went to Africa, did some fuckery, do you know what I'm saying?
- Took it. - So we kind of have it in that thing.
We actually have a common throughline
between all of us, do you know what I'm saying?
And understanding that that is what joins us together
and then redefining it for us.
- How does that factor in at all into, like, your work?
Is the priority about Blackness? Is it playing a different role?
Your dialect? Just--
- Yeah. My thing is-- - I'm always intrigued by that.
- I mean, I always want to, like--
I care a lot about us being seen in a certain light.
For me, if something comes my way, I'm always thinking about--
I'll pull up to wherever that person's from
and get to know them so I can feel the stakes.
So then when I was doing "Judas," I went to Chicago.
I just pulled up, and I was there, like--I was, like, there.
I was where Chairman Fred used to speak.
I'd just be there meeting people that are there, talking to them,
and I understand what he means to them, the people that are from there.
Went to Maywood, went to the area where the people are from there, and I go,
"Okay, I'm doing it for them."
You just think of them, go, "No, that's the film for them."
- How many takes for the speech? - For the "I am a revolutionary" speech?
- Yeah. - How many takes?
Shit. I did that all day.
- Really? - We did that all day.
- Wow. You did it all day? - I did, like--Yeah, I did. No rest.
It was mad. It was mad. It was nuts, but it was just like--
That was a special day, man. That was a different--
- Yeah, I mean, that shit came off so fucking powerful.
- What it is, you get to a point when you're tired and that.
It was quite--It was Cleveland.
I was tired and that, and then they were lifting me up,
'cause basically it was like a scene partner.
Like, the crowd was a scene partner.
So then I was like, "All right, cool. We're in dialogue."
So then I have to get you in a certain place,
so then I can hit it in a certain way, and then you feel it in a certain way.
So it was all--it was like, I would keep going, "I am a revolutionary."
I would just keep going until they felt-- - Till they felt it, yeah, yeah.
- And then, like, cool, and start the speech.
Do you know what I'm saying?
- That's how a preacher preaches, to feel that...
- Yeah. Can I get some help up here? - Take you on that rollercoaster.
Take you up and down and get the crowd-- - Yeah, but then his son was on set.
His son was on set, so that was another thing that was quite--
And he never met his dad, 'cause obviously he got assassinated.
- Did you feel that responsibility? - Crazy responsibility.
It was like, yeah, man, heavy,
very, very, very, very heavy, but it sharpens you up.
I've never felt like that ever in my career.
I knew that day I did something there.
- Wow. - But I knew I did something there,
'cause something happened.
He was in the room. It was like some other shit.
I was like, "Something's happening here."
When I watch the film, I don't remember the takes.
- Wow. - I went into a place.
It was just an out-of-body experience. - It's a great feeling.
- Yeah. - You get that in sports?
- I was about to say we call that "being in the zone."
- Yeah. Exactly, yeah.
- You wish you can tap into that shit more often.
When it happens, you have no idea what the fuck is going on.
- And you find new stuff, and you start doing new shit.
- Yeah, you just trying shit that you never even tried before.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. - Like silly shit.
That game I had in Boston, game six, down 3-2...
it got to a point where I was just out there trying shit.
One leg, off the wrong foot,
bump fades off my right shoulder. [laughter]
I'm not even a right-shoulder bump-fade guy.
- When do you know you're in the zone while you're in it, like, at what point?
- I mean, I started a game, like, eight for eight.
- You don't know. I don't think you do. That's his point, right?
- And every time I was shooting, it just felt so perfect,
and it was barely touching the net--
like, going straight through,
like a bird just goes straight through the water--phew!
- Can you see the other team start to get defeated?
Like, "Damn. There's nothing we can do with these guys today"?
- Yeah, because I feel like when someone's watching you
and they know when you're-- we call it lost in the game.
Like, when my brother's watching me play, he knows when I'm lost in it,
'cause he's watched me play all the time growing up.
So, like, I used to get lost in the game when I was a kid,
but before I even knew what that saying was,
I was doing it.
Like, it's a different kind of focus,
and when you're doing it, you can't put a finger on it.
But if I'm watching it, I can.
- It's like one study that hasn't been tapped into.
How can we tap into the zone? - I don't know if you can.
- It's the one thing that's never-- You can't. You can't.
- Yeah. I had one coach, and he used to say,
"Put yourself in situations where you're not comfortable."
- Oh, yeah, that's my favorite saying. - Play outside of your comfort zone.
- That's my favorite saying. - How do you do that?
- I just learned to play in different positions.
Like, I started playing in central midfield
and just positions of the pitch that I didn't even necessarily like,
or, like, when you're in places
where it's not your specialty,
you get locked--it's a different kind of focus,
'cause you know that you have to be locked in.
- And when you're in that moment, can you see the defenders
of the other team like, "Fuck, we can't fuck with this guy"?
- It's like an atmosphere. Like, it's just in the stadium.
- Once you have that, like, are you constantly chasing it?
Is it something that you're striving for? - Oh, it's a drug.
It's definitely a drug. You wish the night never ends.
When the game ends, I'm literally, like, sad.
Like, I want to go-- I could literally go again.
I could play a whole game right after the game end.
- Them kind of moments change you,
like, with the zone or being lost in the game.
It's like that moment.
It's like one of the big reasons why I'm so picky,
'cause I'll have an amazing moment.
No, it has to be that.
I have to touch that, like, and then I'll look at scripts and like,
"No. I won't get there. I won't get there."
Oh, shit. I can't do those little jobs anymore.
I can't do those itty-bitty jobs, because...
- Yeah. Yeah. - It's stacked now.
But for me, it goes--
The reasons I'm doing it.
If I'm doing something for money, I'm never gonna get there.
If it's just money, never.
- Never. - Ever touch it. Ever touch it.
- I love that. - But then if it's like...
I do it 'cause it sort of means something to me
or I can grow or it makes me uncomfortable or I'm scared--
you see, more times I'm shook, do you know what I'm saying?--
then you're more likely to get into that zone.
- Do you look for roles that you're scared?
Like, "Fuck, I don't know if I can--" - Always. That's part of it.
- Yeah. What's your favorite place to play?
Do you like playing at Old Trafford the best or on the road the best?
And then on the road, which place do you hate going the most?
- [exhales deeply] Like, I love playing at Old Trafford 'cause it's Old Trafford.
Like, it's got a special feeling,
and not many stadiums can re-create that.
But at the same time, the fans-- our away fans are, like, sick.
It's a special connection between, like, away traveling fans.
Like, if someone's taken that amount of time out of the day
or out of, you know, two days to travel
and wherever you go around the world
to watch you play a game of 90 minutes, football, it means a huge amount.
So Liverpool it's, like, both.
- You love it and hate it. - Yeah, like--
- It's rough. - Yeah, 'cause--
- Scousers are rough.
- The fans can take the game away from you.
Like, if you let 'em, they can take it away from you, like...
My first game at Anfield, I almost got sent off straightaway.
- Really? - Yeah, and I'm not even like--
- What happened?
- Just a bad tackle, like, but I'm not a malicious--
Like, I'd never try and hurt someone on purpose,
but, like, when you...
I don't know. Like, the warmup and the buildup--
- He getting excited thinking about it. You can see it right now.
- Right on, because it's just like-- it's that--like what you're saying.
Like, you chase them types of... - Yeah.
- Them feelings and them fears, and they just build you up.
Like, that's the feeling.
- In basketball, are there fans that you can play away
that they can literally take the game from you?
You can feel like, "Damn, the fans is not gonna let us win this one tonight"?
- Yes. I mean-- - What places?
- I mean, Boston. - Boston, yeah.
- Why do you hate Boston? - 'Cause they racist as fuck.
That's why. They will say anyth--and it's fine.
I mean, fuck, it's my life.
It's shit I've been dealing with my whole life.
I don't mind it. Like, I hear it.
Like, if I hear somebody, like, close by, I'll check 'em real quick.
I move on to the game. Whatever the fuck.
They gonna say whatever the fuck they want to say.
They might throw something on you.
I mean I got a beer thrown on me leaving the game. You know, like--
- Boston is-- - Yeah. It's Boston.
- It's the only place in the NBA in America, you go,
and they have, like, shirts that say like, "Fuck LeBron."
- Yeah. It was like a-- - Whole section.
- There's a "Fuck LBJ" T-shirt.
I believe they probably sold it at the fucking team shop.
- No. They sold it outside the arena. - No. They sold it at the team shop.
Them Celtics had something to do with that shit.
- So I used to, like, read, like, football autobiographies
for fun, like, so I read Zlatan Ibrahimović.
- Right. - He's at a team.
One of the older guys come to him and goes--
He said something like, "Are you good?" He said, "I don't know."
He said, "When you play away, do the fans boo you?"
He's like, "Yeah."
"It means you're good." [laughter]
And that helps me when I get hate. - Yeah, yeah, for sure.
- It means you're getting hate,
'cause, really and truly, if you ain't good, they ain't caring about you.
- They don't give a fuck. - They don't care, like...
- As a young player, has it been a while adjusting to that a bit?
- Not really, because like I said, I was so close to it.
Like, I could see it happening, to, like, the first-team players
when I was watching 'em.
So you set an expectation from yourself.
Like, one day you're gonna be in a situation where your fans love you,
but other people's fans don't like you.
And if you're not in that situation,
then you're probably not doing something that you should be doing.
- That's a beautiful thing.
- After the Euro, did that get overwhelming, though?
Because that was a bit different, right? - Yeah, it's a different--
- Explain it. - They played in the final in the Euro...
- Yeah, that was wild. - Against Italy, tough game.
It ended--was it nil-nil or one--
- 1-1. - 1-1.
- Yeah. - And then overtime, overtime,
and then it went to PKs, and unfortunate for England,
the last three guys were Black. They missed, and...
- Oh, yeah. Okay, I got it.
- They got, like, death threats, and it got out of hand.
- It got out of hand. It got real out of hand.
- Like, there's certain elements of sport, like, you can speak about all day,
and you'll never come to, like, a bottom line,
like, "That's what should have happened,"
because it's a sport based on opinion.
So, like, I've had hate for scoring before.
Like, it might sound mad, but I have.
- Do you think it ever got you close
to where you felt like breaking, like, "Fuck, this is too much"?
- No, because, like, as a forward, you take risks all the time, man.
- Yeah, that's your job.
- Yeah, if you're not taking risks, you're doing something wrong.
- Do you think the hate would have been as insane,
if it was three white young kids that missed?
- Honestly, no. Like, that's just the way I feel.
I don't think it would have been the same,
but at the same time, I don't think people would have, like, noticed, like...
I feel like they just reacted to how they felt, like...
And whether it's because it was three Black guys or three white guys,
that's how they felt.
I remember when, like, Beckham was getting death threats and getting hate.
- The heat was on him, yeah. - So it's like...
It happens, but they just wanted you to win, like...
Do you know what I'm saying? It's-- - Bro, it's toxic, my guy.
- Yeah. It is toxic. - No. That's like--
I hear you, but I feel for you, man. Like, it's like--
- I felt for you, too. - 'Cause just sitting there,
you're like--and that's why you get conflicted with supporting England.
It just reminds you of being a kid in England.
It reminds you all them times when you're out, everyone,
and then someone says something, so you're--
or someone's parents said something.
Like, usually what fucks you up is adults say something to you,
as a four-year-old, as a five-year-old. - Mm-hmm.
- You know what I'm saying? And then it reminds you of that.
When you're trying to get closer to the identity
of being English and that, and then that happens.
Like, "Oh, yeah." There's this gap, do you know what I'm saying?"
And like you said, it's feelings.
Like, people are pissed off and this, that, and the other,
but you instantly go there.
So why'd you go there? That means it's just there waiting.
It was just that kind of--it just-- it was a jolt of a reminder.
Like, "Oh, yeah, oh, yeah, this country."
It's why we're never comfortable in the pub like that.
- Yeah. Of course. - You know what I mean?
As a kid or when I'm young, it's like... - We have the same thing, too.
- Why I can't go certain--
Like, it was that-- what happened with you lot.
That's what it was.
- Do you still feel that way?
After even winning an Oscar, you don't feel that's put you in rare air?
A different space?
- Well, I'm Black, bro. - You still have that same--
- No, bro. Like, if I believe in that, that's when I'm in trouble, I feel,
'cause it's like, then you think that it's disappeared.
You believe what--this is gonna--
Like, it's nothing to do with what we've achieved.
- Right. Right, right, right. - Like, it's nothing to do with that.
- Absolutely. - The reason why they doing it
is nothing to do-- 'cause we've underachieved.
It's like the reason why--'cause they've got something wrong with them.
The police stop me. They don't know I've got an Oscar,
unless I'm carrying it out the window, do you know what I'm saying, like...?
And then roll it like this and smile.
Like, so it's something wrong here.
I mean, so you know that saying
"you got to be twice as good to get half as much or whatever"?
And I always didn't like that saying,
'cause I was just like-- It's that thing that you said.
It puts the white point of view in the center of your lifestyle,
so I said I just want to be twice as good, 'cause I want to be twice as good.
That's what I want. I like that.
Do you know what I'm saying? And I like excellence. I aspire for it.
Like, going for it. It's not something that you're gifted.
It's something that you have to work for, I feel,
and so then I know that this Oscar, it's made people feel a way,
coming from where I'm coming from.
Rash, you know, like-- - Yeah.
- Do you know what I'm saying?
So it's like I don't put my identity in any of these physical, material things.
Like, do you know what I'm saying? I'm still, like--
- Present.
- [singing] I don't wanna die for them to miss me
Pat Riley's whole thing-- everywhere he's went...
- They won. - They won--
either when he was playing for New York as a Knick.
And we all know Knicks fans have been dying again for a championship here.
- Let's go. - You know?
That's too much. That's too much.
That's too much. [laughter]
- [singing] I feel good, sometimes I don't, hey, don't
I finessed down Weston Road, hey, 'nessed
Might go down a G-O-D, yeah, wait
I make sure that North Side eat
[music continues]
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