- 4 weeks ago
John Singleton and cast of Snowfall talk to ESSENCE about their hot new show
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00:00I'm really excited to host this conversation with the cast of the new series, Snowfall.
00:06We're going to ask the creators and cast to join us on stage.
00:11Co-creator, John Singleton.
00:20Does your shirt say Crenshaw? I love it.
00:23Represent, represent.
00:30Co-creator, Dave Andron.
00:41Star, here comes the cast, Damson Idris.
00:54Carter Hudson.
01:00And I always like a woman with a man's name, like myself.
01:06Michael Hyatt.
01:12Isaiah John.
01:21I can stand, it's fine.
01:24Angela Lewis.
01:33And Malcolm Mays.
01:43It's musical chairs, it's good, it's all good.
01:45Thanks.
01:54Actually, I'm really good.
01:56I'm really fine.
01:57It keeps me, I'm good.
02:00That's all right.
02:01So, we're going to get started with you, John, and Dave.
02:04What was the inspiration behind creating Snowfall?
02:07Um, let me chew the popcorn first.
02:11Okay.
02:12Yeah, I apologize.
02:13I saw popcorn, and I was like, I'm starving.
02:16Some of us actually, see how we're, like, kind of hungry.
02:19We see food, we just grab it.
02:21You know, that's kind of how the LA thing is.
02:22Um, well, I mean, because I was interested in getting in television, and I was like, okay,
02:29I've got to think about something that is a world that I know that I can mind and do
02:36over a number of seasons.
02:38And so, um, I thought about what I'd done with my first film, Boys in the Hood.
02:43But, and then what I hadn't had an opportunity to do was show how the neighborhood got to
02:51where, where, where it was.
02:53And, and where, you know, like, my memories of Sausage Los Angeles before, uh, this, these
02:59incidents were, it was a beautiful place.
03:02We played in the streets.
03:04There were no, people didn't have bars in their homes.
03:06They didn't have, uh, the, the lawns weren't fenced in.
03:10Um, it was like, you know, the smells.
03:13And the sounds, and it was just like, really, really beautiful.
03:16It was always edgy.
03:17There was always somebody, you know, something happened and a little bit of drama going on.
03:20But it wasn't like automatic gunfire, you know, in the distance and, and, um, helicopters
03:27all the time, you know, at the beginning of it.
03:29And I remember that changing once crack took hold.
03:34And the transition.
03:35And the transition in, um, in the way that me and my friends interacted with our neighborhoods
03:41and the people that we used to play football with that lived, like, you know, 10 blocks
03:45away that, you know, be like, listen, we, we can't, we ain't going over there no more.
03:49You go over there, again, you know, you can lose your life.
03:53And so that's what, that was the whole genesis of the show for me.
03:56And what about you, Dave?
03:57Yeah, I came into it a little bit later.
04:00John had, had, had the initial idea with a gentleman named Eric Amadio.
04:03And I had come off of six years of his show at FX.
04:06And, uh, I read the script and it just, it, I realized it had never been told.
04:10The story had never been told on television where you can devote hopefully 50, 60 hours
04:15to really the granular level of how did a place that was a normal working class neighborhood
04:19become a war zone in the period of a year and a half?
04:22Why was it allowed?
04:23Why did it blow up the way it did?
04:25Um, clear the war on drugs failed.
04:28Why did it fail?
04:29We have kind of the gift of hindsight now.
04:31So how do you tell the story in a way now where you're realizing the mistakes that were
04:35made, uh, maybe helping prevent some of those things from happening again or from the current
04:40administration to kind of go back to those policies for non-tri, but nonviolent drug offenders
04:45that are just archaic and unnecessary.
04:48Yeah, I'm curious.
04:49I mean, I know it's based on reality, but are any of these characters real?
04:53No, they are fictional characters.
04:57They're like, they're, but, you know, anybody from LA that lived in those times knows us
05:01somebody like a, like a Franklin.
05:04Yeah.
05:05So let's go through the cast and tell us each your name again and what part you play.
05:10Sorry, when you dance him.
05:13Hi.
05:15Y'all wait for his accent.
05:16So my name's Damson Idris.
05:18I play Franklin Sing.
05:23Wait, what do you cry?
05:24You hear that accent this time?
05:25Woo!
05:26Um, and Franklin, you know, he's a young, sweet kid from South Central LA, but he, you know,
05:33he studied in the Valley, so he's really intelligent because he's seen both sides and he's developed
05:38this inner resentment and pride towards the idea of having to conform in order to fit in.
05:44You know, he doesn't want to be, you know, a mascot and a crappy office job and he doesn't
05:48want to be seen as other in his community.
05:51So he uses cocaine as a way out, unfortunately.
05:54I do the exact same thing, by the way.
05:58Carter.
05:59I'm Carter Hudson.
06:00I play Taylor McDonald.
06:01How does your character, you know, evolve over the course of the series?
06:09He doesn't know that.
06:10He doesn't know that.
06:13Uh, yeah.
06:14I'm so method that I actually, uh, I went so deep into character that I have no idea what
06:19happened.
06:19I blacked out for like six months while we were in production and I just woke up the other
06:23day, uh, on a flight to New Orleans.
06:25No, he, yeah, he, he's, he's in the CIA and, and, uh, he starts, uh, uh, running this, uh,
06:33this cocaine smuggling ring from South America in the Los Angeles, uh, having no idea that,
06:38um, that crack could be a byproduct of, uh, of that cocaine flooding the market.
06:44Right.
06:45Which is something, sorry to jump in, but which is something kind of all these characters
06:48have in common, um, thematically they're all kind of trying to improve their situation
06:52in life.
06:52And look, cocaine was a white, rich, hearty drug, you know, it was expensive.
06:57It, it wasn't something that was seen as a plague or a scourge.
07:01The violence in Miami was Cubans and Colombians.
07:03Um, nobody kind of knew that, that was gonna, that crack was gonna land and what it was gonna
07:08do.
07:09Michael, what did you think when you first got this script and this opportunity?
07:16Um, I, I, um, glad I got the job.
07:21Grateful to be employed.
07:22Oh my gosh, I'm working with John Singleton and Tommy Schlaume, um, legends in, in my world.
07:28Um, and just, really just wanted to, um, tell this woman's story, you know?
07:38Um, a single woman raising an African man doing the best she can to, to make a way for her child.
07:48Um, I can relate to that, I was raised by a, by a, by a single mom and I am a single mom, unfortunately.
07:55You know, we, we find ourselves in these situations and how do you do it?
08:01How do you play, play both parts and provide for your child and, and, and, and provide a
08:08well-rounded experience for them so that they can be better than you are.
08:12Um, that's Sissy's journey.
08:14Isaiah, what is the friendship between you and, uh, Franklin?
08:18Well, I mean, as you can see, we're really close, I mean, we're close in real life as well.
08:25You know, it's cool to be able to, you know, work with friends and they come off on screen as, you know, real,
08:31because it is real, you know, so, uh, yeah, I mean, our characters grow together, you know?
08:35You know, so we've always been together.
08:37And the same way, Malcolm plays Kevin, you know, we all grew up together, so we're all really close.
08:42And you'll see that throughout the day.
08:44You should lie in front of these people.
08:46Yeah, what the heck?
08:47We do not get along outside of work.
08:50I get along with everyone that she said, I'm the mediator.
08:55Honestly, your character is a badass.
08:59I am already in love with her.
09:02Great job, great job, great job.
09:04What did you saw when you saw, you know, you saw her written on the page?
09:08Did you immediately resonate?
09:10I was like, whoa, uh, how am I going to do this?
09:15Um, so I really had to, Aunt Louie has no filter.
09:20And I work hard at being considerate of others' feelings and loving everybody.
09:27So I really had to kind of put that to the side to be Louie.
09:33Um, so it was a challenge, but it was also a lot of fun.
09:38Once I got going, it was like the adrenaline was going.
09:40And I was like, ah, I just said it was fun.
09:45Malcolm, what did you feel when, you know, you got the call that John Singleton wants you for a new series?
09:53Uh, what did I feel when
09:57John Singleton calls me?
09:58Um, it was, it was a mix of daunting fear, impending doom and excitement.
10:10And the first thing I did was call my mama like, because the thing is like, I mean,
10:14I'd be remiss to say if like me and John have a prior relationship from this show.
10:19So it was just kind of like a re, a re-meeting of two kindred spirits.
10:24So it was just good.
10:25Yeah, but I've known him since he was like 16.
10:27Yeah, so it's different.
10:28I've known him since he was 16.
10:29I call him, my nickname for him is Charlie Brown.
10:31Because I'm always like Charlie Brown.
10:33He's got a brown head.
10:34He's like, because he can't give me no credit, even in essence, like in front of beautiful
10:40black people, he can't give me no credit.
10:41No, um, honestly, it was just like a, it was a blessing to be asked to be a part of this network,
10:47this cast of people to be just even considered because as a South Central native, I literally lived
10:54the negative fallout of all of this information.
10:57And, um, damn, bro.
10:59Like it was just like, this is a lot, but you know, I'm broke.
11:02So I'm about to take this.
11:06We're going to figure it out.
11:10Damson, uh, you came by the essence offices in New York, a couple of weeks ago,
11:14and you told us a great story about, uh,
11:17Oh my gosh, I've met you before.
11:19I have, you have, my hair, I'm cleaned up.
11:21Yeah, but you told a great story about meeting John Singleton and tell us that story,
11:28your 24 hour audition, if you have.
11:30Oh, wow.
11:30This guy's insane.
11:31So I had to, um, I had to fly to LA from London and then I had to spend a whole day with John
11:38Singleton just talking in an American accent.
11:41I was not allowed to be British.
11:43And, um, so I get there and we're walking through South Central, you know, we're talking to the people
11:48and then his mom comes and I'm like, okay, if I win a robot, I've got the role.
11:54Said, I'm saying really British stuff, but in an American accent.
11:57So I'm like, bin, lift.
11:59Oh, wow.
12:00How lovely your hair looks today.
12:01And she looks at John and goes, he ain't from here, huh?
12:07And I'm like, oh man, no, no, please no.
12:10God save me.
12:11And then John's like, no, he from London.
12:13She's like, oh, let me hear your British accent.
12:14I'm like, no, mom, I'm not British.
12:16I mean, no, mom, I'm not British right now.
12:18It was crazy.
12:19But when I got home, he called me and he was like, yeah, you got the part.
12:23And it was a blessing from God, man.
12:25I'm really happy to be here.
12:26Good.
12:27Yeah, thank you.
12:28Now, John, I read, uh, recently in the Rolling Stones,
12:31well, you called the show a ghetto Game of Thrones.
12:36I said that to make the cast nervous that any one of them could be killed off at any time.
12:41Yeah, I died in episode two, yeah.
12:43It won't give us a hard time going into season two.
12:46So, you know, I gave them thumbs.
12:48You fall in love with people and then they're just off of them and stuff.
12:50And you're like crying over the TV set.
12:53So, I wanted to like mess with the cast, so.
12:58Well, I know one thing I saw and watching, I mean, granted, yes, there's drugs, there's sex,
13:02there's, um, there's murder, but there's also family.
13:06And there's love, there's love.
13:08There's a whole lot of love there, you know, like, um, and there's also this undercurrent of,
13:14and each one of these, these characters' worlds, and, um, Sergio isn't here to attest to this.
13:20Also, each one of these, there's a need for family and love.
13:23There's a need for a belongingness in these characters' journeys.
13:27And, and that belongingness, the longing for wanting more and the longingness for wanting
13:32to be a part of something and a collective and a family is in each one of them.
13:37Um, you know, Carter's character, he's estranged from his family.
13:41You know, he's had, you know, his, um, his character Teddy, he's had some issues dealing
13:46with having this job in, in, in a previous assignment.
13:50So, you see he's estranged from the woman he cares about and his, his child, you know.
13:54And Franklin, he wants for more. You know, he loves his mother, he doesn't want to leave
13:58the neighborhood, he loves being around his friends, but he wants for more.
14:02And there's, you know, there's a conundrum in all of our lives in different ways where we,
14:05we, you know, some of us in different places that we're, we're somewhere we don't necessarily
14:09want to be, and we want to get to somewhere, but how do we get to somewhere?
14:13You know, I think that, that's one of those kind of universal things that people can tap into
14:16watching the show. Not all of us are going to go out and sell drugs, but, you know.
14:21Hey. Somebody over here said that feels good.
14:27Well, thank you all so much for being here. Please tell us when the series starts.
14:32It starts July 5th, next Wednesday. Go out, tweet it, IG everything. It's hard to get this real
14:40shit made. So, please, please support it. Did y'all like it? Did y'all like the first episode?
14:46So, tell everybody, tell everybody watching, you gotta live this. All right? Snowfall, July 5th,
14:52on FX. 10 p.m. 10 p.m. Thank you. Thank you.
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