Broadway actor Corey Hawkins shared his intimidation on playing a character that has been portrayed by Will Smith and Courtney B. Vance in 'Six Degrees of Separation.'
00:00Yes, it's very intimidating. It's intimidating, but I think, again, kind of going back to, you know, what everyone's sort of speaking to, it's just the fun of it and the challenge of it is to take the play, to take the text and to make it your own and find it, you know, your own way.
00:19I had seen the movie, I had seen the film when I was really young and I took away certain things from what Will brought to it, you know, the charisma, the charm, the danger and all of that, but I hadn't seen it since and I hadn't wanted to watch it, you know, since seeing it back then.
00:39And I'm sure there's footage of Courtney doing it, but I'm just like too, I'm like, I'm not worthy, I'm not worthy. You know, that's the joy of being able to revive a play, you know.
00:52Trip Coleman, I think, expertly directed this revival in terms of tone and in terms of just letting us start with the words on the page.
01:00And John Ware was just, he was in the room every single day, you know, which is, can be intimidating, but he's a fun dude.
01:06So we get to like, you know, hear the stories of, you know, from back then and, you know, it's based off of a real character as well.
01:13So it's just, it's fun to get in there and just play with the text. It's like jazz, you know, you just, you take it and you lift it and each character is an instrument and you just kind of bring your own thing to it.
01:25And, and every night I, people have been asking me, you know, who is, who is Paul Poitier, who is Paul Kittredge or whatever he calls himself, whenever he calls himself, you know, who is he?
01:34And, and I, for me, it's like, if I had the answer to that, I wouldn't be able to get up there and do it every night.
01:39Cause you're finding that every, it's different, like every single day on stage.
01:42And it surprises me sometimes for the better, sometimes for the worse, but you know, it's, it's a joy, man.
Be the first to comment