Happy Sad Confused - Yahya Abdul-Mateen II

Episode Date: December 10, 2019

It's all happening seemingly all at once for Yahya Abdul Mateen II. Just a few years ago, he was laid off as a city planner. Acting wasn't part of the plan. But a plum job on Baz Luhrmann's "The Get Down" has launched a career that seems unstoppable now. Yahya joins Josh to talk about his pivotal role on "Watchmen", going toe to toe with Jason Momoa in "Aquaman" and his upcoming roles in the latest installments of the "Candyman" and "Matrix" franchises! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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D.C. high volume, Batman. The Dark Knight's definitive DC comic stories adapted directly for audio for the very first time. Fear, I have to make them afraid. He's got a motorcycle. Get after him or have you shot. What do you mean blow up the building? From this moment on,

none of you are safe. New episodes every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcasts. Prepare your ears, humans. Happy, Sad, Confused begins now. Today on Happy, Sad, Confused, Yaya Abdul Mateen II, hitting it big with Candyman, The Matrix, and Watchmen. Hey, guys, I'm Josh Horowitz.

Welcome to another edition of Happy, Sad, Confused. Very excited about today's episode for a number of reasons. Number one, I am obsessed with Watchmen. Hopefully, if you're like me, and I know a lot of you are, we share some more taste by now. I know this about my listeners. You're watching Watchmen. Well, the man of the hour to talk to is Yaya. Yaya Abdul Mateen II, plays Cal on the show.

We'll get into that side of things in a little bit. And don't worry, I will give you spoiler warnings before it's time to talk about that stuff. But he is killing it right now. He has so much going on. Yeah, yeah, you've seen him as Black Manta. In Aquaman, you may have seen him on the get-down. But beyond that, looking past watchmen, this guy, if you're going to put your money on the next big star, I would seriously consider Yaya. He has a leading role in the next Matrix film.

He has the lead role in Candyman. He is just doing it all. He's in the new Aaron Sorkin film. This guy, he's going places. I tell you, kids. Anyway, we'll get to that in a second, and we'll talk Watchman in a second with Yaya. Beyond that, other things to mention. Well, the main thing, I mentioned on the last episode, but if you haven't listened, I want to mention it again because it is important.

Happy, Sad, Confused is going live. It's true. An audience, you guys can be there in person to watch me do my thing with some really cool people. Happy Say I Confused goes live December 22nd in Brooklyn at the Bell House. Okay? My main guests, the man of the hour, will be the great David Harbour. Yes, Stranger Things himself, Stranger Things Chief Hopper himself, David Harbor will be there. We're going to have a blast. We're going to have conversations and games and singing and fun. Surprise guests, some not-so-surprising guests, because I'm going to say them right now.

Justin Long is going to be there. Patrick Wilson's going to be there. It's going to be great. Tickets are on sale right now. Yes, we're selling tickets because it's all going to a good cause. We're putting all the proceeds from this event to two great non-profit entities. One, the NRDC, Natural Resources Defense Council. They do amazing work. They're saving the planet one day at a time. And Community Works, which is this great non-profit theater organization here in New York City, couldn't be more excited that we are both doing a live, happy, sad, confused event, and also putting the money to good use and helping some folks out. Tickets are on sale at the bellhouse NY.com. Two tiers of tickets. There's general admission. There's also a VIP ticket, which will get you

a signed Stranger Things poster from David Harbor himself. So come on, guys. Come on out. Support happy, say, confused. Support these great causes. Support David Harbor and have a great time. It's a holiday, happy, sad, confused episode in Brooklyn. Come on out. Say hi. I hope to see you there. Again, tickets are on sale on the bellhouse, n.com. Okay, that's the plug for today. Back to Yaya for a second. Okay, so here's what I'm going to say. This is a conversation about his career in the first half, and then we get into Watchman

things. So, about halfway through the conversation, I will say, here's where we get into spoilers. When we turn to Watchmen, you know it is time to either tune out if you haven't watched all of Watchmen by now, or if you have, it's time to get really excited because we're going to get into some serious spoiler chat about a show I'm obsessed with, and you should be too. So don't worry, there will be spoiler warnings, but if you haven't watched Watchmen yet, don't worry, you can watch the first half, or rather listen to the first half of this conversation and not have anything spoiled for you, but you should be watching the show. I'm just

going to say that. All right. Let's get on to the main event. Yaya Abdul-Mutin II, doing great things, and we'll be doing great things for many years to come. Thrill that he came on the podcast. Remember to review, rate and subscribe to Happy Sank Infused. Spread the Good Word. Here's my chat with Yaya. Yaya has entered the office. It's good to see you, man.

Good to meet you, rather. Yeah, yeah. It's good to meet you as well. I'm happy to be here. I'm a big fan of yours. I'm a big fan of what you've been doing the last few years. A lot going on for you. I'm all over the place, huh?

You are. You're killing it. You're killing it. I just had one of your co-stars. Eddie Redmayneen was in here the other day. My guy, Eddie! You're in good company in that group. Yeah, I am, man. Eddie's so cool. I mean, it goes without saying how talented he is, but he's a really nice, nice guy, really

nice guy. When you work with actors like this, and I'll probably say this a couple times throughout the interview when you asked me about certain people because I've been blessed to be a really good company. yeah um they really take care of you as an actor you know you step into that into those scenes and into that the world a lot of times it's tough material and um it's nice to be working with people from the top to bottom who can really really take care of your talent you know what i mean yeah i was gonna say he's been on a run with like you know whether it's hugh or jane like these are just class acts class acts yeah right um so you enjoying your time in new york

You've been shooting the trial of Chicago 7, this Aaron Sorkin, long gestating project. Yeah, yeah. Crazy cast. Yeah, a lot of history behind that project. Yeah, Bobby Seal, quite a... Yeah, man, Bobby Seale. Black Panther. Yeah, Oakland, California.

That was, that's just, like, dope to be able to do that. I mean, everybody back from Oakland, they said, man, you better represent. You better hold it down and do that. Yeah, another very important story. And it's nice to be able to go and step into that world after doing a watchman, after doing a Candyman or Aquaman and things like that. like that and to go just play play a figure from history and you know with something with some with some import with two feet in the ground you're balancing it out really well so talk to me a little

bit about okay friends from home family what do they make of the last few years because it's it's happened pretty damn quick since you since you made the shift uh yeah i guess it has uh i mean do you do you think does it feel that way to you or does it feel like you know i put it my time i mean i mean it's it does feel like a little both look it does feel like a little bit of I've done my time, but I would never say that in a room full of actors. You know what I mean? Right. Because I would never, because I understand what the reality of this, of this pursuit is.

Yeah. Now, so I can only speak from my perspective. So sometimes I do look up and it's just a whirlwind. And then sometimes I feel like I have so far to go. I think that's really, that's just really, that's probably on my most ambitious days, you know, when I'm feeling that way. But everybody's on my side And everybody's rooting for me

And at the same time They push me to keep on going further But they They keep me humble too They keep me humble I remember standing outside of a line Pardon I was standing outside of a Outside of I couldn't get into a party

Like last year There was like I couldn't get No it was earlier this year And I couldn't get into a party And like Aquaman had just came out And my boy said He teased me He was because I brought there

When we all got dressed up He was going to this party in Hollywood and everybody was there. I mean, like Issa Rae and like Daniel Kaluya and Dave Chappelle got on the mic there and everybody who was like anybody was in Black Hollywood was there. And I go, and I didn't go like a big shot.

I had an invitation too. You know what I mean? And I go and I couldn't get in. He said, what do you say? He said, yeah, if you was on Empire, you wouldn't have had this problem. And I fell out laughing. Because it's true, if I was on Empire,

I wouldn't have had no problem. Well, look, as you're working, as we've all worked in this business, there's always another velvet rope. There's always another back room. Unless you're like Jay-Z or, you know, whoever, like Dwayne Johnson. Yeah, yeah. There's always a room you can't get into. That was funny. That's good to have people like that that surround you.

So you mentioned Oakland. You were born in New Orleans, but is Oakland home? Is that where you were raised? Born in New Orleans, raised in New Orleans and then moved to Oakland and raised in Oakland. So it was a point where, I mean, I went to New Orleans, I mean, I went to Oakland, and for the first time in elementary, then I went back to New Orleans and then back to Oakland, and I was in Oakland from a middle school on. So I definitely grew up and matured in Oakland. So in that environment was, like, was a career in the arts something that was fathomable to you? Was it something that was just not even, was it about not having interest or not being able to imagine that kind of a life?

I never knew that that was something that was real. I mean, growing up, I wanted to, I always wanted to be an architect. Pardon me, I always wanted to be an architect. He was always a really good student. And I wanted to be a basketball player. I wanted to go to the NBA and I wanted to be an architect. I remember I wrote something. I was like, Time Man of the Year for 2013 or something like that.

And I went to the NBA. Right, the first like NBA, all-star slash architect. Right, no, that's what it was. That's kind of what it was. I was in the NBA. I was All-Star. I got MVP at the league in that same year. opened up like a hundred, I designed and opened up like a hundred, like boys, boys and girls

clubs across the country or something like this. It was supposed to, it was supposed to happen in 2013, so I'm still waiting. Oh, you're way behind. I'm still, I'm still up. You're screwing up. Right, man. I got, I got an MVP to get in and got to open up 100 boys, 100 boys and girls clubs, man. I got to get back to the gym. It's a work to do. Yeah, man, we got to drop out to some of these projects. Right. We got to, we got to, we got to push on this interview. I got to get back to my jump shots, man. You must be a, you were a good athlete. I mean, you're in decent shape.

Yeah, I was, yeah, I was a very good athlete. I was, I was, I think I was fifth in the state in the hurdles in California when I graduated 2005. Somewhere about there, I went to, went to Berkeley, ran track for Berkeley, I lettered, and I studied architecture. But I never, never knew that acting was something that I could do. I mean, I stumbled into a class off of a challenge from a friend. on the track team. He said, dude, you should take a theater class. It's just like

recess. You know, I had been doing some, the night before we did a team building exercise where they had the freshman and sophomore performed for the seniors and juniors. And I went on stage and I started, you know, imitating all of the coaches and everybody was just laughing with my imitations. And the next day we're just talking about that practice and JP, JP, he says, dude, you should take a theater class. It's just like recess. And I, that sounds good. And I took a class. And the teacher said, she says, hey, you're really good. I think you should, I think you should, you know, stick around.

But I didn't. And I took another class in my senior year, the Shakespeare scene study class. And it was fun. It was nothing more than fun. Right. But then I got laid off for my job in city planning. And that's when I decided to give a shot. Interestingly enough, the thing that broke it, that made it a possibility that I could do something in the arts was

Marshawn Lynch, he retired now, running back from the Seattle Seahawks and the Oakland Raiders. I knew Marchand from high school and from high school and from Berkeley also. And I saw him on a billboard. It was one day I'm driving to San Francisco. He had just got drafted, and I saw him on a billboard first, and then very soon after I saw him on television in a football game. And that was the first time that the people in people on television were real. before then it was the people on television were just the people in the box. Yes.

Had no idea that that's even possible. That that was even possible. They were just the people in the box. And when I saw him as one of the people in the box, then it was just that simple. It just clicked. And I said, oh, these are regular, these are normal, normal people. Yeah. And that's when I begin to imagine that I could be one of the people inside the box also.

Have you kept up with your mimicry? Are you a master impressionist? I don't believe that I am. you don't do a good Jason Mamoa you don't do a... Jason, Jason's a bro What's Jason like? Sometimes I try to talk about

I try to sound like Jason I ended up sounding like macho man Randy Savage They're not that far apart Right Jason's just bro He's a dude He's all about this

Y'all get all there Red and we're not gonna do that That's pretty good But come in here and then do that Hey what are you gonna do What are you gonna do it past Guinness Doom do him do you start playing his on I know that's so funny

Playing his base That's funny you say that I just did a big shoot with him Like a month ago at his favorite guitar place in New York. Oh, yeah? That sounds about right. He was in Hog Heaven. He was just like, forget the interview, I just want to play.

I just want to play. Hey, yeah, yeah, come over here, man. Me and my wife, my beautiful wife. And she is. This is, yeah, hey, she just love my life. Love my life. Get over here. I love this guy, too. He's just happy. He's a happy man. Yeah, he's a bad. He is, man. He's a five-year-old, man.

He's a five-year-old in a six-foot-four frame. And, you know, he's always a party in the playground when he's around, man, that's my guy. So you end up, I mean, I know we're skipping around a bunch, but you end up at Yale, which, so how did, so why, I mean, why Yale? I mean, if you can get into Yale, do Yale. Yeah, right, right. But was that, like, a big shifting moment in terms of, like, starting to, like,

get serious about the study of it? Yeah. Was it eye-opening in terms of what you had to learn? And you were probably there with people that were a bit younger than you, too. Was that interesting? Yeah, younger, older. We were kind of, actually, our, my class at Yale was very experienced. And I went to Yale because, I went to graduate school, one, because after I got laid off and decided to be an actor, for a year, I spent, I spent time doing plays in the Bay Area, but also just in my living room talking to the wall, you know, and, like, literally, I'm there right now in front of the wall, and I'm just doing monologues at the wall, or I'd walk around to Lake Merritt, and I just do mon, there was a, there was sort of a platform where, I forget what you call it, like, where they held weddings and things like that.

the days where there weren't weddings, I would go there, get on the stage, and I would just do my monologues and just perform for no one, completely no one other than myself. And I said, I need people to talk to. I need friends who are actors. And that's where I decided to pursue graduate school, went to Yale, and was in a class with people who had been in Broadway, Tony winning award-winning productions. I don't think anyone had done much film or anything like that yet, but it was a pretty accomplished class in terms of as far as graduate school goes. And then there was me and they're trying to figure out how to be one of them, really. Winston Duke was an upperclassman.

Winston Duke was a third year. Winston was a third year. He helped me to move into my apartment. That's amazing. Yeah, he sure did. He sure did. Winston helped me to move in my apartment. He was almost bigger than my damn couch.

I was going to say the giant men's society. You guys walk into a room. I'm backing out. You guys are intimidating. Winston, that's my guy, man. Big guy, big kid. You finally found a guy bigger than your heart. Right, right, right, right.

There were a couple of them up there up there. Up there at Yale, big guys, big personalities who know how to fill a room and who are, you know, who are confident in their size also, you know, the world will take a very large guy, a large black guy and ask him to be something other. So, you know, sometimes it takes a lot of retooling and a lot of resetting of the mind in order to step out into your true size and kinesphere. So I watched Winston do that, and Winston gave me some really good advice when I got into. school. Interesting. And he, Winston actually,

he showed me how, he told me exactly how to go through that program, and I listened to him to the T. Well, it's funny you say that because, yeah, I think of Winston in his early roles in the last couple of years. It's like,

he's like, you know, just beast of a man in Black Panther, but then like this meek guy and us, and it's like, there's the range right there. Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Winston can act all over, connect all over the box.

Yeah. Yeah. So the big break, and this guy has provided big breaks for many. Basilorman loves to kind of cast on notes. I love Bass, man. He's amazing. Love Badd. I said Bad as a message. I'm sorry. No, go for it. No.

I sent Badd's a message right after I got cast in The Matrix. I was just reflecting on my short but very fast career up until this point. I sent Bad as a message. I said, man, thank you so much for seeing what you saw in me. Bass not only helped me not only cast me in the get down or not only chose me to be casted in the get down. But he shot me like a superstar. You know, Baz Baz saw me as a superstar and he shot me as a superstar.

And so he really introduced and I'm not calling myself a superstar, but he introduced the possibility of what I could be on screen. It's because of the way that he saw me and the way that he shot me. And I mean, I'll say it right now, I haven't really been, I have not been,

I don't think anyone's captured me or I don't think anyone's captured me in the way that Baz specifically has captured me on camera because he was set out to make this character Cadillac as a superstar and that really opened the door of possibility for what I could be in Aquaman, for what I could be in hopefully the Matrix, for what I'm doing and watchman, for what I've been doing all over all over the map in the last couple of years. It really starts there. So when that opportunity comes to a close, is it's like what's the next kind of sequence of events? Like to do

automatically does that open doors where suddenly you've gotten the you know, the sign-off from Bazormann, so that's good enough to open up the audition doors and to get you into some important rooms? No, not necessarily. I mean, people were impressed with what they were seeing on The Get Down, but the Get Down wasn't a very widely circulated show. It wasn't really widely talked about. My tapes did help, you know, and I was still fresh out of school, so I was putting in very, very good auditions. Right. Pardon me. Not getting a lot of but also at the same time getting a lot of other things also I think I think the get down helped me to be in a position to get to to get Baywatch and Baywatch open doors

people saw Baywatch and then they said oh who's this guy in Baywatch and then they've looked back and they say oh he can do that too and right in the get down and and then I got I look look up and I'm doing the greatest showman and that comes back to Badge Lerman with Michael Gracie you know working under Bass Lerman for a very long long time. And then so I begin to put together a body of diverse work. Yes. And then in comes Aquaman, where I have this opportunity to play Black Manta. Not a ton of responsibility, but a chance to really come pop on screen, make an impact, and kind of see what I can do. Was that the first superhero realm audition? Had you been up for other things in that? I tested for Black Panther. I tested for Embakou,

the role that Winston played, actually. Yeah, yeah. So that was that was my first foray into to enter the whole superhero world. What do you remember about that audition? Did it go well in your mind? Oh, I had a really good audition. And I remember working with Ryan for that hour, for that half an hour into an hour, and walked out that room saying that guy is so, so, so talented.

And his ability to tell story. Up until that point, I said this, I said he is only comparable to Baz Luhrman in terms of clarity of storytelling and clarity of articulate and the ability to articulate their vision. Because when he said it, I saw it. And I just, I just had it to, you know, it was only my job to step into the space that he was carving out.

So I knew that that was, that, that Black Panther was just going to be off the hook. And I knew that he was on to something really great. Are you superheroed out? Is there a room in Black Panther too? You're a fan of that movie. I've heard you talk about that one a bunch. Yeah, yeah, I loved it. I'm not necessarily superheroed out, but I follow my appetite.

And right now my appetite is for for something different. My agent actually said, he said, you know, you're playing a lot of, he said, you're playing a lot of, a lot of, what do you say? He said something like, you know, you're doing a lot of these, these big, big movies like Candyman. He said, Aquaman, Watch, Watch, right, a lot of man, Candyman, Aquaman, Watchman, but who's the man? You know what we want to know who's the man. And so that's kind of what I'm after right now is, and not even trying to. I mean, I want to make a strong introduction into the acting world and to put a solid face forward for who, for who I am as an actor and for what I can do. But I definitely don't want to box myself into any type of position.

But I definitely do want to step into a leading man position. I think I can, I think I have the shoulders for that and the versatility to go out and to bring a lot of unique, unique stories that don't necessarily have to be superheroes. I mean, I have, I'm contracted to super heroes. hero things right now. You know what I mean? So I think I've, I think I've got enough of that on my play. Has, did Moa let you in on? Apparently he went in and pitched his vision. Oh, I knew about that since, since, since day two of Aquaman. He wasn't shy about that. He's like, here's what I got. Yeah, no, no, no. He's had, he's had Aquaman too written before he, before he said, uttered a word on, on the first Aquaman. He's waiting on everybody else to come aboard. You know, he's

surprised me, man. I didn't, I didn't know, one, I didn't know what to expect from him. And then I kind of knew that he would be a dude, you know, and I looked him up online before I met him, and he was, you know, I saw videos of him chugging Guinnesses and throwing axes and, you know, breaking shit and playing guitar and things like that. And I said, okay, well, cool, this would be a fun guy. But he is, I didn't expect him to be such a sensitive artist. No, totally. Did not see that coming. And when I look and listen to the way that he speaks about, his wife and his family, his kids, his culture. Is Iowa where he's from? Iowa also? And his mother and his people that he keeps

around him and painting and storytelling. I did not see that coming. He's a very sensitive artist at the same time. And talk about a guy like if you look at his history like he struggled. Oh yeah. Like there was like a decade where he was like it's like post his Baywatch where it was like what the what am I doing in my life? Yep. Yep. Yep. So Black Manta, safe to say hopefully we're going to see in the next one do you know specific plans like timelines and stuff or uh we will see more more of uh black black manta i'm confident in saying that we have a date for for december i think 22 oh they've dated it already yeah yeah yeah for yeah for yeah for uh 22 and uh so and if they're going to make a movie uh i better be a part i'd be i better be a part of it

unless there's some recasting information that i haven't found out about unless this is your way to break the news to me not at all on the podcast things um All right, speaking of good things, let's talk some spoiler stuff. Spoiler warnings for folks that haven't caught up on Watchmen yet. So as we tape this, episode 8 is about to run. I have seen episode 8. I've seen everything but the finale. You have not seen the finale.

I haven't seen the finale also. Okay, no one's seen the finale. So, okay, if you haven't caught up on Watchmen yet, maybe hit pause. Come back after you see 7 and 8 in particular because there's some cool stuff to talk about. Yeah, man. Um, so, okay, first of all, I'm obsessed with the show. I was obsessed from the start. I mean, I'm, uh, Damon, Lindeloff is actually a friend for a long while. Oh, cool. Always been a fan of his.

First of all, like we alluded to this before, or maybe you didn't mention, but I know, you weren't a comic book guy growing up. No, uh-uh. So did you know, I mean, Watchman is kind of like the masterwork. It's the Bible. Yeah, that's the one on the pedestal. So had you any awareness of it before you went up for this? Yes. Well, I, through learning about Black Manta and Aquaman, I learned about comics in general.

So you can't avoid it when you see those lists. Yeah, there it is. Yeah. Well, I, you know, I was always, I thank you, I was always a kid who, you know, I was, I was an athlete, I was a two-sport athlete, but I was also on the debate team, and I was in the chess club. I was sort of a geek who played sports, and I was just, you know, had the frame of a, of a cool guy. You know what I mean? That's kind of, that's kind of what I was. I hate you.

It's like another friend of mine, Joe Mangonello. Do you know him? Joe is the same guy. It's like, he's a little. I met Joe when he came to Yale to do a player at Yale. And similar, everything you're saying. That's funny. That's so funny.

But comic books was just too far. I was just like, I can't get into comics. That's just for the kids, way down the hall. And we don't walk that. That's where the guy that looks like Josh over the corner. I don't walk that far down the hall. I don't walk that far down the hall. That was always my stop.

Right. But I got into Aquaman, and so I said, okay, well, now I got to get in the comics. Then I have a good friend of mine, Mabudu Ache, another actor. He was one year ahead of me at Yale. And he used to work at the comic book shop at a comic book shop here in New York. So he started to give me all these comics and say, well, read this, read this, read this. And he said, hey, read Watchman. He said, it's not a comic.

It's a graphic novel, right? It's a difference. I said, okay, well, let me read it. And that's when I read it. And I said, oh, this is different. This is not, you know, fantastical, and it's not really about pulverizing people to smithers and things like that. It was really talking about the world.

Yes, the world at the time he wrote it. Just as Damon's doing now, right. Right, right, right. And so that was really my introduction to it. And then I took it from there. So, okay, so you go up to audition for this one. Do you know what you're auditioning for? Do you know Cal?

What did they tell you? I mean, there was something like Calvin, Calvin Abraham, I think, and he had a mysterious, mysterious past or something like that. I forget what, how they described them, but there was nothing that stood out to this, that stood out to me. And I wasn't even paying attention to that. I said, look, I said, okay, Regina King, HBO, Damon Lindeloff. That's more, that's good enough, that's good enough for me.

You know, I said, if I'm going to do television, I'm going to do high quality television and classy television. I had just done handmade's tale. I had done the get down on Netflix and I said that this will be an excellent thing to go on my resume and excellent experience and that was more than enough. We go in, I do the chemistry read with Regina and I walked out, I said, that shit felt great.

And I was like, I don't know what everybody else thinks and I'm not one to be delusional. I think I have a very good read on myself. I know when I did not do a good job, I know when I did a good job, and I know when something in the room felt really, really good. I walked out and I said, hey, that felt great. So if it goes any other way, I'm just not supposed to get it because, and it was never going to be me, because that felt great.

What I experienced between the two of us. And I got the job. And all of a sudden, I'm playing this guy named Cal who's, I get to be Regina's young, sexy husband. And I was like, hey, I'll sign up for that any day of the week. You know what I mean? So at what point do they let you in on the big secret that by now our listeners know that Cal is in fact Dr. Manhattan. I had definitely shot one episode. I believe I had already shot the second. I was somewhere in between the second and third episode when I found out.

I knew that. That's crazy to me just because I haven't gone back yet, but I've read enough things that like the groundwork's obviously laid right from the beginning. There are hints, but you're not consciously putting the hints in your performance. No, not at all. You didn't know.

No, not at all. I'm just playing the guy that they give me on the page and trying to be loving and understanding and craft out that guy. And so, you know, by the time I got to my work, I had looked, but by the time I got to the work from episode one and going into episode two, I said, well, say, who is this cow guy?

I said, well, he's a stay-at-home dad. Nothing about him tells me that he's, or nothing about the script tells me that he's conflicted in being a stay-at-home dad. He's not wishing to be more. He's not, there's no conflict between, between Cal and Angela in terms of who is the man of the house, so to speak, and things like that.

He doesn't have an ego. So I said, well, he's patient, he's kind, he's probably progressive, a progressive thinker. He's a cook. He's a loving father. And I say, okay, well, there we go. She has enough chaos in her world that my job is to hold down the fort at home. And I'm going to do that. And I'm going to be a man about it.

And I'm going to not play a conflicted character. I'm going to offer that up for people to view on television. And that was really my objective in playing cow. So when they dropped the bomb on you, How did he let you know? Sitting on his couch, man. Sitting on his couch in the office, very matter-of-factly, sort of like we're talking, like, you know, just right now. I knew that he wanted to have a conversation.

By the way, have you painted yourself blue? Right. Right. So he's kind of said, so I want to talk to you a little bit more about, about Cal's backstory. And he goes into talking and describing it. He says, basically, Cal is Dr. Manhattan. By the way, I love the game and impression. Go back to our impressions.

Dr. Manhattan. And on the outside, I took it very, you know, very responsibly. Oh, wow. Oh, I can't believe. Wow, okay, this is going to be fun. Tell me more. Tell me where we're going. On the inside, I'm tearing the room up, man.

I'm just going crazy. And I kind of can't believe that I'm about to be Dr. Manhattan because it's just wild. It's wild. And then I said, oh, shoot. I said, I'm going to have to get in shape. I'm going to have to get in shape for this. Dr. Manhattan doesn't wear sweaters. Right.

He's just not, that's not on his agenda. And it would be really a shame. He'd still be as powerful, right? But it would be really a shame if Dr. Manhattan showed up, not physically looking apart. Just not ready for the job. You know, he'd still be just as powerful, just smart and all that. But it would be really a shame to see what he's let himself come to. There are no concerns there.

Mission accomplished. shoot at it. So is that more Intimic, which is the more intimidating part? Is it the, being naked or being a bald blue guy?

Oh. Just getting it. The gym. Everything that you don't see is the intimidating part. You should, I mean, I want you to see me,

the whole process when I have to work out for things, it's like, is, is, you wake up in the morning. Is it really today?

Yes, it's today. You take a deep breath. You eat enough food. You hide enough food. and you know that you have a workout in an hour. Now, the hour you do as much as you can to avoid getting to that moment, but you want to be prepared so you do as much as you have to do in order to be prepared.

You go, you get in there. The workout starts, and I have a great attitude. I have a great attitude about the workout. Once the workout begins, I'm a top-notch sport. Top-not sport, I give my all. The workout ends, I'm suffering, I'm recovering, and then the countdown begins until when I have to do it again. That's really what my whole process is.

wheel. Let's just here we go again. Right, here we go again. From my workout finishes at two and the next day it starts at, at two o'clock, then from two to 159 of the next day, I'm just not all about it. Let's talk about it from the character standpoint, because, I mean, this show has just been building so amazingly. Like from the start, it's great, but like, it's seven and eight are amazing.

I'm obsessed with like the end of seven with the reveal and the life on Mars. song kicks in. Yeah, yeah, yeah. Amazing. Yeah. So, and then really an eight where we really see you as Dr. Manhattan. And that's like, that's a challenge. That's a different kind of a part to play.

This, just the manner and the voice. Yeah. He's really a god, but is also was a man. Was a man. So there's that in there too. He's attempting to be a human again. He wants to, I mean, he comes back. The only reason to really come back is to,

it's forced some semblance of experiencing humanity again you know there's a lot going on in there with him so was episode eight in particular a huge challenge for you just to kind of because you're playing I mean you're playing a new character and he's been dormant

we haven't seen the side of him yeah I'm playing a new character and I spent a lot of time to try to figure out what that character was going to be and you know I really I tried to root him I try to give him an archetype you know I think Cal was sort of like the

the child um he was sort of like the innocent child protector right you know and uh and and and dr manhattan was dr manhattan was um the the the god messiah yes or something like that you know uh and he was he's a very immovable type of person very very stubborn not by not necessarily stubborn by nature but he's so far ahead of everyone that the things that affect us on the day to day, on the day to day that help us to be better communicators, better articulators of

our feelings, they don't work with him. And so it was really a challenge to try to meet her and say, well, how much do I allow myself to be affected? And I felt for Regina sometimes too, because I'm like, I want to give you, I want to

give you everything that you need. As an actor, you're trying to Right, I want to give you everything that you need, but But I have a limited, or at least I'm experiencing a limitation in what I can give you. He's a very frustrating character to interact with. Yeah, we see that from Regina. Yeah, he's a very frustrating character to interact with. But it was fun. It was a challenge, but I had a lot of help and guidance along the way.

How much fun has it been to see sort of the audience discover this along the way? It's my favorite part of the whole thing, man. I loved your little video you just posted on social, just laughing, in a cab. or something. Yeah, just laughing in the cab on my way. I was going, because I watched it with my sisters every Sunday. So I was going uptown to Harlem to watch it with them. And we had gotten to like the 50th, it was like the 50th minute of the episode.

So I knew that now that about them would be the time where people would be kind of discovering what was going on. And so I was just watching on Twitter and watching people go through the emotional ladder of when is, hmm, I wonder if Dr. Manhattan is going to show up. oh my god she just said dr manhatton's on earth i think angela knows who dr manhattan is it's got to be her husband no it's not her husband it's the son no wait oh it is the husband wait what is he doing she just called him john what do you know with the hammer oh my god i can't believe it is doctor right he's been right here in front of my faces the whole time and that just and because of the format of twitter i'm just refreshing and why i'm just hitting press and refresh refresh refresh or scrolling down and watching everyone go through that going that same emotional journey everyone

who was watching and tweeting was going on the same emotional journey and I was just it was the funniest thing to me watching something like that play out in real time yeah it was it was it was hilarious as a as a fan of that comic and and the show like the hairs on the back my neck just went up yeah when the when the revelation comes yeah because he's the hero that like we wouldn't like wait yeah yeah yeah yeah where's he where's he been all this time yeah yeah yeah okay so i mean this the the good run doesn't end with this thankfully as we said you were doing this iron sorkan film You also got this leading role in the new Matrix, which is amazing. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Which I know we can't talk what it is, but just talk to me about, like, the process of getting it. Meeting Lana is directing it, was, what was the audition process and... Yeah, I mean, yeah, for that, I got the script. They let you see the script. For about 20 minutes. You're like speed reading. Yeah, for about 20 minutes, I have to be a genius in order to finish it. And then let me feel how heavy the script was and try to end.

into anything that I could get from the weight of the actual script, not the weight of the content of the script, but the physical weight of the script. They said, you got everything you need? I said, I don't think so. That's all I need. You know, I read the sides, and I went in to play for a couple work sessions for two days, and we did some movement stuff and talked,

and I really, really liked Lana's vision and who Lana is, and I think she's making something that's going to be important. and that's a representation of her voice and what she has to say about the world. And the world building is just really, really phenomenal. I mean, that movie, the initial movie, was so ahead of its time. Yes.

And I would expect, look, I've loved all the Wachowski's work, Cloud Atlas. I thought it was an underrated, like, kind of masterpiece. Does this, you think, reflect sort of a different world, the world we're living in now, like a different kind of vision, or does it feel analogous to the first film? I think it represents Lana.

You know, I think it represents Lana and the journey that Lana's been on since the first Matrix came out, you know. And I'm really excited to be a part of it. The first Matrix was, man, that can hold, you can put that in the theater now. You can put that in theater now and people wouldn't go away talking about how bad the graphics were. No. You know what I mean? It really holds up. And so for me to, you know, aside from all the import of what this one is going to be in attempt to say,

I'm really excited to be a part of something that's hopefully going to push the technological advances even further, you know, 20 years later, you know, to say, well, what can we, you know, this is what we did 20 years ago, imagine what we can do 20 years later. That's what really, really makes me excited about it outside of everything else. And continuing your streak with working with the good guys. Yeah, Kianu's just like one of the best. That's what I hear. That's what I haven't met him yet. No, no, no, I haven't met him, but that's what I hear. Yeah, he's a good dude.

And then last thing, Candyman. Candyman, I know, right? You shot that, right? Yep, that's in the cane. Okay, so Jordan co-wrote it? Yep, yep. So staying in the Jordan Peel family, that's a good company to keep again. Very good company to keep.

What was the experience like? What can you say about what we can expect from? Candyman was cool. Candyman was my first lead. I remember Jordan, when I was working on us with Jordan, he told me, he said, man, I really want to give you your first lead. And he called me, or I got a phone call a year later about the Candyman opportunity. And I was saying, of course I'm going to do it.

And, yeah, and I find myself in that seat and telling another story that's really, really important that's going to land, you know, close to home in terms of what's, in terms of the current political climate, in terms of Chicago, you know, 30 years after the original, after the original Candyman. Yeah. And, you know, it's a very, it's a project with a strong opinion on what the world is today and what that community of Chicago is today. And it's still relatable. I really love that. that it's something that Candy Man is a part of a part of our cultural history. You know, and it's just the iconography of that character. When people say Candy Man, not very many people can even tell you about the, can't even talk about the plot of the movie. Right.

But they know what Candy Man stands for, and they know that character. And so it's really cool to be a part of something that's going to bring that folklore back into the, back to the conversation in a relevant way. It's so cool to, I mean, you're working in all these, like, quote, genre things. Sure, so, sure. but they're saying something like watchmen candy men

these are not like shy just easy layups these are ones that are like aspiring to say something about the world we live in that's the way to do it if you're going to work in that space even the greatest showman

was one of those things about like I mean I watched something yesterday where even that's having still having an impact in the world no the reason why it worked is it is we're all the outcasts we're all the outside right

I was watching some of some young girls in South Africa we're singing that at a large presentation yesterday about outsiders being accepted for who they are and having pride. So I'm really excited to be a continuing streak of meaningful work, but that's fun and diverse all the, you know, at the same time. It shows that we can tell great, important, excellent stories, adventure stories, and we can do it in several, several different ways and still do positive, positive, meaningful work. Amazing. Well, I think I'm going to catch up with you again soon,

judging by all the projects you've got coming up. Yeah, yeah, yeah, that'd be good. I'm so happy for all the success you've been experiencing man it's well deserved and man you're on you're on such a great streak i know it's going to continue um congratulations and everything that means everything i appreciate and so ends another edition of happy sad confused remember to review rate and subscribe to this show on iTunes or wherever you get your podcasts i'm a big podcast person i'm daisy riddley and i definitely wasn't pressured to do this by josh The Old West is an iconic period of American history and full of legendary figures whose names still resonate today. Like Jesse James, Billy the Kid, and Butch and Sundance, Sitting Bull, Crazy Horse, and Geronimo, Wyatt Earp, Batmasterson, and Bass Reeves, Buffalo Bill Cody, Wild Bill,

Hickok, the Texas Rangers, and many more. Hear all their stories on the Legends of the Old West podcast. We'll take you to Tombstone, Deadwood, and Dodge City, to the plains, mountains, and deserts for battles between the U.S. Army and Native American warriors, to dark corners for the disaster of the Donner Party, and shining summits for achievements like the Transcontinental Railroad. We'll go back to the earliest days of explorers and mountain men, and head up through notorious Pinkerton agents and gunmen like Tom Horn. Every episode features narrative writing and cinematic music, and there are hundreds of episodes available to binge. I'm Chris Wimmer. Find Legends of the Old West, wherever you're listening now.