing 0:16:48.160 --> 0:16:49.520 in those moments. 0:16:50.680 --> 0:16:54.120 We didn't we didn't know what their relationship was, so 0:16:54.160 --> 0:16:56.720 that when we shot the end of season two, we 0:16:56.800 --> 0:16:58.920 shot it at least five different ways because we didn't 0:16:58.920 --> 0:17:01.120 know how a strange were they. Did they like each other? 0:17:01.200 --> 0:17:02.800 Did they not like each other? Hawpen was the last 0:17:02.800 --> 0:17:04.639 time they saw. We didn't know answers to any of 0:17:04.680 --> 0:17:09.359 those questions. So we had that to establish. And then 0:17:09.400 --> 0:17:11.720 at the beginning of the very first scene in season three, 0:17:11.720 --> 0:17:14.359 when we pick up from that point, yeah, we're sitting 0:17:14.359 --> 0:17:17.359 in the car. We don't really know each other, and 0:17:17.400 --> 0:17:19.800 I've been given and I've been given a two and 0:17:19.840 --> 0:17:24.159 a half page monologue, which which to begin with was like, 0:17:24.480 --> 0:17:27.240 really just as TV, I'm going to do mono fantastic, 0:17:27.720 --> 0:17:33.040 And so that that opening scene really did establish their relationship. 0:17:33.760 --> 0:17:37.320 And and just recently, I think Shonda had it on 0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:41.800 had that particular scene on Instagram and as an explanation 0:17:42.000 --> 0:17:44.600 as an expl and as an explanation of that scene, 0:17:44.760 --> 0:17:48.359 she said that up until that point, Carie's character was 0:17:48.440 --> 0:17:51.919 kind of strad straddling between being white and being black. 0:17:52.400 --> 0:17:56.800 She said, when when Rowan slash Eli showed up, that 0:17:56.960 --> 0:17:59.080 was definitely being black, which is why she put in 0:17:59.160 --> 0:18:01.720 things like you know, you have to be twice as good, 0:18:01.920 --> 0:18:04.399 you know, on the hell Water. All those kinds of 0:18:04.440 --> 0:18:07.480 things were purposely put into that monologue to let you 0:18:07.520 --> 0:18:10.040 know the black guys finally showed up in this show. 0:18:10.640 --> 0:18:13.520 Yeah, I mean I was addicted, Like I had already 0:18:13.560 --> 0:18:17.920 been watching the show, but when you came on, the 0:18:17.960 --> 0:18:21.320 one of the things that I feel was, I know 0:18:21.480 --> 0:18:23.960 that I'm entertained. When I don't see a boom or 0:18:24.000 --> 0:18:26.320 I don't have anything going on in my inner. 0:18:26.240 --> 0:18:27.880 Voice, I'm actually entertained. 0:18:27.880 --> 0:18:32.680 So I was entertained one but two Emotionally, You and 0:18:32.760 --> 0:18:36.280 Carrie took me on emotional roller coasters when you showed up, 0:18:36.320 --> 0:18:38.320 like I literally would jump like, oh. 0:18:38.119 --> 0:18:41.320 My god, why here, what's he going to do? 0:18:41.400 --> 0:18:41.680 Now? 0:18:42.240 --> 0:18:47.800 Somebody's gonna die, you know. And then it was just 0:18:48.200 --> 0:18:50.200 you know, knowing you, not knowing you. 0:18:51.400 --> 0:18:53.439 How I know you now, but I didn't know you 0:18:53.520 --> 0:18:57.080 at that time, towards the end, it was like, here, 0:18:57.440 --> 0:19:01.360 where did you find him? Because I cannot fight if 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:04.720 he like evidence in your dn DA of this villain. 0:19:05.200 --> 0:19:06.280 Where did he come from? 0:19:06.800 --> 0:19:11.359 Well that's an interesting question because that particular year of 0:19:11.400 --> 0:19:14.120 the there the end of their season one, I went 0:19:14.119 --> 0:19:19.240 out to LA for you know, pilot season uh, And 0:19:19.359 --> 0:19:22.680 I thought to myself, up until that point, I played 0:19:22.880 --> 0:19:26.639 very deliberately, very purposely good guys, because when I started 0:19:26.640 --> 0:19:30.160 in this business, it was mostly black guys playing drug 0:19:30.200 --> 0:19:32.800 dealers and goo whatever, just. 0:19:32.800 --> 0:19:33.920 Bad guys of all kinds. 0:19:33.920 --> 0:19:35.399 And I said, I kept saying, no, I'm not going 0:19:35.440 --> 0:19:37.600 to do that, and I played other kind of characters. 0:19:38.800 --> 0:19:41.600 I went out to LA that particularly a purposely looking 0:19:41.680 --> 0:19:46.200 for an intelligent bad guy. So I had I had 0:19:46.240 --> 0:19:48.359 heard of Scandal, I hadn't seen it. So I sat 0:19:48.359 --> 0:19:50.199 there when I got to LA and I watched season 0:19:50.200 --> 0:19:53.200 one on my computer and thought, Wow, this show is fantastic. 0:19:54.040 --> 0:19:57.480 Maybe I'll call my agent and have them give ABC 0:19:57.640 --> 0:19:59.240 a call and maybe we can work out some kind 0:19:59.240 --> 0:20:03.119 of you know, episode arc or whatever. Before I made 0:20:03.160 --> 0:20:06.800 that call, my agents called me and said. 0:20:06.600 --> 0:20:08.760 We just got a call from ABC. They'd like to 0:20:08.800 --> 0:20:09.920 talk to you about scandal. 0:20:10.720 --> 0:20:13.080 I got the call from the producer, and the producer 0:20:13.200 --> 0:20:15.480 started off the conversation by saying, by the end of 0:20:15.560 --> 0:20:18.800 season two, the lines will clearly. 0:20:18.480 --> 0:20:21.080 Be that you are her father. I said, I'll take 0:20:21.119 --> 0:20:21.520 the job. 0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:27.280 So Joe. The most played I guess add to. 0:20:27.320 --> 0:20:30.680 Story on my Instagram is when you talk about manifestation, 0:20:30.920 --> 0:20:31.960 can you share. 0:20:31.720 --> 0:20:33.480 That with the audience? 0:20:35.320 --> 0:20:37.679 You when we run inside the black Box, We're going 0:20:37.760 --> 0:20:38.360 to go into that. 0:20:38.880 --> 0:20:44.280 Right, I mean I think, well, just using inside the 0:20:44.280 --> 0:20:47.920 black Box, right, you had something that you you had 0:20:47.960 --> 0:20:50.879 something that you wanted for eighteen years. You wanted to 0:20:50.920 --> 0:20:53.359 find a way to put that on the screen and 0:20:53.440 --> 0:20:54.600 put that out in front of people. 0:20:54.840 --> 0:20:55.760 And look what happened. 0:20:55.760 --> 0:21:01.080 Eighteen years later, you, you and doctor Day and Spruce 0:21:01.119 --> 0:21:03.120 and all the rest of you got together. You put 0:21:03.119 --> 0:21:06.399 together a pilot and invited me onto the show. I 0:21:06.440 --> 0:21:07.919 went on the show simply because I thought, well, this 0:21:08.000 --> 0:21:10.320 is a great idea. I love this, this is fantastic. 0:21:10.440 --> 0:21:12.240 I would love to come on the show and talk 0:21:12.280 --> 0:21:13.960 about all the kinds of things you guys wanted to 0:21:13.960 --> 0:21:16.879 talk about. Later on, it turns out that you and 0:21:16.920 --> 0:21:19.600 I are then the the co hosts of that show. 0:21:20.440 --> 0:21:23.080