Latest / The Steve Harvey Morning Show / David Oyelowo Full Interview

Transcript

David Oyelowo Full Interview · The Steve Harvey Morning Show

0:00
Speaker 1: This shows by bringing guests like the guests sitting next
0:02
Speaker 1: to me in studio. I'm so happy to have it.
0:04
Speaker 1: He's a multiple Golden Globe and double a CP Image
0:07
Speaker 1: Award and Emmy nominated actor and producer. We're gonna talk
0:10
Speaker 1: about that producing, okay, because that's the part that I
0:12
Speaker 1: love hearing people talk about. He's one of Hollywood's most
0:15
Speaker 1: sought after talents. He's portrayed Martin Luther King. That's iconic
0:20
Speaker 1: Luther King Jr. Four Teen biographical drama film Selma. He's
0:25
Speaker 1: played supporting roles and a lot of fams. You just
0:27
Speaker 1: started looking at resume and in your face start just
0:29
Speaker 1: popping up, you know, Rising the Planet, The Dates, Lincoln,
0:34
Speaker 1: Jack Reacher, The Help, and Garner praised for portraying Lewis
0:38
Speaker 1: Gaines and the Butts. I remember that Bore. He currently
0:41
Speaker 1: starts opposite Storm, Read and Don't Let Go, the upcoming
0:45
Speaker 1: bloom House Tilt release, which I saw the movie and
0:49
Speaker 1: then at the end I realized it was a bloom House.
0:51
Speaker 1: I should have realized it was a bloom house for
0:53
Speaker 1: I saw the movie and I know what I was
0:54
Speaker 1: I was been getting into because it's a fantastic movie.
0:57
Speaker 1: The movie premiered at Sundaz Film Festival and premiered in
1:00
Speaker 1: Atlanta at the Bronze Lands Film Festival. It was the
1:03
Speaker 1: opening movie Please Welcome to Money Making Conversations. David H. Yellowa, Hello, Hello,
1:09
Speaker 1: my friend. How you doing very well? Thank you? Well?
1:11
Speaker 1: You look good? Make all black? Is at the look?
1:13
Speaker 1: Or would you do a press day? Well, you know,
1:15
Speaker 1: I knew I was gonna be a meeting here. Better
1:18
Speaker 1: better step up exactly. Well, this is regular, this is
1:21
Speaker 1: addressed regular. But I'm great to have your studio. Let's
1:25
Speaker 1: talk about uh, your career. Okay um. So when I
1:31
Speaker 1: say Nigerian, yeah, okay and to England. I was born
1:36
Speaker 1: in the UK to Nigerian parents, but I lived in
1:39
Speaker 1: the Nigeria from the age of six to thirteen before
1:41
Speaker 1: moving back to the ukn okay cool. So now you
1:43
Speaker 1: went to the accent there you know. Now you're talking
1:49
Speaker 1: about last night in the movie. Yeah, well that that
1:54
Speaker 1: guy's a detective from South Central absolutely, and so it's
1:57
Speaker 1: it's it's fun. It's fun being able to all these roles.
2:00
Speaker 1: And so when I when I was reading through your
2:02
Speaker 1: resume and it's just a small party resume, you know,
2:06
Speaker 1: how do you prepare? Well, you know, my philosophy is
2:11
Speaker 1: to go to the character rather than bringing the character
2:13
Speaker 1: to you. So you know, it's it's what's on the page. Um.
2:17
Speaker 1: If it's a fictional character, then you have to build
2:19
Speaker 1: that a bit more, especially if they're an American character.
2:24
Speaker 1: I find someone who is like that character, who's from
2:27
Speaker 1: the place that character is from, in order to be
2:30
Speaker 1: able to build the accent, to be able to build
2:32
Speaker 1: some of the idiosyncrasies. I'm not from here, so I
2:35
Speaker 1: can't assume that I have all the cultural information that
2:38
Speaker 1: you need for that role. But if it's a historical figure,
2:41
Speaker 1: then there's a lot more reason. Exactly. So you interview people,
2:45
Speaker 1: you read a lot, you watch documentaries, you do the
2:47
Speaker 1: voice work as well. But you know, I tend to
2:50
Speaker 1: gravitate towards roles that require a lot of work because
2:53
Speaker 1: I truly believe that as an actor, the idea is
2:56
Speaker 1: to inhabit um, you know, a human being, the likes
3:01
Speaker 1: of which is not you. That that that's what makes
3:03
Speaker 1: me feel like I'm going to work. So let's let's
3:06
Speaker 1: just right off three movies. The Butler, which is different. Yeah,
3:09
Speaker 1: that was doing And then you had The Help, and
3:12
Speaker 1: then you have a Planet of Rise of the Planet
3:15
Speaker 1: of the Age, so different. How do you prepare for
3:20
Speaker 1: each one of those? Well, you know that the Butler,
3:24
Speaker 1: you know, I was playing uh some Lewis Gains in
3:28
Speaker 1: that Forest Whittaker and Oprah Winfrey's son in that film.
3:31
Speaker 1: And I had to go from being a teenager all
3:33
Speaker 1: the way through being in my in my sixties for that.
3:36
Speaker 1: So that was a lot of reading around history what
3:40
Speaker 1: was going on in America, especially as it pertains African
3:43
Speaker 1: Americans in the fifties, sixties, seventies, all the way through
3:46
Speaker 1: to the presidency of Obama. So that that was exhaustive. Um,
3:50
Speaker 1: but I actually had someone to base it on that
3:53
Speaker 1: that that story was based on a real um Butler
3:57
Speaker 1: and his son was still with us, so I could
3:59
Speaker 1: speak to him and and so that that that was
4:01
Speaker 1: fairly straightforward in terms of the work that was required
4:04
Speaker 1: with that The Help. I was playing a Southern Baptist
4:06
Speaker 1: preacher in the in that film, so and that was
4:09
Speaker 1: a fictional character within a real context. So I had to,
4:13
Speaker 1: you know, find a way to not generalize, still be specific,
4:18
Speaker 1: but not necessarily have a real person. And then the
4:20
Speaker 1: Rise of the Planet of the Apes is just, you know,
4:23
Speaker 1: an action sort of popcorn movie. But that to be
4:25
Speaker 1: perfectly frank requires less preparation, less preparation, but a lot
4:30
Speaker 1: of work still because there's a certain physical characteration, characterization
4:34
Speaker 1: that you have to give you and then you have
4:36
Speaker 1: to stay within the moment all the time. Absolutely, and
4:38
Speaker 1: so so I would never say because I can't act.
4:41
Speaker 1: I can tell the joke, okay, but I can't that
4:43
Speaker 1: you know that not everyone knows that I can tell
4:45
Speaker 1: you right there, Rushan McDonald will not showing for any
4:48
Speaker 1: acting classes because I tried paying a lot of money
4:51
Speaker 1: and somebody told me this is not what you do.
4:53
Speaker 1: And so so the movie that you that I saw
4:55
Speaker 1: you in, unfortunately your your team was able. I came
4:59
Speaker 1: back specifically for this move for the interview I wasn't
5:02
Speaker 1: watching in d C and uh and yesterday and a
5:05
Speaker 1: council Mr flight to go to Philadelphia today because I said,
5:08
Speaker 1: an opportunity to sit down and talk with a man
5:10
Speaker 1: of your immense talent and when you get an award,
5:13
Speaker 1: and what does that mean to you? When you are
5:15
Speaker 1: when you receive an award, because you know you've got
5:17
Speaker 1: the globe globe you get in double a cp plet
5:20
Speaker 1: iconic role of Martin Luther King Jr. Which means that
5:23
Speaker 1: they resonated with the African American community, which had to
5:27
Speaker 1: be a proud moment for you. And so when you
5:29
Speaker 1: get the Spirit Awards. So when you get these awards
5:31
Speaker 1: at each level, that means something to you. Correct. Yeah,
5:35
Speaker 1: in my what I do is a very subjective thing.
5:39
Speaker 1: You know, one person will love that performance, the same
5:42
Speaker 1: performance another person will hate it. Um, it's it's art,
5:45
Speaker 1: So it's it's it's you know, the beauty is definitely
5:48
Speaker 1: in the eye of the beholder. So when a group,
5:52
Speaker 1: whether it's a certain academy or it's a it's an
5:56
Speaker 1: award that you're being given because the public have decided
6:00
Speaker 1: they enjoyed your performance. That's huge because it basically means
6:03
Speaker 1: that this very subjective thing I do, more people than
6:06
Speaker 1: not have liked it, and and and and that does
6:10
Speaker 1: not always happen trust me. Um, So you know that's
6:13
Speaker 1: it's it's incredibly encouraging. And a lot of what I
6:16
Speaker 1: do as an actor is built on confidence. The more
6:18
Speaker 1: confident you are, the more risks you're able to take.
6:20
Speaker 1: I think, the more compelling the performances you can give.
6:23
Speaker 1: So it's always encouraging when anyone acknowledges that you've done
6:26
Speaker 1: a good job. Let's talk about why you're here today,
6:28
Speaker 1: because you're promoting a movie that comes out August. It's
6:31
Speaker 1: called Don't Let Go a bloom House productions. And let
6:36
Speaker 1: me just tell you a little bit about bloom House
6:38
Speaker 1: if you don't know, the last ten years, they've produced
6:40
Speaker 1: over seventy five horrible movies, uh intense dramas I will
6:45
Speaker 1: call them as well. Some of the movies you know
6:47
Speaker 1: about Happy Birthday, the Purge series, which is the first
6:51
Speaker 1: Purge which I really like that just recently came up with,
6:54
Speaker 1: had African American cast Get Out. We all know about
6:57
Speaker 1: that Halloween US. We all about that Glass Black Clansman.
7:02
Speaker 1: You know, I mentioned these African American movies that in
7:07
Speaker 1: African tradition African American start movie. Well, you know, I
7:11
Speaker 1: like to think of it as a film that happens
7:14
Speaker 1: to have an African American cast. What I love about
7:17
Speaker 1: what Blumhouse is doing is that some of their films
7:20
Speaker 1: center around race. Some of them are not us. For instance,
7:23
Speaker 1: you know that could have been a white family exactly
7:28
Speaker 1: it was actually written as a as a as a
7:30
Speaker 1: white family was setting Ohio, not South central Los Angeles,
7:34
Speaker 1: and not with an African American cast. And I think
7:36
Speaker 1: that the more of that happens, the better, really, because
7:40
Speaker 1: I think, uh, black film or African American films, there
7:44
Speaker 1: are films that you could rightly label as that, but
7:47
Speaker 1: instantaneously they are limited. It feels like it's for a
7:49
Speaker 1: specific audience. It feels like it doesn't have a far reach.
7:53
Speaker 1: We've been told this life forever that black doesn't travel
7:56
Speaker 1: and especially international. Exactly. Now, can you imagine Jay Z
8:01
Speaker 1: or Kanye West movie being deemed black music? You know,
8:05
Speaker 1: it's just great music and the world loves it. And
8:09
Speaker 1: I like to think of that as what's starting to
8:11
Speaker 1: happen with films that have predominantly African American cast or
8:16
Speaker 1: black cast or African cast. They just just be deemed
8:18
Speaker 1: great movies because a white cast or or a film
8:22
Speaker 1: with that predominantly white, cause it's not called a white movie,
8:26
Speaker 1: right right exactly, it's not a white movie. So you know,
8:30
Speaker 1: I think I think that the getting beyond that is
8:33
Speaker 1: going to be huge for the business side of of
8:36
Speaker 1: of making movies for African Americans. And black people generally
8:39
Speaker 1: and brown people generally, because at the end of the day,
8:42
Speaker 1: I don't think that's white people watch movies, especially when
8:46
Speaker 1: you are going for a broad audience. Which it's really
8:48
Speaker 1: interesting because I'm older than you and I grew up
8:51
Speaker 1: under the black export, black exportation films, right, well, these
8:54
Speaker 1: movies were specifically created for the black market, right you know,
8:59
Speaker 1: it was it was the black guy versus the whitey.
9:02
Speaker 1: You know, we got it in our all purpose that
9:05
Speaker 1: we got over the whole theme of these movies. And
9:08
Speaker 1: you're absolutely right. When I look at the movies, and
9:10
Speaker 1: I'm so proud of that. I'm so proud that First
9:12
Speaker 1: Purge was the highest grossing movie out of that series.
9:17
Speaker 1: That means that it's sold overseas, because I follow international dollars,
9:21
Speaker 1: and it's important when I see, you know, and I'll
9:24
Speaker 1: be honest, a Denzel movie destroys domestically, they don't push
9:28
Speaker 1: it overseas and so and there's a lot of it
9:31
Speaker 1: has to do it not pushing it overseas, not putting
9:33
Speaker 1: you on those press junkets, you know, in in England,
9:37
Speaker 1: in Germany, in France, in China, in Korea, in Africa.
9:42
Speaker 1: These are the junkets that get you those international eyeballs,
9:45
Speaker 1: and that's important. How do you think we can break that?
9:47
Speaker 1: How do you think it's just a system? It's just
9:49
Speaker 1: to keep working at it, because that's what you're doing.
9:51
Speaker 1: You have an international brand. You you appear in international movies,
9:56
Speaker 1: so your name has cash that helps correct I think
10:00
Speaker 1: it's a self fulfilling prophecy. If you decide something isn't
10:03
Speaker 1: going to be a success internationally, it won't. You know,
10:06
Speaker 1: what happens with studios a lot of the time is
10:08
Speaker 1: they literally just decide, they decide who's going to be
10:12
Speaker 1: a star, what's going to be a success, and they
10:15
Speaker 1: put the dollars behind it to drive that success. And
10:18
Speaker 1: if on top of that you actually have a good product,
10:20
Speaker 1: then you really have something on your hands. I think
10:23
Speaker 1: we've seen with some of those films that you mentioned earlier,
10:26
Speaker 1: Get Out Us. You could add Black Panther to that.
10:28
Speaker 1: These are all the kinds of films that traditionally what
10:33
Speaker 1: what we were told that that's not going to work.
10:36
Speaker 1: The Butler that you mentioned earlier, we couldn't get that
10:38
Speaker 1: film made. No studio wanted to make it. He ended
10:41
Speaker 1: up making a hundred and seventy million dollars on a
10:44
Speaker 1: on a I think twenty million dollar budget. If all
10:47
Speaker 1: those studios had anticipated that amount of trust me, they
10:50
Speaker 1: would have come on board absolutely. And that's what we're
10:53
Speaker 1: talking about on the show about to show that we're
10:55
Speaker 1: talking about. The producer of the movie Don't Let Go. Um.
10:59
Speaker 1: The thing abou the premiered this week. You got the
11:01
Speaker 1: trail Blaze of the World at the Say premiered this
11:04
Speaker 1: week at the Bronze Lands Films Festival. It premieres in
11:08
Speaker 1: the in the theaters August. And when you got that honor,
11:12
Speaker 1: we're going through your mind. Well, I sort of focused
11:16
Speaker 1: on the phrase trail blazer. And the truth of the
11:19
Speaker 1: matter is, I I absolutely stand on the shoulders of
11:22
Speaker 1: several actors who have gone before me, who have opened
11:25
Speaker 1: the doors that I've worked through, a lot of them
11:27
Speaker 1: whose names we don't even know because they had to
11:30
Speaker 1: work so hard to break ground. That was so tough. Um.
11:34
Speaker 1: And I'm just so glad that I live in a
11:35
Speaker 1: world now where someone like storm Read can be playing
11:38
Speaker 1: the kind of role she gets to play and Don't
11:40
Speaker 1: Let Go. That just wasn't happening when I was younger.
11:43
Speaker 1: You know she was fourteen when we made this film.
11:45
Speaker 1: The idea that a fourteen year old girl can get
11:48
Speaker 1: this unity, yeah, exactly, the range, the opportunity to be
11:52
Speaker 1: able to build a career earlier. I mean you mentioned
11:54
Speaker 1: Denzel Washington, You could talk about Sam Jackson, you can
11:57
Speaker 1: talk about a bunch of other actors as well. They
12:00
Speaker 1: weren't afforded these kind of opportunities until they were deep
12:02
Speaker 1: into their thirties their forties, but they have been working exactly.
12:06
Speaker 1: You look at Morgan Freeman as well, to add to that,
12:10
Speaker 1: they were not being afforded opportunities as teenagers or even
12:14
Speaker 1: in their twenties, or even in their thirties, and and
12:17
Speaker 1: that that's a great change to see. So when I
12:20
Speaker 1: got that award, you know, my determination is to keep on, uh,
12:24
Speaker 1: not not just opening the doors, but just removing the
12:27
Speaker 1: hinges so that more people can come through. Cool, we'll
12:30
Speaker 1: be back with more money making conversation. Continue to talk
12:32
Speaker 1: of this great movie that comes into theaters August thirty.
12:36
Speaker 1: It's called Don't Let Go. I'm sitting next to the
12:38
Speaker 1: producer started movie. You know you got this accent, you know,
12:43
Speaker 1: he says, this is this real accent I'm working with
12:47
Speaker 1: an accent to be right back with more money making conversation.
12:50
Speaker 1: Thank you for listening. Hi. This ras Sean McDonald and
12:55
Speaker 1: you're listening to money Making Conversation. I'm the host in
12:58
Speaker 1: studios David yellow Wolf Um. He's starting in the movie
13:03
Speaker 1: Don't Let Go. It's a intense. First of all, let's
13:07
Speaker 1: let's start your producer in this movie. Was that important
13:11
Speaker 1: that you were a producer in this movie? Well, initially
13:14
Speaker 1: they approached me about it, and I became very passionate
13:18
Speaker 1: about the film. I saw there was a real opportunity here.
13:21
Speaker 1: Like I said to you before, it was set on
13:23
Speaker 1: a farm in Ohio, it was with a white cast.
13:25
Speaker 1: But when I came on board, I thought, let's make
13:27
Speaker 1: it specific. It's also a very tough genre, time travel.
13:31
Speaker 1: So I really rolled my sleeves up with jacobes is
13:34
Speaker 1: the producer, and I started doing the kind of work
13:37
Speaker 1: that is what a producer does. And so Jason Blum,
13:40
Speaker 1: who is the founder of of of Blum House, was
13:43
Speaker 1: the one who invited me on as a producer because
13:45
Speaker 1: he recognized that I was already rendering those services. I've
13:49
Speaker 1: produced other movies as well. Um and this is what
13:52
Speaker 1: happens when I get passionate about films. I just dig
13:54
Speaker 1: in and and and try and give it his best
13:56
Speaker 1: chance in the marketplace. It's an interesting thing about your
13:59
Speaker 1: talents because, um, you know, it's it's almost like I'm
14:02
Speaker 1: watching like right now, you know, I don't know if
14:05
Speaker 1: you're acting or you're being David because in the movie now,
14:10
Speaker 1: I know you're supposed to be acting, but you're your
14:14
Speaker 1: your casualness and delivering lives, especially when you I can
14:18
Speaker 1: talk about the openings scene a little bit, which when
14:20
Speaker 1: you're going to pick her up, you know, and it's like,
14:24
Speaker 1: that's just a that's a god given talent, but you
14:28
Speaker 1: also worked to build on that craft. Tell us about that. Yeah,
14:33
Speaker 1: you know, I often say to people who say they're
14:36
Speaker 1: aspiring actors, they say, how can I get into acting?
14:39
Speaker 1: What I always say is the difference between good and great.
14:43
Speaker 1: It's hard work, and my job is to make it
14:46
Speaker 1: look effortless. You know, you do well, thank you, But
14:49
Speaker 1: a lot of work goes into that, especially when I'm
14:51
Speaker 1: playing someone who's very much not me or not like me.
14:56
Speaker 1: But you know, when we walk through life, there isn't
14:59
Speaker 1: hopefully any way, depending on the stress levels we have.
15:01
Speaker 1: There is an effortlessness about it and people can read,
15:06
Speaker 1: smell here, and taste the truth on film. And so
15:10
Speaker 1: my my job is to try and try and do that.
15:13
Speaker 1: And that's you know. I trained at the London Academy
15:15
Speaker 1: of Music and Dramatic. Oh I did a bunch of theater.
15:17
Speaker 1: You know, I've I've played smaller roles sometimes because I
15:21
Speaker 1: specifically wanted to work with great directors and be around
15:26
Speaker 1: great actors so that I could learn. You know. I
15:28
Speaker 1: I took on one scene in Lincoln just to be
15:31
Speaker 1: around Steven Spielberg and my hero Daniel dey Lewis. I
15:34
Speaker 1: did one scene and Interstellar with with Christopher Nolan because
15:38
Speaker 1: I wanted to be around him and that great cast.
15:41
Speaker 1: I did one scene in The Help because I wanted
15:43
Speaker 1: to be around Violet Davis and Octavia Spencer and and
15:47
Speaker 1: these great great actors and actresses. Because that is how
15:50
Speaker 1: you learn, and no one can take those experiences away
15:53
Speaker 1: from you. I would much rather do one scene in
15:55
Speaker 1: a great film with great people than be the lead
15:58
Speaker 1: in three movies is that are terrible with terrible directors
16:03
Speaker 1: and terrible writing, because that sticks. You know. I sometimes
16:07
Speaker 1: work with actors. I see actors who the work that
16:10
Speaker 1: they have done begins to infect maybe even a road talent,
16:14
Speaker 1: and that is definitely what you don't want. But you know,
16:16
Speaker 1: it's really great when you mentioned Daniel day Lewis because
16:19
Speaker 1: the Last Mohican, Yeah, probably fifteen times I've seen it,
16:23
Speaker 1: because it's that body of work. You know, I've seen
16:26
Speaker 1: s Almo three times. It's that body of work. You know,
16:29
Speaker 1: if my wife she gets annoyed me because you know,
16:31
Speaker 1: I'm I got Infinity cables. If the direct TV goes out,
16:36
Speaker 1: because it's because the clouds came over, I got my cable,
16:39
Speaker 1: I'm not gonna I'm not gonna miss my shows. Right.
16:41
Speaker 1: And so when I when I when I come across
16:43
Speaker 1: scenes that I just I just I just iconic scenes,
16:47
Speaker 1: I'm married to those. And so when you develop work
16:50
Speaker 1: like that, it really has to feel like a tremendous blessing.
16:53
Speaker 1: That's what you're talking about. Those moments give me that
16:55
Speaker 1: moment to work with great directors, great producers, great talents,
16:59
Speaker 1: because those moments me have more value to you than
17:02
Speaker 1: just just do projects that don't have so much that
17:06
Speaker 1: the work tattooed or the talent tattoos. Well, you know,
17:09
Speaker 1: a lot of people want to be in movies, a
17:11
Speaker 1: lot of people want to be in the entertainment industry.
17:14
Speaker 1: There are only a few who feel like when you
17:16
Speaker 1: watch their movies, when you see them talk about it,
17:19
Speaker 1: when you are around them, you just know they were
17:22
Speaker 1: absolutely born to it and they are truly great, and
17:25
Speaker 1: that their work is going to outlast them. To be
17:28
Speaker 1: around those people is a very unique and special thing.
17:32
Speaker 1: You know, Eva Davonnay is one of those people. You know,
17:34
Speaker 1: Steven Spielberg is one of those people. Christopher Nolan is
17:37
Speaker 1: one of those people. Um and and Proy is one
17:40
Speaker 1: of those is one of those people. They are. They
17:43
Speaker 1: are people who are singular, and when you're around them,
17:46
Speaker 1: it's not so much that you are trying to be them.
17:48
Speaker 1: You actually get a glimpse into why they are who
17:51
Speaker 1: they are. And the consistent thing I have found is, yes,
17:55
Speaker 1: they have talent, but their passion and hard work is unmatched.
18:00
Speaker 1: And so you know that's what you're seeing when you
18:03
Speaker 1: watch those films, when you see that scene that you
18:05
Speaker 1: just think, I come back to it time and time again,
18:07
Speaker 1: like I can watch Malcolm X forever. You know, that
18:10
Speaker 1: is just such great work. Oh my goodness, it's amazing.
18:14
Speaker 1: You know, Spike Lee and Denzel Washington's work and that
18:17
Speaker 1: in that film is just extraordinary. You know. Paul Thomas
18:21
Speaker 1: Anderson and Daniel dey Lewis in There Will Be Blood
18:24
Speaker 1: is another favorite of mine. Martin Scorsese and Robert de
18:26
Speaker 1: Niro in Raging Bull. These are just moments where now,
18:32
Speaker 1: but they're called light and lightning in a bot I mean,
18:34
Speaker 1: you say you watch them? Those are those are my
18:36
Speaker 1: go as well, and they are the things that I
18:39
Speaker 1: always go to for inspiration when I'm trying to do
18:41
Speaker 1: good work. Absolutely, let's talk about the movie. I want
18:43
Speaker 1: to tell us about the movie Don't Let Go. So
18:45
Speaker 1: Don't Let Go centers around my character, Jack Radcliffe, who's
18:49
Speaker 1: a detective in South central Los Angeles and his niece
18:52
Speaker 1: as played by Storm Read. Her name is Ashley in
18:55
Speaker 1: the film, and we have this beautiful relationship with beautiful
18:58
Speaker 1: uncle niece relationship. Tragedy happens. My family is murdered that
19:02
Speaker 1: it was my niece, my brother, and my sister in law,
19:05
Speaker 1: and my character is in the process of grieving when
19:08
Speaker 1: he suddenly gets a phone call from his niece. How
19:12
Speaker 1: is that possible. It seems that time has split and
19:15
Speaker 1: she is calling from two weeks before her murder. He
19:18
Speaker 1: realizes that there may be a chance that he can
19:21
Speaker 1: reach through time and save her. Well, you know, let's
19:24
Speaker 1: let's talk. That's great because I wanted to hear how
19:26
Speaker 1: you describe it, so I won't give away anything about
19:28
Speaker 1: the whole concept of the movie. Right, Okay. Now, when
19:31
Speaker 1: that when when the phone call came through, you know,
19:35
Speaker 1: I was like, okay, this is crazy. M hmm, this
19:39
Speaker 1: is this is what's happening here? Are we about to
19:42
Speaker 1: go there with some scary stuff? Right? And and but
19:47
Speaker 1: you held it, You held the course, you held the truth.
19:50
Speaker 1: Your your role, how you played it kept me centered
19:54
Speaker 1: because it was a level of level of disbelief of
19:57
Speaker 1: trying to understand, because your logic as a deta stayed
20:01
Speaker 1: to the forefront. You know. Except when you walked to
20:03
Speaker 1: that house and you saw a dead body. I went,
20:06
Speaker 1: that's that's not black right there. I'm outside, I'm outside
20:12
Speaker 1: calling calling it kids me some dead people. I just
20:14
Speaker 1: saw absolute And that's why I went back. Because you
20:19
Speaker 1: pulled out the guns. That detective he can do that,
20:22
Speaker 1: he can stick out the scene but one of the
20:24
Speaker 1: great scenes that you have because they thought you committed
20:27
Speaker 1: the crime and you're acting moment for me is when
20:32
Speaker 1: they were accusing you and then you made that tremendous
20:34
Speaker 1: switch and said yes to me. That was brilliant. Man.
20:39
Speaker 1: That's the part of the game when you watch a
20:42
Speaker 1: movie like Don't Let Go, when you see a guy
20:44
Speaker 1: with your acting chops to make that switch and then
20:47
Speaker 1: and it was such a sarcastic moment. How for a
20:52
Speaker 1: guy who cannot act standing in front a guy who
20:56
Speaker 1: wants tremendous, tremendous awards for acting playing I kind of character. Oh,
21:01
Speaker 1: Martin Luther King Jr. Has been praised throughout the acting industry.
21:06
Speaker 1: How do you do that? Well? One of the things
21:08
Speaker 1: I loved about doing Don't Let Go is, even though
21:11
Speaker 1: it has this far fetched conceit, we always knew that
21:15
Speaker 1: we were going to ground it in authenticity, in reality,
21:19
Speaker 1: so that you're not just We're not just saying, okay,
21:21
Speaker 1: go on this ride with us. Believe in time travel,
21:24
Speaker 1: believe that there are different dimensions that are interconnecting. We
21:29
Speaker 1: show you someone who is also in a state of disbelief,
21:33
Speaker 1: also trying to get his head around what's going on,
21:35
Speaker 1: and he's reacting in very real ways to what is
21:38
Speaker 1: happening to him and happening around him. And I think
21:41
Speaker 1: that that's why you're able to um connect with those moments,
21:45
Speaker 1: because I like to think that anyone going through what
21:48
Speaker 1: my character goes through in this movie would probably have
21:52
Speaker 1: similar reactions. And then you add the fact that he
21:55
Speaker 1: deeply loves his niece. He is a detective, He is
21:58
Speaker 1: a specific character, but a love of what he's reacting
22:01
Speaker 1: to and the way he's reacting is the way one
22:04
Speaker 1: would react under these circumstances. Yes, that's very true. You know,
22:07
Speaker 1: the interesting thing about the movie you're watching the movie
22:09
Speaker 1: is that there is a degree of reality because we're
22:14
Speaker 1: born in a lifestyle, you know, you know, we look
22:16
Speaker 1: out the corner, I did I see something? Was that?
22:19
Speaker 1: Was that? Was that a movement over there? What's going on?
22:22
Speaker 1: You know? There is the belief that there are ghosts.
22:24
Speaker 1: There is a belief there, there is a sixth sense.
22:27
Speaker 1: And so in telling this story, I bought into it.
22:30
Speaker 1: I brought into it. I bought into it to the
22:33
Speaker 1: sense that I wanted I wanted you to because it
22:36
Speaker 1: was it was a question, it was causing you to
22:38
Speaker 1: question your sanity know what I'm saying, and so once
22:42
Speaker 1: you so that's a world that we know can be
22:44
Speaker 1: very real to people who live in it. That's what
22:48
Speaker 1: sold me on the movie, as long as it stayed
22:50
Speaker 1: until you question you're saying it, dealing with the reality
22:53
Speaker 1: is it real? And noledgy'r parents are you're going crazy
22:55
Speaker 1: because of the depth of your entire family. What this
22:57
Speaker 1: happened is are these phone calls for real? Is anybody
23:00
Speaker 1: a hearing sself? Me? How can I deal with these things?
23:03
Speaker 1: Don't come into my house? Which he came by the house.
23:05
Speaker 1: All these things were very important for me to buy
23:09
Speaker 1: into the concept that Don't Let Go as a movie,
23:11
Speaker 1: you should go August thirty. That's when you're gonna be
23:13
Speaker 1: there in the theaters doing your thing. This is one
23:16
Speaker 1: of the many, many opportunities of of work that you have.
23:20
Speaker 1: You have been to think coming up that we can
23:21
Speaker 1: talk about or just's just focus on this. Oh no, no, no,
23:24
Speaker 1: I mean you know, I obviously Don't Let Go is
23:27
Speaker 1: is something I'm incredibly proud of and I can't wait
23:30
Speaker 1: for people to see it. But I just directed a
23:32
Speaker 1: film myself called The Waterman. Alfred Melina, who's in that
23:37
Speaker 1: goes also in that film, along with two very wonderful
23:41
Speaker 1: young actors, Lonnie Chavis and a Maya Miller. But we
23:43
Speaker 1: also have Rosario Dawson and Maria Bellow in that film.
23:46
Speaker 1: And it's my directorial debut, I mean post production on
23:49
Speaker 1: that right now. Um. And then I have a film
23:51
Speaker 1: called Chaos Walking coming out, which is an origin story
23:54
Speaker 1: of Alice in Wonderland and Peter Pan, myself and Angelina
23:58
Speaker 1: Jolie play the parents of Alice and Pizza in that film. Uh,
24:02
Speaker 1: film called Chaos Wolkin coming out from call Pizza Rabbit
24:05
Speaker 1: coming out. Well you did all, I might as well
24:08
Speaker 1: tell you so. So I have four kids. I'm just
24:11
Speaker 1: trying to keep the wolf from the door. I've got
24:13
Speaker 1: to feed them. Um so so yeah, some good stuff. Well, David,
24:17
Speaker 1: thank you for coming on My show Man. The movie
24:18
Speaker 1: will be out this uh August thirtieth. Don't let go.
24:22
Speaker 1: Thank you, Marian You're brilliant. Uh No, I'm a fan.
24:25
Speaker 1: I will keep promoting your brand and keep uh telling
24:28
Speaker 1: everybody that he can do what I can't do, and
24:30
Speaker 1: I'm proud of it. Well, you can do what I
24:32
Speaker 1: can't do as well, so I'm proud of you. Thank you,
24:34
Speaker 1: Les appreciate your brother. Thank you,