was like the average 25 year olds now so.

- Yeah.

- I'd seen and been through so much.

- Well speaking of Juice,

thank you for offering--

- You like that segue?

- I did.

I did.

It looked planned didn't it?

Y'all know there is just natural chemistry right there.

(laughs)

This was your first film ever, ever, ever?

Is that correct?

- Mhm.

- When I first heard that, I was like,

no way, there's no way that this was his first film.

The acting in that film was phenomenal.

And I think it showed me, are there Black people like this?

And by like this, I basically mean like, different from me.

I grew up in Kentucky.

- Okay.

- Which, you know, had its rough parts and everything,

but just like the depth that we saw of the characters,

and of course, Pac's performance.

I would imagine that you get asked a lot about

this idea that playing Bishop, which was Pac's role,

changed him by the end of the movie?

Is that something that you hear a lot?

- No.

- No?

- No that wasn't it.

Pac was already on his way, I mean,

he was writing his first album

while we were filming the movie.

He had already sort of been semi-famous,

'cause you know his whole experience

with Digital Underground.

And so, he was sort of breaking into his own,

and it was both of our first films,

but Pac was an actor, like a trained actor.

And that's why those performances were so great.

And I think that also the timing

of when Juice was happening, it was just magical,

because you also have to look at like,

we call it a culture now, but it's hip-hop.

It was all happening at the same time,

so it was all exploding at the same time,

and we were sort of that second wave after Spike Lee,

of the young culture, so for us

we were these four kids,

we could so relate to it, 'cause it was us.

you know, we didn't necessarily know each other personally,

but it was easy to put,

okay, he's that archetype, he's that archetype,

he's that, you know.

And Pac and I had a somewhat similar dynamic

to Bishop and Q.

- Oh yeah?

- you know, I was sort of the you know, responsible one,

and he was sort of the renegade,

but he was a great, great brother.

Great brother, yeah.

- Do you remember where you were

when you heard the news that you got the role?

- Yeah, I was at home.

- Yeah?

- I was at home and the phone rang.

It's before we had cellphones, y'all.

(laughs)

The phone rang and it was Ernest Dickerson,

and he said, hey man, you go the role,

and I was like, wow that was incredible.

And I called my mom and she was like, all right cool.

We didn't know exactly what was happening.

- Yeah.

- you know, 'cause even though it was it was my first film,

I was taking a train to set, you know.

I lived at the time, in East New York.

And we were filming all the way in Harlem.

So I ended up going to stay with the first AD.

- That's a stretch.

- Because he lived downtown Brooklyn, so it was easier to,

you know, it was still brass tax.

It wasn't like limos were coming to pick me up.

And we were helicoptering.

you know what I mean?

So it was still you know, it was still grounded.

The experience of it was still grounded.

But it was it was incredible.

It was incredible.

It was it was also dangerous, again we filmed in like,

in the middle of the hood in Harlem.

- Yeah.

And I'm sure Harlem was a different place back then too.

- Harlem was a very different place back then.

That's when they, you know?

I mean, Pac was befriending certain cats on the set

and the next thing you know.

While we at lunch they running up in his trailer.

- Oh, lord.

- Steal jewelry and stuff.

- Oh my gosh.

- This is the old New York, this is real New York.

- Right. I was gonna ask for a favorite

behind the scenes story.

Maybe, what is your most memorable behind the scenes story?

- One of my most memorable

behind the scene stories of Juice

is one day, one morning we came in

and we're reading the papers

and some woman had thrown her baby in the trash right?

Horrible, but it's also horrible

that that was normal to me growing up in New York.

You heard stories like that all the time.

Well Tupac was really really affected that day.

And he just kept talking about it, kept talking about it.

And then by lunch time,

he was like yo O, come in the trailer,

and he starts rapping, this song.

And I'm like man yeah that's cool.

And then so we wrapped the film

and a few months later his first album comes out

and I hear Brenda's Got A Baby.

- I knew you were gonna say Brenda's Got A Baby.

- And I was blown away.

- Wow.

- That right there I knew, oh he's special.

He's gonna go somewhere completely different.

- Wow, I love this story so much.

So shortly after that,

you are in, Daybreak and The Program,

both in 1993, hardworking man, same year, I can't imagine.

So Daybreak was like a dystopian sci-fi type movie,

very very different from Juice.

Genre wise.

- It's based on a play.

- Based on a play?

- Yeah.

- How did your preparation for this sci-fi role

differ from your preparation for the role in Juice?

- I guess it differed in terms of like trying to understand

the world of Daybreak.

'Cause as you mentioned, it was just sort of,

I don't know if it was so much sci-fi as it's like

pushing the boundaries of, you know, it's kinda like

this apocalyptic world.

- I think that's the word that I meant.

- So it was just kinda

try to imagine yourself in that circumstance.

What was fun for me, with Daybreak is that,

the role they originally wanted me for,

to come and read for,

is not the role that I responded to.

- Hm?

- And so I had told my team

about the role that I responded to.

And they were like,

but that's written for a white dude and I was like, so?

That's not, it's written for a 25 year old white dude,

you're a 18 year old Black kid.

And so what I did when I went into the audition,

was I just signed up for that role and then got it.

- Wow, you were like haha.

- Not so much that but it was just you know?

When you're young and I think your naiveté

can shield you from certain realities.

But that was fun for me.

That was a fun experience.

- How often did situations like that pop up in your career?

Where like there's a role that you want,

but like race is a thing that could've barred you from it

or should've barred you from it?

- It, I mean, it's happened a few times.

It's happened a few times.

I think that's what it's

exciting about now, is that it's,

that's changing a lot.

I think that a lot of

not only filmmakers, but like studios

are challenging themselves to say

hey why can't this, they call it diverse.

But you know, why can't this role be a female?

Or be Black?

Or be Asian?

Or be Latino?

you know?

I think they're trying to at least push the boundaries.

So that what we see on film or television can look like

what the world really looks like.

- I place you in like this group of Black actors

who obviously very talented, versatile,

can play just about any character in any genre.

But my favorite is like

the movies about Black men being friends.

And just like Black friendship.

Which brings me to The Wood in 1999.

Which is one of those movies that I watched,

my mother may or may not used to bootleg movies

'cause she had two VCRs.

Not saying that she did, also not saying that she didn't.

But that was one of the movies

that I would just like watch.

Over and over and over.

And in this movie, you're acting with Taye Diggs

and Richard T. Jones and just like actors

that I feel like I know

because I've seen you all in so many things growing up.

Was the chemistry that you all had on that set like natural?

Organic?

Were y'all all friends off set?

Did y'all just like go to clubs together and stuff?

- Nah, I met those guys during that experience.

I think again it kind of

'cause we were kind of all around the same age

the gel kinda came naturally.

'Cause at that point you know

we'd done a little bit of work.

Had our sea feet underneath us.

And it was just like, let's go have some fun.

I think we could all relate again

to not only those characters, but that comradery.

you know like, for me it was Marlon

and my other boy Mitchell Marchand who's a writer.

We were the three musketeers.

So it was easy for me to sort of find my character in that.

I'd assume the same for Taye and Richard.

- Yeah, it seems like a situation like that

would lend itself to a lot of improvised moments.

I don't know if that makes sense or not.

But it just seems like you know

like y'all got the chemistry down and everything like

makes sense and you're comfortable.

Were there a lot of like improvised moments in that movie?

- I wouldn't say there were a lot.

But there were definitely some.

And that makes for fun and you know,

Rick Famuyiwa's super talented

and he was collaborative and he had such a clear vision.

And he just anchored that so well.

- I would get run outta town on a rail.

If I did not mention Love and Basketball.

Especially by most of the people sitting behind me.

There's been a lot of renewed conversation

about Love and Basketball.

You play a guy named Q.

Basketball?

Your moves?

you know?

The crossover was like, you do it all right in the movie.

- It was all right.

That was tough training.

- I was gonna ask about that.

Did you have to like train with a coach?

- Yeah, yeah, yeah.