00:00We are so many things. And I think that to see that not only within a show, but within a family, that they are all so different in their own way, yet they're unified by being part of the same family.
00:14I just think that's really symbolic of who we are, not just as black people, as people.
00:19And so to see that through this particular family at that particular time, I think, is what makes the show feel universal, makes it feel global, whilst it's also specific.
00:32And at the end of the day, that's how we think of ourselves.
00:41I've seen the show and there are several words that I would describe it as, you know, funny, surreal, quirky.
00:48But the word that comes to the forefront for me is unique.
00:51I wanted to ask you, what was it about the plot line that intrigued you the most?
00:55Well, the plot line is not the first thing that came to me.
01:00What came to me was a short film script, and that was something Paul Hunter had written.
01:07And I found out it was based on his life growing up in the valley in the 60s and 70s.
01:15And the thing that hit me is exactly the thing that hit you and the word that you describe it as unique.
01:21I just hadn't read anything quite like this before.
01:24I hadn't had the opportunity to play a character quite like this before.
01:28I hadn't seen a black family of this nature on screen before, but I was able to relate to elements of it.
01:35The quirkiness of the family is something I could definitely relate to my family being a father of four and my wife and I having these extraordinary kids that we have, being a father who wants the best for his family, knowing that I am a very fallible individual, knowing that I have my own relationship with God and how that relationship plays out.
01:59So I had my versions of some of the themes that were in this story, but to see it in this fantastical, surreal, absurdist way, but also set in the 60s, a time where we often are steeped in civil rights and racial struggle, but none of that is part of the equation.
02:17There were just so many things that were both fresh and familiar about it, but overridingly, as you say, it was just so very unique.
02:24So, Simone, I don't want to say the exact line for the people that may not have seen it, but in the first episode, Astoria had a callback to the title of the show, and I thought it was brilliant the way y'all worked that in there, too.
02:37I wanted to ask you, what does the title Government Cheese mean to you and what do you hope it'll mean to audiences by the end of the season?
02:44I think that the title is all about innovation.
02:49It's all about making something out of what you are given.
02:53We know that people who received government cheese and who got government subsidies, they tend to be people in our country who need support, who need a leg up.
03:08And so, to watch this family take what they have been given, take the circumstances, and they are all still striving for more.
03:20Whether it's Einstein, who wants to become a world-famous pole vaulter, or it's Astoria, who has aspirations of becoming an interior designer, or it's Hampton, who comes out of prison, proudly sits in the office at a bank, and says that he is formally incarcerated.
03:42But he wants a loan in order to make his invention.
03:47It is the definition of innovation, it is the definition of aspirational, and not accepting what you are given and just taking it.
03:59And so, I think that this show will resonate with so many different people, not only because of its uniqueness and the humor and the quirkiness, but also just the audacity of these characters.
04:12It's refreshing to see.
04:15So, David, you spoke about it briefly earlier in the conversation about the time period that the show is set on and that it didn't deal with politics or civil rights like a lot of, you know, our stories deal with in that particular time period.
04:29What was it about this show that made you want to tell a different kind of story from that time period?
04:35Because I think the audience is craving some balance to that narrative.
04:40I certainly know that our community as black people want that.
04:44It's not to discredit the validity of those narratives, but we are so many things.
04:50And I think that to see that not only within a show, but within a family, that they are all so different in their own way, yet they're unified by being part of the same family.
05:02I just think that's really symbolic of who we are, not just as black people, as people.
05:08And so, to see that through this particular family at that particular time, I think is what makes the show feel universal, makes it feel global, whilst it's also specific.
05:20And at the end of the day, that's how we think of ourselves.
05:23We think of ourselves as global storytellers, and we've been given a platform, the likes of Apple TV Plus, to do that.
05:30And so, you know, the idea is to absolutely take that opportunity and tell an expansive story.
05:36Simone, this next question for you is actually a two-parter as well, too, because I know that a story is based on Paul Hunter's real-life mother, who I heard was on set sometimes as well, too.
05:47One, how did you prepare for the role, being as though, you know, this is an actual person that you were able to see and feel?
05:54And then two, was there any, I guess, pressure to live up to this particular person since it was Paul's mile?
06:02Paul is such a giving creator.
06:06He was always telling stories, whether it was about his dad or his uncle himself, but especially his mother.
06:16He has such a love for her, and she seemed like such this larger-than-life personality and woman who raised these two young men to go off and do incredible things.
06:32I mean, Paul is such a genius, even in just the scripts that we read and the short film that he and David did that I got the chance to see.
06:43You just know that his mind was definitely cultivated by a nurturing mother who gave him, he had a limitless vision of what was possible.
06:54And so to be able to play a person like that, without having the responsibility of, say, playing a person that, like David Martin Luther King Jr., where everybody has an idea of who that person is, and you have to mind what happens behind the scenes.
07:12I got to play a version of this incredible woman who you can present to the world and not have those same kind of requirements of being accurate in that way.
07:26And so it was a blessing to be able to embody his mom, and he would have these lovely moments where he's like, you looked like her, or she holds her hand like that, or just all of these things that just felt divinely orchestrated.
07:41I got to meet his mother, and she was just so lovely and wonderful.
07:47And then Astoria is also a version of my mother, and she's a version of my aunt, two women who were raised in Detroit, who are not stereotypically what I have seen presented.
08:00What I've even made up in my mind is what they were.
08:04It gave me the opportunity to talk to my mom and my aunt about their upbringing and find out that there were so many things that were similar to Astoria that were not things that I've seen presented.
08:16about the 1960s, about Black people during that time.
08:21And so it was just wonderful to be able to explore a character that is unique.
08:27So David, I know you love both, you know, because you're a star of film and the small screen as well, too.
08:35With this new streaming era, do you feel as though you have more freedom as an actor doing these series as opposed to doing film?
08:44Well, what streaming has done is it's come along and democratized our business for the audience in a way that film just refused to do.
08:53It would have been very, very difficult to get the film version of government cheese made because that side of our industry has been steeped in a racist mindset for a long time around the notion that black doesn't travel or that the audience isn't there for a narrative, the likes of this.
09:12And that mindset was predicated on a very small sample size of people whose opinions were dictating what films were getting made and therefore what a global audience was getting to see.
09:25But what streaming has done is that there's hard data of what people want to see.
09:31And it has meant that I could get Bass Reeves made because that was exactly the kind of narrative that, you know, titans like Morgan Freeman and Sidney Poitier, you know, they had tried to make narratives of this nature.
09:46But that racist mindset had been the thing that was blocking the path for that.
09:53The data doesn't lie. And so government cheese coming along at this time in this era of streaming.
10:01I think it's a it's a story that sort of met its moment and hopefully will soon meet its audience and the audience will continue to speak.
10:09And artists like myself and Simone will continue to get stories told that I think in a bygone era would have been much more difficult to do.
10:17Simone, David, thank you so much for taking the time.
10:20And I can't wait for the world to see this amazing show. I appreciate you.
10:23Thank you so much. Thank you.
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