The Breakfast Club - Best Of Full Interview: Morris Chestnut & Emayatzy Corinealdi Talk 'Reasonable Doubt', Sex Symbol Status, Female Leads + More

Episode Date: December 26, 2024

Best of 2024 - Recorded October 2024 - Morris Chestnut & Emayatzy Corinealdi Talk 'Reasonable Doubt', Sex Symbol Status, Female Leads. Listen For More!See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club. Morning, everybody. It's DJ NV Jess Hilarious, Charlamagne the guy. We are The Breakfast Club. Jess is on maternity leave, so Lauren LaRosa's filling in. And we got some special guests in the building.

Yes, indeed. We have Morris Chestnut. He's here. And we have Emma Yatsey Coronality. Did I say your name right? Well done. I was practicing all night. I'm going to go ahead.

I appreciate it. Wow. I'm going to go front. I got to start like this. Emma does, Charlamagne look anything like Morris Chesnall? I was just looking. I was just looking. We're here to talk reasonable doubt too.

No, no, I wanna start there because he's been talking so much. He thinks he's Morris Chesnall. Beyond the reasonable doubt, ask her that and then ask the question. No, no, no. Beyond the reasonable doubt. Emma Yancey, does he look anything?

I knew this was going to come up. I was prepared for this because I've heard. Squint your eyes a little bit. Now here's the thing. Cover one eye, cover both eyes. Both beautiful, chocolate, bald-headed men, I see that resemblance. You see a resemblance? In that, what I just said.

Oh, okay. You scared me for a second. In the factory model. You scared me for a second. Not. Okay. You scared me for a second. In the factory model. You know what she said. This the factory, not the details. You scared me for a second. This the factory model. In what I said, yes.

Now Morris, does it bother you when this brother over here that looks nothing like you claims that he's you for his birthday, he posts pictures of you and says it's my birthday. I'm telling you, somebody came to me on the street. That's a lie! I said, I'm dead, I know I wasn't on the street You're right. I was at a hotel was at the valet and one in the valley. That's what he said

He said yo, you're Charlamagne, I don't know if he was trolling be this should afford him Lit valet area No, he didn't have glasses, but it did happen. It did happen. It did. Yeah, that didn't go the way y'all thought it would. Nah, it didn't. I know.

But welcome, guys. How you guys feeling? Yeah, so good to have y'all. We're feeling fantastic. Man, what roles excite you nowadays, Mars? Wow. You've been in the game so long. You know what, this role did excite me.

Okay. It really did. You know, the one thing I love, first of all, she's incredible. I mean, she's incredible at what she does, credible actress, I mean, she's incredible. But the whole production, so the production starts,

you know, with Onyx Collective. We have, you know, black female executives there. And then, of course, Carrie Washington's company is producing the show. Simpson Street. Simpson Street's producing it, top notch there. Rama Mohammed, black female show runner. All the scripts were on time.

Before, I'd never gotten scripts on a show like that this early. I would get a script. We would be on the second day of an episode and get a script for the next episode that normally never happens. So everything was top of my head, then working with her and the cast.

This role did excite me. Now for people that don't know, what is reasonable doubt about? Because you're on season two, so if they don't know, what is it about? Break it down. You know, it's about this high powered black female attorney who's about her business.

She handles all of her business when she's in the office, when she's in court, but she's trying to juggle it. You know, she's a mother, she's a wife, and sometimes, you know, some of the balls drop out of the air, you know what I mean? She fails at times, and she makes questionable decisions, makes mistakes at times, you know, but it's about this woman, it's about this marriage, this black marriage, you know, we get to see them trying to figure it out, we get to see them making mistakes, we get to see them really living their life in this way

that we don't often get to see on television, along with the courtroom drama of it all. We get to see her really in her element, because the show is loosely based on Sean Holly. Oh, that's true. I knew that, okay, okay. She's a very high powered defense attorney in LA. So we have all of those elements. It's a good high powered defense attorney in LA, you know, and so we have all of those elements

It's a good blend of the courtroom drama with the character driven kind of piece We just had handle that business in court. Is that all the place you have the business? I mean she does what she got to do Anywhere and everywhere. Did you sit with Sean? Did what? Did you spend any time with Sean? Oh, yes. Oh, yeah Before we started filming we you know, she invited me to her home and we sat and we talked for hours. I got to really pick her brain about how she chooses

the cases that she decides to take on, because that's the thing. We really, I think, nailed that in the show with the kinds of cases that Jax chooses to accept can sometimes cause issue with her friends or her family. Why are you not defending black women? Why did you choose to defend this man? And that's what Shawn is about.

That's something that I admired and wanted to know a little bit more about what goes into her selecting the kind of cases that she chooses to represent. Is it hard to leave your character on set? Is it hard? No, no. I've learned how to just make the separation. I've learned how to just make the separation. I've learned how to make the separation.

And especially with someone like Jax, you know, she has a lot going on, you know, so I'm thankful to just leave that there and go home to normalcy. You know, I wanted to ask actors, like when you have to play a traumatic scene, right, like when Ricky gets killed and Boyz n the Hood, being that they play that so much on TV,

does that trigger you when you see it? Like, do you feel like? That doesn't trigger me. One thing that did trigger me, when I did The First Best Man, it was the first time that I had to be such an emotional space. When I did the wedding scene, I was crying.

And I had to be in an emotional space for so long. That triggered me for just even thinking about it for at least five to seven years. What about when y'all did the TV show when your wife was dead? See, I had already, as an actor, I had grown and I kind of let some stuff. As actors, we use our trauma and our pain to get there. So I kind of worked on that.

But it triggered me for a long time, on the first Best Man. Did you ever get tired of it? Because Boys in the Hood was so long ago. Did you ever realize how impactful that was gonna be when you shot it? I didn't, I didn't. I had no clue because when I, I mean I was a lead in the movie

that nobody knew who I was. And no one knew who Cuba was, people knew who Ice Cube was, Angela wasn't Angela, Nia wasn't Nia. I mean, everybody was just popping off. So I didn't think it was gonna be that big, no. That's interesting what you said about the best man because to be in a role when the TV show came

where in that iteration of it, your wife was deceased. Yes. You had to tap into that emotion of being a man who lost their wife. How did you leave that at home? Well, so it's uh, I'll leave that on the set. Yeah. Yeah. So it's Okay, so the so that was the first best man I had that so the second best man was tough because she was battling cancer and I had to do a lot of emotional scenes then so I've just learned to manage kind of those emotions I've learned to deal with some of that trauma

in a different way now. And actually, acting is pretty much therapeutic because you're able to release certain things. And so over the years, that's what's happened. Were you a fan of Reasonable Doubt season one? Because you just came on season two. I was because I literally, I was playing a Saturday basketball game

and one of the guys there, he was like, yo, he said, normally after we play, we talk about stupid stuff, dude stuff in the gym or whatever and then he just said, hey, you guys seen the show, Reasonable Doubt? And I knew about the show because I knew E. Lee was on it, I knew Emiyase was on it but I hadn't seen it yet. He was like, man, it was just so odd to hear him say that

on the court, you know what I'm saying? And so he said, you gotta check it out. So yeah, so before I did the show, I was definitely a fan because I watched it because just so odd to hear him say that on the court. You know what I'm saying? And so he said, you gotta check it out. So yeah, so before I did the show, I was definitely a fan because I watched it because he told me to. And what was harder for you, because Jax is different season one versus season two, what was the harder draw for you as an actress,

like pulling from the experiences? Was it harder for season one or harder for season two for you? I think I would definitely say season two just because of you know she's showing a lot more vulnerability as a result of what happened in season one. Yes. You know so that just it required just like Morris was saying you know I got a pull from some of those places you know that kind of thing so it

was more of a challenge in that way you know I had to decide to open myself up. A lot of times when you see people in the soap opera world, they never leave the soap opera world, but you did. So break down the soap opera world and what got you into soap opera? First I wanna know how you got into acting because you're a military child. Usually that means you're traveling all over the place.

Your parents are heavy into education. What got you into acting from the start? It was something that I always loved. I always loved, but I didn't know that it could be a choice to be a career, you know? And for a long time, it was just fun, just a hobby. And I thought that I had it planned out. I was gonna go to law school, I was gonna be a lawyer.

My father wanted me to go to the military. But I said, okay, I think I'm gonna be a lawyer. But in high school, I had a girlfriend who also wanted to be a lawyer. And we had our whole plan. It was gonna be Cornaldi and Sweeney Incorporated. There you go. But I realized, thankfully, before graduation,

okay, no, I don't really wanna be a lawyer. I'm not trying to go to law school. Like she was taking it serious. And fill out these SATs. I'm like, I'm not doing all that. Is she a lawyer now? She's a lawyer now. She's a lawyer now.

So we went in the right path. I realized, no, I think I just, I like the drama. I like the suits and you know, all of that in the courtroom. And so that's the moment when I knew and I kind of started pursuing it at that point. And this was in, I graduated high school in Jersey. My last two years were out there in Kansas. I was all over the place. And then went back to Jersey and really started studying and back and forth

up here to New York, all my off, off, off Broadway classes and all of that, and then that was it, that was it. And my first role was that role in Young and the Restless. And that was because that was my mom's show and she said to her, you know, that was me making it. Now you made it when you were doing Hustle Vibe, bro. And she says, you gotta get on Young and the Restless and tell Victor I said hi. And so the bittersweet moment about that was me making it. Now you made it when you were on her soap opera. And she says, you gotta get him young and erect around the rest of us and tell Victor I said hi. Tell Victor I said hi.

And so the bittersweet moment about that for me is because my mom passed before that happened, before she got to see. And so as soon as I got on the set, I said, Victor, I just gotta tell you, my mom just loves you. So, and that was a small, that was a really small role. And I think that's how I, the reason why I didn't get caught up in it

and staying there, because it was a small role, but it was truly one of the most meaningful ones to me to this day because of that. Yeah. That's so aligned for you. Your first scene, Morris, is a sex scene. Right, right, right. Do you ever have to tell these studios

not to objectify you? Because we heard Mephime once say he always pushed back against his sex symbol status. Do you ever have to tell these studios, like look, I know I'm Mars Chestnut. You can't be a stunt double, bro. You cannot be a stunt double. Don't objectify me.

We would know the difference. Or do you ever feel like you're being objectified, maybe is a better question. I don't see it that way. It's almost like, because people sometimes, they ask me, they say, do you get mad when people call you Ricky all the time, when people see me on the street?

And honestly, the one thing about me is I have never ever forgotten where I come from, right? And when I was an actor, just starting out, trying to get an agent, just trying to get a part, just say, oh, just please, somebody cast me. I just wanna be seen, I wanna be known so I can get more work. And so it just so happens that that role

that I was dying to get to be able to get more work was a role that it was a blessing that it's still relevant and people still refer to it to this very day. So now, just because people say Ricky almost every day, I'm not gonna turn around and say, oh man, I hate when people call me Ricky, because I would desire it so much.

So to your question about studios, I don't think they objectify me. I think that, I've been in the business a long time, and the younger Morris would not have imagined that he would be here to this very single day after all these years. So I'm just blessed and I'm very appreciative of the fact that they still wanna cast me

because in our industry, no one really retires from our industry, our industry retires us, the phone stops ringing. So as long as the phone's still ringing, I'ma keep picking up and I appreciate it. But it's one thing to be a great actor, which you are, but it's another to be considered a heartthrob, right? It's only like a cut, it's like Denzel, Morris,

who else fits in that lane, Lauren? Like historically. Who else? Omar Epps was there. Yeah, um, Not like Morris and Denzel. Michael B. Jordan. Michael B., yeah, he was there. He kind of faded out, no. B. Jordan. Michael B. Jordan. He was there.

He kind of faded out. No. Bley Underwood. Okay. What's his name? Bley Underwood. Yep. From Queen Sugar. Dark skinned Queen Sugar. Boris Cole Joe. Kofi. Kofi. Kofi. Kofi is the, he's there. Calm down, Lauren. Calm down. I'm just kidding. Where we at right now. But I think honestly you, Denzel, it's y'all level of, it's maybe two or three that are the go-tos. Mainly you though, like you get, you do get a lot of the posts and stuff online. A lot of them come from Charlamagne's Instagram, but. Shut up.

I think to the answer to that question is, for me, I don't focus on it because, you know. So y'all, this is Questlove, and I'm here to tell you about a new podcast I've been working on with the Story Pirates and John Glickman called Historical Records. It's a family-friendly podcast. Yeah, you heard that right. A podcast for all ages.

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who refused to give up her seat on the city bus nine whole months before Rosa Parks did the same thing. Check it. And if you get with me, did you know, did you know, I wouldn't give up my seat? Nine months before Rosa, he was Claudette Goldman. Get the kids in your life excited about history by tuning in to Historical Records, because in order to make history,

you have to make some noise. Listen to Historical Records on the iHeartRadio app, Apple podcasts, or wherever you get your podcasts. This is the type of industry that's, you know, there's gonna be somebody else tomorrow. There's gonna be somebody else the next day. So I just focus, honestly, I just try to focus on doing the best job I can as an actor with each job.

And if that comes with it, I'm appreciative of it, if that's what people say, I'm appreciative of that. But I don't focus on that, I just have to focus on the work because that's gonna keep me here longer than being a, if people consider it sex symbol. The real Morris Chestnut was the sexiest man alive in 2015, the reason I gotta say that is because sometimes he puts his face there

and acts like he's. I've never done that. If you wanted to call him the sexiest man alive, that's fine reason I gotta say that is because sometimes he puts his face there and acts like he's... I've never done that. If you wanted to call him the sexiest man alive, that's fine. If you wanna use me to do that, that's fine. I've never done that. I was gonna ask, y'all... Y'all think you're funny?

Y'all have the crazy air to me. That was wild. Are we here? What's going on here? I was gonna ask, how does your wife deal with it all? You know, with women hollering when y'all out and the comments, how does she handle it? Well, I mean, my wife is a star in our family, for sure.

I mean, she's the one that, I mean, she's a star in the family. And she knows, and I'm a homebody, I'm home all the time. And honestly, the older I've gotten, you know, I mean, she's just not even, she's not stressed by it, she's not even, she's just not, she's not really interested in the industry. She, it's like, we've been together a long, long time.

And so, she knows what it is. I'm not going nowhere. Hopefully she's not going anywhere, but she's cool with it. And what about your kids? That's an interesting question. We've never really had the conversation about it. My son has made comments about it.

Does he have jokes? No, no, he doesn't have jokes. He doesn't have jokes about it. What are the comments that he's making to you? Well, so, that's a good question. We have my son, and my son's 26 years old right now. No, he's just turning 27. And we just basically have a lot of father son conversations

and my conversations are more geared towards preparing him for life and trying to get him to see the world from different perspectives. Primarily from a business perspective, a young man who's gonna be taking care of a business perspective, a young man who's gonna be taking care of a family perspective. And he'll make comments just in terms of, when I'm trying to explain certain things to him,

how things go in life, he feels sometimes, he'll make a comment like, well, you haven't had to deal with such and such because such and such. But I keep having to tell him, I keep having to remind him that, I slept in a room with my brother until, I mean, I was in a room with my brother

until we went to college and we couldn't even open the door. It was so tight in the room. We had bunk beds, we put the bunk beds down, we couldn't even open the door. So I wasn't born into this. And so there's a lot of discipline and hard work that has, and a blessing from God, but discipline and hard work that has me where I am today.

What did y'all two learn from each other on set? Ooh, well I would say I definitely learned. When I heard, when they told me that they were, you know, when they asked me how I felt about Morris coming onto the show, number one, I was just excited. I mean, it's Morris the Chestnut, you know. I mean, it's true, you know, just, it's just he brings a level of professionalism and ease,

but yet very just approachable and kind and ease, but yet very just approachable and kind and giving, you know what I mean, in a way that you just may not expect for someone who's been in the business for so long, for someone who knows that they have this particular status, you know what I mean, but he didn't have any of that. So I definitely just appreciated and respected that about you.

And I appreciate, so the one thing on a set, the number one on the call sheet is the heartbeat of the set. The set goes how the number one goes. If the number one's not feeling good today, the set's not gonna have a good day. If the number one's not a good person, it's not a set that you wanna be on.

She is literally one of the best number ones that I've ever worked with. She, I mean this is so hard because when you come to a set, you know, we have the scenes, we have our lines, and we have to worry about our character. She knew everybody's name on the set, everybody's name. And I've been on set, I've been on set right now for six months, I still only know probably about seven names

out of like 100 people. And that was just so impressive to me. And it was really, she was really inspiring to me just to see how she was doing that. And she made me mad one day, because I always like to be, when they call us to set, I like to be the first one there. And she beat me one time, I said, oh, I can't have that.

I cannot have her beat me to set. Because I gotta be there. Yeah, I said, I can't have that. I cannot have her beat me to set. Because I gotta be there. Yeah, I said, I can't have that. So she's just in everything that she does. And she, with all of that, she had her daughter there. She's taking care of her daughter. She has, she's carrying the load on this show. She did it so gracefully, eloquently,

and just an incredible actress. So I just have a huge, she's inspiring. Now is there somebody, you talk about number ones. Is there somebody that you say, no matter how much they pay you, without saying names, that you just won't do a movie with them because they just don't act right? Oh, no, no, no.

The oof was a maybe. No, no. The oof was a maybe. Because someone popped into my head, but I don't, that's just based off of what you hear. I don't know, you know what I mean? I can't judge someone based on that. So no, I wouldn't say that.

Morris? Oh yeah, I have one. He said, what? Yeah, yeah. I have one. Yeah, he doesn't, I'm not sure if he's, I don't think he's done anything too much lately, but yeah, it can be a really, really, really bad set.

It's just not a good, it's not a working, it's not a free working environment to be an artist when you have everyone walking on eggshells and this person just dictates the whole mood just of the set and it just makes it so challenging, not even to just do your job, just to even be there. Because we spend 12, 13 hours a day. It's like a family.

You know, you spend more time on a set than you do your family. So yeah, so that's probably one part. Let me answer, I have a question for you. I had heard Erika Alexander talk about how when black women play strong roles on TV, it boxes them in. It's like a good thing because your representation,

but it can be a bad thing because it boxes you into this like, you always have that power. You always have to be tough and rough. Do you think about that when you're picking roles? I know, cause Jax is becoming a household now, household name now, like people love the show. Do you think about that? Do you think how that will affect you?

Has that been, you know, something that you and your team had talked about? You know, I understand what she's saying about that because that is, you know, it's almost can even be a stigma even that's placed upon us as black women. But it's not something that I think about because there is an element of it that is true. It's there, we are strong.

We've had to be strong for so long for so many reasons. So, you know, it's not something that I feel like I have to lead with or something that I have to be cognizant of. Because I don't, it doesn't, it doesn't, it doesn't bother me in that way. You know what I mean? And so I think I, I do choose roles, not necessarily if I see a role and it says, okay, she's a strong woman or what have you, you know, I know I'm going to put my own spin on it and

I may not feel like she's strong in the way that they think she's strong. You know what I mean? So I can make a different interpretation on it. Gotcha. Well, I know y'all got it, girls. I got my final question. Other than when I'm around, Mars, do you ever walk in the room and say,

I'm the most handsome man in the room? Oh my gosh. No, no, I never said that. You did say that one day when we were, I'm just playing. He did? I'm trying to think about it. You did say that one day when we were, obviously. He did. I'm gonna say that. I'm gonna say that. I'm gonna say that.

You're waiting to get that on your chest. No, I would never say that. And I do want to, you were in the Family Feud video, right? Jay-Z's Family Feud? Yes. How were you casted for that? Are you cool with the fam or how did that happen? Ava.

Ava, because Ava directed it. Ava DuVernay. Ava DuVernay. I think that's how we met. We met at Ava's house. Ava's house. Yes. Yeah, we did. I remember that. And you didn't We met at Ava's house.

Yeah, we did. I remember you was more obsessed now when you were there. Be honest. Not even close. I didn't. I didn't. You thought it was the help. I was like, what, five years ago?

Five, six years ago? Yeah, something like that. We were watching a movie or something and damn. The fight. The fight. Mayweather, Conor McGrady night. That's what it was. But yeah, that's how that came about

with Ava was the director. Gotcha, well we appreciate y'all. I know you guys gotta run. Yeah, but let me just say, I wanna say something to you guys. I really appreciate what you guys are doing for the culture. I mean, I see the guests you guys have on. I see the topics that you guys talk about.

And I appreciate what you guys are doing because especially now in our community, you talk about therapy a lot. I love that. You guys bring up current topic, current event topics, politics. And so you guys are, I was really excited to come back because I've been here before,

but I was really excited to come back because I appreciate you guys, what you guys are doing for the culture. So thank you guys. Thank you very much. Reasonable Doubt Season Two is out now on Hulu. Ladies and gentlemen, it's The Breakfast Club. It's Morris Chestnut and Emma Yatsey Coronality.

Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. It's The Breakfast Club, good's Morris Chestnut and Emma Yatsey Coronality. Thank you so much. Thank you for having us. It's The Breakfast Club. Good morning. Wake that ass up. Early in the morning. The Breakfast Club.