00:00I don't particularly enjoy violence.
00:03That being said, you are currently in company of extremely violent individuals.
00:08Jump, mother.
00:13I want to start, you know, I love just seeing all the excitement around this project.
00:19But I know you've also been a part of other major film, you know, trilogies, X-Men, Twilight, you know.
00:25But do things feel different this time with the buzz around this project?
00:30You know, things things always have a modicum of differences.
00:34And the thing that's different about this is different about this is I feel like the mission that we're all embarking on is bigger.
00:45You know, we're attempting to right the wrongs of history with this project.
00:51You know, black people have been conspicuously left out of the story when it comes to the old west.
00:58And there are reasons for that that we all are aware of.
01:01But now the conversation is more welcome.
01:05And we're leaning into those conversations.
01:09So the buzz and the excitement and the energy and everybody's excited to talk about this because it's important.
01:17OK.
01:17And, you know, everyone I've talked to in the cast has an interesting story of sort of coming into the project and, you know, their first conversations with James Samuel.
01:26Can you talk about your casting and how you came to be a part of the film?
01:30Well, he's lived with this story in his head for 15 years and he willed it into existence.
01:40It came from here and it's his baby.
01:44In fact, my job on set was just to make him happy, you know, get out of the way.
01:48When somebody has a clear vision like that, you just trust that they know what they're doing.
01:52He assembled this cast.
01:55But I was involved in some way or another for years.
01:59You know, we would go back and forth talking about, you know, notes.
02:04And we shot scenes before this film even began because he's a collaborator like that.
02:12He's a very artistic person.
02:13He doesn't stop working and thinking and creating.
02:18And I think, yeah, I think a lot of us had a prior relationship with him before joining.
02:25Yeah.
02:26And, you know, going back to your point about this film writing, you know, the wrongs of history.
02:31In your preparation, was there anything you were particularly surprised to learn about the real Bill Pickett or any of the other characters, you know, Black people in the West at the time?
02:42One of the things that shocked me was the way in which Bill Pickett died in real life.
02:48He died in real life because he was kicked in the head by a horse, which just reminds you of how powerful these animals are.
02:59And it makes you think about how hard it must have been to break horses back in the day, which is a job that a lot of Black ex-slaves had.
03:07They came from toiling in the fields and creating American agriculture.
03:11And now they're tasked with the hard job of breaking horses to do those cattle drives up through Texas into Missouri.
03:18And, you know, and that was incredibly, incredibly difficult.
03:23But we did it because that was the hard job.
03:26So they gave it to us.
03:27We did it, became so good at it, that stories of our exploits started to travel and become popular and famous.
03:36Then you have white writers hear about those stories, write about those characters, but make them white.
03:44Right.
03:45And they created literature with white heroes, white cowboy heroes, started making films with characters, white cowboy heroes.
03:54And that was the beginning of the erasure.
03:57And the genre was created erasing us.
04:01Yeah.
04:01You know, we were there, you know, one in three cowboys, one in four cowboys.
04:05There's different counts to it.
04:06I say one in four because I'm conservative.
04:08I don't want people coming for me with the facts.
04:10Got you.
04:11So I'm curious, you know, just what it was like for you working with some actors, you know, that maybe you hadn't before.
04:16But I never met RJ and he's he's I call him my gift because we had such a great time getting to know each other.
04:26And our chemistry was real.
04:28And he's my baby brother.
04:29He's my brother for life.
04:31So it was a lot of fun to dance with him.
04:34You know, Bill Pickett and and Jim Beckworth in this film have a really close relationship.
04:39We created a backstory that was complex, that, you know, hopefully enriched what we're trying to do together on screen.
04:47And we had a lot of fun.
04:48But the fun is not to be confused with like fun, fun.
04:53It was fun to commit ourselves to the mission.
04:57And the mission was real.
04:58You know, these these people lived out here in this time.
05:00It was a harsh world.
05:01People were dying from disease and, you know, from murder.
05:05And it sounds like today sounds like 2021.
05:09But it was the Wild West and it was called the Wild West for a reason.
05:13It was total chaos.
05:14And, you know, it was the environment was harsh.
05:18So we were committed to to being in that time and place.
05:22But I think I think we had fun doing it because, you know, why make a movie if you're not going to have fun?
05:28Right.
05:29Do you have a favorite scene either that you filmed and enjoy doing or or that you saw in the final project?
05:36I do like that first scene with with RJ, our introduction scene.
05:43Hopefully, I mean, there's there's even more to it.
05:45I think it was cut down for for time and that happens all the time in films.
05:49But hopefully there's a director cut at some point that that shows the full scene, because you learn a little bit more about the backstories of these characters.
05:59But I love that scene because it's the it's the first scene in the movie, but we shot it last.
06:05So there was a great anticipation through the whole shoot just to get to the beginning of our journey.
06:12So that day was a special day.
06:15Oh, yeah, for sure.
06:17And I want to go back to your entry into acting.
06:20I'd read that you played basketball in college and then it kind of turned to acting.
06:25Had you anticipated pursuing sports professionally, you know, before choosing acting?
06:32Well, I wasn't a fool.
06:33I didn't think that I was ever going to be in the NBA.
06:35You know, I mean, I had some skills, enough to think I could play college ball.
06:42And then that's when I injured myself.
06:45So I broke my knee and I took an acting class to to get out of the depression that I was under because of that and fell in love with acting.
06:52You know, and that was the journey of a thousand miles.
06:55You know, that was the first step.
06:56And then and then I turned pro.
06:59OK. And you started in theater, I believe.
07:02Do you miss the stage?
07:04Are you interested in kind of doing Broadway in that or how do you like film and television in comparison?
07:10All three are different.
07:11All three are valuable to me.
07:13I think the theater is probably where I excel the most.
07:18I have great love for the theater.
07:20Those are my roots.
07:21You know, when when you get into this business, I'm sure every actor is influenced because of TV and film.
07:29You grow up watching these things.
07:31I don't know many people that get to go to the theater.
07:33Right. But then when you learn that it's a craft and it's a craft that needs to be respected, you fall in love with theater.
07:40And it's so much so, at least my story is so much so where I didn't really consider a TV and film career.
07:46It was all about theater.
07:48And then I realized that I had a lot of loans.
07:50I had to pay them off.
07:51So I got to do TV and film.
07:53And now it's now it's TV and film.
07:55And I try to incorporate all of it.
07:56Haven't been on Broadway.
07:58Would love to make a Broadway debut because theater will be a part of my life for my entire career.
08:03OK, and lastly, is there a dream character or type of role that you have yet to play?
08:12It's a tough question.
08:16You know, I'll know when I see it.
08:18OK, I know when I see it.
08:20There's a long, long list, but I want to be surprised.
08:25I want a filmmaker who I have never heard of or gotten a chance to work with.
08:30And I want to read a script that I didn't know could exist and be just blown away.
08:34And I want the opportunity to play that part.
08:37And if that happens, then I'm a happy man.
08:40Yeah.
08:40OK, I look forward to seeing more of you.
08:43I thank you so much for your time.
08:44I thank you so much for your time.
Comments