Higher Learning with Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay - The Horror, Joy, and Roots of 'Sinners' With Omar Miller

Episode Date: April 18, 2025

Van and Rachel react to the wrongful deportation of a Maryland man to El Salvador (7:21), before welcoming actor Omar Miller to discuss Ryan Coogler’s latest film, 'Sinners’ (27:22). Hosts: Van Lathan and Rachel Lindsay Guest: Omar Miller Producers: Donnie Beacham Jr. and Ashleigh Smith Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode of Higher Learning is brought to you by MGM Plus. If you love high-stakes drama, Godfather of Harlem delivers. I can't wait to see it. I know it has Academy Award winner Forrest Whitaker. He returns as Bumpy Johnson, facing his deadliest battles yet for Harlem's future. When ruthless newcomer Frank Lucas arrives, everything changes. As power shifts and new threats emerge, will Bumpy forge an uneasible, Is he alliance with his enemies?

Or will he stand tall as the undisputed Godfather of Harlem? Well, you can find out in the new season of Godfather of Harlem, new episodes streaming Sundays on MGM Plus. Yo, yo, yo, yo, thought warriors. What is up? All. Ireland is on and his Ivan Lekin Jr. And it's me, Rachel in Lenton.

Rachel got me cookies for my birthday. Happy birthday, the big four, five. Be careful. Make a wish. No, no, no. Close your eyes and make a real wish. We're coming off. We're coming off your birthday. How was your birthday yesterday? It was good. Let me show you what I got. I'm sure what Kalika got me. Oh, daddy. Oh, my father. Lord God, Daddy. Look at that. Oh, nice. Oh, St. Laurent. Oh, St. Laurent.

What's your wallet look like before? It's like a little knapsack. Oh, okay. Like a little kind of zippy. See, women always know what. what their man needs. That's, that's, that's nice. Sleek goes with the rest of, you know,

whatever it is you're doing here. I feel powerful with the gloves. Okay, well, then wear the gloves. Ring, ring, or? What are they actually for? Oh, these are baseball gloves. Okay, so, I don't know, when's the last time you picked up a bat?

I go hit, I go to the batting cages all the time. And is that why you bought them or you bought them because you like the way they look and they made you feel powerful? Stop! Do you ever see when a guy goes up to bat? Yes. That is one sport I am not good at. Baseball?

Not good at. I love it. So I go shout out to Bat Cade over in Burbank. You drive all the way over to Burbank? To go to the bat in cages. Is there a sport that you don't do? No. So you believe you're great at baseball.

That's a really good baseball player. Go ahead. You believe you're great at football. Like, you could play all. positions. Basketball, we've heard a lot. Boxing. My box. What about tennis? I played a lot of tennis growing up. Played a lot of tennis growing up. Golf?

Yes, I golf a little bit. I played a lot of tennis growing up. Track. Never. You never ran track? Never. It's not not even field? No. Because, you know, and I'm not trying to be rude, but you know, just like, you know, like, usually the bigger people go to, like, field. Bigger guys go to field. Nah, I was never into it. I didn't even understand the culture. The track culture. Oh, did you see?

Track culture is real. Now, I grew up, I started doing it at 60 years old. Track culture is the... I love track culture. Track culture to me is the most interesting of sports cultures. Why? Number one, it's co-ed. Yeah.

It's co-ed. And the fact that it's co-ed, everybody's together, everyone is leaned there's stuff happening okay it's co-ed everybody's supportive of one another you and it's very it

so I would when I would so I had a girlfriend who ran track in high school Paulette Gray and so when I would go to the track meets with her I would just look it was just different

it was different the way people talk to one another and also something else I'm not doing a good job of explaining this, just knowing that that person is just a little bit faster than you, and you got to run against them. No, I'm serious. Because knowing that if not for one person, you would be the state champion.

It's just a different mentality. It's very much a tribal. It's very tribal. It feels like, especially because, like, everybody, you get to your place, you lay out your tent over the bleachers. Sometimes you have something under the bleachers. You have stuff on the field. You know, like, you know there's a cyst. The races are in a certain order.

So, like, you know when to go down, when to support. You're right. You see that person who is your competition. You see them walk past you. Their tent might be set up next to you. There are true rivalries. Like, I ran for the Texans back in the day, but track Dallas was a huge rivalry. Like, it's a big, I loved it.

Especially for me, going to private school, you know, being around majority white kids my whole life. and my nickname in the summer was white girl, which was tough. But I loved the community that I had running summer track, you know, with black people. Yeah. It was, it was, it was special. I loved it.

We had chance. We had, yeah. I remember I was, we spent summers together, travel together. Paulette one time, and we were at like a track meet. Everybody was getting together. And it was a nigger from New York. Orleans that was running and his name was D'Artagnan. And I was really into Alexander Dumas and the entire folklore and lore of the Three Musketeers.

And this nigger was really like D'Artagnan, though. Everybody was like, he was walking by, everybody was like, hey, Dart, hey, Dart. How you doing, Dart? His name was D'Artagnan, which was a cool name. And then he was a New Orleans nigger with the curly hair. he was fast. And then I'm next to my girl. I never really get jealous.

I'm next to Paulette. And she goes, hi, dart. And I'm like, something about a New Orleans do. But the ones that ran track? And it was running track. And it was,

it was, and then the, and then I'm down there and I'm with her, and I see the track girls. The track girls are something else. I remember what we wear.

Remember what we wear? Track girls. The men are in tights. Yeah. Then they would take the straps off the types and then they would yell over the mic, put your straps up. Like, you know, they were just topless and the tights. They liked it.

The women wore, you know, little shorts. It was, there's a moment. But, you know, the twins, man. Shout out to the twins. Rest and peace, Ashton. I dated in college, New Orleans, rent track. Brother Aaron, shout out to the twins, man. Yeah, the twins, just like Ian, happened to Ian.

Same thing happened to Ian. And it's twins. I told you about that story. I always will go back into it. Maybe I'm telling too many Ian stories on the podcast. I don't know if Ian's into it. He's not. He's not.

Maybe too many. I learned a new end story last week that I could tell too. Save it. That would be very hilarious. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Trimfaya offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Trimfaya is administered as injections under the skin.

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receipt. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. Manager activity with our consumer protection tool. Restrictions apply. See terms at banduel.com slash predict slash bonus dash offer dash herms. We got to get into the goddamn podcast. Example of good politics here. In my opinion, Donnie, get us into it. Abrago Garcia. He was arrested by ICE in March after leaving his job in Baltimore. He was on his way home to PG County when agents arrested him without a warrant and later deported him despite him having a withholding of removal protection order that he had received in 2019. Now, ICE admitted that his deportation was an administrative error. Garcia has no criminal record and has never been charged with the crime in the U.S. or in El Salvador.

ICE officials argue that Garcia was a danger to the community and he was an active gang member in MS-13. His attorney said that the only evidence of alleged gang ties was a confidential witness and the fact that Garcia was wearing a bull's hat and hoodie when he was first arrested. Now, Maryland Senator Chris Van Holland traveled to El Salvador and spoke to the country's vice president about Abregal's release from a maximum security prison that is known as a terrorist confinement center or Seacott when translated to Spanish. And this is what Senator had to say about his visit. Now, the courts of the United States have said there's no evidence to support the charge that he's part of MS-13. So I asked the vice president whether or not El Salvador has any evidence that he's part of MS-13 or has committed a crime. So I asked the vice president if Abrago-Garcia has not committed a crime, and the U.S. courts have found that he was, illegally taken for the United States. And the government of El Salvador has no evidence that he was

part of MS-13. Why is El Salvador continuing to hold him in S-Kod? And his answer was that the Trump administration is paying El Salvador, the government of El Salvador, to keep him at S-Kod. Okay, so we haven't really been covering this story, but I'm assuming that most of our listeners who are very in the know about politics, I've at least heard about it. Yeah, well, I would think that most people have heard about it just because the slippery slope that this could,

or at least paying attention to it, because the slippery slope that this could create. Right. We should also say that this has been taken up by the courts and in a way has made it up to the Supreme Court. Supreme Court ruled but the ruling was more around technicalities

surrounding this? The rule it was that they did not have standing like the wrong people, they filed it in the wrong place, right? What does standing mean for people who don't know? It's the ability to bring a lawsuit or to challenge a lawsuit to get the exact definition. But they filed it in the wrong place.

And that's like the thing to pay attention on. And we talked about this one when I was on Abby Phillips is the Supreme Court keeps punting. They're not ruling on the legal question. They're not taking it on. So whether or not Trump has the authority to do what he's doing with deportations under the Alien Enemy's Act, they're not talking about that. They're not talking about the marriage.

They're not talking about the legal question. They're saying, oh, it's an error on how they did it, which means the Trump Amendment administration will say, this is a win. This is a win for us. The Supreme Court is signing with us. That's not what's happening. It's actually a win for the people bringing the lawsuit because they can now file it again.

And I guess they have to start over, but it's not like they can't, they're done. What people need to know is this, to distill it down. You are entitled to due process whether you are an American citizen or not. So there is a set of protocols that they have to go through

before they deport you, right? That did not happen to Mr. Garcia. And the courts have ruled that his rights to due process have been subverted in his deportation to El Salvador. Right. And they have said you have to get the guy back. And what they've also said for future deportations is so even though the court didn't rule on whether or not Trump has the authority, they did say you're entitled to due process, meaning you have to give notice and you have to give them time to challenge it. Court. Right. Now, Trump says that under the Alien

Enemies Act, which is a pretty ancient, but real, part of the American legal justice system, constitution, but used when we're in war. But used when we're in war. That he can deport anyone who he thinks is a

foreign terrorist or an enemy to America. You know, this has been used. It was used in World War II with Japanese internment, Lazy Blas. all of that stuff. But even in the times when it was used in World War II, the people still underwent somewhat of a legal process.

The argument is that even Nazis were granted more rights than Garcia has been. So all of that being what it is. We're assuming that you guys know some of that. Senator Van Hollen went to of Salvador to talk directly to the people there about getting this guy back as this issue becomes a bigger issue.

I think that's good politics. Now, I don't know very much about the legislative record of Van Hollen. I don't know that at all. So perhaps there are problems that are more pertinent or dire for his constituency that he should be taking up,

particularly if we're talking about stuff in Maryland. I'm not talking about policy here. I'm talking about politics. Politics means, are you willing to get on the plane and take the trip down there to actually talk to the people directly and expose the chaos that's in the Trump team's foreign policy as in regards to deporting people?

Are you willing to talk to someone and call out their lives directly and take the time out of the day to go do this? Now, it's for show. Don't get me wrong. It's definitely for show. Okay. However, I do think that when I'm looking at the political calculus,

it looks like Van Hollen takes the life of this specific member of his constituency. Well, not really. I mean, this specific man, should I say, it looks like he's prioritizing that. And he's taking the time to go down there and fighting for people or for person. And he's leading the charge because now they're saying that they're going to be other, and as he should, because he lives in his state. Yeah.

But he's leading the charge. Other senators are talking about going to doing and doing the same thing. And yes, with most politics, it is for show. But I think the bigger picture is it's about standing up to what the Trump administration was doing so we don't create this slippery slope where they can unilaterally just decide whatever they're going to do without any type of rules, without any type of laws applying to it. And if they can do it with this, right now, it's with someone who was an illegal citizen, although he had a withholding of removal because he had been taken to court before. He was here illegally, though.

Well, he came illegally. He came illegally, but was then granted. Yes, because, but he was taken to court first in 2019. He came over in 2011, taken to court. But then they found that, you know, his attorneys argued that he would be persecuted if he went back. He's working legally here now. But it's a slippery slope of, okay, we can just attach any type of thing to you, deport you, if that's what it is right now. And can we just say there are legal ways to deport?

There is a system to deport. And what the Trump administration is doing for show is saying we're taking these airplanes, we're doing these mass deportations without any type of rules or regulation. Right now, this is what it is. Tomorrow next week, it could be something else that impacts you. That is why what Senator Van Holland is doing is so important because you have to put on, you know, you have to go down there. You have to say this is wrong. This isn't right.

Today it's this. Tomorrow it'll be something else. Salvadorian president was at the White House. Yeah. We talked about the fact that he said he won't return Garcia to the United States. There's something else that was said. Trump suggested during that meeting with him that it wouldn't just be foreigners. that he would like to send down to El Salvador

that he might want to send American citizens to El Salvador. By the way, there was a lot of conjecture that that was the road that they were going on. However, it hadn't been explicitly said until the president said, hey, we might have some people here that we might need to send there.

So the reality is this. Either the law matters, or it doesn't. Now, you're not about to get me on a law and order kick, right? But what I will say is that where I do respect the law is I respect the idea that there is something in place to protect human life from persecution. That's my respect for the law. Not to use it as a hammer to beat people into submission or to apply it unjustly. But the idea that there is a set of processes and procedures that are supposed to protect you to me is what the law means.

Well, yeah, and shout out to the judge who is saying, I'm going to use the power that I have as my role, as somebody who, you know, is supposed to uphold the Constitution and the laws that are within this country, federal laws, I'm going to use my power to say, hey, this is not allowed, and he's taking it a step further by saying he is going to hold. He's already ruled that the planes should not have left. And then the Trump administration said, well, the planes were already out of the country, so your ruling doesn't mean anything. Well, he's like, guess what?

If you don't respond or provide some sort of evidence by next week, I am going to hold the officials within the administration that allowed this to happen in contempt. This is what I want to see happen. I tell you, look, there's a lot of people and a lot of places that are put there unjustly, and we should talk about all of them. But it's very important to bring this guy home. It's very important for the apparatus of the U.S. justice system and U.S. constitutional norms to stand up to the president and his administration. Because if not, then essentially what you're saying is that regardless of what's written down in.

anywhere. Yeah. Of any law that exists anywhere that anyone who President Trump deems to be an enemy of the United States can then be sent to El Salvador. Right. And that could be Garcia now. It could be kids protesting on college campuses tomorrow. It could be social media.

Then it could be you. Yeah. And not could be you. Forget about could be. It will be you. It will be you. So it's important to see, you know, if we drift into a constitutional crisis or not, it's important to see just how durable the system is in this particular instance.

It's important to see it. You know, it's important to bring this guy home. Once again, some of this is politics, but it's important to bring this guy home. So we got Omar Miller coming on the show from Sinners. Is your friend? He's my guy. You haven't seen Senators yet. I'm very excited to see it.

Why don't you go last night? Well, because I already bought tickets and I'm going with somebody and I already bought tickets. El Nigo? Did you see the Beyonce commercial? Yeah. Oh, yeah, I showed it to you. So you're going with Willie? Yeah.

Hold on. But this is the thing that I understand. Willie isn't somebody anymore. Willie is Willie. If you say that you're going with somebody. Yeah, I guess it does. I think that you're going to El Nigo. I saw Willie in the Beyonce commercial.

I was very excited for it. I was excited for him too. It's Willie and Beyonce. Yeah. So since Willie is friends with Beyonce, does that make you change? That's his home girl. Does that make you change your mind about Beyonce and how you feel about her? Okay.

I'm sick of this narrative. I like Beyonce. I like her music. The only thing I said was I didn't understand why people were so upset last year when she made history and no one wanted to focus on that. only wanted to focus on the album of the year, which now means nothing because she got it this year. She got it, yeah.

But I was like, guys, she accomplished something huge. Can we acknowledge that? But I always get deemed as not, I'm, I didn't go to Renaissance. People think that that, that I'm not a fan because of that. I want to go to Cowboy Carter because we all know the whole dad had on me. Yeah.

Um, I was in Uber and Shabuzi came on. And I, uh, You asked him to turn it? Yeah, I was going to get that Shibuzzi off my. They're cool. They're fine. Willie and Shibuzzi have buried the hatchet?

No, but I mean, like, there's no bad blood on Willie's end. There's no bad blood. But the commercial, that was, that was cool for him to be able to do it. The commercial was butt focused. It was about shorts, yes. Shorts. Like, I want a pair. Jeans, which brings me to a question.

put toxic van under here. You guys. Is this going to be like the Sierra? It's not because it's on the back of the Sierra thing. Okay. So listen, I want to say something to the audience out here. It's very important. When I ask these questions, it's about learning.

It's about learning how y'all feel. Is it? It is. It's about learning how y'all feel because... Okay, I'm following the spin. What you guys have to understand about me is, I don't learn until I get my ass kicked. So you like to learn the hard way? I have to.

Were you like that as a kid too? Yes. Okay. Okay. I was kind of like that. Yes. I had to learn the hard way, right? I was the guy.

Mama had put, mama was barbecuing in the oven one time. And my little fat ass saw the barbecue. I was like, oh shit. That's what the fuck I'm talking about. You know, she had the barbecue chicken,

and it was like, she was a barbecue chicken in the oven. I'm like, Oh my God. It was calling me, man. I saw the barbecue chicken thighs, and I was like, fuck, that's what I'm talking about. So I'm like, I'm going to get one of them motherfuckers.

She had taken the foil off the top so they could get over the top, right? So I'm like, I'm going to get one of them bitches. Fuck that shit. I'm looking at that goddamn chicken. I'm like, Mama, then, Mama in her bag. So I see the oven and I see the chicken. Mama over there, she's doing something. She's on the phone, the phone like this.

Remember when you used to have the phone like that? Yeah, yeah, yeah. The air pause. And so I'm like, man, I'm going to get one of them pieces of chicken. Fuck that shit. I'm getting one of them pieces of chicken. You know what I'm saying? I'm going to get one of them motherfucking piece of chicken.

And I reach my hand. In the hot bear hand? Yeah. And I reach my hand into the thing to grab the piece of chicken. And I touch that glass pan and Jesus Christ. But like, oh! And the scream that was yelled out and my daddy said, never forget my daddy goes

that's how hot hell going to be for you wait wait so all logic went out the window for the food you don't have any understanding you have to when you pull down the oven you feel the heat yeah you don't understand

it it have I ever told you the Coca-Cola story before I don't think so so another way I learned so I was I was a kid and there was this much Coca-Cola in a glass right?

Okay. There's much Coca-Cola in the glass. Okay. And I was like, damn, I'm almost out of Coke. And so I was like, if I add more water, if I add water to the Coke, I'll have more Coke. So I put the Coke underneath the faucet, and when it filled back up, it looked like Coca-Cola. Okay. And I was like, shit.

I'm a genius. I'm a fucking genius. And then I drank the Coca-Cola and the taste was like, oh, shit, it's not Coca-Cola no more. And then I learned that you can't do that. So what I'm saying is when I ask these questions, it's really to learn. And the question is, in the commercial,

it seems as if Beyonce wants us to look at her butt. Well, she does. Is it okay to look at the butt of a woman that is showing her butt? Because me and Alea were having a conversation. And Alea says it's not okay to objectify someone, even if that person is, putting themselves out there to be objectified.

You shouldn't do that. Okay. Well, there's a purpose, right? Okay. She is showing off her butt in the commercial because she wants you to buy the shorts. She wants you to see how great it looks. Right. And whether I'm buying, I'm looking at it because I'm buying it for myself, you look at it

because you're like, man, I want my girl to have shorts like that. So she looks good like that. That's the purpose. Anything past that is too much. So what's too much? Because this is the way I look at it. Like, I want to get in the, I want. See, that's the thing.

So listen. Hold on, but this is the thing. We have this conversation. I'm saying it's okay to be like, damn. She looks good. Her butt looks good. That's it. It's bad to say, I'm trying to bend that butt over.

Exactly. So Alleya, shout out to Alea. Alea said no. Alea said both are bad. I don't agree. Alea said you should never, ever comment on women's bodies, ever. Is there any, this is a question. Aleas Gen Z, right?

She's a, yeah, she's a zillululum. She's zillum. She's zillum. Is it ever okay to comment on women's bodies? That's the question. Is it ever okay to comment on women's bodies? Yes. Yes, you say yes.

I say yes. When is it okay to comment on women's bodies? Like, I just posted something, right? Yeah. And I posted something where I know I'm wearing, it's like see-through. Niggers hit me up about that. Somebody, wait, somebody, hold on. I know fans, DMs.

The niggas hit me up about that. Niggas, bruh, y'all stop. Okay? I see Rachel all the time. Stop sending me pictures of Rachel going, my niggas, she coming like that? Don't do that. Okay?

I don't normally post it. But I wore it like I wore it because I knew it look good. I knew I looked good in it. And I knew I was going to get attention. And I don't mind if somebody's like, oh, oh, it's like that. Yeah. That doesn't bother me. Okay.

But that's me. And I think most people, it's okay for that, but don't tell me you want to bend me over and all, like, be respectful. All right. Be careful now. This episode is brought to you by WeatherTech. Everyone knows winter is the MVP and making a mess. You don't need Weather Tech floor liners in the summer,

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Visit weathertech.com today. For adults with Crohn's disease or ulcerative colitis symptoms, every choice matters. Tramphia offers self-injection or intravenous infusion from the start. Tramphia is administered as injections under the skin or infusions through a vein every four weeks, followed by injections under the skin every four or eight weeks. If your doctor decides that you can self-inject Tramphia, proper training is required. Tramphia is a prescription medicine used to treat adults with moderately to severely active Crohn's disease and adults with moderately to severely active ulcerative colitis.

Serious allergic reactions, increased risk of infections or lower ability to fight them, and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, get checked for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or need a vaccine. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Tramfaya today. Call 1-800-526-7736 to learn more or visit Tramphiatoradio.com. Walk Omar in live.

Omar going to come in and sit in and live. You guys, yeah, there is a new movie that is dropping. Yes, you right there, that everybody is talking about. The whole world is talking about one film. The monoculture is back. The movie is called Sinners, and it is in theaters as we are talking right now. It's in theaters right now. It's Rachel Lindsay about to sit down.

And we have one of the stars of sinners joining us right now, Omar Miller. So the Benson is gone. It's gone. It's gone, but not forgotten. What was the decision to drop the Benson? I knew you as Omar Benson Miller for a long time. They played me out. That's what it is.

So, you know, my name used to take up a lot of space on movie posters. And that's something that you really have to negotiate for your name to be on the poster. Yeah. And so I realized that they were giving me more grief. One time a lawyer told me they're giving me more grief because my name, Benson, is a long name. And especially when you add it to my first and my last name. So I took the Benson out, second half of my career. Here we go.

And the other thing is, had a lot of people start thinking it was a hyphenated last name. Oh, I see. And I'm just Omar Miller. And that was my grandmother's, that was an ode to my grandmother there. It's fantastic. Yeah. Now look, let's talk about saying this. People know.

Please do it. Straight up. I haven't seen it yet. So I've been, I'm like, man, please, I have my tickets already. I'm going to see a Friday because of how everyone's described it. But I'm like, please, no spoilers. Because I'm so excited to see this movie. You've been in Miracle in St. Anna.

Get Richard Dighton, 8 Mile, the Express, the Ernie Davis Story Transformer. Ballers. Ballers. You've done so much. I've seen the movie. This is a completely different thing that I've ever seen you in before. Was that what attracted you to being in the role? How did you get in this particular movie?

So a trippy thing happened, which was I got a call that Ryan Coogler wanted me to read for him. And I was like, huh, all right. And it gave me a flashback because after I did Miracle of Saint Anna, I did Miracle of St. Anna in the Express in 2007. It came out in 2008. 2008, if we remember, is when President Obama was running, and there was a global financial crisis. Yes. Movies didn't perform.

Like, almost no movies performed around that time. But I got a lot of attention from those two films that came out back-to-back weekends. And I ended up in a write-up in the New York Times as a person to watch. I ended up at the Pan-African Film Festival getting an award called the Canada Lee Award as a breakthrough artist. It was great. At that ceremony that night, a young man came up to me that was an intern. for the ceremony, I do believe, but he was at school at SC, and he said, man, I love your stuff. One of these days, we're going to work together. And, you know, which I hear a lot. But as I'm apt to do,

I'm not a dream killer. I encourage the young man. Come to find that young man was Ryan Coogler. Jesus Christ. Who knew? And he turned it all the way up from that point. He wasn't kidding. He went to work. And so then when I start seeing the other stuff come out, which is funny, because he gave me a card at the time, old super basic blank card that just said Ryan Coogler and his phone number, And so the movie start rolling out, his genius starts being exposed. I was like, man, good for that, dude. I get this call and come to find he wrote this piece with me and mine. And I'm a real believer.

I'm of the generation where when people have come through, you pay him back. So like, if somebody came through with a hot album in 95, when the album comes out in 96, you got my $17. Yeah. Because that's still off the love. That's off the strength from that hot album that I was playing last. time. Dude's reputation, he's been such a culture keeper in the best ways, and he has really, his work is so phenomenal to watch. I was all in. Then I read it, because you had to sign NDAs, I had to read it in the space and all this crazy thing. He was all this secrecy around it.

Then I read it, and I was like, wow, how awesome is this of this dude to do this for me, as far as writing this role for me, something that nobody's ever seen me do before, but I felt confident that I could do. What makes it different? I love horror films. What makes this one so different? Because I was reading something where Ryan was talking about why he wanted to do a horror film and the history of it and, you know, like telling stories around the fireplace.

We remember those kinds of things. And there's like this special thing when it comes to horror films. But what makes this one so different from any other horror film in the genre? Well, one reason is because this isn't horror for horror's sake. the horror in this film is used as a device to speak about some very deep things. And I think in that, there's plenty of blood and gore and, you know, traditional horror for horror fans. But what he does without getting preachy is he presents a lot of ideas that really

in Vance saw the movie, it lands on you like a ton of bricks. And once the film is over, there's a period collectively with the audience where you can feel the audience go, wow. Yeah. Like, it's, it's a trip because obviously it's my job to go out and sell the movie, but I haven't been this confident about a project that I've been in, in many moons. And the quality of this project, what it is that he's saying with the piece, top tier.

And so in that, you're going to get the horror element, but he's got a lot else cooking, man. This movie is sexy. It's way funnier than you think it's going to be. Way funnier. Way funny than you think it's going to be. And it's fun. It's fun, but it has several messages that don't run around, you know, you're not getting preached to. It sounds like he's creating a new genre.

It is because it's a fluid genre. That's the thing. This is a film with horror in it, but I wouldn't go as far as to call it a straight-up horror film. Yeah, it's about a lot of stuff. It's about a lot of stuff. What is it about Ryan? Let me tell you what I mean. So take this movie take, so if you look at his, if you look at his, if you look at his,

track record, we go from Fruvel to Creed to Black Panther to Wakanda Forever here. There's something that Ryan is able to do, and I want to make sure that I hold space and leave space for all of the black filmmakers that have come before him, all of the filmmakers that have come before him. But there's something that he's able to do, which is ground a story culturally and from a humanist perspective, but lose absolutely none of the dazzle of that same story. Meaning,

he essentially took Black Panther and made it about diasporic animus between black Americans and Africans. It starts on the streets of Oakland. I gotta be honest with you, there hasn't really been anyone

has been able to do that and still make these films palatable to so many different audiences and such a, why can he do it? Why is he the one that's able to take these stories and make them for us and everyone? You know, it's funny, I just did an interview or television interview before I got here and the anchor was like, you know, it speaks about this to the black community and I was like, hey, yes, it does. But this is actually a movie, this movie, everybody will be entertained by this film. Yeah. There's going to be some cultural things that we specifically will understand and get, but there's an educational component.

And to answer the question, I believe, one, it's because of his upbringing. So Ryan is from Oakland and was raised by Panthers and it shows. And I think that what he's done and the reason he's able to do it, you actually answer the question is because he grounds it in humanity. and in humanity there are universal themes that no matter what race, color, nationality you are, that are all, we're all struggling for to live the best that we can, to enjoy our lives. Now, we come from that, we come to that point from different angles because of our cultures and because of our histories and X, Y, and Z.

But on the basic level, we're more similar than we are different. With that, this young man has been able to find out a route through his work to make All of those human elements super specific to his lived experience and the learned experience that he has of his ancestors. One of the things that I loved about this film was the educational historical component without it being preaching. Absolutely. You know, there's stuff that you learn about the times. First and foremost, y'all forgive me because this is a hard movie to talk about without seeing. and I know that sounds

you know that sounds weak but it's the truth it's hard to talk about this film properly unless you have seen it I do let me tell you why it's about all of the things that you think it would be about yes but it's also not about them which sounds like it shouldn't work but it does so it's about all of these things

but it's literally only about them because they're in the story. It includes them. It includes them. It's about just what it's about. And that's the thing that kind of gets me. It's like there was this thought for a long time that if you made a story with black people

about that was steeped in black culture, it wouldn't translate. And that's a lie. He is proof of concept. He is proof of concept. He's not the only. And he's not the first. He's not the only. He's not the only. He's not the first.

I would venture to argue that he's the largest at this point outside of Spike himself. Yeah. Because, and Spike has, you know, many decades on him. But I would say, I agree. Spikes movies are very steep. You know what? Let's not even do that. But I know what you're saying. But we're saying the same thing. I'm not knocking Spike. I'm, I'm, I'm, Spike is my man. I'm giving him his kudos. What I'm saying is is that Ryan, as he should, has evolved to a point where his lived experience.

he can translate that through the lens and through the story and make it a universal story. Yet through the specificity of the details of the story, he then in turn also makes it make sense to everybody. There's a huge component of the Irish culture and colonialism in this film that nobody expects. And no one is talking about it. And nobody talks about it. And it's one of the dopest part of the movie. It is kind of.

Will it give it away if you talk about it right now? Yeah, it will. Yeah. I wouldn't be. This is the first time I've even never said that. an interview. Okay. Well, don't worry.

It's not telling me anything. It's not telling me. Oh, no, no, no. Low key, you know what's a trip. We could tell you shot for shot what the movie is. You would still go to the movie and be mind-blown. Yeah. Well, okay, so we can't talk about that part, but you said you'll learn things.

Even you learn things as you were doing this. I was listening to an interview with Haley, and I didn't know her heritage. And she was saying that it wasn't the movie that interested her. It was, it connected her to her roots, to her. to her culture. And I'm wondering, did it do the same thing for you? Because I know you have roots in the South. We do know that this is a Southern movie. In what ways did it connect you to your cultural, culture, to your roots, or to your heritage? And what did you learn about that? Well, for me, it was more about reinforcing than connecting. Now, I've been sharing that I play,

I play the bouncer in the film. The film, in the most broad strokes way to say it, the film Michael B. Jordan plays twins who come back home and they're establishing a new nightclub, if you will. Now, in the 30s nightclubs were called juke joints, specifically in the south, right? They come grab me, literally out the fields, to be the bouncer of the juk for the night. Now, me personally, Omar, my grandfather was a sharecropper in Mississippi. My father, his son, also picked cotton and was born in the 30s and picked cotton in Mississippi. This is one generation removed. This isn't like something I heard about through the grapevine in my story.

These are people that I knew my grandfather when he was alive. I know my dad. So I was trying to make a decision, give you how personal it was. I was trying to make a decision on whether or not to wear a hat in the film. and I remember I called my father and I told him, I sent him a picture and he was like, she it, let me tell you something,

you better wear you're going to be picking cotton Mississippi or you're going to pass out. It was super matter of fact. It wasn't like, this wasn't up for debate. I was like, oh, okay, so the hats in. Now it's cut a specific, it gives me a specific silhouette in the film. I spoke to him about that.

I spoke to him about actually going to juke joints. So for me, with as divisive as our country is specifically right now, with the history of black folks in particular being attempted to be erased consistently right now, it is imperative for me to stick my chest out and say, hey, my grandfather was a sharecropper. My father, his son, was a sharecropper and then turned his all the way up, which is how I ended up being born in California. to me, this is something to be proud of. Absolutely. The they, if you will, wants you to act like you're ashamed of something. And we're talking about work. I'm supposed to be ashamed because my people know how to work.

And beyond that, to go back to your point, since I knew my grandfather, personally, I knew that he laughed. I knew that he enjoyed life, that he enjoyed his family. He built his home by hand. You know what I mean? I knew this stuff. And this is what wrong? Ryan is able to encapsulate because we're dynamic people.

And he's able to, instead of flattening us out all the time, like we see so often, unfortunately, he's able to make us full, round, dynamic people and characters in the film. And it's impossible not to identify with various characters in the film. Oh, I love that you added that in there. With hopes and dreams and people who like to celebrate. And they're living something beyond their pain. No. Let's get into that.

Because this is not by any means any kind of like trauma porn. No. It's about people having fun. This is actually about people having a good time. Yeah. Because I see people chirping. No, no, no, no, not at all. This ain't that.

Yeah. This is not that. Right. So it's funny. The cotton thing, a funny story. We did a couple of years ago, we did a shout-out. to Ryan Rissillo and nephew Kyle and Serrity and all of those guys.

We did a live show in Oxford, Mississippi at the LSU Mississippi game. Nice. And we flew into Memphis and then we drove to Oxford. And we all in the car talking about shit, you know, doing our whole thing. And when you drive through

that part of Mississippi, you pass some cotton fields. It's expensive. So I'm in the car with a bunch of white boys and we're passing some cotton fields and I'm like, I'm going to go ahead and break the tension and make the jokes motherfuckers. You know what I'm saying?

They help you all out. Right. These are guys that are not from around there, so they're not aware of the fact. Oh, really? Yeah. Our relationship to cotton and to working cotton is very specific. It's very specific and moves past that.

When you're talking about your situation, where I'm from, it's sugar cane. There you go. And watching... My father worked cane too. And watching generations of black people work cane. Yep. And work sugar cane and realize that this was their industry until they moved away.

Yes. When I see the movie, I see something very familiar. Bro. So this is why I really wanted you to come after is because you know what ended up happening there? Strangely enough, Van came to a screening, the L.A. premier tastemaker screening. And what ended up happening was a strange thing happened, which was I brought my mother. Now, my mother does not like horror film. She doesn't like to be scared.

So she didn't want to be scared in a thing. I didn't think she was going to go, you know, that night. And that morning she was like, so we're going to the movie? I was like, yeah, of course, we're going to go to the movie. So my mother turned out to be, I think, the oldest person at the screening. My mom is 83 now. Afterwards, when we were at the after party, people kept coming up to her and she became the real bell of the ball because she was recounting stuff from the film that,

took her in a time transport that she loved. Right. She was talking about the first time she saw an electric lamp versus the oil lamps and watching us in the film connect the electricity to get the juke popping. You know, she was talking about the blues itself and how my mother is from East St. Louis, Illinois. She was like, man, you want to talk about the projects turning up. It was up when my cousins came from Mississippi and Memphis and played the blues,

and the whole project was fired up. Yeah. And so there's all of these elements that you look at that, and she was even talking about the spiritual component of it, the hoodoo and the voodoo element in it. There's other pieces of that in the film. Oh, yeah. Yeah.

Well, you haven't seen. Oh, yeah, yeah. That's the thing. But all of that, like, my mother's a hoodoo practitioner. My sister's a hoot practitioner. So I'm looking at all of this stuff. Come on. And, but it's thematic.

It's in the movie for a story purpose. Yeah. It's not, that's it. It is not gratuitous. The film is so well thought out. I just, hey, man, I can't, honest to God, I can't say enough about Ryan and his wife, by the way, because Zinzi produces the film and their shoulder to shoulder making the film. Their goals completely in that sense, because they're there.

And actually the piece about the Chow's in the movie, the Chinese grocers, she's the one who, her heritage, a part of her heritage is a piece of the reason that that's in. That's an educational thing. that I didn't know about that once you see it, you're like, wow, this is real. Yeah. This is a documentary on YouTube about this group of Chinese Americans that lived in the Delta amongst black and white people

that split the line and were actually able to tow the segregation line and sell to both sides as long as they stayed in their lane. Wow, I didn't know anything about that. I didn't know about it. I'm from Texas. Okay. I don't know anything about that. You're from Texas too, right?

I'm from Louisiana. From Louisiana. Yeah, yeah. Okay. Why is it called sinners? Can you say that without giving it away? No. So that the title is, the title is a part of why.

Yeah, yeah. Again, I was like, I haven't seen anybody explain it. It'll explain itself to you when you see the film. Okay, fine. So one thing I want to get into. It's hard. It's hard to, I'm telling you, I'm not trying to be a jerk, but it's hard. By the way, you don't want to miss.

You're doing a great job, you want to miss. I can make an argument that is a musical. And not in a bad, not in a way. It's funny. Some people got on my helmet about that because I said, that, I said, yeah, it's got musical elements and I've seen some people chirping, talking about, well, I want to see a musical. No, no, no, no, no, no.

That's not what we're saying. The music is its own character in the film. Well, if you're talking about the juke joint and you're talking about the blues, that's a part of all of it. Yes. And the power of music and the power of culture. I want to talk about something very specific. Okay.

Mike is fantastic in the film. So if you guys don't know, Mike plays dual roles here. The Smokstack Twins. Smokstack Twins. You guys, Mike is amazing in the movie. This is the best Michael B. Jordan has ever been on Celluloid, in my personal opinion. I know Mike for 20 years, and this is the best he's ever been, and that is a compliment, because he's been plenty good in plenty of films.

He plays twins with two very specific personalities, and 10 minutes into the movie, you forget that he's the same dude. Right. You really buy that he's two separate people. I can legitimately see for Mike, and I don't want to get into awards talk, but I can literally see for Mike a real run. He's fan, this is to me, for as much as he's done, he's a big fucking star.

He's directed huge movies. He's acted in huge movies. He's killmonger. He's been the movies that I love smaller parts like Chronicle, right? Yes. He's done, he's been in the wire. He's done as far as much as Mike has done, and it's been a lot. I could say that this is the movie where he kind of arrives.

It's crazy to say it. I told him that. Other than him playing two parts, what, okay. It's a powerful performance. Okay, okay. And what it is is the elevation to me, and I told him this, I personally believe this film takes Mike into the stratosphere of movie stardom, to the point where it's like how that Will Smith Run was,

where it was like, man, this dude can't miss. I think, I really think that, and Mike, in the movie, to his credit, while we were making the film, Mike's such a great tone. This movie is hard to make this film. This one wasn't easy to make. Tell us about the shoot.

Because I talked to you while you were shooting. It was in Louisiana. We were in New Orleans and in the swamps in New Orleans outside. It wasn't, we weren't, you know, cushy in the studio for all of it. There was a small portion that took place in the studio, but I think they tricked, Ryan and the producers

because they told them it was a good time to shoot and we got out there in April and start shooting in late April and I'm here to tell you it was full of chiggers alligator walked on set mosquitoes we went through the termite season and it was all of this

the film takes place mostly in one day and a lot of it takes place at night and we're shooting at night outside on a swamp in a swamp on a bayou and thus the alligator who walked on set like, what's up?

Y'all got a roll. I'm all. Now? Now? You want to bite some I'm good at this. They had to have a wrangler come and grab and pull the gator off. It was wild.

It was a difficult film to make. I'll say, without giving too much away, I wore more makeup in this film than I have in my entire career combined. It was a difficult film to make, but back to the mic thing. With that, Mike never complained. The way that we shot the film

is a technical. wizardry as well is because we you remember how it was when we were growing up like if they did twins in a movie you could tell they were like it. Yeah for sure. They had special technology with this where Mike had to wear this thing called a halo which was

a harness on his head that had something like 35 cameras or 27 cameras. I can't remember the number. That was all around him. So we would have to do scenes with him sometimes with this thing on his head, sometimes with a tennis ball. He would act opposite his double and then swing.

and go and wear the other clothes and do the other side of the scene. And it all pays off when you see the movie because, I mean, he's a total stud in the movie. Yeah. He is a, and great acting. I mean, like, you care so much. I specifically care about one of the twins so much

that the incidents that transpire, you are at the edge of your seat. Talk about working with the rest of the cast, though. I mean, it's a great cast. I would imagine that when you talk about this environment that you guys were all in, us being from the South, we know how it is. You even mention the humidity, so I can only imagine. Talk about working all together.

And I'm sure there was a huge camaraderie that also allowed for the magic to come out on the screen. Again, that was set. This is the fifth time that Mike and Ryan have worked together. They both set the tone of that familial tone because they're already family. but what they did, which was dope, was they opened that to you if you were interested. Right.

And we were all interested. And I can't remember loving a group, like I've loved this one in a long time because we just had the premiere in London a couple days ago, and everybody was, it was kind of heavy because everybody was like, man, this might be the last time. We all together like this. And the group is great.

I got introduced to a bunch of performers that I wasn't aware of, and I got to work with some performers that I absolutely adore. Case in point, I got to work with Delroy Lindo. I grew up watching Delroy's film. Yeah, you know, and so watching him in his process and then seeing the end result, man,

he turned in another iconic, but from this film, he's so great in this movie, he plays an old blues man and like, forget it. I'd never work with Woon Me before, and she's a very big deal from Lovecraft Country and a bunch of her other projects. Wumi's so sweet and warm. I'm embarrassed to say, and I told Ryan this,

I was not familiar with Jack O'Connell's work. Oh, wow. Jack is a beast. Yeah. Jack is a beast and a really, really solid dude, like a very solid person. I think they did something special because they cast people that fit their mold as far as character goes.

Right. Not character in the film, but character as a, you know, as people. Sure. And I'd never met Haley. I mean, I'm, you know, I guess I was in my mind, my own bubble. I didn't know Haley was a big fat pop star. I didn't know that. I'd seen her in the movies. I didn't know that she had the musical component

that was so vast. Her following was so vast. And she's so normal. And Josh Allen is so normal and cool. Oh, you met him? Yeah. At one day, we were on set and I was doing some stuff and it was kind of heavy and I was walking to the trailer. And a dude said, what's up on the way out? And I was like, I got to the trailer and I told somebody at the thing. I was like, man, yo, one of the crew members look spot on Josh Allen

on the real. Again, my head was in the sand. I didn't know that they were an item that they were together. You didn't know that you were dating

Josh Allen? I'm telling you, bro, I've been, did you see how great my hairs? I've been going through it. Life has been kicking my ass, Jack. But I got hit to all this stuff. So the entire cast,

Leigh, that plays Grace. Yao is a newcomer. He got busy. He plays her husband. So it's just, the camaraderie the cast was legit because it wasn't forced. Then you have somebody like a Jamie Lawson.

Jamie's a star just waiting to happen. Yeah. And then you have the newcomer who's actually the star of the film, strangely enough, is Miles Caden. And his kids got the voice like you haven't, I mean... Had never heard of them before. Nobody had. It says introducing and then I'm like,

I'm looking at them because there's something familiar about them, but I know I haven't seen them before. But it's just that you get familiar with that. type of talent, that type of voice, the music and everything. I know we don't have forever with you. Yeah. He was on tour with her. Oh, is it?

Okay. He's saying, he sang background for her. For Haley? No, no, for her. Oh, for her. Oh, for actually. Yeah, not for Haley, sorry. Yeah.

For her, and he was singing background for her. And she brought the opportunity to him to audition. And they were opening, I think, for Coldplay. So he's been traveling the world. It was 19 when we shot the film. Fantastic. Unreal. Amazing.

is in his palm right now. All right. Before we let you go, we've got to give you a quiz, man. Lay, don't me. Right, there's some creatures of the night in this movie. I think everybody knows about now.

It's out there now. It's out there now. So as far as black vampires, what are your top five black vampires? We've got to go Blade off the rip. Okay, Blade. Blade is the top dog. It's not even...

I can remember the first time I saw Blade. That opening sequence, the Blade at the club... then all the blood comes out to sprinklers. Okay. Crazy. So Blade number one. Blade is number one.

Okay. Who else? I might surprise you with number two. Who? I'm going to go with Eddie Murphy on. The vampire, it's fantastic. He's fantastic.

Vampire in Brooklyn. He's way up there. Okay, vampire in Brooklyn. Number two. Now we're going, we're going only black vams. Only black vampires here. Well, if we're going only black vams, I'm going to throw somebody new up there way up there.

Who? The young man that's playing Louis on the interview with a vampire TV show. Oh, you love him, right? What's the guy's name? Oh, I don't know his name, the brother's fan. Hold on. He loves him.

And let me tell you, if you watch the show. This is the handsome guy, right? Yeah. You're the pre-duty. He's putting it down. You hear me? Oh, hold on for a second. Your man is out there putting down that work.

Jacob Anderson. Jacob Anderson. Yeah, no, y'all got to watch interview with the vampire. Y'all got to watch it. On this. Straight up and down. Okay, number three, that's a good one. Okay.

Sleeper, right? Yeah, sleeper. Who else? If we're going with five, a five piece, I'm going to give a nod on this one. I'm going to give a nod to the black exploitation on this one. I got to go with blackula. Blackula's got to be in.

I mean, we're talking about black. It's not a lot of black vampire representation that I can think of off the dome. Yeah. So I'm going four for five. And if I need a fifth, you know, see, this is unfortunate because because I want to, when I go for it, it, I go through my rolodex, my mental rolodex, the vampire of films that I love, when I think about it, other than the ones we spoke about, it's not a lot there to be rep.

It's not that many. No. It's like, okay, so, because what I would like is a black female vampire in it. That's what I would like. Yeah. But I'm trying to think. So you have. I don't, I can't think of them one.

She turned in Blade. She was Blades. I don't want to ruin it for you. You know, I'm not going to be like. She never. It's, it's. The movie thing is a whole thing with me. We don't want to get it to it.

Don't want to get it to it. Don't, don't get us. I have a hot take on Blade, too. It's the whole thing. I have a hot take on it. You didn't see it. He explained it. It's the way Van explained it to me.

You got to see the movement. She says that Blade is a sambon. What? Yeah. Blade? What? The Day Walker? He's a Sambo to the vampires because he's a vampire that hunts other vampires.

So she says, he's a Dan Walker. That said this doesn't sound rights me. It's the way Van explained it to me. You didn't see the movie. It's the movie. Not only is he not a Sambo, he's low-key like the Malcolm X of vampires. He sounds like the trailer. No way.

He's the flip side because, because first of all, it's Wes. We're calling him Blade, but you have to understand. You look, you know, much younger than me. Wesley Snipes was that dude. So when he hit the scene, what's Blade 97, 96? 98. 98? Yeah.

When he hits the scene, what? Wesley Snipes at that point is one of the biggest. movie starts in the world. So there was no tap dancing, no samboing. We got all that out. Blade was a stud. I hate to start us. You're just me to me, and I hate that this is our introduction.

I hate that this is our introduction. Wow, that hurt. So these are the black female vampires that we're going to slide into. I'm going to give you a choice here. So you got, rest and piece of Leah. Oh, yeah. Akasha, Queen of the Damned. Yes.

You have Tara Thornton. Ritina Wesley, played by Ritina Wesley, in True Blood. She was really good in true blood. Ganjameda, Ganjin Hess, old school vampire movie that Ashley loves.

And then you have Katrina, Grace as portrayed by Grace Jones in the movie Vamp. If you guys have never seen VAMP, remember that? I forgot about that!

If you guys never seen VAMP, go see VAMP. For me, if it's a five, I'm going to put Katrina in because it's an iconic performance. I could go for Alia here, too.

I could go for Alia, but I got to pull up to the bumper. Shout out to the old heads. With Grace Jones. I'm always going to give Grace Jones love. You know what else that made me think about? I forgot about Vamp. That made me forget about how much the only other vampire comedy that I loved was not Blackula

was once bitten. Oh, Jim Carrey! Oh, my God! That's the first time I ever saw Jim Carrey when I was a kid. Jim Carrey. Before Living Color, before he became a super mega star. Once bitten. He was hilarious in once bitten.

Once bitten. Jim Carrey is a scene in Once Bitten. There's one scene where his two friends, the vampire made them kiss or something like that. And then after a while they're feeling, they're feeling guilty about it. And the guy, he goes, no, man, it wasn't her, man. I think we liked it. Yo, man, this was like, this gave you a sneak preview into what was to come for him. For Jim Carrey.

For him being just a comedic wizard. Once bitten. Once been. Rachel, I'm telling you, the wonder of movies. Oh, the power film is incredible. Yeah. It's not, I grew up where I couldn't watch a lot of stuff. So that's why, that's why the movie thing is, is.

The movie thing or specifically the vampire? Oh, no, no, no. It's just movies. There's so many movies I couldn't watch. By the time I could, I had other interests. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, that's the beauty of the movies. Uh-oh.

They're still there. They're still there. They're still there. They're still there. They's got a whole list for me. We know we got to get you out here. I will say one thing. The movie is being extremely well reviewed,

like a 99% on Rotten Tomatoes. And the one person who did it was a hater. I'm not even going to give him no burn, but his review was trash. His review was like, oh, man, it took a long time. And then I don't know if that makes it pay off. It paid off really well. It was basically like him feeling like he had the attention.

Yeah, it was a contrarian take. Are you ready for the inevitable sinners backlash where people are going, because the movie is being talked up so much. Do you worry about the center's backlash? I tell you, on the real, I'm so confident in the quality of the film that I feel like the film is a success already in that.

And it's so hard to make a good film. It's really hard. People, we try it every year, and it's hard. Sometimes they don't come together. So for me, I am expressly hard critically on my own work and the projects that I'm in. I like to be the arbiter of the taste, and then I pass that on to my audience.

You know, I am confident that this film is up to code and beyond. So for the backlash or whoever it is that has it, I'm all open to criticism, but at its foundation, I think you have to reward a filmmaker like Ryan for taking such a big swing in a spot where he could rest on his laurels and go bank Black Panther 3 and eventually Black Panther 25 if he wanted to.

But instead, he went and made an ambitious original film that if you say you want original films and you want films with black people that actually make you feel good about being a black person, you have to reward this young man by going to support the film, in my opinion. No argument here. I loved it. I don't know anyone who hasn't seen it and hasn't loved it.

That is Omar Miller. The film is in theaters right now. Go see it. There's two different places in L.A. where you can actually see the movie in 70mm, if you want to. One is at the Irvine Spectrum. It's a little bit of a drive if you're here in L.A. But the other is where I saw it, the Universal City Walk.

Yeah. Right up the road. So if you see the movie on a traditional screen, I'll go for it. And there's one more place with even more rarefied air. Where's that? The Vista. Oh, yeah. Well, oh, yeah.

The vista. The vista is there as well. The vista on Sunset, Hollywood, where Sunset Virgil Hollywood conversed What's the difference between seeing it at what the vista is? The vista is 70 millimeter 15 perf blown out to the fullest extent. Ah. Yeah. The Vista is a is a filmmakers. That's like an experience you have only in Hollywood.

Right. Just like how the arc light used to be, the Cinerama Dome. Yeah, I know. I mean, if I was major bred, I would buy the arc like just for, yeah. Just so other people could see movies like that. kind of how they did, Tarantino did with the one on third. But yes, the Vista is the other one I wanted to add to that. Okay, so you can

go see the movie, enjoy it, however you can, and then please go see the film in a premium format. So I'm talking if you can afford it. If you can afford it. I recommend it. 70, go see the film in a premium format. Yes, and sit in the back half of the film, in the back half

of the house. Omar, man. So happy for you. Thank you. Happy that the movie was fantastic. I didn't have to lie. That makes two of us. Thank you so much for coming in. So nice to meet you, too.

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Restrictions apply. Services not available in all areas. Okay. Real quick, real quick. I want to get Rachel's take on this. Rachel's working in sports for a long time. This Braves reporter. Donnie tell us about it.

Quick. We're having a lot of fun up here up the Corona Rooftop. Who do we got here? What's your name? My name's Lauren. Lawrence. All right. And I'm kidding.

Kayla. Kayla, and you guys hang out the rooftop lounge often? Once a year I come out to visit. Okay, well, we timed it pretty well. All right, good. How are you guys feeling about route for the Braves today? Oof, I don't know. I'm hoping for the best.

What about you? Are you a Braves fan now? Not quite. Not quite. All right. I'm going to go to work up here, guys. Good luck the rest of the way. Okay, Wiley.

You got five innings, four innings to get the numbers. Come on it. Come on it. Get us some more Braves fans. All right, so they won't me to get your number. They want you to get my name. I'm dead serious. They're saying to my ear right now.

She didn't believe me because she thinks you guys are not making this up. Even if you guys weren't, I might use that in the future. That's actually a pretty good move. This is unbelievable. So the best part of this right now is that Wiley could totally be faking it. This might be the new move. Just walk around with a fan dual microphone and an earpiece in and convince fans that they're actually on TV. I should have thought of this years ago.

I am speechless. I got the number. We're good. So he gets the number and people get really upset. Why? They are outraged. They say that if a female reporter did this, she would be called a whore, a slut.

I mean, they're upsetting. Maybe. I mean, there's absolutely a double standard when it comes to men and women, but I have no issues with this. He wasn't disrespectful and how he did it. He said, I'm not watching the video. I'm listening, but obviously they're,

he's talking to, too attractive women. It sounds like he said they want me to ask for your number. He asked for it. What's the big deal about it? He didn't demand it. You know, I mean, he wasn't, he didn't ask, he asked a question.

He asked, did she give it to him? It looks like he got the numbers. All right. So she didn't have a problem with it. What's the problem? This is one of those things where it's like, people are just looking for a reason to be upset. There's no issue with this.

Is it unprofessional? Yes. It's unprofessional. It's unprofessional. Your job there that day is, to report on the Braves. You know, interact with the fans. It's unprofessional for then you to have a personal moment.

You're in the role of a sports reporter. So I will give it that, but I don't think that it's wrong. I'm not offended by it. So you should never ask for a number. Can you imagine if I was on the sideline and it's after the game and I'm sitting there and I'm interviewing who's somebody who's single? Kevin Durant. And I'm talking to Kevin Durant and he's telling me about his game.

Game win a shot. Whatever, whatever, whatever. And then I'm like, Hey, they're asking me for, you know, if I can have your phone number. Or they're asking, they told me to ask you for your phone number. Yeah. What about it? It's unprofessional.

I don't think, I mean, look, whatever. I can get what you're saying. It's why I can get what you're saying. Also, I would never do it because I would be so embarrassed if he was like, nah. Yeah. If that, if he was just like, I'm not fucking with it. Yeah. But, I mean, I already got it.

Oh, I'm just kidding. Oh, Daddy. Oh, father. Oh, no, no, look. So I didn't understand. I do understand that people are going, I mean, women's sports reporters, female sports reporters can even dress the way they want to dress. Correct. That's the topic for another day. You know what I mean?

Yeah. But in that situation, I really didn't see anything wrong with it. It seemed playful. We got to loosen up a little bit. Yeah. We got to loosen up. He's getting the number. It's fine.

But this was a big deal. It became a big deal. And she had the right to say no. She said yes. Yeah. Do you feel like she? felt the pressure? No, if I didn't want to, I would have been like, nope.

I don't know you. You'll just on TV like that? Yeah, why not? Why not? But if somebody else wants to hit me up, this is my social media. Ah, but not you. No, I mean, if I went into it, I said no. Waterhead.

It'd been funny if he'd had got at you, if you had got at her, like the brothers get at girls on Bourbon. Hey, hey, red pants. You ever see that? I'm am amused by that. You ever see the way, like, the brothers in, In Baton Rouge, New Orleans get at you, they describe what you wearing. Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, crop top.

That's not just them. That's how it with you, crop top? That's not specific to southern Louisiana. That's a thing. What's good with you? Redbone. Hey, dark chocolate. Yeah.

I love that shit. I love it. It's funny, but I wouldn't give you my number, but it's funny to me. I'll ask. I'm not giving me my number. That's not what I would do. What would you do? If I saw a woman that I liked, I will write the love letter right then.

And then I would give it to her. And then I would say, she's already gone. She's already walked away. Well, I will follow her until she got... That'll go over well. And then it would be raining and I would be saining outside. With a boombox over your head. I saw you.

Can you please see me? You do that well. Yeah. We got to go. Thank you to Omar Miller for joining us on the podcast. Everybody go see sinners. I'll be seeing it this weekend too. Go see sinners.

And then we'll have a conversation. I cannot wait. We'll have a conversation about sitting on Monday. Take the thing, cops off, but do not stop Lauren Van Latham Jr. I'm Rachel and Lindsay. Hi, guys. Did you know if your windows are bare, indoor temperatures can go up 20 degrees? Get ahead of summer with custom window treatments like solar roller shades from blinds.com

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