00:00you ain't heard the stories dog walker i was i worked at a restaurant i did
00:05i braided hair on shows that i auditioned for and didn't get and was got paid 25 dollars
00:10to rebraid this girl hair in the show type is for an elderly lady i mean i was
00:15hustling just anything to put 20 more dollars in my little envelope i was doing
00:20talk to me about
00:25taking the short film and making it into a feature like did you always have this
00:30sense that the short film was going to start a road to the future or was it that it did so well
00:35that you thought maybe this is no it was actually interesting because
00:37when the feature was in the festival in
00:402022 um i was always i was already writing the feature script right so i was already thinking
00:45about the future and it just kind of helped at the at the short one the festival to you know kind of
00:50get motivation emotion around the future but yeah i was i i'd always kind of known that
00:55this story was was was beautiful and special and i kind of needed a bigger home did any of you
01:00guys see the short at the time or did you was it in discussions for this
01:05movie that you went and watched yeah i think for both of us it was in discussions of doing the feature
01:10and like i've said before first of all just thanks hollywood reporter for having this but um yeah
01:15as i said before and many times this film was one of the most beautiful short films one of the most
01:20beautiful pieces of art i've ever seen in my life and it made me cry immensely and and that brought me
01:25on and i said i can only imagine what the future is going to be like i think walter did a wonderful adaptation
01:30of his short to the future yes same for me as well uh
01:35i just knew from that moment the type of artist that i was going to be working with that he saw
01:40completely outside of the box um he had a fresh eye
01:45and that was exciting for me um and i knew that i would be
01:50bringing a different tone for myself than what i've ever played before
01:55and um so yeah after having a conversation with him at the london hotel
02:00and we talked for probably over over an hour and i was like yeah i'll get through this
02:05like i don't care you don't have you don't have to pay me you know i i'm whatever
02:10whenever you need me i'm going to make myself fully available to this project because i just knew that
02:15he he was on to something when you has anyone talked to you about
02:20the fact that you actually invented the the this formation before weapons oh
02:25there's been a lot of people there's been a lot of people there's been a lot of people who have dm me and email
02:30me and called me and you know like have you seen weapons i i was like i haven't watched it yet but
02:35someone tells me that there's like an airplane boys moment in it that might have been copied
02:40well look it led them to the ask you so hey beautiful amazing
02:45yeah yeah same path wait talk to me about kind of the what
02:50the meaning of like being under the flight path of lax being in watts like and how that kind of um
02:55i assume that was something we're really thinking a lot about when you're writing the short but like
02:58yeah talk to me about what had like this
03:00symbolism of that and yeah yeah you know there was so much i think for us as children right like growing up literally
03:05under the alley x flight path like the sounds of these airplanes you know every three minutes it's like
03:10this this this is like huge sound just takes over our homes right so for a lot of us it's
03:15kids you know we used to make up these these games and and these imaginary people and we called them
03:20airplane people and we used to race the planes above us you know so this this whole mythology that we created
03:25around what seemed like you know this like mysterious uh piece of metal flying
03:30in the sky it's kind of what led to this movie and okay so how did you find bodhi what was
03:35the a buddy was great yeah yeah no we uh we found did you do auditions or yeah we asked
03:40some auditions and i knew right away you know like i i remember the sort of like light blue sweater that
03:44that buddy was wearing
03:45wearing his audition he looked so great and there's also you know a lot i think behind
03:50the eyes and in his sort of feeling a sentiment that you can't really teach and i think buddy was really
03:54wonderful for us
03:55yeah do you remember what did you audition with do you remember like what do you
04:00mean what like what did you read like what do you remember what scene you did well it was the scene
04:05i don't know if i could say but it was like a really big scene
04:10where i was yelling a lot okay and that's what i obviously okay nice did you know right away you
04:15wanted this really bad or yeah even when i was like auditioning he's like my mom's like this role
04:20is perfect for you how come what was her she's like because
04:25she said that i she could see me like my person
04:39you
04:30know that do you draw uh
04:35i used to draw like i used to do those like five minute like how to draw like an airplane or something
04:40yeah i used to do those a lot okay so is this really are is that really you drawing in the movie
04:45or did you guys draw that in
04:47i don't know
04:49that's awesome
04:50yeah i was drawing oh cool okay nice where did you guys film did you film
04:55at the same project that you did the short film in imperial court yeah location yeah
05:00okay they watched which is like a really great thing you know a lot of movies don't get made in
05:03l.a anymore and i felt really special
05:05yeah how did did you sorry i was just gonna say miles one of our castmates who grew up in l.a just
05:10kind of the whole l.a politics of just what things are he had never been in that neighborhood
05:15ever because of the neighborhood that he lived in and because he couldn't cross over to that neighborhood so all the things so
05:20being there for him to say man 32 years i've never been over here um but
05:36you
05:25realizing how beautiful it is and also just how blessed we are you know to to go to different
05:30homes but their homes are their homes and it feels like homes and it was great and walter introducing us
05:35to that neighborhood for me i think it was probably one of the most beautiful experiences of this
05:40yeah what what is the process of like getting the okay to film there is it just
05:45like you need there's all the residents or you need permits or what is it well i feel like there's like different levels
05:50of permits right there's obviously the like film l.a permit you know which we had right
05:55and and and also we had you know the the like local mayor permit you know which was uh
06:00a man named maxwell who i've known for a lot of years and maxwell is not a mayor in in any formal way
06:05but but he is a sort of like main guy of the projects and he knows everybody so let's hope so we definitely had to get him
06:10maxwell's approval that's what we did did you get it right away or did you did he put you through oh absolutely
06:15yeah i know maxwell for a really long time yeah we all love maxwell he liked bendy guys
06:20all right listen they shooting a movie out here yeah i need y'all to be cool all right and so it was
06:25just great and if you needed to walk somewhere i'll walk with you come away go down and it's just everybody
06:30he loves him he loves him because he's been in this this neighborhood for 50 years you know and beat isaac
06:35isaac isaac thomas and basketball in front of everybody so now he's
06:40a legend in this neighborhood because he beat isaac thomas for his shoes you know what i'm saying
06:44and so this guy who
06:45you'll see often in the movie he's almost like an angel in the movie and you see him kind of pop up
06:50he has a jerry curl that's still from the 70s like still wet dripping
06:55and it's um it was just great having him there so knowing that he was kind of our guiding angel
06:59through that neighborhood
07:00he was it's a wonderful way yeah how are they as on-screen parents
07:05they were really good they gave me a lot of advice for like if i didn't know how to like
07:10say something they like told me to how to say it and like just to keep calm a lot
07:15yeah bode i would say this about bode bode has a tenderness to him
07:20and the quietness to him this obviously you could see it but as an actor even
07:25adult actors don't know how to pick up on tone sometimes and they'll want to over speak or over
07:29talk
07:30adult he just knew how to sit in the moments and lock eyes with you a lot of children don't
07:33know how to look he's looking me in my eyes
07:35right now they don't know how to look in the eyes and communicate and so just wonderful working with
07:39him so i'm glad
07:40we were good on skin on spring parents even though it's tough to portray some of the things we have to do yeah
07:45totally yeah and like that's the kind of thing like then what do you do like at cut
07:49you're just buddy you're but
07:50you're just buddy's again i guess but yeah yeah okay yeah all right yeah you know yeah you did it
07:55just check on him. It's like Pennywise. Every time he had to scare the kids, he's like,
07:58all right, guys, you all right? Okay, cool.
08:00I just had to make sure, but not as scary, but very scary moments, drenched in reality.
08:05And some of these moments, I feel like Bodie may not have experienced yet, right, as a kid.
08:10As a kid, it's not like I'm filming a movie. It's like, oh, that felt real.
08:13You know, let's check in.
08:15I appreciate you always being honest with us and letting us know you're okay.
08:19Obviously, there's...
08:20There's not any, like, stunts in the movie, but one thing I did want to ask if it was really you
08:23was the push, the pull-up, or the...
08:25push-ups on the bars. Is that you?
08:27It was really me.
08:28No, it was me.
08:30CGI.
08:31But great, cool thing about our director, Walt, right? I was...
08:35I was just doing that to get a workout. Walt was like, yo, I want to...
08:40shoot that. I had no idea where he was going to put it in the movie, but he shot it, and
08:44he's like, yo, this...
08:45walk up to the camera and flex, and then when you...
08:47Have you seen the film?
08:47It's so good, man.
08:49When you see the film...
08:50It's so good.
08:50And the monologue that's over that moment, how he's talking about Prasadina.
08:55Like, you've never seen that before, you know? And so it was just...
08:58That was really fun, but I was just trying to...
09:00to pump it in. His director mind said, no, I need that.
09:03Yeah.
09:04Yeah, where did...
09:05Where did the Greek mythology...
09:07Is this something you've always been interested in?
09:08Yeah, yeah, no, I'm...
09:10I've always been fascinated by it, and for a lot of us who grew up in L.A., you know,
09:13who were 12, 11 years old...
09:15That's something we study about Greek mythology, right?
09:16So it almost made a lot of sense for the movie, but it also made sense...
09:20for, you know, how Greek drama and Greek tragedies think about, like, humans and characters.
09:25Right? Like, what better sort of, you know, structure to understand complicated parents?
09:30Or complicated humans than a Greek tragedy or a Greek drama?
09:32Yeah, absolutely.
09:34Okay, before we run out...
09:35I'm asking everyone who comes in, and I don't know, maybe you might not have an answer for...
09:40this, because you don't need a backup plan, because you're already an actor.
09:42But did anyone have a good job that...
09:45what was, like, their backup plan if acting didn't work out, or that you tried out, or, like, what would you be?
09:50I never had a backup plan.
09:52I said, she came out of junior.
09:53But that's not...
09:55I don't know why.
09:56I still struggled, okay?
09:58In my year of struggle.
10:00But Orange is the New Black, what, 22?
10:02It was a year out of school.
10:03Thank you, Jesus.
10:05I'll give you that.
10:05That's a blessing.
10:07They don't have it all the time.
10:08What'd you do during that year, though?
10:09Oh, girl.
10:10You ain't heard the stories.
10:11Dog walker.
10:13I was...
10:13I worked at a restaurant.
10:14I did...
10:15I braided hair on shows that I auditioned for and didn't get, and got paid $25.
10:20to rebraid this girl hair in the show.
10:22Type is for an elderly lady.
10:24I mean, I was...
10:25I was hustling.
10:25Just anything to put $21 in my little envelope, I was due.
10:30But then Orange came around, and I booked it.
10:33But for me, I just never wanted...
10:35I never wanted a plan B.
10:36I never wanted a plan B.
10:37So I just got jobs that could help support me to get...
10:40Yeah, for me, I still got a couple plan Bs out there.
10:44You know, I'm just making...
10:45sure that I'm always pushing it.
10:46But I was a street drummer in New York for a very long time.
10:50That was my life, in the subways of New York, playing buckets to make money.
10:55And I did that after I booked my series regular, all the things, and then FedEx.
11:00UPS, UPS, man, I don't know.
11:02It was just a lot of different jobs.
11:04But I think...
11:05For me, the plan B isn't necessarily not to be an actor, but how can I expand that?
11:09How can...
11:10How can I be a producer?
11:11How can I be a director?
11:12How can I continue to kind of expand what it is that I'm already doing?
11:15So OMDO has already done that.
11:17And so knowing that you can expand your things...
11:20Your range is really cool to me.
11:22Yeah.
11:23Do you want to do this forever?
11:24Do you want to do this forever?
11:25Do you think?
11:25I know.
11:26Long question.
11:27Yeah.
11:27Yeah.
11:27If I, like...
11:30Keep...
11:31If I had the ability to, like, act forever, I'd totally...
11:35But, like, if I ever do have, like, a job that I want to do...
11:40I want to do photography.
11:41That's cool.
11:42Okay.
11:43Yeah.
11:43That's a good one.
11:45That's a good one.
11:50That's a good one.
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