April 27, 2024 • 56 mins
Erika Alexander continues her incredible QLS interview with a candid conversation about how executives treated Living Single as compared to other popular 1990s sitcoms. Erika also speaks about her astonishing recent run, including a dazzling role in American Fiction and memorable performances in Get Out and Wu-Tang: An American Saga. This conversation is pure joy.
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
What's Up Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
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
(00:29):
very memorable roles.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
One thing I want to add too is that you
won't hear me or.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
One thing I want to add.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
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.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
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
(01:09):
time again about friends, but I do want to know
because here's the deal.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I had to go to the.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
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
(01:38):
what do you call it? Like the buildings that they
build sets.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Like oh houtages, right, you know, I.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
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.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
We were on the ghetto a lot, I'm not kidding, right.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
So not even in that whole area, a whole different
area location address.
Speaker 7 (02:12):
You're saying, yeah, what's something.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
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
(02:34):
or you know those types of things. Yeah, we were
hot in sale on.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
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
(03:02):
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.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
We did stay the watch yeah, really, yeah. I was very.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
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
(03:38):
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.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
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.
Speaker 7 (04:11):
Yeah, real quick? What other shows shot at the Ranch?
Speaker 5 (04:14):
The Wayne's Brothers?
Speaker 7 (04:16):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
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,
(04:43):
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
(05:04):
couch eight. That's some shit.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
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?
Speaker 5 (05:21):
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
(05:42):
single And he was the head of NBC and then
the next year he created with a different team France.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
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.
(06:12):
Jay Z got Alan Yang to basically get the friend
set to actually recreate Do you remember this vine?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Remember it was? It was?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Was it was it?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Four four four? Was it?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
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?
Speaker 5 (06:39):
No, I was unaware of it.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Oh okay.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
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.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
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
(07:25):
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.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
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.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
But it could also be seen in the opposite.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Yes, it came right, you know, right, you're right.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Yeah, So but I get it, you.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
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.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Yeah, yeah, I watched pretty consistent.
Speaker 8 (08:17):
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.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But are you.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
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.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
Pregnant right end, and with Head, I'm gonna get together
and and then Kadija goes on to another country to
be with Scooters.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
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.
Speaker 7 (09:23):
I love watching y'all dance.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
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
(09:48):
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.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
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
(10:20):
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
(10:43):
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.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Right to go on listen?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
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
(11:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
A series, Like.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Why is that?
Speaker 5 (11:40):
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
(12:02):
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
(12:25):
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
(12:48):
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
(13:09):
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.
Speaker 8 (13:25):
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?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
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
(13:59):
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.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
I do. Remember you and uh the book that Alex
Hilly didn't get to finish.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Mama's by a Flora's Family.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yes, okay, sorry, it was.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
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.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
It was a it was a Blackamy show, right, a
black Emmy section. It was a black Emmy show.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
It was a Blackamy Award show. Because they weren't even.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
They got I ain't got no how come I didn't know.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
This no real remember I remember, it's a real thing.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
It only happened once. I'm sure they got sued c
distance letter, but I got one.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
See that's why we got to keep telling history and
telling these stories.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
You said that, I thought you meant like, yeah, yeah,
n w A c. People were I didn't realize that there.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
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.
Speaker 7 (15:45):
Not to move fast forward, boss.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
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.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
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.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
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.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah. I wasn't big on US. I didn't right.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
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
(16:56):
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
(17:17):
know if you were fine.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
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.
(17:39):
We're gonna ratchet it up.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
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.
(18:05):
But it's not because they're looking for it.
Speaker 7 (18:07):
So no, I do.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
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.
(18:30):
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
(18:51):
in a comedy. This is a hard film.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
And wait, even then, you didn't realize where he was
going with it.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
No, because you didn't get to read the whole thing.
Did you just read your scenes?
Speaker 5 (19:04):
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.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
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.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Wait wait, wait, wait wait.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
So did you ever get going sneak into a theater
and hear the reaction of people when you come on
the screen.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Did you get to feel that?
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Yes? I did get to feel it once and it
was really once.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
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.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
In parts.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
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.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Different movie. Yeah, that's hilarious.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
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?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
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
(21:26):
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
(21:50):
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.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
What was it?
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Like?
Speaker 5 (22:07):
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
(22:31):
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
(22:54):
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
(23:16):
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.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I wanted to ask about Queen Sugar.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
You talk about, you know, shows that didn't get Emmy's
or recognition.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
What was it like working on that show?
Speaker 8 (23:48):
Because that was just such a beautifully shot show and
beautifully lit, like you know.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It was just a beautiful show to watch. Why do
they not announci you a while? Arap Angel.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Blame Ralph Angel for me now having subtitles on.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
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
(24:34):
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
(24:55):
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
(25:15):
do with you, but more to do with how could
we tell this story about a generational family that owned land.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
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?
Speaker 5 (25:33):
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
(25:54):
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
(26:20):
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,
(26:46):
you know, push it out so you could be successful.
You it's I'm surprised we haven't all gone that shit crazy.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
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
(27:24):
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
(27:49):
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
(28:11):
think of do the right thing, like it wasn't happily
ever after No Better Blues was QUI fied.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
He found love, but he.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
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
(28:40):
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
(29:01):
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.
(29:22):
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?
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Or I knew the one I was in. I was
in two of them, the happy ending and the more
tragic endings.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
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.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Oh yeah, the we did, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
But I didn't ours just like I felt like it
was clue yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
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
(30:30):
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?
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Wait? Was that an Eastern third ending?
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Right?
Speaker 6 (30:46):
He's saying that was the third ending that we didn't win,
the fourth ending that we didn't see.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
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,
(31:12):
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.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:34):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (31:45):
Yeah, generational. Yeah, that was so beautiful like you and Jeffrey.
But then also I forgot the name, but the Old House.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Is a boss listen, I mean dead pull along. I'm
like the fact that she pulls American fixture.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
The dead pool.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
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.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
The housekeeper in the security Guard.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
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
(32:47):
normal in that movie.
Speaker 6 (32:49):
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,
(33:09):
just in that.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
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.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
And you think high enough of yourself to be like,
I don't have to be there here.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
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
(33:56):
that's self empowerment. And it was lovely. It wasn't mean
or angry. It was just sort of like, you gotta.
Speaker 7 (34:03):
Go, Erica.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
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.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
Then talk about Sterling.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
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.
Speaker 7 (34:34):
But he's from Southeast though. He went to Anacostia High School.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
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
(34:58):
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,
(35:19):
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
(35:41):
Jeffrey is. And once he gets permission to do those things,
he gives everyone else permission. And then the set runs.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
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,
(36:09):
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,
(36:29):
that's your fault. I don't give a fuck next scene.
That sort of thing. Is it a speed dating process?
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Like how long?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
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,
(36:59):
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.
Speaker 5 (37:16):
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,
(37:38):
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
(37:59):
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
(38:20):
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.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
Yeah, So when you check after check a young actor,
what do you say, like, how do you check them?
Speaker 5 (38:36):
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.
(38:57):
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
(39:20):
working these kids, what's too they're more soft than not.
Speaker 8 (39:24):
We work that is actual and factual.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
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
(39:49):
right away and reshift your schedule to shoot things they're
not in.
Speaker 8 (39:54):
Did you have any like any ogs who was who
did that for you?
Speaker 5 (39:58):
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
(40:20):
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.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
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.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Baby, Oh yeah you.
Speaker 6 (40:55):
Are.
Speaker 7 (40:56):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
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.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm I'm good. No no, no, listen, listen.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
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.
Speaker 5 (41:26):
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.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
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.
(42:02):
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
(42:25):
designated She's the leader of the group.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Chat damn.
Speaker 7 (42:30):
That an elder sister who was like mighty queen because.
Speaker 5 (42:35):
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
(42:59):
she was just giving you PERMISSI, but she wasn't sonning you.
She was just sort of like a big sister going yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
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.
Speaker 5 (43:27):
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
(43:50):
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
(44:12):
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
(44:34):
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.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Talk to your scene partner?
Speaker 5 (44:57):
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,
(45:17):
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,
(45:40):
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
(46:01):
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
(46:22):
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
(46:42):
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.
(47:03):
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.
Speaker 8 (47:20):
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?
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Oh man, I didn't know that, so.
Speaker 5 (47:34):
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.
Speaker 8 (47:44):
Kids, well, you look like you could be their sister
on the camera, So I mean, yeah.
Speaker 5 (47:51):
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,
(48:12):
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
(48:33):
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
(48:54):
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
(49:17):
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,
(49:38):
she's a ghost. In that series, Rizza wanted to see
his mother, so he wrote her in I fulfil the mean?
Speaker 8 (49:47):
Yeah, wow, were you Au Tang fan? Prior to the
did you Tang fan?
Speaker 5 (49:52):
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
(50:15):
love that kind of story.
Speaker 7 (50:18):
Did you see?
Speaker 6 (50:18):
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.
Speaker 5 (50:29):
But Julian Elijah Martinez who played my son, he played
the elder.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Yeah, he played divine.
Speaker 7 (50:40):
Sometimes he.
Speaker 5 (50:44):
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
(51:05):
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.
Speaker 8 (51:16):
I have one last question, Eric, I need the face routine.
I need what's what's your face routine?
Speaker 6 (51:21):
What's your so thank you for that.
Speaker 5 (51:31):
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.
Speaker 7 (51:40):
See no, no, no, that's not true. I saw weeks ago.
Don't tell tales.
Speaker 5 (51:45):
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.
(52:05):
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.
Speaker 7 (52:17):
My hair is strenders.
Speaker 5 (52:18):
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.
Speaker 4 (52:37):
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.
Speaker 7 (52:52):
And shout out your organization.
Speaker 6 (52:53):
Please, because when you say you're trying to uplift these
people and these creatives, you're doing it in real time.
Speaker 7 (52:57):
Please please Color Farm.
Speaker 5 (53:00):
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
(53:24):
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
(53:45):
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,
(54:11):
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
(54:32):
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
(54:54):
these long conversations, because I think we're also archiving history.
Speaker 6 (54:59):
One do the thank you, Yeah you made it, thank you,
thank you for making that, thank you.
Speaker 2 (55:03):
For yeah doing your ship, thank you, thank you. I
appreciate you, and you're back.
Speaker 4 (55:11):
That is probably the greatest ending of quest love supreme.
Speaker 5 (55:15):
We could just get that plate of Patty.
Speaker 4 (55:19):
Okay, yes, to let the world know Patty invited me
and the guy who sang about her pies and talked
about oh.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yeah yeah, the viral a viral.
Speaker 4 (55:29):
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.
Speaker 2 (55:40):
Oh okay, gotcha.
Speaker 4 (55:41):
Yes, after a lot of begging.
Speaker 7 (55:44):
Erica wants to be invited.
Speaker 6 (55:45):
I will guest, if you watched eightieth Birthday, I'm saying
we just make it a family.
Speaker 5 (55:51):
Thank you, golface.
Speaker 4 (55:51):
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.
Speaker 8 (56:02):
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.
Speaker 4 (56:17):
Quest Love, Thompson, Sean g and the US Father Brian Calhoun.
Speaker 8 (56:21):
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.
Speaker 1 (56:34):
And That's Love Supreme is the production of iHeart Radio.
Speaker 4 (56:50):
For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
Questlove Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio.
Speaker 2 (00:05):
What's Up Everybody?
Speaker 3 (00:06):
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
(00:29):
very memorable roles.
Speaker 2 (00:31):
One thing I want to add too is that you
won't hear me or.
Speaker 4 (00:35):
One thing I want to add.
Speaker 3 (00:36):
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.
Speaker 4 (00:48):
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
(01:09):
time again about friends, but I do want to know
because here's the deal.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
I had to go to the.
Speaker 4 (01:14):
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
(01:38):
what do you call it? Like the buildings that they
build sets.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Like oh houtages, right, you know, I.
Speaker 4 (01:50):
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.
Speaker 5 (02:03):
We were on the ghetto a lot, I'm not kidding, right.
Speaker 6 (02:07):
So not even in that whole area, a whole different
area location address.
Speaker 7 (02:12):
You're saying, yeah, what's something.
Speaker 5 (02:14):
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
(02:34):
or you know those types of things. Yeah, we were
hot in sale on.
Speaker 4 (02:39):
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
(03:02):
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.
Speaker 7 (03:12):
We did stay the watch yeah, really, yeah. I was very.
Speaker 5 (03:17):
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
(03:38):
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.
Speaker 6 (03:57):
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.
Speaker 7 (04:11):
Yeah, real quick? What other shows shot at the Ranch?
Speaker 5 (04:14):
The Wayne's Brothers?
Speaker 7 (04:16):
Oh wow.
Speaker 5 (04:21):
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,
(04:43):
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
(05:04):
couch eight. That's some shit.
Speaker 4 (05:07):
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?
Speaker 5 (05:21):
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
(05:42):
single And he was the head of NBC and then
the next year he created with a different team France.
Speaker 4 (05:51):
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.
(06:12):
Jay Z got Alan Yang to basically get the friend
set to actually recreate Do you remember this vine?
Speaker 2 (06:21):
Remember it was? It was?
Speaker 4 (06:23):
Was it was it?
Speaker 2 (06:24):
Four four four? Was it?
Speaker 4 (06:25):
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?
Speaker 5 (06:39):
No, I was unaware of it.
Speaker 2 (06:40):
Oh okay.
Speaker 4 (06:41):
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.
Speaker 5 (07:03):
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
(07:25):
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.
Speaker 6 (07:32):
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.
Speaker 5 (07:42):
But it could also be seen in the opposite.
Speaker 7 (07:44):
Yes, it came right, you know, right, you're right.
Speaker 5 (07:47):
Yeah, So but I get it, you.
Speaker 4 (07:49):
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.
Speaker 7 (08:15):
Yeah, yeah, I watched pretty consistent.
Speaker 8 (08:17):
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.
Speaker 4 (08:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (08:41):
But are you.
Speaker 4 (08:44):
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.
Speaker 6 (08:57):
Pregnant right end, and with Head, I'm gonna get together
and and then Kadija goes on to another country to
be with Scooters.
Speaker 5 (09:06):
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.
Speaker 7 (09:23):
I love watching y'all dance.
Speaker 5 (09:25):
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
(09:48):
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.
Speaker 4 (09:58):
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
(10:20):
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
(10:43):
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.
Speaker 5 (10:53):
Right to go on listen?
Speaker 4 (10:56):
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
(11:16):
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.
Speaker 2 (11:39):
A series, Like.
Speaker 4 (11:40):
Why is that?
Speaker 5 (11:40):
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
(12:02):
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
(12:25):
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
(12:48):
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
(13:09):
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.
Speaker 8 (13:25):
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?
Speaker 5 (13:39):
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
(13:59):
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.
Speaker 4 (14:23):
I do. Remember you and uh the book that Alex
Hilly didn't get to finish.
Speaker 5 (14:30):
Mama's by a Flora's Family.
Speaker 2 (14:33):
Yes, okay, sorry, it was.
Speaker 5 (14:35):
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.
Speaker 6 (14:51):
It was a it was a Blackamy show, right, a
black Emmy section. It was a black Emmy show.
Speaker 5 (14:55):
It was a Blackamy Award show. Because they weren't even.
Speaker 2 (14:59):
They got I ain't got no how come I didn't know.
Speaker 7 (15:03):
This no real remember I remember, it's a real thing.
Speaker 5 (15:08):
It only happened once. I'm sure they got sued c
distance letter, but I got one.
Speaker 6 (15:16):
See that's why we got to keep telling history and
telling these stories.
Speaker 4 (15:21):
You said that, I thought you meant like, yeah, yeah,
n w A c. People were I didn't realize that there.
Speaker 5 (15:25):
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.
Speaker 7 (15:45):
Not to move fast forward, boss.
Speaker 6 (15:47):
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.
Speaker 5 (15:57):
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.
Speaker 4 (16:10):
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.
Speaker 2 (16:31):
Yeah. I wasn't big on US. I didn't right.
Speaker 4 (16:33):
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
(16:56):
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
(17:17):
know if you were fine.
Speaker 5 (17:18):
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.
(17:39):
We're gonna ratchet it up.
Speaker 2 (17:41):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (17:42):
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.
(18:05):
But it's not because they're looking for it.
Speaker 7 (18:07):
So no, I do.
Speaker 5 (18:08):
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.
(18:30):
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
(18:51):
in a comedy. This is a hard film.
Speaker 4 (18:54):
And wait, even then, you didn't realize where he was
going with it.
Speaker 6 (18:59):
No, because you didn't get to read the whole thing.
Did you just read your scenes?
Speaker 5 (19:04):
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.
Speaker 2 (19:22):
Yeah.
Speaker 5 (19:23):
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.
Speaker 7 (19:43):
Wait wait, wait, wait wait.
Speaker 6 (19:46):
So did you ever get going sneak into a theater
and hear the reaction of people when you come on
the screen.
Speaker 7 (19:51):
Did you get to feel that?
Speaker 5 (19:52):
Yes? I did get to feel it once and it
was really once.
Speaker 2 (19:56):
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.
Speaker 4 (20:06):
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.
Speaker 2 (20:23):
In parts.
Speaker 4 (20:23):
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.
Speaker 5 (20:36):
Different movie. Yeah, that's hilarious.
Speaker 4 (20:44):
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?
Speaker 2 (21:00):
Yeah, let's go.
Speaker 4 (21:02):
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
(21:26):
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
(21:50):
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.
Speaker 2 (22:06):
What was it?
Speaker 4 (22:07):
Like?
Speaker 5 (22:07):
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
(22:31):
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
(22:54):
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
(23:16):
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.
Speaker 4 (23:26):
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.
Speaker 2 (23:40):
I wanted to ask about Queen Sugar.
Speaker 8 (23:43):
You talk about, you know, shows that didn't get Emmy's
or recognition.
Speaker 2 (23:46):
What was it like working on that show?
Speaker 8 (23:48):
Because that was just such a beautifully shot show and
beautifully lit, like you know.
Speaker 2 (23:53):
It was just a beautiful show to watch. Why do
they not announci you a while? Arap Angel.
Speaker 4 (24:00):
Blame Ralph Angel for me now having subtitles on.
Speaker 5 (24:08):
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
(24:34):
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
(24:55):
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
(25:15):
do with you, but more to do with how could
we tell this story about a generational family that owned land.
Speaker 8 (25:24):
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?
Speaker 5 (25:33):
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
(25:54):
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
(26:20):
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,
(26:46):
you know, push it out so you could be successful.
You it's I'm surprised we haven't all gone that shit crazy.
Speaker 4 (27:00):
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
(27:24):
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
(27:49):
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
(28:11):
think of do the right thing, like it wasn't happily
ever after No Better Blues was QUI fied.
Speaker 2 (28:18):
He found love, but he.
Speaker 4 (28:19):
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
(28:40):
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
(29:01):
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.
(29:22):
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?
Speaker 5 (29:39):
Or I knew the one I was in. I was
in two of them, the happy ending and the more
tragic endings.
Speaker 4 (29:46):
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.
Speaker 2 (29:58):
Oh yeah, the we did, Yeah.
Speaker 6 (30:02):
But I didn't ours just like I felt like it
was clue yeah.
Speaker 5 (30:08):
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
(30:30):
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?
Speaker 4 (30:43):
Wait? Was that an Eastern third ending?
Speaker 5 (30:46):
Right?
Speaker 6 (30:46):
He's saying that was the third ending that we didn't win,
the fourth ending that we didn't see.
Speaker 5 (30:50):
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,
(31:12):
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.
Speaker 4 (31:34):
Yeah.
Speaker 8 (31:34):
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.
Speaker 2 (31:44):
You know what I'm saying.
Speaker 8 (31:45):
Yeah, generational. Yeah, that was so beautiful like you and Jeffrey.
But then also I forgot the name, but the Old House.
Speaker 6 (31:55):
Is a boss listen, I mean dead pull along. I'm
like the fact that she pulls American fixture.
Speaker 7 (32:00):
The dead pool.
Speaker 5 (32:00):
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.
Speaker 2 (32:24):
The housekeeper in the security Guard.
Speaker 5 (32:27):
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
(32:47):
normal in that movie.
Speaker 6 (32:49):
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,
(33:09):
just in that.
Speaker 5 (33:11):
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.
Speaker 7 (33:32):
And you think high enough of yourself to be like,
I don't have to be there here.
Speaker 5 (33:36):
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
(33:56):
that's self empowerment. And it was lovely. It wasn't mean
or angry. It was just sort of like, you gotta.
Speaker 7 (34:03):
Go, Erica.
Speaker 6 (34:05):
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.
Speaker 7 (34:15):
Then talk about Sterling.
Speaker 5 (34:16):
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.
Speaker 7 (34:34):
But he's from Southeast though. He went to Anacostia High School.
Speaker 5 (34:37):
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
(34:58):
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,
(35:19):
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
(35:41):
Jeffrey is. And once he gets permission to do those things,
he gives everyone else permission. And then the set runs.
Speaker 4 (35:49):
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,
(36:09):
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,
(36:29):
that's your fault. I don't give a fuck next scene.
That sort of thing. Is it a speed dating process?
Speaker 2 (36:36):
Like how long?
Speaker 4 (36:36):
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,
(36:59):
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.
Speaker 5 (37:16):
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,
(37:38):
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
(37:59):
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
(38:20):
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.
Speaker 8 (38:31):
Yeah, So when you check after check a young actor,
what do you say, like, how do you check them?
Speaker 5 (38:36):
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.
(38:57):
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
(39:20):
working these kids, what's too they're more soft than not.
Speaker 8 (39:24):
We work that is actual and factual.
Speaker 5 (39:27):
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
(39:49):
right away and reshift your schedule to shoot things they're
not in.
Speaker 8 (39:54):
Did you have any like any ogs who was who
did that for you?
Speaker 5 (39:58):
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
(40:20):
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.
Speaker 4 (40:36):
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.
Speaker 2 (40:51):
Baby, Oh yeah you.
Speaker 6 (40:55):
Are.
Speaker 7 (40:56):
I love that.
Speaker 4 (40:57):
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.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
I'm cool, I'm cool, I'm I'm good. No no, no, listen, listen.
Speaker 4 (41:11):
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.
Speaker 5 (41:26):
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.
Speaker 4 (41:42):
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.
(42:02):
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
(42:25):
designated She's the leader of the group.
Speaker 2 (42:27):
Chat damn.
Speaker 7 (42:30):
That an elder sister who was like mighty queen because.
Speaker 5 (42:35):
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
(42:59):
she was just giving you PERMISSI, but she wasn't sonning you.
She was just sort of like a big sister going yeah.
Speaker 4 (43:07):
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.
Speaker 5 (43:27):
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
(43:50):
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
(44:12):
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
(44:34):
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.
Speaker 2 (44:55):
Talk to your scene partner?
Speaker 5 (44:57):
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,
(45:17):
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,
(45:40):
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
(46:01):
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
(46:22):
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
(46:42):
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.
(47:03):
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.
Speaker 8 (47:20):
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?
Speaker 2 (47:32):
Oh man, I didn't know that, so.
Speaker 5 (47:34):
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.
Speaker 8 (47:44):
Kids, well, you look like you could be their sister
on the camera, So I mean, yeah.
Speaker 5 (47:51):
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,
(48:12):
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
(48:33):
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
(48:54):
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
(49:17):
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,
(49:38):
she's a ghost. In that series, Rizza wanted to see
his mother, so he wrote her in I fulfil the mean?
Speaker 8 (49:47):
Yeah, wow, were you Au Tang fan? Prior to the
did you Tang fan?
Speaker 5 (49:52):
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
(50:15):
love that kind of story.
Speaker 7 (50:18):
Did you see?
Speaker 6 (50:18):
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.
Speaker 5 (50:29):
But Julian Elijah Martinez who played my son, he played
the elder.
Speaker 2 (50:38):
Yeah, he played divine.
Speaker 7 (50:40):
Sometimes he.
Speaker 5 (50:44):
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
(51:05):
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.
Speaker 8 (51:16):
I have one last question, Eric, I need the face routine.
I need what's what's your face routine?
Speaker 6 (51:21):
What's your so thank you for that.
Speaker 5 (51:31):
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.
Speaker 7 (51:40):
See no, no, no, that's not true. I saw weeks ago.
Don't tell tales.
Speaker 5 (51:45):
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.
(52:05):
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.
Speaker 7 (52:17):
My hair is strenders.
Speaker 5 (52:18):
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.
Speaker 4 (52:37):
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.
Speaker 7 (52:52):
And shout out your organization.
Speaker 6 (52:53):
Please, because when you say you're trying to uplift these
people and these creatives, you're doing it in real time.
Speaker 7 (52:57):
Please please Color Farm.
Speaker 5 (53:00):
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
(53:24):
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
(53:45):
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,
(54:11):
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
(54:32):
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
(54:54):
these long conversations, because I think we're also archiving history.
Speaker 6 (54:59):
One do the thank you, Yeah you made it, thank you,
thank you for making that, thank you.
Speaker 2 (55:03):
For yeah doing your ship, thank you, thank you. I
appreciate you, and you're back.
Speaker 4 (55:11):
That is probably the greatest ending of quest love supreme.
Speaker 5 (55:15):
We could just get that plate of Patty.
Speaker 4 (55:19):
Okay, yes, to let the world know Patty invited me
and the guy who sang about her pies and talked
about oh.
Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yeah yeah, the viral a viral.
Speaker 4 (55:29):
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.
Speaker 2 (55:40):
Oh okay, gotcha.
Speaker 4 (55:41):
Yes, after a lot of begging.
Speaker 7 (55:44):
Erica wants to be invited.
Speaker 6 (55:45):
I will guest, if you watched eightieth Birthday, I'm saying
we just make it a family.
Speaker 5 (55:51):
Thank you, golface.
Speaker 4 (55:51):
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.
Speaker 8 (56:02):
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.
Speaker 4 (56:17):
Quest Love, Thompson, Sean g and the US Father Brian Calhoun.
Speaker 8 (56:21):
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.
Speaker 1 (56:34):
And That's Love Supreme is the production of iHeart Radio.
Speaker 4 (56:50):
For more podcasts from iHeart Radio, visit the iHeart Radio app,
Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite shows.
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