- 1 day ago
In THR's interview series, "In Studio," the actor discusses the 'Queen Sugar' finale, his new film 'Thank You For Your Service,' and more.
Category
🎥
Short filmTranscript
00:04Hi, this is Mariah Goh from The Hollywood Reporter, and I'm in studio with Omar J. Dorsey today.
00:09Glad to be here.
00:11You are doing some double dipping this winter.
00:14I am doing double dipping. I am, I am, yes.
00:17But most people know you from Queen Sugar.
00:19Right.
00:19You're on season two, the finale's coming up in a couple of weeks.
00:22It is, yes.
00:23So tell me what happens. No, just kidding.
00:27I'll tell you what happens. What happens is everybody will be turning on to OWN at 10 o'clock and
00:33watching it every Wednesday.
00:36Now, I know that you've spoken about this before, but it's kind of amazing that Ava actually wrote this part
00:43for you.
00:43Right, man, it was amazing. I was in the Bahamas shooting a film called Cargo, and Ava just called me
00:50out of the blue and asked me if I wanted to read a script that she was doing.
00:53I was on another show at the time. She said, I know you're on another show, but I would have
00:57really liked to have you read, you know, come in and do this.
01:01I was like, well, I'll be off that show real soon. It wasn't, it was just a one season commitment.
01:07And she said that they start shooting in February. I read the script. I called her back and said, I
01:11would love to come in and read for it.
01:13She's like, no, I didn't ask you to come in and read. I said I wanted you to do it.
01:17And I said, I said, huh?
01:20So she's like, it's, I'm producing it along with Oprah, you know, we're fans, you know, we love you, you're
01:24family.
01:25So, you know, just come in if you can. I was like, I will be more than happy. I'll do
01:31anything on the Ava Do A Native project.
01:32I told her I would be the person carrying the sweet tea. It doesn't even matter. So yeah, I just,
01:37but I really love collaborating with her.
01:39She's an amazing visionary. And the things that she's doing for the industry, things she's doing for the world, for
01:45the culture, it's just astronomical.
01:47I'm just glad I'm part of it.
01:49Yeah. Give me some examples of kind of what it's like working with her or how Queen Sugar is kind
01:54of different than your past experiences.
01:56Well, one thing that I love the most is that we work with all female directors. I've been working, doing
02:04film and television for 18 years.
02:06I've probably had three, two or three female directors since I started. And, you know, just working with her and
02:14working with all those female directors,
02:16it brings something out of me, a sensitivity that I didn't really, that I knew I had, but I never
02:20really brought it to screen.
02:23And it's made me a better actor. It's made me a better artist. It's made me a better person.
02:27It made me want to be the person that Hollywood is. And, you know, that's a main thing that she
02:33does.
02:33She's all about inclusiveness, you know, and that's a major, it's a major asset in Hollywood so that, you know,
02:42it doesn't just seem like it's one type of people working all the time.
02:46And so our sets are extremely inclusive. You see every walk of life, everybody is on our set and it's
02:54just a family.
02:55Yeah, yeah. Yeah, you've said before that it's, you know, you've played some tough guys, you've played some gangster roles.
03:04And, you know, you had to, did you have to actually do anything to kind of break out of that?
03:10Did it just involve, like, how you were connecting with Ava and with, you know, the creatives that worked on
03:15Queen Sugar?
03:16Or did you actually, did you feel like you had to make a change in how you were talking to
03:23people in order to, like,
03:24have people consider you for roles beyond that? Or is it just the industry?
03:28Well, what it is, is I worked with Ava on Selma. Luckily, I got the chance to play Reverend James
03:33Orange.
03:34And she and I just had a lot of great conversations. And so when she did say she wrote the
03:38role for me,
03:38she said, this is how I see you. I don't know how, you know, I want to change the perspective
03:44of you.
03:45I want to change the, you know, the way people look at you. And I know that you can deliver.
03:51So I read the script and I was like, wow, this is how she sees me as a loving man,
03:55a man, you know,
03:56a hardworking man. And it doesn't have to, you know, like you said, it doesn't have to be heavy all
04:02the time.
04:03You know, you know, you can play those sometimes, but it doesn't have to be your whole career.
04:06So I was just so glad when she finally approached me with it.
04:10And when I read it, I was so happy. I was.
04:15And I'm glad that I did it because now the offers that I get are the things that I read
04:20for.
04:21It's so different than what it was, you know, before when I was just playing.
04:27No slight to it. I love playing Cookie Brown or Ray Donovan.
04:30It's one of my favorite characters of all time.
04:31It's fun to be a badass, right?
04:32It is. It's fun to be the bad guy sometimes.
04:34Sometimes, you know, even like in Thank You For Your Service, I played Dante,
04:38who is, I guess, is a bad guy, but not really because he's a man who is trying to take
04:43care of his military brethren
04:45who are coming back from the war and have nowhere to go.
04:49And he's like, I will have somewhere for you to land when you come back.
04:55Yeah, okay. So let's talk a little bit about Thank You For Your Service.
04:59Can you just tell me quickly the plot of the movie?
05:01Well, the plot of the movie is about these young men and women,
05:06but this is specifically about a group of young men coming back from the war.
05:12And it's the post-traumatic stress that they have, you know, and it's about their day-to-day life.
05:20And it's not just about the men that come back. It's about their families.
05:24You know, they have their wives. They have kids who are also suffering right along with them.
05:29And that's one thing that, you know, that I'm really glad that Jason Hall,
05:34the writer and director of the film, wanted to highlight.
05:36You know, we want to see what these men and women look like when they come back.
05:40You know, you're out one night with your friends, you're partying or whatever,
05:44you're having a good time singing and dancing,
05:46and the next day you're walking into a combat, and your man right beside you gets killed.
05:52What does that do to you?
05:53Yeah.
05:53You know, and what does that do?
05:55And that's the exploration that this film is doing.
05:59And, you know, Miles Teller and Pula Kole, they did a beautiful job.
06:02Scott Hayes, you know, playing those men coming back.
06:06And then, you know, and the wives, you know, being there to support.
06:11Like, I know it wasn't, you know, as easy as you may think it,
06:16as easy as you may tell me it was.
06:17You're trying to save, you know, me.
06:20But, you know, I want to save you.
06:21Right, yeah.
06:24Is there anything you kind of hope that people will realize once they see this movie
06:29about, just about veterans and...
06:31Yeah, I mean, the devil is in the details.
06:35The name of the film is Thank You For Your Service.
06:38You know, I had the premiere on last week,
06:41and I didn't just say thank you for your service.
06:45I went and we had vets coming in.
06:48And, you know, they're portraying real-life people.
06:51And so I met the real-life people that they portrayed.
06:54And I just went and I talked to them, you know.
06:56I talked to them and said, man, how you doing?
06:58You know, and that's one thing I want to do for people who are civilians
07:05to come back and to realize.
07:07Don't just thank them for their service.
07:09Ask them exactly, you know, how you doing?
07:10How's everything going?
07:11You know, people like to talk.
07:14People like to talk about what's going on in their lives.
07:17So they're not just this statue just sitting there,
07:20oh, we thank you for what you've done.
07:22They're real human beings.
07:23In Thank You For Your Service,
07:26your kind of your first scene where we're introduced to your character Dante,
07:29it's in a dogfighting ring.
07:31Right.
07:32So I just wanted to ask you, how did that scene go down?
07:36Because for me, just watching it, it's pretty visceral and intense.
07:41What was it like to film that scene?
07:44It was tough.
07:46I mean, it was extremely tough.
07:47The thing about it, the dogs were so nice.
07:51Yeah.
07:52They're actors, you know, virtually.
07:53I'd go out there, play with the dogs,
07:55and then next thing you know they're going at it.
07:57But they weren't biting each other.
07:59They just looked like it, you know.
08:00They're just jumping at each other.
08:03And it's one scene when Bula Cole, who plays Solo,
08:06picks the dog up.
08:08And the dog was such a good actor, like this is a pit bull.
08:11You know, and he's carrying him,
08:14and the dog was just sitting there like this.
08:17And it just does something to me.
08:18I'm a dog.
08:19I'm a dog.
08:19I have a dog.
08:20His name is General.
08:21And I'm just thinking about my dog.
08:24But yeah, it was something to the heart.
08:28Yeah.
08:28Okay, let's go back to your character of Hollywood.
08:32Right.
08:32Can you tell me one thing that he has done that you are going to pick up on now?
08:38And like...
08:40You know what's funny?
08:42Hollywood is a real handy guy.
08:45Mm-hmm.
08:47So I go home, tell my daughters, like, yeah, you know, I'm just like Hollywood.
08:50It's like, you don't fix anything around the house.
08:52What you talking about?
08:54So what I've been trying to do is change fixtures and stuff.
08:59And the next thing I know, I'm calling a mechanic.
09:01I'm calling somebody to come in and a plumber to come in and fix my garbage disposal
09:08because I've screwed it all up.
09:11But he's just this handy dude, you know.
09:14And even this season when he's helping Vi around cooking the pies and stuff,
09:20I said, maybe I can help out a little bit in the kitchen.
09:22But that ain't happening.
09:24I wanted to know if there's anybody that you would like to play that you haven't played yet.
09:29Yeah, a lot of people I'd like to play.
09:30You know, I would like to play George Washington and Hamilton, the movie.
09:35Yes.
09:36You know, I would like to play Paul Robeson.
09:40You know, I would like to play, my dream project has always been Thelonious Monk.
09:45You know, there are people who I really look up to, you know, who I want to play.
09:50I can't, there's a few people who I can't play.
09:56I would like to play Martin Luther King, but I'm six with two, 220 pounds,
10:00so that might not really work, you know.
10:02But people who are, you know, people who are almost like the same stature as I am,
10:07it's like Paul Robeson, like I said, and Thelonious Monk.
10:12Thelonious Monk specifically because he was just such a character, and he was a genius.
10:17And, you know, when I was growing up playing piano, I wanted to play just like him.
10:22And when I became an actor, I wanted to be the acting version of Thelonious Monk,
10:27this weird, wiggy guy, you know, who's unpredictable.
10:31So, you know, those are a few characters.
10:32Sounds like a meaty role.
10:34Yeah, it is, yeah.
10:36So, yeah, I mean, we're kind of living in what everybody says is the golden age of television.
10:40And you're just telling me all the characters you'd like to play.
10:43Like, is it exciting for you that television is kind of opening up into different, like, worlds and facets?
10:49Like, I feel like now more than ever, when you think about all of the things you want to do
10:54as an actor,
10:55all of those things might happen.
10:57Yeah, definitely.
10:58You know, because of all of the mediums that we have now, like all the platforms, streaming and cable and
11:09social media,
11:12they're, you know, YouTube, and, you know, they're doing their own series.
11:16There's so much space there now, you know, and all of these great stories that can be told, there's no
11:24limit to them.
11:25I think, and, you know, being a black man, seeing all of these great projects, you have Queenship, you have
11:31Atlanta, you have Insecure,
11:33you have Luke Cage, you have all of these different things that we have now.
11:40And these stories that we can tell, it was a time that we weren't, that black people weren't able to
11:44tell their own narratives.
11:45Now you have Ava DuVernay out there telling the narrative, you have an Issa Rae, you have a Donald Glover,
11:50you have a Cheo Coker,
11:51you have a, you know, you have all of these different creatives out here telling their stories.
11:56Charles Murray's another one.
11:58These people are, you know, they're giving, they're giving chances.
12:01Can you bearish?
12:02This is just an amazing time.
12:05I'm blessed to be on one of the great shows, you know, of this, of this era.
12:10So, you know, when the books are written and the history is told, you know,
12:14it's a blessing that I will be one of the names that, that would be a study.
12:20Would you ever want to be on Insecure?
12:23Man, I want to be on everything.
12:25I want to be on Insecure.
12:26You might have to get naked for Insecure.
12:28That's all right, give me about two months in the gym, I'll be all right.
12:32No, you know, Issa does a good job, and Yvonne, you know, those are my people, man.
12:36Those are my friends anyway, so I'm just proud of everything they're doing.
12:39Yeah, yeah.
12:40Definitely.
12:41So, okay, I have a couple of questions for you.
12:44This is first best, last worst.
12:46Okay.
12:47First acting job that made you think, I've made it.
12:50The first, first acting job that made me think I made it was the first one I ever did.
12:55It was a movie called Road Trip by Todd Phillips.
12:58It was, I think, David, what's the guy's name?
13:01Tom Green.
13:03That's great.
13:03It was just, it was a fun movie.
13:05But it was such a cultural phenomenon when it came out.
13:08I was like, oh, I'm going to be rich for the rest.
13:10I'm going to be rich in like a week.
13:11Which, that didn't happen.
13:14Yeah.
13:15But then you got a lot of people on the streets, right?
13:17Like, hey, Road Trip.
13:18Everybody's like, hey, you, Road Trip.
13:19Exactly.
13:20Yeah.
13:20I'm like, oh, I'm famous now.
13:21Yeah.
13:22Yeah.
13:24Best story you have from the set of Queen Sugar.
13:27Best story I have from the set of Queen Sugar.
13:31Oh, man.
13:32All right.
13:32So, Tina Lifford, who plays Vi, my girlfriend, and Dandre Whitfield, who plays Remy, they have
13:40a battle that's been going on for two years now.
13:43And one day, they just go in all the time.
13:48One day, Dandre grabbed the crane, got one of the crane operators to put Tina's chair all
13:56the way up to the roof.
13:58So, when we, she's looking for her chair, we're looking around, we're just sitting around
14:01talking and laughing.
14:02And I just pointed up.
14:04And, you know, she thinks I'm always the accomplice.
14:06I say, Tina, I don't have anything to do with this.
14:07It's got nothing to do with me.
14:09But, and that was just a fun time.
14:10Just being on set with those two, it's just, it's always like the roadrunner and Wally
14:16Coyote.
14:16Because you don't know who's chasing, you don't know who's going to get, who's going
14:19to fall and get an ammo on the head.
14:24Last time you were recognized in public?
14:27Every day.
14:28Yeah.
14:29Every day.
14:30People love the show.
14:31You know, I'm just blessed to be on a show like this.
14:33You were just, actually, you were just recognized.
14:36No, I was about to say, out in the lobby.
14:37Out in the lobby.
14:38Yeah, but it's like an everyday thing.
14:40And it's, it's astonishing.
14:42And it's good.
14:43It's mostly women.
14:44And that's a good thing.
14:45That is cool.
14:46I love that.
14:47So, yeah, that's, it's everyday, you know.
14:50Like I said, it's great to be on the show that resonates.
14:53Yeah.
14:53Yeah.
14:53Do you like, are female fans especially kind to you?
14:57Or do they want to like, do they want to like get in on the gossip?
15:01Or are they like.
15:01They just, you know what it is.
15:02They love the character so much.
15:04And they think that I'm that character.
15:06I'm like, I ain't.
15:07Yeah.
15:07I ain't fixing nothing around the house.
15:09Don't worry about that.
15:10No.
15:11So.
15:14Worst audition experience.
15:16Oh, God.
15:17You know what?
15:17And my manager's in the room right now.
15:19And I don't even want to say it.
15:20But, goodness, I had an audition for Grey's Anatomy, right?
15:25And Denzel Washington was directing the episode.
15:28This couldn't have been like two or three years ago, Frank.
15:31And Denzel Washington is directing the episode.
15:34And Denzel Washington is directing the episode.
15:37So, I'm in there reading with him.
15:39And I got like, oh, God, this is the greatest actor of all time.
15:44And I'm like, this is two or three years ago.
15:47I was already on television.
15:48I was already like, you know, did Selma and everything.
15:51But, man, I blew that audition so bad.
15:53I was like, I hope to God he doesn't think that's how I am, for real.
15:56Because I was just nervous and I was sort of shaking.
15:59My voice was doing all this and stuff.
16:00And I was like, oh, man.
16:02And I went outside and I called Frank.
16:03I had a great audition, man.
16:05It was great.
16:06But it was just bad for me.
16:08Right.
16:08You know, yeah.
16:09You're just like, I hope he didn't see how nervous I was.
16:13Yeah, because, yeah, and he gave me notes.
16:15He gave me like actor notes.
16:16And I was like, I don't, I'm not used to taking, I mean, like, you're right.
16:20You're 100% right because I'm really blowing this right now.
16:23Let me do it the right way.
16:24But, nah.
16:25But, yeah.
16:26But, you know what, now he and his wife are both fans of the show.
16:29I talked to Pauletta.
16:31She was doing a play with a friend of mine.
16:33And she was like, Omar, we watch a show every week.
16:35So, I was like, thank God.
16:36It's a little bit of redemption in here somewhere.
16:38Yeah, absolutely.
16:40See, you let your work speak for you.
16:42Exactly.
16:42Yeah, you know, I produced a photo shoot with Denzel.
16:47Okay.
16:47And it was, yeah, I was just as nervous.
16:50Yeah, yeah.
16:50I was like, excuse me, sir.
16:53We're ready for you now.
16:54And the thing about it is I've auditioned with the biggest directors.
16:58I've worked with Tarantino.
17:00And I've worked with, you know, Ava.
17:03And, you know, I've worked with some of the biggest ones.
17:05And I've been in Oscar winning movies.
17:07But it's just something about the man who's the best at what you do is directing an episode.
17:13And you just, like, blow it.
17:16So, yeah.
17:18It was like three years ago, too.
17:19Goodness, that was not too long ago.
17:21Yeah.
17:21Yeah.
17:22Orj Dorsey, thank you so much for being here.
17:25Queen Sugar, check out the season finale.
17:28Definitely, please.
17:28And season three, you're going back to it in February.
17:30Going back to it in February.
17:31We're ready to go back to New Orleans.
17:33All right.
17:33Let the good times roll.
17:35Yeah.
17:37Bye.
17:37Thank you so much.
17:42Bye.
Comments