Speaker 1: I am all in.
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Speaker 1: Hey everybody, Scott Patterson, I am all in Podcast. One
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Speaker 1: One on one Interview, Episode five, Season seven, The Great Stink,
Speaker 1: and we are joined by de two Cambo McCormick. How
Speaker 1: did I do? That's it? Welcome, Welcome, thanks for joining us.
Speaker 1: You portrayed Philip for three episodes of Gilmore. You one
Speaker 1: of Logan's colleagues from London. You were born in Sierra Leone.
Speaker 1: You are an actor producer known for Blood Diamond, Battle,
Speaker 1: Los Angeles, Captain America, The Winner, Soldier, The OA n CIS,
Speaker 1: and twenty four and Lost. You also lend your voice
Speaker 1: to animated series such as Castevania, Castlevania and video games
Speaker 1: like Call of Duty. Welcome, sir. We were very very
Speaker 1: very very very entertained by those scenes or that scene
Speaker 1: in the restaurant. We just got off the recap discussing it,
Speaker 1: and it was quite controversial amongst us. Certain intelligent people
Speaker 1: were quite entertained by it and others weren't, but they
Speaker 1: had a bone to pic. But so first I'll tell
Speaker 1: us how you got the role on Gilmore Girl.
Speaker 2: Well, I mean, that's an interesting story. So mar Casey
Speaker 2: actually called my agent up after seeing me in Lost,
Speaker 2: and she was like, who is the sky? We've got
Speaker 2: a cast in something and and thanks. So I came
Speaker 2: in for the audition and yas Mark Casey and she
Speaker 2: was like, yeah, you know, you're a tremendous actor. Let's
Speaker 2: see if you can find a place for you. And
Speaker 2: that's what happened. I auditioned the role fit like a glove.
Speaker 2: I very much like them as opposed to the other
Speaker 2: characters I tend to play. I tend to play like
Speaker 2: you know, in Blood Diamond, that was someone who taught
Speaker 2: children how to be child soldiers. And you know, I
Speaker 2: play a lot of gangsters and that kind of thing,
Speaker 2: and I don't have a gangster's bone in my body.
Speaker 2: So I think it's interesting that they were like, Ah,
Speaker 2: this guy is amazing on lot, let's put him in
Speaker 2: Gilmour Girls. I mean great thinking by you know, Marques
Speaker 2: and Jamierdovsky And yeah, I mean it was just a wonderful,
Speaker 2: wonderful role to play, and yeah, and I love doing it.
Speaker 1: So you play one of Logan's college from London, and
Speaker 1: your first scene is at dinner with Rory and Logan's
Speaker 1: very fast paced. What do you remember about shooting that day?
Speaker 2: My goodness, So I talked pretty quickly, right, But when
Speaker 2: I was on set, They're like, nope, fastest and fast
Speaker 2: enough is literally what they said. And I was like, wait,
Speaker 2: what I'd be I'm not speaking quickly enough, like nope,
Speaker 2: And I remember just going lightning speed and being like,
Speaker 2: am I even saying my words? Is this coming out correctly?
Speaker 2: I have no idea. I don't have time to big
Speaker 2: blah blah blah blah, you know. And so I remember
Speaker 2: going pretty what I thought was a very fast paced
Speaker 2: and being told I think by take two that we
Speaker 2: needed to do it quicker, and and I was like,
Speaker 2: all right, let me strit myself in and go for it, so.
Speaker 1: Calm and refrain from that's set. That's all I heard.
Speaker 1: That's the only direction I ever heard was faster, faster, funnier, faster, funny, faster, funny.
Speaker 1: So you Vanessa Branch who played Bobby, and Chris Payne
Speaker 1: played the three colleagues, did you guys spend a lot
Speaker 1: of time together because of the role, or do you
Speaker 1: still tend to stay in touch with those guys.
Speaker 2: I stay in touch with Chris for a little bit afterwards,
Speaker 2: but I think I saw Vanessa once in an event,
Speaker 2: but unfortunately, know we haven't stayed in touch.
Speaker 1: So what will you You have a favorite memory of
Speaker 1: being on set?
Speaker 2: You know, actually one of my favorite memories is I
Speaker 2: think from episode fifteen. And it's not a memory just
Speaker 2: because it was entertaining, it was it was a It
Speaker 2: was a great memory because of how gracious Matt Zaffrey was,
Speaker 2: and you know, it was me telling him that whole
Speaker 2: you know, the sad story about our company going bust,
Speaker 2: and you know, and basically he didn't have to give
Speaker 2: me his lions. You know, he was off camera and
Speaker 2: he was like, no Ida, I've got to be here
Speaker 2: for you. I've got to you know, I got to
Speaker 2: be here and do your life, do my lines for you.
Speaker 2: I was like, you don't have to know so late
Speaker 2: at that point, it's like two in the morning, and
Speaker 2: I just remember him just staying. We did the lines
Speaker 2: together and the scene was beautiful. So thanks, Matt, if
Speaker 2: you're listening, I appreciate it.
Speaker 1: Whole stand up guy all the way around. Stand up guy.
Speaker 1: For sure, Ladies chime in any question I was going
Speaker 1: to ask one, was the last time you've seen like
Speaker 1: an episode.
Speaker 2: You're in It's been a minute, but no, but it
Speaker 2: was such a fun show to do, you know. And
Speaker 2: I remember thinking, because listen, I do as I said,
Speaker 2: like Lost of Blood, Diamond and it's a lot of
Speaker 2: doom and gloom. And I remember being like I had
Speaker 2: an audition and this was like, wait, all these other
Speaker 2: things make sense on your resume, but Gilmore girls, you know,
Speaker 2: I was like, yeah, But what is interesting is because
Speaker 2: I think that was the one and only time I
Speaker 2: was on w It was on w B right rather
Speaker 2: than warnerbellas exactly. And mind you, I've been told many
Speaker 2: times that I didn't have a w B look or
Speaker 2: CW look, and I was like, oh, well that sucks,
Speaker 2: you know, so but just the fact that you know,
Speaker 2: casting saw something else and not the traditional I guess
Speaker 2: a look for people that tend to be cast on
Speaker 2: those shows. That was something I really appreciated. And you know,
Speaker 2: I think that was just an amazing and an awesome
Speaker 2: thing by j Me and MARAA. Casey. Why cannot say,
Speaker 2: you know, you know, good good things up about them,
Speaker 2: But yeah, it was great to actually be on that show.
Speaker 2: And I just said, I just have a lot of
Speaker 2: fun memories.
Speaker 1: Tell us about being scouted at the age of twelve
Speaker 1: years old in Kenya for your first film.
Speaker 2: Gosh, that was a long time ago. Well, interestingly enough,
Speaker 2: I'm having a full circle moment. So I, as you
Speaker 2: guys know, I did my first movie when I was
Speaker 2: twelve years old. It's called The Great Elephant Escape, and
Speaker 2: it starred Joseph Gordon Levitt and the late Junie Sands
Speaker 2: and late New Bremister. And I did a lot of
Speaker 2: plays when I was a kid. I was I just
Speaker 2: love being on stage. And I remember I did my
Speaker 2: first play when I was five. I was a bee
Speaker 2: in a play called Be's. I remember falling off the
Speaker 2: stage and I have this memory of my dad, you know,
Speaker 2: coming towards me to like basically pick me up and
Speaker 2: put me back on and I was like, no, I
Speaker 2: got this, and I got back on the stage and
Speaker 2: I finished the play, and I just kept on doing
Speaker 2: other plays. And then at twelve, this casting director was like,
Speaker 2: we're doing a Disney film in Kenya. Are you interested?
Speaker 2: Do you want to audition for it? And I was like,
Speaker 2: of course, you know, of course I wanted to do
Speaker 2: this once a lifetime opportunity, and and I did, and
Speaker 2: thanks to the booked the role, and and then that
Speaker 2: just basically started my career. And then I went to
Speaker 2: study Purchase Consideratoris Theater as the film, and then graduated
Speaker 2: and started working in Los Angeles.
Speaker 1: What was that experience, Like, did you still keep in
Speaker 1: contact with some of those people from Sydney Purchase?
Speaker 2: I do. I do just view of us, like, you know,
Speaker 2: Malcolm Goodwin and Victor Cruz and and a few other people. Yeah,
Speaker 2: I mean we're the Purchase mafia. We're a tight knit group.
Speaker 1: How did your family take it when you wanted to
Speaker 1: move to pursue acting. I mean you where did you go?
Speaker 1: You left and left? Yeah, yeah, very back.
Speaker 2: I went to first So first I went, I left
Speaker 2: Kenya and I went to New York. I went to
Speaker 2: the Sydney Purchases Union. My dad. You know, I'm the
Speaker 2: son of a diplomat. So my father was at first
Speaker 2: was like, uh, this is not something we really do.
Speaker 2: You know. Mind you my sisters all have PhDs and
Speaker 2: you know, doctor lawyers that kind of thing. But my
Speaker 2: dad was like that this is something that you really
Speaker 2: want to do. I'm going to support you one hundred
Speaker 2: and ten percent. And that meant a lot because that
Speaker 2: was the time. You know, a lot of people from
Speaker 2: my country or you know, doctor, lawyer, engineer, partacists, whatever,
Speaker 2: but the arts isn't something that we pursue, something that
Speaker 2: parents even don't really support. But my dad was very supportive.
Speaker 2: I think it helps because my late mother was an
Speaker 2: actress as well, so it didn't come totally out of
Speaker 2: left field, you know, so I think, yeah, so they
Speaker 2: were very, very very supportive. And but I do remember
Speaker 2: though when I graduated. Now, mind you, we have this
Speaker 2: thing that you know when you go to the CONCERTI
Speaker 2: Consortium of Professional theod Arts Training purchased as one of
Speaker 2: the universities I think Carnegian, Melon, a few others and
Speaker 2: after the consortium, and I was like one of the
Speaker 2: top in my class. But when I did consortium, I
Speaker 2: didn't get an agent or a casting direct or anything.
Speaker 2: And I remember I called my dad and I was
Speaker 2: like teariarus. I was like, Daddy, this is working out.
Speaker 2: I didn't get anything, and my dad there's this long
Speaker 2: silence and was like, you owe me thirty eight thousand
Speaker 2: dollars intuition money figure it out. I was like, okay,
Speaker 2: but you know, it was tough love, and honestly, I
Speaker 2: was like, that's not going to be the setback that,
Speaker 2: you know, stopped the ends of my career. And yeah,
Speaker 2: and I just was like okay, and I found the
Speaker 2: payment and got an agent, thankfully, and soon after graduation
Speaker 2: I ended up moving to Los Angeles and I think
Speaker 2: I booked Lost, and then right after Lost was I
Speaker 2: think Gilmore Girls came soon after that. Yeah, Lost in
Speaker 2: a couple of things and gil More Girls. So but
Speaker 2: my parents have been very, very supportive, and I think
Speaker 2: always get a kick out of seeing me on TV
Speaker 2: or you know, hearing my voice on things like Pennsylvania.
Speaker 2: And I was going.
Speaker 1: To ask you, do you prefer being on camera or
Speaker 1: the voiceover stuff, because they're very different.
Speaker 2: They're they're different and the same, if that makes sense,
Speaker 2: because your my approach is almost identical. It's like, who's
Speaker 2: your backstory? Who are you? What are the stakes? You know,
Speaker 2: all of it. I think it's less precious sometimes because
Speaker 2: you don't have to look a certain way, and if
Speaker 2: you have a giant ZiT, I can show up in
Speaker 2: my sweatpants and you don't do my job. But yeah,
Speaker 2: but my approach is identical. I'm a complete maniac of
Speaker 2: the studio. I act up on my macines and I
Speaker 2: have a lot of fun. So yeah, I mean it's
Speaker 2: just my approach is the same, and I love both equally.
Speaker 2: I guess, you.
Speaker 1: Know, is there a difference between voiceover work for animated
Speaker 1: series and video games? Like? How does that is that
Speaker 1: different at all?
Speaker 2: Yes? I mean a lot of the video games, I
Speaker 2: would say it's a lot more taxing on your voice,
Speaker 2: and so I you know, you have to have a
Speaker 2: lot of stamina, you have to learn your breathing technique,
Speaker 2: you have to It's just it's really really hard. So
Speaker 2: I would say it's just harder and it's just more
Speaker 2: more taxing, and it requires a lot more vocal stamina.
Speaker 2: Interesting animation. And then as far as a lot of animation,
Speaker 2: I mean, look at things like Castlevania and The Blood
Speaker 2: of Z using of the other things that I've done,
Speaker 2: the dialogue is so elevated and it's just so beautiful
Speaker 2: and in some ways it feels very Shakespearean, and so
Speaker 2: I just really fall in love. I love language, I
Speaker 2: love dialogue and love words. So I think that's just
Speaker 2: what makes me just love what I do so much.
Speaker 1: Tell us about The German King, that's your most recent project.
Speaker 1: Tell us about that.
Speaker 2: Yeah, so that's actually why I think earlier I said
Speaker 2: it's everything very full circle. So I'm actually in Kenya
Speaker 2: right now. It's mourning for me.
Speaker 1: Good morning, good morning.
Speaker 2: But yeah, I'm here during pre production for this series,
Speaker 2: and we decided to shoot here in Kenya because of
Speaker 2: the fact that, you know, there's a lot of infrastructure
Speaker 2: here and the landscape and everything feels very similar to Cameroon.
Speaker 2: But to answer your question, Scott, The German King is
Speaker 2: the incredible true story of Rudolph Dulla mangan Bel, who
Speaker 2: is a Cameroonian born German raised prince who grew up
Speaker 2: in royal courts and then he ends up becoming king
Speaker 2: and when he comes back to Cameroon to take the throne,
Speaker 2: he sees that his people being subjugated and enslaved on
Speaker 2: the tyrannical German colonial rule, and he rises up against
Speaker 2: it and leads rebellion against German coronalism, which begins this
Speaker 2: domino effect across Africa to bring down German crony rule.
Speaker 2: Across the continent.
Speaker 1: Well, yeah, place taking about what years sustained place.
Speaker 2: So the story takes place in late eighteen hundreds and
Speaker 2: during the peak of the Scramble for Africa, and and
Speaker 2: it goes all the way to effect when Rudolph leaves
Speaker 2: Rebellion that's actually in nineteen fourteen rather the start of
Speaker 2: World War One.
Speaker 1: Are you playing the title role?
Speaker 2: I'm playing Rudolfdwell and Mangabell. Yes, I am playing.
Speaker 1: Who's behind it? Who's who's producing it?
Speaker 2: The Angel Studios, which is the studio behind The Chosen
Speaker 2: and Sound of Freedom, the blockbuster hit that came out
Speaker 2: last year, and Cabrini, which came out last month. So yeah,
Speaker 2: they're they're great and been really supportive, and you know,
Speaker 2: there was this is a show that amplifies light and
Speaker 2: that's what they're all about. Stories that are empowering and
Speaker 2: stories that are inspiring and heroic and you know, ultimately
Speaker 2: have a really positive message.
Speaker 1: And who else who else is in the cave?
Speaker 2: I can't announce it? Just yeah, Unfortunately, what they're gonna do?
Speaker 1: How many episodes are you going to do?
Speaker 2: So the first season is six episodes, and subsequent seasons
Speaker 2: would be a little bit more. But yeah, it's it's
Speaker 2: it's really really exciting. Uh yeah, yeah, it's just we
Speaker 2: did a short film based on but we did a
Speaker 2: short film that went to can and you know, Hollish
Speaker 2: played at Holly Shorts and won a bunch of awards
Speaker 2: and even qualified for OSCAR consideration, and and Angel Studios
Speaker 2: was like, what is this thing? This is amazing. And
Speaker 2: originally I wanted to turn it into a feature length film,
Speaker 2: but Angel they really thought that because of the scope
Speaker 2: and how nuanced stories like this can be, it made
Speaker 2: more sense of a TV series. And so we talked about,
Speaker 2: you know, just how what we could do, and talked
Speaker 2: about just going from the beginning, you know. And also
Speaker 2: I got to learn a lot of about my history
Speaker 2: because growing up in Kenya, so I actually I grew
Speaker 2: up here. The history we learned was very much about
Speaker 2: British history. It was like Queen Victoria and you know,
Speaker 2: Henry Thea than honor those people. But we didn't really
Speaker 2: learn about like Patris La Mumba, Toma Boya, any of
Speaker 2: the great African heroes. So for me, when I came
Speaker 2: to America and I started doing all this research, I
Speaker 2: was like, oh, my gosh, there's so much I don't know,
Speaker 2: and we get to put all this history into the story,
Speaker 2: so people get to be educated about African history. In fact,
Speaker 2: I'm even hesitant to say African history because African history
Speaker 2: is world history. You can't really talk about Germany's history
Speaker 2: without talking about colonialism, without talking about, you know, the
Speaker 2: fact that they raped and pillaged and stole a lot
Speaker 2: of natural resources and minerals which did make their empire great.
Speaker 2: And also you look at England, you look at Belgium,
Speaker 2: and you look at the crisis that happened in Congo.
Speaker 2: So we get to address all these things and talk
Speaker 2: about all these different people who also put back against
Speaker 2: some periodists and how it really took like a lot
Speaker 2: of people to basically fight back and they change.
Speaker 1: Hm. Wow, and that's all going to be covered in
Speaker 1: this series. Yes, wow, Well, good luck with that. These
Speaker 1: are important stories and you must feel on top of
Speaker 1: the world getting to play a character like this. I mean,
Speaker 1: this is this is what you live for, and this
Speaker 1: is the sounds like a career defining role and I
Speaker 1: hope it brings you everything you deserve. I appreciate that
Speaker 1: should do some rapid fire. Well, now let's let's get
Speaker 1: just now and talk about the very important things. Okay,
Speaker 1: and this is called rapid fire. Get ready for the serious,
Speaker 1: impactful questions. How do you like your coffee?
Speaker 2: That's delicious?
Speaker 1: Are your team Logan, Team Jess or Team Dean Logan?
Speaker 2: Obviously?
Speaker 1: Who's your favorite Gilmore girls couple? Luke and Lorelei or
Speaker 1: Emily and Richard? Thank you very much. Would you rather
Speaker 1: work with Michelle or Kirk Kirk Kirk?
Speaker 2: I don't know, I just like the name.
Speaker 1: Who would you rather hang out with Paris or Lane?
Speaker 1: Paris me too, honestly, Harvard or Yale? Or drop out
Speaker 1: and live in the pool unequivocally Harvard. Would you rather
Speaker 1: attend a D A R event with Emily or a
Speaker 1: town hall meeting with Taylor? Oh?
Speaker 2: Top one, tough one, can, I says, sorry, that.
Speaker 1: Is not an option. I'll give you a hint to
Speaker 1: the town hall meeting. Thinks the opposite Gilmore character that
Speaker 1: you would want as a roommate?
Speaker 2: Oh, you know, I would probably say Rory.
Speaker 1: As a roommate.
Speaker 2: As a roommate, yes, yes, I would.
Speaker 1: Yeah, she's kind of she would be very respectful of
Speaker 1: your space. She'd be she's she's kind of a very
Speaker 1: light touch. She's delightful.
Speaker 2: She would replenish them. Yeah, conversations, you know, the whole journalist.
Speaker 2: I mean, she's intellectual. That's that person. I am so yeah.
Speaker 1: Right, yeah, I agree. Congratulations for for getting this off
Speaker 1: the ground. I wish you all the best with it.
Speaker 1: I'll be looking for it, I'll be watching it, rooting
Speaker 1: you on. Thank you so much for your time. I
Speaker 1: know it's early there, I know you're busy and you
Speaker 1: have important stories to tell. The too Combo McCormick, you
Speaker 1: were a delight. You were a massive thank God, bless
Speaker 1: and good luck. Thank you saying okay, thanks for coming.
Speaker 2: Thank you everybody. You guys are amazing.
Speaker 1: Everybody else forget Follow us on Instagram at I Am
Speaker 1: all In podcast, and email us at Gilmore at iHeartRadio
Speaker 1: dot com.