Erika Alexander Part 2

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Speaker 1: Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.

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Speaker 2: What's Up Everybody?

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Speaker 3: This is Sugar Steve from Questlove Supreme. We are back with part two of our conversation with the incredible Erica Alexander. If you have not heard part one, please check that out before this. In that episode, Erica spoke about her upbringing living in Arizona and New Mexico before moving to Philly. She really opened up about her experiences playing cousin Pam on The Cosby Show and Maxine on Living Single, two very memorable roles.

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Speaker 2: One thing I want to add too is that you won't hear me or.

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Speaker 4: One thing I want to add.

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Speaker 3: Too is that you won't hear me or unpaid bill in this part too, because one thing I want to add too is that you won't hear me or unpaid bill in this part too, because.

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Speaker 4: Theyre so here's the thing, when, of course it's revealed that you know Living Singles main sort of influence, of course being right, and you've talked about this time and time again about friends, but I do want to know because here's the deal.

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Speaker 2: I had to go to the.

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Speaker 4: Warner Brothers a lot, maybe like a month ago. I did a cameo on ABVIOD Elementary, which I think might be on right now as we speak. And I remember seeing an interview where you were like, yeah, you know we were on the same lot. You know, both shows were Warner Brothers shows, and I go there now, and of course you know you'll you'll go past the wherever what do you call it? Like the buildings that they build sets.

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Speaker 2: Like oh houtages, right, you know, I.

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Speaker 4: Always wanted to know what sound stage you guys were on, because they now mark off like this is where Ozzie and Harriet and and Da Da Da and friends and Da Da Da, And I wanted to know where the living single one was, but we weren't there.

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Speaker 5: We were on the ghetto a lot, I'm not kidding, right.

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Speaker 6: So not even in that whole area, a whole different area location address.

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Speaker 7: You're saying, yeah, what's something.

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Speaker 5: Called the ranch? And they had all the big shows or all the shows with white casts on the big lot and we were on the ranch lot. We didn't have air conditioning, wed No, we had to We staged a walk out because we didn't have craft service correct or you know those types of things. Yeah, we were hot in sale on.

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Speaker 4: That stage, so okay, I add when I asked the Avid people that like, okay, so where's this in proximity to work for it? They're like, we're right next door to them, And they were like, that's a big deal to be right next door to where they shot Friends, and I briefly mentioned the whole living single thing, but then I got distracted and never got the answer. But obviously, to shoot any where in proximity to where Friends was means that you're going to get treated better, like you're things work, and so you're saying that a lot of those things you actually wanted the stage a walk out, that's crazy.

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Speaker 7: We did stay the watch yeah, really, yeah. I was very.

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Speaker 5: Political even then. I wrote a letter and I said that you have to understand I had to come off of the biggest show in the world, right. I understood that we weren't going to get those types of niceties to Cosby got, but I understood what we were being treated Like niggas say that, yeah, so wait with the number one show in America, Black and Latino Household and we didn't have any air condition at the time, we need to that's crazy advocate for it now. They wouldn't do those types of things, and it's nice to be in proximity to power and things that are, you know, in the zeitgeist. But we were over there building still for the black people who were on.

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Speaker 6: Those sets, that's the same part of the stories that I wish you would have been able to finish that story. So they understood how much of a real big deal it was to be there in that moment. Who fought for them to be there because that's fucking ridiculous.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, real quick? What other shows shot at the Ranch?

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Speaker 5: The Wayne's Brothers?

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Speaker 7: Oh wow.

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Speaker 5: For a long time it was mostly us, and then season three or so, the Wayne's Brothers dropped in and we had a good time with those young fellas. And then the Waltons actually came to do like a limited series. And I had done a series of something called Common Ground with Richard Thomas and we had already won friends, so we said, oh, there goes the neighborhood with all these white folks. We all got along. We all got along, We all joked about it, and they got it. But yeah, that's who was on that lot before they fixed it up. We were on the Ranch lot, and you know that fountain, it's on our lot that wanted to film around that fountain, but they didn't let us. That's why we're behind the couch eight. That's some shit.

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Speaker 4: Wow, that's the things I learned. Oh, was there any truth to the rumor that initially NBC was going to pick up the show initially before it went to Fox?

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Speaker 5: Never because we are a Warner Brothers show and we played on the Fox. Okay, so Warren Littlefields. The story goes that when we made our first debut, they said, is there anything show? There was any show that you saw that you wish it was yours? And he said single And he was the head of NBC and then the next year he created with a different team France.

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Speaker 4: I never heard of the cast members response to jay Z's Moonlight video. Jay Z infamously uh Alan Alan Yang, who who directed Uh uh with with Disease and Sorry Yeah, Masters of None, and also uh Maya's current series Lut. Jay Z got Alan Yang to basically get the friend set to actually recreate Do you remember this vine?

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Speaker 2: Remember it was? It was?

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Speaker 4: Was it was it?

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Speaker 2: Four four four? Was it?

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Speaker 4: Yeah? Yeah? The Moonlight song or four four four? What were your feelings of that? I guess once that story broke out, and then jay Z also gave a statement on it as well, what were your Did you have a response to that video at all?

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Speaker 5: No, I was unaware of it.

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Speaker 2: Oh okay.

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Speaker 4: Basically, when you're that story got out, jay Z made a video in which Tessa Thompson, Uh, Tiffany Hattish Hannibal and yeah, yeah, basically I think I did see that. Just wanted to know if you word okay, I think that.

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Speaker 5: We're understand and I understand that in marketing that you want to also speak to a wide audience. If you have this huge part of the world that understands that friends is this juggernaut. I'm sure that jay Z who understands that you stand next to things you want to shine on you and vice versa. I don't think he needs to stand next to living single, okay, and and and not that he needs to stand next to friends, But I get it. I get it as a branding.

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Speaker 6: Was that his homage to living single in a way like was it the supposed to feel like, yeah, okay, it was supposed to feel like this is we know what the real truth is? And I guess so.

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Speaker 5: But it could also be seen in the opposite.

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Speaker 7: Yes, it came right, you know, right, you're right.

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Speaker 5: Yeah, So but I get it, you.

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Speaker 4: Know, at one hundred and eighteen episodes, I mean, that's nothing to sneeze at for in most shows. Basically, if we're really being honest with ourselves, most shows are at their best during a five season arc, and then it gets a little shaky with season six, seven, eight. You know they Fraser was consistent all I didn't watch.

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Speaker 7: Yeah, yeah, I watched pretty consistent.

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Speaker 8: Yeah, I mean I agree with that five season or like the favor like I mean Breaking Bad or like the wh Like five seasons is kind of it's perfect.

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Speaker 4: Yeah, yeah, but we're greedy, and so it's like what's ringing for? All? Right? Like right now, fell down a suit hole and now I'm a little upset that it ended that eight seasons, even though two said it ended a season five or whatever.

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Speaker 2: But are you.

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Speaker 4: Satisfied with that particular arc, like those one hundred and eighteen episodes or do you feel as though there was more in it? Because I'm not I'm not too sure. But by the time you guys ended, Max is.

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Speaker 6: Pregnant right end, and with Head, I'm gonna get together and and then Kadija goes on to another country to be with Scooters.

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Speaker 5: Yeah. Well that was just them wrapping it up. We didn't even really have passed together, like was you know, TC wasn't really there. That was my comedy partner. That's like I'm dancing with Redistare and Ginger and something I ain't got nobody to dance with.

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Speaker 7: I love watching y'all dance.

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Speaker 5: Yes, there you go. We had a Dallas and we had met Williams and things like that. We're starting to be incorporated, and I think that it was again it found its peak and was starting to round over. You have. You need everybody to be engaged. We're saying very intentional words of writers and they are. They're building these characters in these worlds, and if they're not as engaged, then we can only do We're like puppets. We can only do so much.

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Speaker 4: I've uh one one last living single which is totally just off of character. But I gotta know one of your directors of the show, John's first thing, JD Lube. This sounds like a weird poor name. Are you familiar with JD Lube? L o U l O b u E. Okay, see I would imagine that on a sitcom there are a gazillion directors or whatnot. I wanted to know. I know you're looking like, well, no, no, he JD was sort of the longest director of Soul Train, which I'm absolutely obsessed with, and so the moment that I felt that Soul Trained the shark ish, he had left to go do living single. But you know, I always just wanted to know what what was he like as a director. But you don't remember, Sorry we ruined show.

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Speaker 5: Right to go on listen?

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Speaker 4: But but but my question is actually in that in sitcom world or in television world, can you explain to me it's weird that the director isn't consistent from soup to nuts, Like in most comedies they have different directors come in and direct one Do you know generally why that's a rule, Like why isn't there just one director and one writing staff? I know the staff writers can change throughout the seasons or whatnot, but what does the deal with like having multiple directors for.

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Speaker 2: A series, Like.

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Speaker 4: Why is that?

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Speaker 5: Yeah, I'm not quite sure, but I would imagine that it keeps the show from getting stale. They're also performers favorites. Some people don't jail with the performers, and if they notice a change or they might want to mix it up so people don't get disrespectful and start just doing what they want. Sometime it keeps you on your toes. It depends on your cast. If you have a problematic cast or somebody at the lead, that's a tough when you mix it up. I don't know. I just think that that energy, that new energy, is important. But our shows were mostly directed by Ellen Gettleson, and she knew us very well, so I actually seen it both ways. I've always been happy with new directors sometimes because I know people are getting a chance to build their resume. I really really to see somebody I have worked with over and over again because I don't explain myself and they know what you're capable of, so they also pull you back if they're saying, oh, come on, Erica. Like I wanted to do a whole scene on the floor and they wouldn't let me, and I said, why, you can hear me, but you know fine, I'll set up. I was pissed, but that was a director I knew. I kept. I didn't feel like I was pushing it. It's just that these things happen. So I think on a drama, I would say it's because you get burned out. You can't be the same director. You have to prep and do each show, and each show you have to prep them, so it's tough. But I think with comedy you're more likely to get return directors who are for the most part, doing most of the shows because the casts and the writers know that they can pull it off.

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Speaker 8: Sometimes for you as an actor, is there a particular like in terms of comedic acting versus dramatic acting? Is one more exhausting? What kind of strenuous than the other?

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Speaker 5: No, I never thought about that. I never have. I haven't again. I don't have the luxury of choosing my roles, and I think that people think that you can. I took the roles that I got, and if I didn't do well, I try to do better the next time. So I got dramas at first, and I was known as drama girl for a very long girl, long time, excuse me. And then I got comedy and suddenly people are like, oh, you were comedian type, and I was. They didn't know I did drama. There was a surprise. I'm like, you kidding, That's what I grew up in. And then I do podcasts and I do this or that, But what I'm really trying to do is make a living and make a life preach.

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Speaker 4: I do. Remember you and uh the book that Alex Hilly didn't get to finish.

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Speaker 5: Mama's by a Flora's Family.

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Speaker 2: Yes, okay, sorry, it was.

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Speaker 5: You know remember one time and they gave me and Cecily Tyson a Black Emmy and anybody that has it from that award show. It never was done again. We have black I have an Emmy. It's a Black Emmy, but.

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Speaker 6: It was a it was a Blackamy show, right, a black Emmy section. It was a black Emmy show.

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Speaker 5: It was a Blackamy Award show. Because they weren't even.

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Speaker 2: They got I ain't got no how come I didn't know.

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Speaker 7: This no real remember I remember, it's a real thing.

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Speaker 5: It only happened once. I'm sure they got sued c distance letter, but I got one.

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Speaker 6: See that's why we got to keep telling history and telling these stories.

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Speaker 4: You said that, I thought you meant like, yeah, yeah, n w A c. People were I didn't realize that there.

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Speaker 5: Was the great felicierer shod has no Emmy. Eight years on the top show in the world, created helped create must see TV. They weren't given back any awards, they complained. Now, I'm like, it was a drought and a durst. So they created the Black Emmys, and I have one yo.

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Speaker 7: Not to move fast forward, boss.

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Speaker 6: But in my mind, I'm like, so when somebody said to Erica, we got this roll for you and get Out, she must have been like, oh, hell yeah, just get all this, Like, oh.

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Speaker 5: I like to choose great material on the you find it, great material chooses you. So I read the part and thought, oh, this is lovely. But frankly I thought it was a college students.

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Speaker 4: Film, okaye, So listen. I often wondered more with Us than get Out. I obsessed with how something looks on paper before it even gets to the screen. Fante and I sort of had this debate before, especially with US.

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Speaker 2: Yeah. I wasn't big on US. I didn't right.

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Speaker 4: I liked US, but I also chose to invest eight watch throughs. And if you have to watch something eight times to see probably the Easter Eggs or whatever. I still enjoyed it because you know, I like looking for Easter eggs and mystery and whatever. But get out to Me on screen was amazing to be whole. But I always wondered, what did that script, how did it look on paper at the time, and did anyone see what was coming? And the fact that you played such a straight role in it. I was like, I'm glad she because when you came, I was like, oh boy, this is about to turn up now. But they didn't let you really put your teeth into it. But I don't know if you were fine.

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Speaker 5: With that one thing. I thought it was a comedy. It was. I remember, my scene is only between me and little real outrageous story, and I bring in my team and we laugh at him. But at first I am supposed to look like I'm about to get into it. We're gonna ratchet it up.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: Jordan always told me when I came on the scream beside people going hey that's Max. Oh my god, they were like, okay, now now something's going to happen. That's gonna happen. So he would joke and say, we need to make a Detective LaToya movie. Yes, that character, And that's when I started thinking about the ping panther or somebody who is a hapless person who stumbles into success. But it's not because they're looking for it.

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Speaker 7: So no, I do.

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Speaker 5: On the paper it looked exactly like it looked. Only Jordan knew how it was going to go. And unless you were part imagine, you know, there were fantastic actors they had all around, and they were cutting people's brains open and you know what I mean, and replacing them. So I wonder if they thought, hey, this is an interesting thing, let's go do it. He's a great guy. That's that's what I thought. I loved Jordan Peel. But I can assure you I had a call from a friend, my co founder Ben at Color Farm here and he says, Yoe, I just saw the trailer. Didn't you say you were in a comedy. This is a hard film.

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Speaker 4: And wait, even then, you didn't realize where he was going with it.

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Speaker 6: No, because you didn't get to read the whole thing. Did you just read your scenes?

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Speaker 5: I read my scene? But not only that. It was during the election. I was Hillary Clinton's most traveled surrogate, that's right. I was on the road Leicester and so for your service, and I was doing also at the same time Queen Sugar and I was playing there a bipolar.

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Speaker 2: Yeah.

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Speaker 5: So I had flown in from Baton Rouge straight to Alabama in one night, did all of those things, then went to Harlem for a rally for Hillary. I did it all like this without even looking. Sometimes you just have to go forward. And that was one of those moments.

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Speaker 7: Wait wait, wait, wait wait.

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Speaker 6: So did you ever get going sneak into a theater and hear the reaction of people when you come on the screen.

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Speaker 7: Did you get to feel that?

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Speaker 5: Yes? I did get to feel it once and it was really once.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, okay once, Yeah, my first time seeing it. I saw it in Detroit, so it was all the way laugh very different, very different.

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Speaker 4: Yeah. I was gonna say, I think I watched that film twelve times and purposely chose various I chose the whitest theater in Denver, Colorado, where the film was absolutely silent.

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Speaker 2: In parts.

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Speaker 4: That and then I saw I went to Magic Johnson to see say that evening Ready Dog, and that's when I was like, oh, now that's where it's a comedy, Like that's it's not a totally different movie.

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Speaker 5: Different movie. Yeah, that's hilarious.

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Speaker 4: Now that I think about it, there's another iconic film role you did. I'll be very brief, but can you talk about Tony Braxton's You're Making Me High? Video?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, let's go.

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Speaker 4: Can you just talk. I think that was maybe the last time. Like, once you're in the industry, you just watch things different. But I do remember well one I was happy because if you were around in the nineties whatever, Bryce Wilson's growth theory kind of yeah, Bryce Wilson his uh uh and I'm understating this. His adoration for Tony Braxton was well known throughout circles. So the fact that he got to play in that video, like I was like, yo, he like he he's made his crush in love for the Stalk of on right exactly, very very much known. And so when this sort of came to fruition in a video whatnot? Like I actually found myself watching the video as like a fan, not an industry person, even though I experienced everything, listening to records, watching videos whatever you do, like, you see different once you're in it. But to me, that looked so much fun. I was like wow, like they were having the time their life.

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Speaker 2: What was it?

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Speaker 4: Like?

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Speaker 5: I was pretty intimidated. Really, yeah, because I don't know. Teacher Campbell once asked me about this. She said, Erica, we don't see you out much. You don't go out, and I didn't have. I came into business when there were no Ange News, there were no going out, There were no young women yet performing, and they didn't have many roles for young women. So I didn't come in hanging out. And even though I came up in the hip hop era and there's Wu Tang and this and that and I'm in LA, it was dangerous to go out. You get captain the ads. Yeah, So you just didn't hang out. And so that was the first time me meeting those people. And so to me, I was a fan and that's something here I am, and they're like, they want me to be in that video with Tony Braxton and next to thea Vivica Fox and blah blah, and I get I kind of shut down a little bit when I'm intimidated, and so I tried to just do what they told me to do. I didn't necessarily know how a music video was shot. It was a learning experience and I was glad to be there. But for the most part, I was if you didn't know I was in there, wouldn't know I was in.

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Speaker 4: When I think of it, I think of you first, and maybe I think at tis Campbell like, but yeah, no, when when you're there, we noticed, thanks always, Yeah, we noticed.

00:23:40
Speaker 2: I wanted to ask about Queen Sugar.

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Speaker 8: You talk about, you know, shows that didn't get Emmy's or recognition.

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Speaker 2: What was it like working on that show?

00:23:48
Speaker 8: Because that was just such a beautifully shot show and beautifully lit, like you know.

00:23:53
Speaker 2: It was just a beautiful show to watch. Why do they not announci you a while? Arap Angel.

00:24:00
Speaker 4: Blame Ralph Angel for me now having subtitles on.

00:24:08
Speaker 5: Ava does everything with intention. Avid Duvenet came in this world with a black power sign stamped on her breast in the front. It's her shield and it's her mantra. And I think that you see that as an expression of love, and she wants to rebrand black people. That's what I want to do. She wanted to show a family that had land. We came in and we worked the land, but we didn't own that land. And once we owned the land, we were sharecropping for that land, and then we were thrown off the land. And now they say we're not country, and we are country. So there's all these things mixed in to Queen Sugar. She's talking about money ownership, she's talking about families, she's talking about generational trauma, she's talking about politics, she's talking about real estate. She's talking about all these things. And she did it. So I bravoed to her. And that's what it was like. You knew when you walked on that you were contributing to something that had very little to do with you, but more to do with how could we tell this story about a generational family that owned land.

00:25:24
Speaker 8: Did you see your work in American fiction? You mentioned kind of rebanded, rebranding black people. Did you see American fiction as an extension of that?

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Speaker 5: For sure? I mean, poor Jefferson is made for the moment. I mean you have to understand American fiction is a satire. Okay, let's mention the greater Jeffrey Wright. You just got one of the best actors of all time to do it. But that character wants to be free of a narrative that's been keeping him in the cheap seats. He's a spectator in his own life and his reality. Our reality is much more complicated and plex then the narratives that drive the market. And so we have a problem with these stories that endure because black people have been amazingly successful by catering to those forces, and they've successfully produced, they've supported and these impoverished narratives. But this very durable and very self sustained universe is rejected. So that's the question, why do we see black people locked in these stereotypes? And has blackness become a victim of its own success? And that's what that that movie is about. When you're playing a narrative that you don't own and yet you, you know, push it out so you could be successful. You it's I'm surprised we haven't all gone that shit crazy.

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Speaker 4: We have, but I also feel like, well, I'm under the impression that the reset of twenty twenty is what actually allowed us to recharge and come forth. But yeah, I too wonder that. Can I ask you something though, because it's been a minute since a movie sparked any type of conversation use, especially with me, like I'll see moving like okay, it's dope or whatever, you know, the ending of American fiction, or at least I would and we should probably have Chord on the show. We should have Chord on the show. So here's the thing with the last fifteen minutes of the show without spoiling the movie for people was talked about, and the thing was I told the group of people I went to see it with, I said, look, they could have easily did a Hollywood ending where all's well, that ends well. Now, for me, the ending of that was much akin to like you remember, like maybe the first seven Spike Lee films really never ended right, it never yeah, but even think of do the right thing, like it wasn't happily ever after No Better Blues was QUI fied.

00:28:18
Speaker 2: He found love, but he.

00:28:19
Speaker 4: Lost his gifts right, And for me, the ending of American fiction was not only I felt the right choice of an ending, but I mean as a person, and I know I'm not alone like I often find myself in that ending where sometimes you're just like all right, fuck it, you know what I mean. And even though it wasn't the ideal Hollywood ending, I felt that was the most realistic, the realistic ending. And for those that were just like yo, man, what do you think about the end? And I felt like that's how that shit goes that was the truth and it's the sad truth. Did you guys sort of wonder that, like in the film of How It Ends? Because even for me, I was wondering, like, okay, when the big revelation happens, is you know, is it redemption for all of us? Is in my mind? I started predicting houses sick going to end. I can't wait for this at the end, And when it ended, I was like, yeah, I guess that's how it ends. How did you feel about that at the time? And was that ever a subject of discussion where their alternate ending shot for it?

00:29:39
Speaker 5: Or I knew the one I was in. I was in two of them, the happy ending and the more tragic endings.

00:29:46
Speaker 4: Wait, wait, time out you're talking about American fiction? Or yeah? Yeah, yeah, oh, because you also, I don't know if you inadvertently know this. I didn't realize that Get Out also had two endings as well.

00:29:58
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, the we did, Yeah.

00:30:02
Speaker 6: But I didn't ours just like I felt like it was clue yeah.

00:30:08
Speaker 5: Yeah, get it Out and never showed you other endings. But I think we have to just take it from the point of view of an author, Okay, and the author has posited this question that and this could be metaverse, by the way, and you appreciate this. You guys are all nerds. When Jeffrey starts to sip his cognact and write the movie, he goes into a matter verse and makes me wonder what movie are we watching? Is it still his real life or is it something he's writing?

00:30:43
Speaker 4: Wait? Was that an Eastern third ending?

00:30:46
Speaker 5: Right?

00:30:46
Speaker 6: He's saying that was the third ending that we didn't win, the fourth ending that we didn't see.

00:30:50
Speaker 5: I'm saying that there's a lot of things that switch and start to be different once we see Keith David and start before we started to get the idea that he can manipulate his reality through his fiction. So I think we need to ask original source material Percival ever, because maybe in erasure exactly, maybe that's where the true ending lies. But they shot the ending you saw after we were all gone, so I was surprised to see the ending. Oh okay, so Corty's to come in here and stand and deliver he used this all.

00:31:34
Speaker 4: Yeah.

00:31:34
Speaker 8: One of my favorite things about that film was I liked how it showed relationship, romantic relationships, black romantic relationships with people of different ages.

00:31:44
Speaker 2: You know what I'm saying.

00:31:45
Speaker 8: Yeah, generational. Yeah, that was so beautiful like you and Jeffrey. But then also I forgot the name, but the Old House.

00:31:55
Speaker 6: Is a boss listen, I mean dead pull along. I'm like the fact that she pulls American fixture.

00:32:00
Speaker 7: The dead pool.

00:32:00
Speaker 5: She's fucking yeah, she's a back and I got to share a green room with her and get all those stories. These people are walking around with such genius inside of it's such the blueprints to our lives and to the future. And she's one of them. So that's the other ones is excellent, And you're right, that was remember the housekeepers.

00:32:24
Speaker 2: The housekeeper in the security Guard.

00:32:27
Speaker 5: But you know what, it's trying to give truth to the lie that black people don't have generational stories, that we only exist inside of the generation we're in and we're not having this back and forth communication wisdom and also building and architecture in our lives and it's so normal in that movie.

00:32:49
Speaker 6: Yeah, I really I literally got like emotional watching you and Jeffrey because it's just something that we just don't see seeing you in that role and seeing you get a chance to show love in that way, like you like seeing you as the actors that we know play that role was so important and kind of I think I'm not the only person that got emotional overseeing you, just in that.

00:33:11
Speaker 5: You know, people have said that I get to meet cute, I get to meet like and make Ryan. I dropped my tomatoes and did he talk over Ryan? I imagine that you're not jumping each other phones. I got lotion afterwards after we do our little do. It's a seduction.

00:33:32
Speaker 7: And you think high enough of yourself to be like, I don't have to be there here.

00:33:36
Speaker 5: No, you confused, don't bring that king, don't disturb my peace. Yeah, she's not pining for him. She just let go of aok A relationship and I'm sure it was difficult for her. So what she took to regain that kind of stability, She wasn't willing to give it up his drama and that's self empowerment. And it was lovely. It wasn't mean or angry. It was just sort of like, you gotta.

00:34:03
Speaker 7: Go, Erica.

00:34:05
Speaker 6: Please tell me what it's like going back and forth and playing this game with Jeffrey Wright, Like, what is it like in a scene like what he's just He's it he's it and.

00:34:15
Speaker 7: Then talk about Sterling.

00:34:16
Speaker 5: Okay, well, Jeffrey is a nerd too. He only watches documentaries. He doesn't watch TV, but he knows all for references, so he would get along with all of you guys. It's from DC. You know those DC light skinned brothers, me too. All there you go.

00:34:34
Speaker 7: But he's from Southeast though. He went to Anacostia High School.

00:34:37
Speaker 5: Okay, so you know who you are. He loves his mother and he loves his auntie who raised him. He's a great lover of women, Black women, and he understands. So he's not intimidated by me. He doesn't think that I'm a thread and in fact feel like, yeah, well, he feels like he's taking care of business. He is a man that's perspected on and he understands what he's there to do. But here's what he's not there to do. He's not there not to make mistakes. So he's trying things and experimenting. He's frustrated that. You can see he wants a certain result and he's going for it. So I like somebody who was expectation is high, but he's like, that's your expectation. I came on here to be an actor and make my mistakes like everybody else and put it together and you it reminds you that you have to give yourself grace. Everybody can expect you to be perfect, but that's not what you're here for. And that's who Jeffrey is. And once he gets permission to do those things, he gives everyone else permission. And then the set runs.

00:35:49
Speaker 4: When you are paired with an acting partner that you know that your your characters sort of connected to. Are there conversations beforehand of what the chemistry is going to be? Because I've heard, and I'm asking this as a new director and as a director that hasn't done scripted yet, I've heard. I've talked to a lot of directors and they've told me ideal stories of like, these actors are the ones who gravitates towards I've heard nightmare stories of established actors who you know, this actor will only give you two takes and if you don't got it, tough titties, that's your fault. I don't give a fuck next scene. That sort of thing. Is it a speed dating process?

00:36:36
Speaker 2: Like how long?

00:36:36
Speaker 4: Because the thing is is that one with Jeffrey, but also your relationship with uh, what's his name? No, no, no, no, I'm going back to to Bobby, to h who's playing him? Okay, So I'm wondering how long is the speed quote air quote speed day process between you and an actor to know, like to at least get to know each other or is this just like cold like you automatically know what to do.

00:37:16
Speaker 5: So I want to first say something about the bad behavior that they might be speaking to. I have not experienced that, and I've been in Shobiz forty years, so I've been a little bit. I don't know. I give a little side eye to the stories because I think that people attract certain things because they put either oh, that person must be in that role, knowing that the person is problematic, instead of giving somebody who can do the role just as well and not give those type of problems. And so everybody has a reputation. No one is operating in a vacuum. So if they're experiencing that, I think it's hard for you not to know where actor lands, and you have to consider do you really want that? Because that could be that can ruin you. A bad attitude can ruin everything, the crew, everything. So I haven't, but I haven't experienced that. I've experienced some issue with younger actors because they haven't been properly trained. And I'm not talking about on stage because I only did a very small amount of training. I mean, no one tells them the truth and they get away with bad behavior and there's no consequences. If somebody did that on my set, I would replace them almost immediately.

00:38:31
Speaker 8: Yeah, So when you check after check a young actor, what do you say, like, how do you check them?

00:38:36
Speaker 5: You take them aside, You don't embarrass them. You ask them if there's something wrong, because sometimes they can come to set and there's something wrong and you ask them if they need help. You have identify somebody they can talk to. They could be another actor who's willing to mentor them and they can be open, honest with and vulnerable. It could be a psychiatrist. They could just be scared and not know how to say it. They may need help with lines and they're freaking out. Get them a dialogue coach, get them the help they need. They'll calm down. They also need sleep, and some people these people sleep working these kids, what's too they're more soft than not.

00:39:24
Speaker 8: We work that is actual and factual.

00:39:27
Speaker 5: Thank you, But I'm saying that all those things are playing in part. So that's what I would say. I first maybe see that, and then I might have a conversation outside whether their manager or agents, and not to scare them, but they need warning that it is and they need to know that you're on their side. If it continues, then you need to start looking into it right away and reshift your schedule to shoot things they're not in.

00:39:54
Speaker 8: Did you have any like any ogs who was who did that for you?

00:39:58
Speaker 5: Like, who gave you that need to I came into the set pristine. I'm a preacher's daughter. I know how to act, I cook, and I'm from girls high studied. I know and I'm learned. And if I was scared, I might not have known you talked to That's true. I think I experienced a lot of trauma because I couldn't really tell what I was feeling. But that came later on in life. But I didn't have problems showing up, knowing my lines, being prepared. We did twenty six show a year. Now people do ten and they freak out. I'm learning to play a week. No, I ain't got no problem.

00:40:36
Speaker 4: All right, is this hit me right now? When you started saying those words like it's something wrong and can I help you? You know, sometime I just realized, surely Ralph just sunned me. And I'm realizing it, right.

00:40:51
Speaker 2: Baby, Oh yeah you.

00:40:55
Speaker 6: Are.

00:40:56
Speaker 7: I love that.

00:40:57
Speaker 4: She pulled me to his side. She pulled me to the side. Are you a little nervous right now? And I was like, and just hit me. I got the quasi defensive no no, no.

00:41:07
Speaker 2: I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm I'm good. No no, no, listen, listen.

00:41:11
Speaker 4: You could just breathe and say it is lower. No, no, no, and she like, now do it And I was like, and I just realized, oh shit, I was fucking up. I was that perfect. I didn't realize it until you said that.

00:41:26
Speaker 5: But a mirror. She did that with respect. What she was trying to do is give you permission. And if you said to her me, I'm a little nervous, then it goes away. You know how if you say something, you could lean into it because everyone's nervous.

00:41:42
Speaker 4: But the thing was that in my mind, like when you said that, then I'm like, okay, you're an experienced actress. You could tell what a newbie doesn't know any better, or they might be doing something wrong, or da da da da da. And I'm now realizing that maybe the first three takes that I did, because you know, they do ship over there like nine times in a row. So now I'm realizing my first four takes were like he's not getting it. And they kind of had this magic circle thing, you know, when people were together and they just look at each other and you know you're being talked about, but no one's saying it, Like I felt like maybe there's something on my teeth or it was. It was rather significant nice and so she was the designated She's the leader of the group.

00:42:27
Speaker 2: Chat damn.

00:42:30
Speaker 7: That an elder sister who was like mighty queen because.

00:42:35
Speaker 5: Thinking that a lot of the I don't know if you did a read through and all that, but some of these things, yeah, and that's that's the issue. You're fitting into their world and you're trying to take it all in all at once, and you're also trying to do all this other stuff. By the way, any guests feature performer has that extra burden. So I think that she was just giving you PERMISSI, but she wasn't sonning you. She was just sort of like a big sister going yeah.

00:43:07
Speaker 4: Oh no, no, no cool. I mean, let me let me make it clear. Yes, she wasn't sonning me disrespect. Yeah, but you know, I think maybe because I only entered situations that I know, like the back of my hand, like if it were music or that sort of thing. Is like, I'm not saying you can't tell me nothing, but you know, this is definitely an area.

00:43:27
Speaker 5: That in your world you're king, it's hard to come in spaces and you direct and you do all these things, and then you're putting in a position where suddenly it's like, okay, wait a minute, I'm not on you know what what again, you're an artist, So she approached you as one, and that's respectful, and she it wasn't a matter of whether you could do it. It was a matter of sort of saying, you know who told me that Cely tithe it he could breathe. Breathe When these sisters tell you it sounds ridiculous, like I am breathing, but you know, but she they're trying to remind you to be in your body also to give you permission that you ain't got to be perfect. And she I've been told that by whoopee, I've been doing and these people are that. I'm there for those Wu Tang kids. They come up and say, you're tired, You're not getting you sleep. Okay, so let's let's get you some water. You know what I mean? Stand up, stand up, shake your body, let's go outside and get some sun. And I remind them that they're human, they're not a freaking robot. But they're talented and that's why they're there, and they need to not think about the talent, just think about being present. And it's all right to have that. But I do want to say something to what you said. You asked about you know, how do you how do you.

00:44:55
Speaker 2: Talk to your scene partner?

00:44:57
Speaker 5: You don't usually it if when I say, you don't usually if unless you need to. I'm at a point where, for the most part, if somebody needs to talk to me, they'll pick you aside. So, Erica, I'm not sure about this scene. I don't know where it's headed, but I think this and that. What do you think? And I said, I don't know. I don't know, Jeffrey, but I'll follow your lead. He goes, okay, we'll work it out and then it's just one of those things where in a way he's just convincing that maybe hasn't settled on how the scene goes or I and I know to be ready for changes, and he's just putting me on blasts, but also not on a blast. He's giving me heads up, but he's also telling me, support me, look out for me. And I'm glad when somebody says that because I've said that. By the way, when I was on Queen Sugar, I had medication because I have colitus and sometimes it it's a steroid. It can make you feel like, really like if you can get emotional, everything feel heightened, like you can faint. And so I told Omar, who plays I've got to do this emotional scene. And if I get overwhelmed and faint, because that's how I said, you got to tell them I'm all right. But you know what happened. He says, I got you, girl, I got you. And once I did that, I actually calm calm down and I was able to do the scene because I was worried about fainting. That's what it is. The director can sometime give you that kind of confidence, because that's the person you want to impress and you sometimes don't want to be too friendly with the performers, but you do have to make a connection with him that you're they're not there to hit a line, a bar, a vis or that, and that you enjoy their mistakes. So that was fun. Give them encouragement and don't give them encouragement just because they get it and cried. Just say thank you each time. Say thank you for whatever they get me. It's no different thank you for the crime. Then when if they don't do it, and then they say, okay, they're not making a big deal out of it, I can be whatever and still get approval. The actors will do anything for you because they know they can't fail.

00:47:20
Speaker 8: I want to ask about the Wu Tang show, which I loved, How did you get that role? And did you actually meet Rizz's mom before you know?

00:47:32
Speaker 2: Oh man, I didn't know that, so.

00:47:34
Speaker 5: Long straight short. I love the Wu Tang but at the time, I didn't think it was a role for me. I didn't know if I wanted to be a mother of all these may ask.

00:47:44
Speaker 8: Kids, well, you look like you could be their sister on the camera, So I mean, yeah.

00:47:51
Speaker 5: Career, but I didn't know. So I didn't really step up for the audition because there was an audition and they said, Erica, they coming back to you, would you And I said, all right, so I did, and they said, well, Rizzon wants to meet you. And I said, oh, I don't know if I wanted to go any further, and I don't want to lead anybody on, but I decided, you know what, Erica, go on, do what's in front of you. So I met him and Ris is very you know, charismatic and lovely and respectful, and I did my thing, and he said after I got the partner, I accepted it because I did get it that you know, there's only four represented in the show, but I got eleven brothers and sisters including me, and they all had to say you were okay to play our mother because the whole real America can play Linding Diggs. So then I learned about their mother, and their mother had experienced abuse and it's one of the reason why they think she died. She was married twice and unfortunately she experienced domestic abuse, which is portrayed into there. So I knew that it was something very special that Rizzo wanted me to project. So I said to her. And I'm not very religious, but those spiritual said, miss miss Linda, your children want to see you. You showed me the way. And then I didn't do anything because I knew they had already seen what they wanted and I just needed to not perform. I need to just get out of the way and let her be there. And to me, she's a ghost. In that series, Rizza wanted to see his mother, so he wrote her in I fulfil the mean?

00:49:47
Speaker 8: Yeah, wow, were you Au Tang fan? Prior to the did you Tang fan?

00:49:52
Speaker 5: Not as much as everybody didn't know their music as much. But I'm a Wu Tang fan because I really love how intellectual they are are. I love methic man and and I like men who are working it out and they're individualists. Again, they're an individualists and then they decide to come together to make a super group and then their brand becomes bigger than them all. I'm sorry, I love that kind of story.

00:50:18
Speaker 7: Did you see?

00:50:18
Speaker 6: And I'm curious because there's a lot of great actors, great young actors in that cast. Do you see a couple of them as like leading in the in the future, like the next like not the next they're doing their thing.

00:50:29
Speaker 5: But Julian Elijah Martinez who played my son, he played the elder.

00:50:38
Speaker 2: Yeah, he played divine.

00:50:40
Speaker 7: Sometimes he.

00:50:44
Speaker 5: Does look like there of course, Ashton Sanders there, You've got Marcus Callender, their genius performers, and Elijah is on fire. There is not enough film are television to absorb this talent, and my goal is to find ways so they can show the world what they can do. We've got more talent than we've got content for them to be in. So yeah, look out. All of them are wonderful. I love them all.

00:51:16
Speaker 8: I have one last question, Eric, I need the face routine. I need what's what's your face routine?

00:51:21
Speaker 6: What's your so thank you for that.

00:51:31
Speaker 5: I had a huge breakout because I came here and started eating stuff I didn't know. But you know what, I think, I really appreciate that when you saw me in person, you see the lines.

00:51:40
Speaker 7: See no, no, no, that's not true. I saw weeks ago. Don't tell tales.

00:51:45
Speaker 5: Well, you know what black does crack. But I think if you keep yourself smiling and laughing about things, I think people see the brightness in my face really and the openness, and I like to believe that I can still be young and enthusiastic and not jaded and not tired. I'm enthusiastic after forty years to be here, and I know what it feels like to be tired. But Harriet wasn't tired until she was tired. So I'm all right.

00:52:17
Speaker 7: My hair is strenders.

00:52:18
Speaker 5: Shit, that's in your DNA. I'm good, by the way. I don't believe in all this hustle. I get your sleep, get your rest. It's important. Listen read and go outside and let the sun hit you and listen to read. Take off all the things and just the ambient noise get to you.

00:52:37
Speaker 4: I don't think I ever heard an episode where I don't want to say goodbye to the person. No. Once again, thank you so much for coming on our show. And this is definitely you know, this is a dream for us. We talked about this for a long time of having you.

00:52:52
Speaker 7: And shout out your organization.

00:52:53
Speaker 6: Please, because when you say you're trying to uplift these people and these creatives, you're doing it in real time.

00:52:57
Speaker 7: Please please Color Farm.

00:53:00
Speaker 5: We call ourselves the town of film, television and tech. You're trying to change the face to the media and rebrand blackness. We produced John Was Good Trouble. I co directed the reparations documentary The Big Payback. You're doing a Diet and Carol documentary. You're also doing collaborations partnerships in the scripted space as well. Remember us a mirror and for everyone there, we appreciate your support because we don't have a deal. Just worked really hard and we got the DuPont Columbia word for something we did called Finding Tamika, which was the top true crime audio series that I created a road and I really am very proud of that because we're talking about missing white woman syndrome and to do what we use this black girl's life to show Mika. She was used as the discussion around it and we maybe made Neil no Oir ghost story and we thought it was lovely and their family was lovely to let us do it. But I'm here, I want to say something to you. Yes, you are not only agot, You're a person who is in power to empower and I'm very gratified that you're from Philly. I see all the stuff that you do, and I say stuff that you do, the amazing things that you accomplish. But I also love that you have the curiosity intellectual and the deep dives that most people don't allow themselves to have. And so you're very generous with your mind and your brilliance. And I appreciate that, brother, because all the people, all those people would recognize that you are their son. So thank you all for creating this for us to have these long conversations, because I think we're also archiving history.

00:54:59
Speaker 6: One do the thank you, Yeah you made it, thank you, thank you for making that, thank you.

00:55:03
Speaker 2: For yeah doing your ship, thank you, thank you. I appreciate you, and you're back.

00:55:11
Speaker 4: That is probably the greatest ending of quest love supreme.

00:55:15
Speaker 5: We could just get that plate of Patty.

00:55:19
Speaker 4: Okay, yes, to let the world know Patty invited me and the guy who sang about her pies and talked about oh.

00:55:27
Speaker 2: Yeah yeah, the viral a viral.

00:55:29
Speaker 4: Yeah all right, she invited both of us to our house for Thanksgiving, and I ate my ass off. It was oh this happened like this happened in twenty fourteen years ago.

00:55:40
Speaker 2: Oh okay, gotcha.

00:55:41
Speaker 4: Yes, after a lot of begging.

00:55:44
Speaker 7: Erica wants to be invited.

00:55:45
Speaker 6: I will guest, if you watched eightieth Birthday, I'm saying we just make it a family.

00:55:51
Speaker 5: Thank you, golface.

00:55:51
Speaker 4: I appreciate, thank you, Thanks see all the next ye around y'all, Thank you for listening to Quest Love FREEK. This podcast is hosted by.

00:56:02
Speaker 8: Emir West, Love Thompson, Boss Man, Like Here, Saint Clair So Blackly Black, Myself, Fontigerlo Fonte, Coleman, Sugar, Steve Mandel and Unpaid Bill Sherman. Executive producers are a Mere.

00:56:17
Speaker 4: Quest Love, Thompson, Sean g and the US Father Brian Calhoun.

00:56:21
Speaker 8: Produced by Freaking Benjamin, my dog cousin, Jake Payne, my Motherfucking man and like Is Saint Clair My work wife edited by Alex Conrad, Produced by iHeart by Noel Brown.

00:56:34
Speaker 1: And That's Love Supreme is the production of iHeart Radio.

00:56:50
Speaker 4: For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.