- 1 day ago
Chris Rock, John Boyega, Regé-Jean Page, Jonathan Majors and Josh O’Connor joined The Hollywood Reporter to talk about their respective projects.
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00:00:00Years ago when I was on, I had my own show on HBO, it was at the height of the
00:00:05Sopranos,
00:00:06and I got a couple of offers to be on the Sopranos. I was like, I like it too much.
00:00:10I don't want to spoil it.
00:00:12It's wicked in that. It's wicked in that.
00:00:14I was like, they want me? Get out of here.
00:00:24Hi, and welcome to Close Up with the Hollywood Reporter, drama actors.
00:00:27I'm your host, Lacey Rose, and I'm joined today by John Boyega of Small Axe,
00:00:34Regé-Jean Page of Bridgerton, Chris Rock of Fargo, Jonathan Majors of Lovecraft Country,
00:00:40and Josh O'Connor of The Crown. Thank you all for being here.
00:00:46I am going to start with an icebreaker for all of you.
00:00:50If a fan is coming at you, what is he or she likely to say?
00:00:57I just get people who sort of like, sort of smile, and then don't really know where to pin me.
00:01:02So they come up to me and they start saying like, you're the guy.
00:01:06And you're like, yeah, yeah. And then they say, go on, what is it?
00:01:10And then you've got this awkward conversation where you've got to decide in a very split second
00:01:17whether you're going to share your entire CV.
00:01:21Mine's not massive anyway, but still, it's a predicament.
00:01:26I usually don't. And I just say, I am the guy.
00:01:28I'll take a photo with you and then I'll leave them.
00:01:30Basically, they don't know who I am.
00:01:33I had that at the passport office once where someone kind of gave me like 10 minutes of like,
00:01:38I know you from the thing.
00:01:39And I'm like, well, if you don't know, then clearly it's not that important.
00:01:43So like, I'm not that guy.
00:01:47Yeah, I would say similar to that.
00:01:49Just kind of a look and they go, you kind of do a little head nod.
00:01:53Yeah, you're not crazy.
00:01:56You're not crazy.
00:01:57Normally a distant eye contact.
00:01:59And then some reason we connect in the mental realm and they understand.
00:02:03I nod, they nod, keep it moving.
00:02:05That's kind of the best though, isn't it though?
00:02:07Like, you go like, okay, okay.
00:02:09Like, you kind of feel seen for what you did, not for who you are, you know,
00:02:14which is kind of wicked, you know, that eye contact, which is sweet.
00:02:19Yeah.
00:02:20Chris, you're not, you're a...
00:02:21I'm like, literally embarrassed.
00:02:30Yeah, I don't know.
00:02:31I mean, it's a lot of stuff.
00:02:35Everybody, it's weird.
00:02:36I'm not, I always say, everybody doesn't recognize me right away, but the minute they
00:02:42hear my voice, they know exactly who I am.
00:02:45I desperately want to pause you in the street and just yell, tambourine!
00:02:49Oh man, you know...
00:02:52Hey, I mean, I know I'm here for Fargo, but you know, I'm a comedian and comedians don't
00:02:59have mystique.
00:03:02Like, you know what I mean?
00:03:03Comedians aren't singers.
00:03:05Like, so when you, when you like a comedian, you kind of know everything about them.
00:03:10That's a little freaky, yeah.
00:03:12Yeah.
00:03:12So, you know, it's, how's your daughter?
00:03:16Hey, I went through a divorce.
00:03:17Whatever.
00:03:18It's like, it's, I don't know, grownups, Jack City, I don't know, whatever it is that week
00:03:25or Netflix or, you know, people.
00:03:29Let's talk about the work.
00:03:31I like it.
00:03:32I'm talking about like celebrity.
00:03:34It's like, you know.
00:03:35Reggie, I'm going to start with, with you.
00:03:37This obviously isn't your first Shonda Rhimes, Shonda Land project.
00:03:43At what point did you sense this one was either going to land or landing differently?
00:03:49I think going to land or landing differently from, from the outset, from the script.
00:03:53The script was very, very refreshing.
00:03:55It was something that, from the very beginning, we talked about doing something with period
00:04:00drama that we hadn't done before, about giving people images in period drama that they
00:04:04hadn't seen before, about bringing an energy into it that people hadn't kind of really
00:04:09encountered.
00:04:09And the thing about Shonda and Shonda Land in particular is you can kind of have faith
00:04:14that there will be, A, a social consciousness because they have this bond with the audience
00:04:18and there's certain responsibilities they bear quite, they wear it on their sleeve.
00:04:22But secondly, that they bear that social responsibility with a sense of mischief that everyone expects
00:04:27from them.
00:04:28And I don't think that we have a huge amount of mischief in British productions of period
00:04:33drama in my experience.
00:04:35And so those two things combining meant that I was fairly confident, maybe I'm just an
00:04:39overconfident dude, that we were going to have something that people would be interested
00:04:43in on that level, at least.
00:04:45And you just touched on, you were giving something that people hadn't seen before.
00:04:48I mean, I think, I think I read you say that there was a conversation early on that this
00:04:53would be a very diverse cast, but it would not be colorblind casting.
00:04:56And that was important to sort of, I believe, everyone involved.
00:05:00What were those conversations?
00:05:02Well, yeah, I mean, the earliest conversations were about, and they're the same conversations
00:05:05I've had since the beginning of my career, because I had the same conversations on Roots,
00:05:10which was a story predominantly about people of color.
00:05:12It was about how do we go into the past and look at the images we already have and spotlight
00:05:18joy within that?
00:05:19Where are our opportunities to spotlight black joy, essentially?
00:05:23Because otherwise you go into the past and you think that it's black folks' job to suffer
00:05:26for a while, carry a moral for white folks, and then we all move on.
00:05:30And finding opportunities for us to be splendid and spectacular and joyous and romantic
00:05:37was kind of the theme of my involvement, certainly from the very beginning.
00:05:43And was the same that year, because Sylvie came out at the same time, and it was exactly
00:05:46the same conversations.
00:05:47It was about where's our old school Hollywood love story?
00:05:50Where's our kind of folks just falling in love?
00:05:53A little bit like, we saw a lot of filling in that history in small acts that John did,
00:05:59where you have red, white, and blue, which is about institutional problems and kind of
00:06:03microaggressions and brutal macroaggressions.
00:06:05But also that's following love as rock, which was just black folks falling in love and having
00:06:10an amazing night at a party with like all those little interpersonal complications.
00:06:14And you can't have one without the other, because otherwise the story is unbalanced.
00:06:17So I think a lot of it was about balancing out the picture and just giving three dimensions
00:06:22to people on screen who often have not been given that third dimension.
00:06:26Are those conversations others here have had before, whether it was with producers, whether
00:06:32it was with casting directors to think differently, or representatives?
00:06:36Oh, definitely.
00:06:37Definitely.
00:06:38I think there's now an open field for that kind of dialogue.
00:06:41Whether it's industry professionals or people you work with, directors, producers, or your
00:06:47reps, you know, I think once people know that that's an important topic to discuss, there's
00:06:53something that is implemented in all forms and all stages of the creative process.
00:06:57So definitely for me, it's come up so many times.
00:07:00And it's been fruitful going back and forth between people with sometimes different opinions,
00:07:06different backgrounds, because we all know entertainment, people from all around the world.
00:07:10But to be able to discuss it, and now it's not kind of like the elephant in the room, there
00:07:16isn't, there doesn't always need to be that 40-day icebreaker.
00:07:21It's leading towards very, very good conversations.
00:07:23And that's why you're seeing a lot of these real specific creative visions now come to light.
00:07:29Much like Lovecraft Country and Bridgerton, you're now seeing different perspective on this
00:07:35now.
00:07:35And that's because of some of these conversations.
00:07:39Yeah, I'd piggyback on that and say that a lot of the conversations I've had has been
00:07:43with other artists, right, where we kind of discuss either at school or at a bar or just
00:07:50walking down the street, like, what is it that we're doing?
00:07:52What are we, we're the raw material, you know, the kind of, and that's writers, directors,
00:07:58actors, et cetera.
00:07:59You know, what we end up doing, how we cultivate our lifestyle, how we cultivate what it is to
00:08:03be a minority, what it is to be, in my case, a young black man, same with John, same with
00:08:08LJ, you know, what it is, what that is, the more we get more comfortable and more, more
00:08:14fearless in that and bringing that forth in our performances, in our auditions, in our
00:08:18conversations.
00:08:19That becomes the anecdote.
00:08:21That energy gets dropped into any character we're playing.
00:08:24And so we can kind of, in many ways, which I've seen with all the brothers here, kind
00:08:28of subvert anything that we become sensitive to, like, ah, that's not quite, that's not
00:08:34quite where we're going now, right?
00:08:35That's not, we're, we're, we're more brave.
00:08:38We have more bravery now to say, nah, nah, nah, bro, we're going to do it like this.
00:08:43And that becomes addictive.
00:08:45You know, people begin to get into it.
00:08:46I mean, there's, there's great productions being made, as John was saying, you know, with
00:08:50that type of energy, with that thrust.
00:08:52So, yeah.
00:08:54Josh, I wanted to ask you, I've heard you say the sort of interesting thing to you about
00:08:59playing Charles was not so much the idea of playing a public figure, but rather the sort
00:09:04of exploration of masculinity and the sort of fragility of, of masculinity, which I think
00:09:10is something you guys all sort of explore through your work.
00:09:14What did that, what does that mean to you?
00:09:17And what do you feel like you've learned in, in the process of playing this guy?
00:09:22Yeah.
00:09:23I mean, the sort of initial, I mean, in terms of like his other main qualities, i.e. being
00:09:30royal.
00:09:31So I've never really been that, that interested in, in the royal family.
00:09:36And, and I mean, I'm a, I've never hidden that I'm a Republican.
00:09:40And I mean that in the kind of British political sense, i.e.
00:09:44anti-monarchy.
00:09:45But I actually think what was really funny was that I sort of, as I've got to know this
00:09:50character, and obviously I don't know the real Charles, but the character of Charles,
00:09:54I believe probably is a bit of a Republican himself.
00:09:57Like, I think they're born into this extraordinary pressure and can't fulfill their dreams and
00:10:05can't, you know, can't follow any hobbies like we can and can't, you know, go out in
00:10:10public and do what they want like we can.
00:10:13And so I think it's like that as a kind of concept to me, you know, I think from the
00:10:18outset, starting out with this, this feeling of like, not animosity, but I suppose, I guess
00:10:25a naivety about who this person, person sort of is.
00:10:29And then, and then the masculinity thing, I think that's just sort of, it kind of comes
00:10:34back to me quite a lot where people just say, oh, and Josh, you do all the, like you're
00:10:39interested in like masculinity and fragility of masculinity.
00:10:41It's like, well, I don't know, I feel like maybe I'm just a fragile masculine.
00:10:44I don't know.
00:10:45Like, I think, I just think as sort of, as, you know, as, as, as men, I think we are
00:10:52having
00:10:53the mirror showed up in front of us and we're having to assess and reassess like some of
00:10:59the misogyny that's been in society for many generations.
00:11:01And I think as a generation, I feel like we've, I'm very proud of, you know, the work that
00:11:08we're making and the, and the questions we're asking ourselves.
00:11:11And I suppose in a simple, you know, I suppose we're, we're just trying to offer, or I feel
00:11:17like I'm trying to offer a kind of an alternative.
00:11:21And, and so when you look at someone like Charles, I was really privileged to play him
00:11:25at a very, at two very different stages in his life.
00:11:28One where he's grappling with the fact that he's, you know, a young man having to wait for
00:11:33his mother to die in order for his life to take meaning.
00:11:36And then later on, a slightly older guy who's married someone he doesn't love and unable
00:11:43to marry the woman he does love, and he's still waiting for his mom to die.
00:11:47So it's kind of this major kind of conflict.
00:11:51So I don't know, I don't think that's answered your question, but that's just a statement.
00:11:58I think it absolutely actually did answer the question.
00:12:00I'm also curious, you, you didn't come into this as somebody who was particularly interested
00:12:04in the royal family.
00:12:06There's nonetheless been a tremendous amount of continued, ongoing sort of press around
00:12:11the family.
00:12:13Certainly here in the United States, everyone watched the sort of Oprah interview with Harry
00:12:19and Meghan.
00:12:19There's, there's been others.
00:12:21I'm curious, do you consume media about the royal family as Josh O'Connor or as the guy who's
00:12:31played Charles?
00:12:32And are you defensive of Charles and have sort of empathy for Charles as you watch and read?
00:12:38I suppose I do feel defensive in a certain way, I guess, but I'm, I mean, first of all,
00:12:43I'm really, I'm like the worst person to talk about, like the Meghan interview.
00:12:47I, I didn't watch it and I don't think I will watch it.
00:12:51Because why?
00:12:52And so I, I, sorry.
00:12:55Curious why?
00:12:56Like what?
00:12:57I don't know.
00:12:58I don't know.
00:12:59I like, I suppose if I thought about it deeply, I guess I could understand why they share it
00:13:03publicly because they've lived their life in public.
00:13:05And also, and I'm from Meghan's point of view.
00:13:07I mean, you know, it's right that she has a voice in how she's been treated, which has
00:13:11been horrific.
00:13:12So in that sense, you know, I know a bit about that.
00:13:15Um, but really, I mean, I, like I am the worst person.
00:13:19So like, you know, any conversation about, do you, what do you think about what Charles
00:13:23said last week?
00:13:23I'm like, guys, I have no idea.
00:13:26I don't know.
00:13:26So I, so I feel like, I mean, I feel sympathy in so far as, as a concept, philosophically,
00:13:32I feel sympathy for anyone who's been put into a position, uh, purely from birth, you
00:13:39know, birthright, as opposed to via choice.
00:13:42Chris, I'm going to, I'm going to turn to you.
00:13:44Um, first you get this call that, that Noah Hawley wants to meet with you.
00:13:50Your immediate response is, is not, oh, he wants to do a season with Fargo, you know,
00:13:56a season of Fargo with me.
00:13:58Why not?
00:13:59What, what goes through your head when you get that sort of call?
00:14:02And why isn't it, this guy wants to meet with me about doing a television show?
00:14:07Um, I mean, you know, I, I loved, I watched the first three seasons of Fargo.
00:14:12It's actually even one of my favorite movies.
00:14:16And, um, I don't know.
00:14:18I didn't, I, it didn't occur to me that he wanted me in his show.
00:14:21I mean, maybe, you know, I even like Legion.
00:14:24Um, you know, a lot, I don't know.
00:14:27It just didn't, you know,
00:14:31Are you not getting, had you not been getting those types of calls?
00:14:36I'm getting calls, but I mean, you know, it's a big job.
00:14:40And sometimes you can respect something so much.
00:14:43You don't even want to be a part of it.
00:14:45Uh-huh, uh-huh, uh-huh.
00:14:46I remember when I was, uh, years ago when I was on, uh, I had my own show on HBO.
00:14:52It was at the height of the Sopranos.
00:14:54And I got a couple of offers to be on the Sopranos.
00:14:57I was like, I like it too much.
00:14:58I don't, I don't want to spoil it.
00:15:00He's wicked enough.
00:15:01He's wicked enough.
00:15:02I was like, they want me?
00:15:04Get out of here.
00:15:05Uh, so I wasn't even thinking about it.
00:15:07I thought he wanted me to like host his wife's charity event or something.
00:15:10Uh, but I, I was such a fan, I took the meeting anyway, and then he kind of presents me
00:15:15with
00:15:15this offer, you know, and I was like, I took it sight on, you know, without even seeing the
00:15:21script.
00:15:22I was like, whatever you want me to do, I'm down.
00:15:26Like, I, cause I'd seen it, I'd seen it, and I also, you know, I don't want to make it
00:15:31a race thing, but I saw how he handled, uh, Bokeem Woodbine, like, uh, two seasons
00:15:37earlier.
00:15:39You know what I mean?
00:15:40So, cause sometimes you just don't know.
00:15:42Sometimes people do like amazing work, and then when they handle black people, it's horrible.
00:15:48But with him, I saw the, you know, how he handled Bokeem, and I was like, okay, I can
00:15:54totally be in your hands.
00:15:55Can you stand on that a little bit?
00:15:57I mean, I, I've heard you say a version of, of that before, but, but what is, what has
00:16:01that meant to you in the past, and, and what did you know that was going to mean for you
00:16:07in this?
00:16:08Yeah, you know, I mean, some, some directors are, you know, there's some guys that can't
00:16:15handle women.
00:16:15You know what I mean?
00:16:17Like, you know, just like plenty.
00:16:19So, so, so, uh, it was nice to, like, see, you know, Bokeem's, uh, performance in Fargo.
00:16:30A, Bokeem was amazing.
00:16:32It's kind of one of the all-time underrated performances in the history of acting.
00:16:42Like, like, like, I'm like, it's that, Bokeem is that good.
00:16:46Like, it's, it's Val Kilmer in Tombstone good.
00:16:50You know what I mean?
00:16:51Like, highest, highest level.
00:16:55So, you know, once you see that, you go, okay, this guy has no problem putting himself in
00:17:02that character's shoes, you know, right?
00:17:09So, when you hand a studio a script or a production entity a script, what you notice a lot of
00:17:18times
00:17:18is everyone gives you notes of the character.
00:17:27So, the women in the room give you notes about the way the notes about the underlings and
00:17:41realize they're doing this.
00:17:44Now, the problem is in a lot of movies that I've noticed in a lot of, in a production side
00:17:52is some people have a hard time imagining they're black.
00:17:58So, there's no notes on the lead if the lead is black.
00:18:03Or if the lead girl is black, there's no notes from the white women.
00:18:07You know what I mean?
00:18:07Like, because they couldn't step into it.
00:18:12So, Noah had no problem being Bokeem.
00:18:17That's why it's written so well.
00:18:20You know what I mean?
00:18:22So, when you write a good character, you have to be the character.
00:18:26You have to, like, jump in their body for a period of time.
00:18:31A lot of you are nodding.
00:18:35Can you relate?
00:18:36Is this something you've experienced, too, for any of you?
00:18:40I've never heard it articulated like that.
00:18:43So, it's just interesting to hear.
00:18:45What were you going to say, Jonathan?
00:18:47Oh, it's deep.
00:18:48Because I go, it's a matter of empathy.
00:18:52It's a matter of life experience.
00:18:55It's a matter of creativity.
00:18:57You know, when, I mean, to be the head of a institution requires one to have so much empathy.
00:19:04Right?
00:19:05And to have so much life experience.
00:19:07Right?
00:19:07To actually propel the programs that they're putting out into the world forward and for them to really be fully
00:19:16human.
00:19:16And it's such a strange experience for, I would say, minorities.
00:19:23And, again, not to make it a race thing, but just any minority.
00:19:26Right?
00:19:26I view it as, like, a bit of, unfortunately, a bit of a ladder.
00:19:31Right?
00:19:32A bit of a pyramid.
00:19:33You know?
00:19:33And if you're born, as Josh was saying, like, into a certain circumstance that you cannot escape.
00:19:39Be it celebrity.
00:19:40Be it poverty.
00:19:41Be it whatever it is.
00:19:43Right?
00:19:44In order to survive, in order to accomplish a certain level of existence, you have to climb.
00:19:54Right?
00:19:54I don't mean this in the ambitious way.
00:19:56I mean this in, like, you have to educate yourself.
00:19:59You have to remove yourself from the ditch that you're born into.
00:20:02Right?
00:20:03That's what education means.
00:20:04Right?
00:20:05And in doing so, you pass other, not people, but other experiences.
00:20:10And then you have empathy for those experiences.
00:20:13Right?
00:20:13You load it up.
00:20:15Right?
00:20:15It's interesting that the, as Brother Chris was saying,
00:20:23the executive sometimes never did the climb.
00:20:26Right?
00:20:26So they have a hard time trying to understand what that is.
00:20:30You know?
00:20:31And it was nice, it was nice for me to hear Chris say that.
00:20:34Because I go, oh, right.
00:20:36Because I go, I go, oh, they're just nervous.
00:20:38They just get a little scared.
00:20:39You know, talk about, you know, the sister or the brother or the woman, you know,
00:20:41and the climate that we're living in.
00:20:42You know, like, let's let, let's let the black.
00:20:44Some of it is bad.
00:20:46Some of it is bad.
00:20:46You know what I mean?
00:20:47You know what I mean?
00:20:48So it's like, I mean, I mean, he's the OG.
00:20:51I mean, Chris is the OG on, you know, with us.
00:20:53So I go, like, yeah, I mean, if you say it, then it's, I'm with it.
00:20:56You know?
00:20:56I'm with, I'm with Jonathan 100% on that.
00:20:58Because I think the key is empathy.
00:20:59Because I've always, before I came into the industry, I was just like,
00:21:03it's about getting more, like, some folks aren't good at writing or directing
00:21:08or handling black characters.
00:21:09Some folks aren't good at writing or directing or handling female characters
00:21:12or disabled characters or anything outside their experience.
00:21:14But I've always seen that as well.
00:21:16We are an empathy bridge.
00:21:17When you were talking about embodying experiences, like, that's what actors do.
00:21:21Like, you meet people along the way.
00:21:23You were saying that latter.
00:21:24And a lot of the time, the people you meet are through culture.
00:21:27They're through books.
00:21:27They're through TV shows.
00:21:29You kind of put yourself in people's shoes by kind of living vicariously
00:21:33through the people in this room a lot of the time.
00:21:35You know?
00:21:36That's a lot of how I think we build up empathy for the world around us.
00:21:40And so I think that the key to that is building up more and more leads
00:21:45from groups that are not normally seen as the protagonist.
00:21:48Because you put yourself in a protagonist's shoe.
00:21:50If that executive at the top of the studio had seen more stories
00:21:54with all the people that they don't relate to,
00:21:56they may be able to relate to them better.
00:21:57Particularly if those stories are of a higher quality.
00:22:00And that's the kind of responsibility that I think culture makers,
00:22:03whether that's actors, directors, writers, or whoever else,
00:22:05have as a very real responsibility in terms of our contribution
00:22:10to the rest of the world.
00:22:12This is a frivolous career.
00:22:14We play Maple Leaf for a living.
00:22:15But what we do do that is of some value, hopefully,
00:22:17is we help with that empathy gap if we all do our job right.
00:22:22I hope.
00:22:23That's the lie I tell myself, anyway.
00:22:25I know.
00:22:25I think there's a lot of power in being able to sort of see these things
00:22:30that are less familiar on screen.
00:22:32John, I want to turn to you.
00:22:34In speaking about small acts, you've said a different version of this,
00:22:38but I'm quoting you here.
00:22:39For the first time in my acting career in a long time,
00:22:41I looked at my art that I really do love.
00:22:44And I said, I missed you.
00:22:45And it's good to be here.
00:22:47I mean, I think it's clear that you're drawing a sort of contrast
00:22:50with your blockbuster work.
00:22:52And I want to sort of hone in on that, if you'll allow it.
00:22:56I guess I'm curious, you know, how much pressure is there
00:22:59to stay in that sort of blockbuster lane once you've made it in?
00:23:04And where does that pressure come from?
00:23:06Is that self-inflicted?
00:23:08Is that the sort of industry and telling you that's the path you stay on?
00:23:14Talk to me a little bit about that.
00:23:16I don't know.
00:23:17I don't know if it's necessarily a pressure.
00:23:20I think it's definitely a choice that you eventually have to make.
00:23:24I don't know.
00:23:24I've always just wanted to be in things that I enjoy watching.
00:23:28And sometimes they're low budget.
00:23:31Sometimes they're more character-based.
00:23:34And sometimes they're blockbusters.
00:23:35So I don't necessarily feel like there's a pressure to choose a necessary path.
00:23:41But I do think while you're working on a studio movie,
00:23:43it takes up so much of your year that when you're done,
00:23:47all you want to do is rest.
00:23:49Most times when you're working on a studio film,
00:23:51you're not going to have the energy to pump out, you know,
00:23:55the same kind of caliber films in an indie or a drama because of the time.
00:24:01And with that, you just miss being a character.
00:24:05You miss being someone different.
00:24:06With something like Star Wars, you're playing one character that evolves,
00:24:10but he's still that one guy.
00:24:12And then on a career front, still only shows one side of what you could potentially do.
00:24:18Whereas when you have the time, you know, to pick and choose maybe a film that would last four months
00:24:27or three months,
00:24:28you can find more nuance and character and also show a kind of versatility.
00:24:34So that's what I meant by kind of coming out of the studio system,
00:24:37not in a sense of a distaste, but more of its nature.
00:24:40I mean, there's CGI, visual effects, training, then a marketing campaign,
00:24:46all that kind of stuff.
00:24:47Like, bruv, sometimes I just want to chill in it.
00:24:49So it comes to a point when it's plain sailing,
00:24:53when you're put in a position where you have a choice,
00:24:56where it's like, okay, this director is doing this, you know,
00:25:01eight to 10 million indie, would love you for this character.
00:25:05You get a chance to really bite into something more meaty.
00:25:09And this is what kind of small acts done for me,
00:25:11because Steve came to me at a time where I was making a choice on what I was going to
00:25:15do
00:25:15now being done with the whole Star Wars train.
00:25:19He said, and I'm going to quote him here,
00:25:23but he said that he saw your experiences on the Star Wars films
00:25:26and your characters, sort of a black man in law enforcement, as parallels.
00:25:32And again, quoting him, John is the golden boy,
00:25:34who had the situation to be an amazing franchise.
00:25:36Leroy Logan passes all the tests and is set up to be the poster boy
00:25:40for encouraging other black policemen.
00:25:42But when he's there, the carpet gets pulled out from under his feet.
00:25:46I'm curious, had you drawn the same parallels yourself?
00:25:50And if so, what were you sort of drawn from?
00:25:53Yeah.
00:25:54Not in the moment, because in the moment, you're still a bit pissed off.
00:25:57When time went on and we started to do the PR for small acts,
00:25:59and I heard the same quote, I was like, that's actually very bloody freaking weird.
00:26:07And that's testament to Steve's mind, right?
00:26:09And how he unpacks certain situations.
00:26:11But in the moment, honestly, nah, because your mind is, you know,
00:26:15split in so many different directions, so much decisions to make,
00:26:18and sometimes so much voices.
00:26:20So, you know, you're just trying to stay balanced in the moment.
00:26:23But when I heard that later down the line, I was like, yeah, that sounds, that's crazy.
00:26:27Jonathan, the question is for you, which is,
00:26:30this is a character that goes to some really, really dark places.
00:26:36What happens when a director yells cut?
00:26:39Do you leave this character on set, or does he inevitably come home with you?
00:26:44And how do you sort of shed that?
00:26:47Well, it's deep.
00:26:48It's like, it's kind of like, for me, it's such a,
00:26:54and I wonder what it is for the rest of the fellas, you know,
00:26:57a bit of a journeyman, you know.
00:27:01As John was saying, how do you go from job to job, you know,
00:27:04and stay fulfilled?
00:27:05And my way of cracking that is,
00:27:08is it's not really, it's not, I don't really view it as work,
00:27:12or a job, or action or cut.
00:27:14You know, it's a bit of a,
00:27:17you know, everyone's here for a reason.
00:27:18You know, when you do something for a reason,
00:27:20for a little bit of time.
00:27:22And for the time being, this is what I'm doing.
00:27:25And I take the lessons in it.
00:27:27And I believe that a character will come to you,
00:27:31or a character will find parts of you to attach to for a reason.
00:27:36And the discipline is to learn the lesson.
00:27:39Atticus is there to teach me a lesson, you know.
00:27:43And that lesson will make me a better human being,
00:27:46make me a better father, make me a better citizen,
00:27:49make me a better man, you know.
00:27:51We'll do all those things.
00:27:52Make me a better human.
00:27:54And so, it's kind of, it's like building a relationship.
00:27:58You know, when they say cut, what?
00:27:59You just, you're in a spat with, you're in a domestic, right?
00:28:03And your lady says, okay, we're done now, right?
00:28:07Cut, and you leave the house?
00:28:09No, you've got to stay in it.
00:28:10You know, you stay in it, you deal with it.
00:28:12You know, your kid is crying, you know.
00:28:14You can't say cut, you know, the lesson continues, you know.
00:28:17And so, yeah, and there is also the part,
00:28:20the brain that goes, all right, that's over now.
00:28:22You know, it's over now.
00:28:24You've done it.
00:28:24It's still in you, but it's over now, you know.
00:28:27And when they say cut, it just kind of, it just kind of falls away.
00:28:30For me, it just kind of, it falls away.
00:28:32But the remnants of it are still there, you know.
00:28:35And that's the gift of it.
00:28:37That's what Lovecraft gave.
00:28:39That's what every role gives.
00:28:43Yeah, so I do carry it home.
00:28:45Also take it to the park, you know.
00:28:48One of those.
00:28:50I'm curious, Chris, for you, you're in these dramatic roles now.
00:28:54And yet you are one of the funniest
00:28:57people on the planet.
00:28:58When you're in these sort of darker spaces
00:29:01and they yell cut, do people expect you
00:29:03to be the funny guy on set?
00:29:04And how do you stay in who you are trying to sort of be
00:29:10and yet be that to the other people,
00:29:14you know, in your production?
00:29:19I don't know.
00:29:20I mean, I don't have a hard time staying in character,
00:29:23if that's what you're asking.
00:29:27And I think a lot, most, like, especially with Fargo,
00:29:34with the bad guys, there's an undercurrent of humor in them.
00:29:40You know what I mean?
00:29:40I mean, like De Niro in The Untouchables is kind of funny.
00:29:46Wicked.
00:29:48You know?
00:29:50You know what I mean?
00:29:51Like Jack Nicholson in The Departed is kind of funny.
00:29:55You know what I mean?
00:29:57Denzel in Training Day is hilarious.
00:30:01You know what I mean?
00:30:02Like, so I don't think you turn that guy off.
00:30:09I have to make sure he's measured
00:30:12because you can't go too far and lose the edge.
00:30:17You know what I mean?
00:30:18Like, who the hell's funnier than Joe Pesci in Goodfellas?
00:30:22You know what I mean?
00:30:23But at the same time, he's terrifying.
00:30:25So, yeah, I just have to measure that out.
00:30:29But, yeah, I'm just, yeah.
00:30:33As far as on the set, I kind of, you know, we're in a new day.
00:30:36There's no funny guy on the set anymore.
00:30:39Just shut the hell up.
00:30:40Go to your trailer.
00:30:42It's sad and probably quite accurate.
00:30:45Yeah, so I don't, yeah, I used to be a very funny guy on the set
00:30:50and have the whole set rolling.
00:30:52And I have gotten the memo.
00:30:53I shut the fuck up and I go to my trailer.
00:30:57That's amazing.
00:30:59All right, I'm going to stay on the sort of lighter train for a second.
00:31:04Reggie, I've heard you in interviews talk about sending a lot of warning texts,
00:31:10I think flashing red light emojis to your family in, you know,
00:31:16your family's sort of WhatsApp groups to sort of make sure they were
00:31:21sufficiently prepared for what they were going to see.
00:31:23I guess my first question is, were they sufficiently prepared for what they saw?
00:31:28I know I'm sufficiently prepared.
00:31:29I wasn't sufficiently prepared and I was there.
00:31:34There was, I think people were grateful for the intensity of the romantic aspect of Bridgerton.
00:31:41I'm not sure how grateful I was to watch it myself.
00:31:44It was, but I'm sure that that's what people were looking for.
00:31:48They were looking to be overwhelmed.
00:31:49My family don't want to be overwhelmed by my backside specifically too often.
00:31:54And then they'll take it on this occasion because everyone seems to be terribly happy on this count.
00:32:00I don't want to count.
00:32:04I'm curious sort of for all of you, like how do your families factor into your choices?
00:32:11You know, what they may think about, what they're going to see, do they factor in?
00:32:16I mean, Jonathan, I remember hearing you talk a bit about, you know, one of your first roles
00:32:21or maybe it was your first role in When We Rise and your mom is a pastor, I believe, and
00:32:27was getting some blowback.
00:32:29Can you sort of speak to what those conversations with family can be and if they do factor in?
00:32:36Yeah, I'll speak to that briefly.
00:32:39So I was blessed enough to be in a show called When We Rise.
00:32:44It was the first job I got when I was in graduate school.
00:32:49Well, just coming out, and I played this beautiful fellow named Ken Jones, who just passed this past year, rest
00:32:58his soul.
00:33:00And I guess the crux of the story is he was a gay rights activist and my mother is a
00:33:06pastor.
00:33:08I was raised in the church.
00:33:10We all were.
00:33:11And my mother never had any issue with me being an actor.
00:33:14However, she was always concerned about spirits and the vulnerability that I would potentially put myself in, you know, her
00:33:26knowing her son and how I work.
00:33:29And she, you know, Christian, you know, that book says some crazy shit around that, things I don't necessarily agree
00:33:39with, things I do not agree with, especially in regards to one's sexual preference.
00:33:46My mother, being a pastor in Texas, where I'm from, began to experience some, as you said, blowback, just from
00:33:53the church, from people around, with the idea of it.
00:33:57As the previews began to come out, she began to see it.
00:34:00And then they watched it.
00:34:03And, you know, it's not that me and my mother fell out, but I did say, Ma, you just need
00:34:06to watch it.
00:34:07I can't talk to you until you watch it.
00:34:10And I remember her calling me, actually, I have a photo of, like, my entire, you know, band of my
00:34:17family watching it.
00:34:19And my mother called me and she said, you know, son, I didn't know.
00:34:24Oh, you know, like, I love, I love it.
00:34:28You know, I was like, oh, you loved it.
00:34:29You loved it, huh?
00:34:30Okay, cool.
00:34:32And just that, just that moment, you know, it's quite emboldening for me, but it did say, like, what we
00:34:40do as a living, the art we make, the choices I pick as an artist, that's the hardest audience.
00:34:46That was the hardest audience right there for that character, for that role.
00:34:49You know, a very stern, southern, black preacher woman, to see her son, her eldest southern son, play something that
00:35:00she religiously did not understand.
00:35:03And then for us to give light to that through the show and for her to then understand it, that
00:35:08was a blessing for me.
00:35:10You know, that was a gift.
00:35:12And because it was the first thing, it really allowed her to go, I can go anywhere, you know, bring
00:35:18the humanity to it, you know, just tell the truth, right?
00:35:22Tell the truth.
00:35:22It's always, I say this, I say this all the time.
00:35:24I said this in Michigan all the time.
00:35:26It's always for the homies, right?
00:35:28In the cheat sheet is everybody's the homies, right?
00:35:31Somebody's going to watch that and go, I know that brother, you know what I mean?
00:35:35I know that man.
00:35:36I know that story, right?
00:35:37And that is your tucalan.
00:35:40That's the ideal form.
00:35:41That's what we're shooting to do.
00:35:42And when you do that, as an artist, if you strive to do that, the triads are the matters.
00:35:47That happens to people.
00:35:49That conversion happens.
00:35:50That catharsis happens or has the potential to happen.
00:35:53I love that.
00:35:55Does anyone else's family factor in as you're making choices?
00:35:59You know, what do you think?
00:36:01My dad's actually a preacher as well.
00:36:04I guess you don't care, man.
00:36:08I think when things have developed for him, it's just he puts himself in a position of student because a
00:36:17Nigerian guy coming from Nigeria, moving his family over to the UK to start his life.
00:36:22And then your son says he wants to be an actor for him in the paradigm of finances, you know,
00:36:28building your own generational wealth, having your stability that just does not compute.
00:36:33But if it makes you happy, you know, kind of, you know, do your thing.
00:36:36And if you're staying out of trouble, but I guess as there's more of an understanding now of the position
00:36:43that you're putting, especially when you're telling stories that have real intricate themes, especially to our social life and all
00:36:51that kind of stuff, that's where he engages.
00:36:53He's kind of like he feels like it's a journey for the individual that picks nuanced roles and in which
00:37:00you're able to, you know, be these different people, be in these different circumstances, learn new things.
00:37:05And I guess that's the element that he's starting to catch up on because, you know, even when I got
00:37:09Star Wars, my guy, I don't know what that is.
00:37:12You know, Star Wars, like they from Nigeria, they like Nollywood films that they like, they like films like, like
00:37:18Chris said about, you know, everybody kind of giving the notes about who they are.
00:37:22Like my mom and dad will see Sir Vestal Stallone or Robert De Niro in a movie and won't, they
00:37:29won't react.
00:37:30But let them see, you know, Mr. Bimpe or Femi, that's when they're going to get real happy.
00:37:35So it's kind of like teaching them Hollywood, teaching them the way this works.
00:37:41It's been so interesting, but there's stuff that I don't want to change.
00:37:45Like, I like the fact that when they get on the red carpet, they get cold and they're like, John,
00:37:49I want to go inside.
00:37:50I just love that.
00:37:51Like, I don't want to change.
00:37:54So, you know.
00:37:55I love that.
00:37:57I love it.
00:37:57Reggie, I want to go back to you for a second because there was, there was a sense of discomfort
00:38:04when it seemed on your face as you're sort of talking about this.
00:38:07And I feel like, you know, you just hosted SNL, which is incredible.
00:38:13And they sort of leaned in.
00:38:14It was quite good.
00:38:16Yeah.
00:38:17It was dope.
00:38:18It was dope.
00:38:19Chris is saying it's quite good too.
00:38:20And, but I, you leaned into this idea of like, oh, you know, this, this brooding sex symbol idea that
00:38:29Hollywood latches onto.
00:38:31And I feel like we so often sort of ask women and we so rarely ask men, like, what's your
00:38:37comfort level with that status and all that comes with it?
00:38:42And do you feel like you want to sort of scream to Hollywood, like, and, and, and people far beyond,
00:38:48like, I'm a trained actor.
00:38:50I can do more than that.
00:38:51I don't, I don't think I need to scream because hopefully I can do that in the work.
00:38:56Um, cause I wanted to balance a slightly lascivious, uh, angle of the last question with the fact that there
00:39:01is a responsibility to my family.
00:39:03That isn't just the red lights on the sex scenes.
00:39:06I also kind of think that I owed them that side of things.
00:39:08Cause I know that for instance, my brother finds it incredibly hard to watch roots.
00:39:12Like he can't do it and I need to look after my family in the kind of more traumatizing work,
00:39:17as much as there is in looking after them in kind of when they're going to have a couple of
00:39:22blushes.
00:39:23But I thought that I owed them that trauma for putting them through the previous trauma at the very least.
00:39:29You know, there's always a conversation with the people you love watching you go through, um, these empathy bridges we're
00:39:35talking about, these very, very far removed experiences that are massive.
00:39:38And then I kind of keep myself honest by imagining the rest of the audience as my family, because I
00:39:44owe them balance in that experience.
00:39:46What I was talking about earlier with, um, the kind of range of stuff in small acts, there's a balance
00:39:51to be had.
00:39:52There was a, a personal circle that got completed for me on Bridgeson.
00:39:57Cause I remember that scene in particular that my brother can't watch track.
00:40:00I think it dragged away from my family and sold into bondage in the UK.
00:40:03Um, and I get dragged away in this carriage.
00:40:06And I was, I never thought that I'd do many parts in the, in the 19th century.
00:40:09I thought, you know, that's not where I'm going to play.
00:40:11Um, and then I'm back in the 19th century on Bridgeson.
00:40:14And there was a moment on set where I'm rolling down the street in this Lord's carriage.
00:40:18And I'm like, oh shit, I own this now.
00:40:21And that's what I felt I owed my family at the other end of that circle.
00:40:25I got dragged away in it last time.
00:40:26I came back and this time I own the thing.
00:40:29And there's something about keeping that balance in the work, which hopefully will mean I don't have to shout to
00:40:36Hollywood.
00:40:36I don't have to shout to anyone because the work has enough balance and enough rage within it.
00:40:41Then that empathy gap will be bridged.
00:40:44And people will be able to see the world through my eyes with more detail, with more breadth, which creates
00:40:49more opportunity, not just for myself, but for all the brothers coming up behind me.
00:40:53And all the sisters coming up behind me and everyone else in the industry, everyone wins if you make the
00:40:58picture widerly.
00:40:59Um, which also includes having fun on SNL.
00:41:02Do you know what I mean?
00:41:03It's, it's everything is everything from different angles of the prison.
00:41:07Josh, I want to turn to you.
00:41:09You're, you came on to the crown after the crown was already a sort of a huge thing.
00:41:13So you see, you go in sort of eyes wide open about what this could be from an intention level.
00:41:19Your family perhaps doesn't.
00:41:21So, so what is, how do you sort of prepare your world for what you're walking into and how does
00:41:27it sort of change your trajectory?
00:41:30Um, yeah, it's like, I guess it's kind of, uh, yeah, you get to know, I mean, we're all sort
00:41:36of around, uh, uh, those actors.
00:41:39I knew Matt Smith a little bit, not very well.
00:41:42And Claire, I knew a bit and, and Vanessa Kirby's a mate of mine.
00:41:46And so seeing her sort of like go for it, I mean, you know, like back in the UK, Vanessa's
00:41:51like a brilliant, like was already a celebrated theatre actor.
00:41:55And, and we'd seen her on, on stage and done, done bits of TV, but to me, it was like
00:42:00my family and, and myself and my friends and people around me, it was less about like, oh, you know,
00:42:08your life's going to change.
00:42:09Um, and more about like just being cautious and supportive and understanding of the, of the times when you have
00:42:18to look out for each other.
00:42:19I think we're really fortunate.
00:42:21I talked about this recently.
00:42:23And so tell me if it's, this is boring, but anyway, I, I was still, I was sort of thinking
00:42:27about this recently because, um, last week was mental health awareness week.
00:42:31And, um, and one of the things that I thought was, I think I feel very fortunate about in our
00:42:36industry, um, is this, there's this kind of sense of family, which I've always felt.
00:42:42And I don't know if everyone else feels this, but I've always felt this sense of kind of support and,
00:42:48um, and I think it, I don't know where it comes.
00:42:51I guess it's maybe exists in many industries, but I think there's this, this sense of what we put ourselves
00:42:56through, um, when we explore character.
00:42:59And, um, Jonathan talked brilliantly about this earlier, about this, the idea of like locking onto empathy and locking onto
00:43:05understanding of a character.
00:43:07Um, it's such a, it's, it's actually a very trickle, a tricky sort of, um, mental flex.
00:43:13And, and so I think having a support network and having a group of people, colleagues and, and friends and
00:43:19family that can support you when you kind of come from those, those points.
00:43:23And that goes along with playing characters, but also with everything that all the kind of trimmings that go along
00:43:28with being an actor and being in the public eye.
00:43:30And, and so, um, and so I suppose what I'm saying here is that I feel very lucky.
00:43:37I feel very lucky to have, you know, these boys and everyone else in our industry to kind of pick
00:43:42up the pieces when I'm having a mild breakdown, you know.
00:43:46John, I mean, pegging off of this idea of pivoting from this idea of, of mental health.
00:43:50You know, we, John, I'm, I'm sorry, I say this to you, um, you know, in, in the run-up
00:43:57to the show, we saw you get up at a protest, uh, last spring, I suppose it, it was now.
00:44:05And you gave this unprompted, incredibly powerful speech.
00:44:10And at one point during it, seemingly startled by your own candor, although that may be me winning into it,
00:44:17you acknowledged, and again, I'm going to quote you here, look, I don't know if I'm going to have a
00:44:21career after this.
00:44:23With hindsight, do you think doors closed to you that day?
00:44:27I think you do the most important thing, which is to filter out allies and to filter out people who
00:44:33are of your energy, um, which in a sense I'm, I'm, I'm very grateful for.
00:44:37Yes, you know, there, there are individuals in, in powerful places that would respectfully take a distance and be like,
00:44:45you know, that boy is trouble, something wrong with that kid.
00:44:48But I think, I think at the same time, you know, um, uh, the hindsight for me is to see,
00:44:55is to see that as a God-given filter, you know, and not to see that necessarily as an, an,
00:45:00an, an attack.
00:45:00Um, because essentially, you know, to, to survive the times, uh, the way in which, and we're speaking about mental
00:45:07health, the way in which you see things perspective is that a, is it needs to be an ever changing
00:45:12model, right?
00:45:13You need to, uh, it needs change as you change.
00:45:16And, and I think in that moment, you know, remember, I didn't, I didn't plan to speak.
00:45:20We had been protesting a few hours prior to it happening and we were waiting for Belly Manjenga's family.
00:45:25And, you know, the megaphone was in my hand and it was like, oh shit, I might as well say
00:45:29what's on my mind.
00:45:30Um, so in the moment as the, and this is the first time I've ever protested, I'll be honest, it's
00:45:34like, I'm not, you know, I don't come from no activist family or nothing like that.
00:45:38It's the first time that, to be honest, I felt our first time for a lot of people during that
00:45:41time.
00:45:42And especially it was the first time that we were accepting our current circumstance, um, given COVID.
00:45:48So I think a lot of emotions were, were pent up and people took to the streets.
00:45:52Um, but when you're in that moment and, you know, I'm seeing, you know, megaphone, I've got the mandem around
00:45:58me, people's going crazy.
00:45:59There's helicopters in the air. I can't lie. Yeah.
00:46:03Naturally. I was just like, oh shit, that some exec is going to do that and be like, pull that
00:46:07bitch, pull him.
00:46:09I'm like, for me, it's just like trying to understand the situation, um, and trying to maneuver that and, and
00:46:16in growing and retrospect and improvement.
00:46:18I see that more as you, you, you attract those who are, who are good for you.
00:46:23And, and, and, and those who probably see that as a negative light will probably just, just stay away.
00:46:28And that's something that I've, I've grown to accept.
00:46:30Well, I just, I, I watched that and I remember being on the news and I thought it was, I'm
00:46:36sure anyone who would have seen it thought it was like magic.
00:46:40And John spoke so beautifully and eloquently, but with like such fire, which felt like we hadn't really had a
00:46:45voice kind of articulating this stuff in such a, in such an impressive way.
00:46:50And so I just remember thinking when he, when he signed out for that, I was like, if there's anyone
00:46:57who's like, doesn't want to work with John, then John, you do not want to work with that.
00:47:00It's like, after seeing that, it's like, everyone should be wanting to work with John.
00:47:03It was so kind of, it was so impressive.
00:47:05I guess that's what you're saying, John, right?
00:47:07Is this thing of like, you know, those people filter out, if they don't want to work with you, then
00:47:12they're probably not the right people to work with.
00:47:13Um, yeah. And that came in the, in the package of Steve anyway. And then after what happened, this happened,
00:47:20Steve came back and called me. He's like, Oh, John, John, we're doing reshoots.
00:47:24I want to come back, have additional scenes. It could be fantastic. I go, okay, cool, cool. But like, you
00:47:29know, I'll make, I'll make my way there.
00:47:30And when I came on set, the vibe and the scenes that he had now, these new scenes that he
00:47:35wrote, um, and, and, and this, this, this new kind of direction, he was pulling Leroy the layers he wanted
00:47:40to add to the episode.
00:47:41I now had this fire, you know, I now had this new, this new perspective, um, and, and this new
00:47:48feeling. And Steve was just going to like, you know, I'll give you the arena in, in, in, in order
00:47:53to display these emotions.
00:47:54Um, and it aligns with what Leroy is about as a character. So it's perfect. So it's kind of like
00:48:00a way in which reality kind of like reflected on art.
00:48:03And, and I went back to do red, white, and blue, like an additional scenes after that. And it kind
00:48:09of was like a full circle moment with, with that whole, that whole thing.
00:48:11For, for, for all of you, if you can sort of complete the sentence, I wish Hollywood would cast me
00:48:18as a, what?
00:48:20I don't know. I mean, my favorite character ever in just movies is a Cole House Walker in Ragtime.
00:48:27So, uh, yeah, some modern version of that. If you guys haven't seen the great Harold Rollins in Ragtime, you
00:48:36should watch it. It's the best character ever.
00:48:39Josh, what would you love to do if only Hollywood were offering it?
00:48:43I feel like all the roles that I'm always like, God, I'd love to have, have a go at that.
00:48:48I think you have to be like in your seventies to do. I don't know why I was like a
00:48:52strange sort of obsession with, I think, I think I've always dreamt of actually like when I, when I was
00:48:56auditioning for drama school, no one at my school had ever, like no one knew what drama school was. Right.
00:49:02And it's like, uh, I think it's, I'm sure it's a different system here.
00:49:06But, but anyway, but when we were at school, we, I was like, I want to go to drama school
00:49:11and I've done some reading up on it and you're supposed to pick one classical speech, which is like from
00:49:16Shakespeare and one modern speech, which is like from a modern play and my drama teacher and me didn't know
00:49:24what to pick.
00:49:25And you're supposed to pick something that's like roughly your age. I'm an 18, I was 18 years old and
00:49:31I played Leah. I did a speech from Leah.
00:49:35And I did, I did a speech from an, um, an Alan Akeborn play where there's a guy who was
00:49:43in his eighties in a retirement home and taught, and that was my, there were my speeches and all the
00:49:49drama schools were like, you are crazy.
00:49:51Like you're, you're bizarre. And I was like doing the walk. Um, anyway, I got into one, but that is,
00:49:57yeah. So I guess I would like, like maybe, like maybe Gandalf, like if the, if it came along.
00:50:05Oh, I don't know. Romeo. I mean, I mean, guys, I'm.
00:50:13No, no, no, no. There's a market for that Gandalf prequel, man.
00:50:17I see, origin story, yeah.
00:50:20What about you, Ryan?
00:50:22Oh man, I don't know. I, I always try to avoid anything that I can already imagine.
00:50:27i kind of i want the thing that i don't even know exists so i kind of my whole thing
00:50:32is like
00:50:32literally if i didn't even know that that thing existed that that door existed that's the thing
00:50:36i want to do um so that's i'm gonna hold that and defend it with my life i don't want
00:50:41to start
00:50:41pinning down these ideas in my head because that's how i paint myself into a corner what do you make
00:50:45when when everyone starts saying i mean you're in a place where you you get famous for something
00:50:50and then all of a sudden it's bond the bond rumors start i don't know how many on this call
00:50:55have
00:50:55gotten been part of bond rumors i know reggae you have most recently it seems to be um here's the
00:51:02thing about i mean josh relates this is like having played a public figure you become a resource for
00:51:07the press like you're like a natural mineral they just go mining for it and they just throw
00:51:11words and attach them to your name and it sells papers or it gets clicks it's got nothing to do
00:51:15with me it's got nothing to do with anything that's happened in any rooms or meetings or anything else
00:51:19it's literally just a thing for people to talk about so like it's it's flattering but it's just
00:51:25it's it's a game for folks to play in their spare time do you know what i mean um yes
00:51:29so like
00:51:30keep it open and it's cool it's much more fun to hear it from the outside to hear john just
00:51:34like
00:51:34throw out things like to hear um you know what john's good at this john should cast everyone in
00:51:39everything i love it yeah calling not just the producer and an actor like the world's best casting
00:51:44director we want that i watch john's hollywood jonathan what about you i'd like to play you know
00:51:54in the world we live in you know we can just kind of build it ourselves you know but but
00:51:58uh edmund
00:51:59scissorhands ah yeah i'd like i would maybe i would maybe give that a go i would maybe go okay
00:52:06yeah let's
00:52:06that or like um we do the biopic of a homo sapien like like like from like ever like from
00:52:17evolution
00:52:18or something or or to play something like animal like like cgi a t-rex or something like like we're
00:52:26gonna go for it let's go for it everything else is out of my head is literally like the opening
00:52:32to
00:52:32lovecraft there's just like a hundred different pop culture monsters flying around the place
00:52:37jackie robinson's fighting cthulhu right yeah i'm trying to get on that bridget and money man most
00:52:44potent and reverence i'm trying to put myself forward to the bridgeton i i need i need to wear
00:52:54them skin tights i need to be the new guy up in it i'm trying to i'm trying to do
00:52:58that
00:53:09honestly something like that give me a horse man give me a horse and uh you know
00:53:16you just brought up star wars and you're also sort of your your advice um though said in jest but
00:53:24not
00:53:24entirely of of having these two other folks on on here uh explore a you know a superhero of a
00:53:33franchise um you've been vocal about your experience in in the star wars franchise would you do anything
00:53:42differently knowing what you went through and also you're talking to you know some other folks who who
00:53:49are going to enter into these and have already entered into huge franchises uh with the world's
00:53:56attention any advice to them no i think i think the brothers that that are on on the call now
00:54:01on on their
00:54:02way to to whatever they're going to get i think that you know the advice thing you know acting is
00:54:06so
00:54:07it's so unique to everybody's circumstance even the way you get in it's probably like five to six
00:54:12different stories um but for me is my experience is is my experience and and i like that at the
00:54:18time
00:54:19you know people like ray fisher and a few other people came out and spoke about their experiences
00:54:24um and i think that in itself will begin to affect change because now there isn't that elephant um in
00:54:31the room um also creatively right we now have to understand that in studio movies and franchises the
00:54:37characters that are upheld are given the best moments best moments are lucrative in the studio
00:54:44system so when we're seeing that these best moments and this and this development is is there's a
00:54:51disparity there that for that dialogue to happen without it being seen as a egotistical thing or
00:54:57something that's mainly just a career thing but something that is actually seen as okay let's let's share
00:55:03the creative juice um i think something like that will affect change in our industry for sure um and
00:55:08i don't you know these brothers don't need nobody advice from me i think i think they're doing what
00:55:13i'm doing no but i i will i will say i would just speak to that just brother the brother
00:55:18like
00:55:20because you john because you did do what you did right you you did the job you did the work
00:55:26brilliant work you didn't spoke about the work about your processing work that didn't change the
00:55:31ecosystem for anybody coming in behind you you know that in and of itself is you know full circle
00:55:38you know the job of the artist you know i'm saying like like that experience changed your instrument
00:55:44and therefore changed the entire uh industry in a way that what you say that now we have the ball
00:55:51in
00:55:52a way and they understand you know sometimes coaches sometimes get out the way you know that's
00:55:58that's just i this is a thank you this is not really yeah i guess it is i guess it's
00:56:03like a hell
00:56:03yeah bro like thanks for speaking out on it and thanks for doing your thing you know um that's it
00:56:11exactly the same sentiment like i think you give more than you think you do like i've already taken
00:56:16a lot from you just in terms of how you carry yourself in public how you've spoken about
00:56:20your journey um and so even if you don't give it like person to person like seeing how you carry
00:56:26what you carried in that show how you interact with how the public's received that in various
00:56:31ways across the spectrum um even if you don't think that you're giving it specifically to us
00:56:36know that it's being received out here so like i think that spirit of generosity um in whatever
00:56:41different shapes it takes for everyone is definitely something that i've taken from you as well so
00:56:44like i'm just gonna throw in some thank yous to you there love man i want to end by asking
00:56:48you
00:56:49what do you guys wish you knew at the beginning of of your careers knowing what you know now maybe
00:56:54it
00:56:54was to not buy the red corvette with their first snl check chris maybe it was maybe it was something
00:56:59else oh god no i had fun with that course uh that guy had a ball
00:57:11um i don't know i mean your parents your parents were right
00:57:19in the sense that uh there's a lot of talented people and your character just as a person
00:57:30is gonna get you just as much work as your talent as your talent and how you conduct yourself and
00:57:40how
00:57:40people feel about you like you ever have a friend that's a good friend but you wouldn't want them to
00:57:45date your sister whoo you know what i mean like oh man this guy's cool but i wouldn't want them
00:57:51to
00:57:52date my sister it's important that people kind of like you enough for you to date their sister
00:58:00to think you're not just a talented person but someone that's reliable someone that you know has
00:58:08integrity somebody that's you know maybe not an addict you know what i mean like that oh this guy
00:58:14like i like john so much he would be cool for my sister and if people feel that way about
00:58:21you
00:58:22you'll probably work a lot and did anyone i don't know what the sort of the equivalent of of the
00:58:28uh
00:58:28of the red corvette is but did anyone else purchase them purchase one with uh
00:58:34with your first check dad's bought game boys game boys that was it love it come on
00:58:41josh and i mean you lot just banked on the cash no you lot the cash flow is in
00:58:48come on man i'm used honestly i guys honestly i my first paycheck was for two lines in doctor who
00:58:56and it was it covered my rent for one month and i was so excited who was the doctor at
00:59:03the time
00:59:03uh matt smith okay and um and and this is and it was i had two lines and it was
00:59:10at the beginning
00:59:11of the episode and then i was strangled to death and uh and my my entire my entire family my
00:59:19entire
00:59:19family gathered around like the whole lot of them gathered around one tv set to watch it and the the
00:59:26way it works in doctor who's you have like this little opening bit and then strangled dead and then
00:59:30the credits come up for the beginning of the episode and i go like so i wasn't watching it and
00:59:35i got this
00:59:36text from my mom going um you know like that happens and then this text from my mom going um
00:59:43really good so far looking forward to seeing more and then about 50 minutes later just a text going
00:59:49that was it wasn't it and then devastating they'd watch an entire episode they didn't even like
00:59:56doctor who anyway so my i was like i didn't have very much money so i spent it on rent
01:00:01what about the
01:00:02rescue is there uh is there advice you would tell your your younger selves
01:00:09well i just um i was at a coffee shop with my with this with this random this angel guy
01:00:15this
01:00:16brother named malcolm i just gotta say his name he was so so beautiful give me a book and uh
01:00:21i'm just
01:00:22sitting there and i have a habit of taking notes when people talk and and the fellas my age and
01:00:28uh
01:00:29uh he just said something where i went that's i feel that and he said um
01:00:37if i know what's gonna happen there's no excitement it was that simple you know there's no excitement
01:00:46and when you ask that question that's the first thing that came to mind where it's like that is
01:00:50i won't speak for anyone else but i'll speak for myself like that is the journey you know i mean
01:00:55like
01:00:55like i haven't bought the corvette yet i haven't done that you know i haven't bought the game
01:00:59boards yet but i've i've done my version of it you know and and that's fun you know there's something
01:01:06to that you know and that that's the living of it you know so i wouldn't tell i wouldn't tell
01:01:12myself anything i would say you know just keep going bro no don't change a thing don't change it
01:01:19see that was some superman shit right there you know that that was some that was
01:01:25i love it we're gonna end it there that was beautiful john is my agent
01:01:35you found another career for john today
01:01:38casting director yes give him a studio uh thank you all for for being here for being part of this
01:01:46conversation um it's uh it's been a special one so thank you the advice is be supportive
01:01:53be what everyone in this room was today because that makes everyone stronger that's that's the advice
01:01:58i have i notice you get and i've been doing this a long time your fellow actors will give you
01:02:06more
01:02:06jobs at the end of the day than your reps
01:02:11just saying that and right now i'm thinking yeah i gotta get these brothers numbers man because like
01:02:17i got about three things that like you think you want to come over i yeah i've got more jobs
01:02:26yeah yeah yeah it's beautiful beautiful i know that when you're not supportive people talk about you
01:02:36oh three months three months is way too much time to be around somebody you don't like
01:02:43this wasn't great
01:02:48i could be with an asshole for a day but not for months
01:02:53well imagine it was a series
01:02:56oh no just assholes don't assholes are day players
01:03:02right we all just sitting around the church now service we all just sitting around in the church
01:03:10meditate on that
01:03:11good to meet everybody
01:03:17everybody all you guys do amazing work
01:03:20so yeah thank you
01:03:22you're a legend mate
01:03:23oh
01:03:24in truth i've been inspired by everyone in this room so genuinely thank you for your work very much
01:03:28yeah man
01:03:30you
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