Questlove Supreme: Anthony Mackie

Quest Love Supreme is a production of iHeartRadio. What a man? What's up?

Now?

You make.

You what? I thought you were outside right now?

I was like, yeah, I'm outside, man, the basketball game on, I'm in New Orleans and.

Even do adults ship like sit outside and have a drink.

I get the.

Look and he ain't even got no headphones on, Like he just straightened like I'm out in the street. Out you got your headphones?

I guess is you just found out about this?

No?

I don't like your headphones.

I don't like to be contained. Man, I'm an. I'm ready to.

Fight Anthony Mackie and I barely know him. I'm sorry.

Welcome knowing Anthony Mackie.

Let us start. Is everyone rolling?

Yes, yes, not Anthony Mackie.

But no, I don't record. That's how he gets everybody. I freaked.

Like, I can tell this is already gonna match our our drunken Christmas episodes.

I can I can tell already.

Ladies and gentlemen, Welcome to another episode of Quest Love Supreme. I'm your host Quest Love. We have Teams Supreme with us unpaid bill. Hello, how's it going?

It's Tuesday.

Everything's good.

You didn't tell us. You didn't tell us that we got black muppets on the wall.

Yeah, black muppets. We haven't discussed black muppets. They're a black muppets. Get into it.

Wait, nig I gotta pose.

I gotta pose the question like SNL Does that mean all the other muppets are white?

Valid question? Can't answer that, per se, but it's a really good question. Are you not allowed to answer that question?

No?

I mean probably, I haven't honestly thought about it, but it's a good it's a good question. Are we recording because I don't. I learned from Anthony Mackie. I don't record. I just play free, free, living, free free.

So what's what's? What's?

Uh?

What's the puppies names? Eric and Travis or something?

No, come on, No, one of them got a real black name. It's not real black, but it's black enough.

Not like name one of them. You gotta give him like a North Philly named.

Please.

Anyway, Your girlfriend is your girlfriend of urban descent?

No, she's the producer of Sesame Street?

Right?

Is she of urban descent?

What is she black? His stepmother's Jamaican? Though, that's right? All right?

The names are Their names are Elijah and West, which are not the blackest name.

Like Elijah's is kind.

Of yeah yeah, and they did Elijah shout out to you know, Elijah rest in peace, Colorado Springs.

That's what's up.

I don't know about that. Somebody they want my my my ex wanted to name O Son Wyatt and I was literally about to go to jail.

And so you decided to name him Anthony Jr.

Oh you think I'm gonna name him?

Yeah, that was the last start in my mind. Right now, he shadow a little question. What you think I named him?

Know, I'm from the South. You're gonna be a junior ship.

I see that, sugar Steve. How are we doing this week? We're doing great. Nice to see everybody. Team Supreme. Anthony Mackie so nice to see you.

What's up rich Man.

Students from Manhattan?

Uh yeah, man, you look, I'm hype. I'm ready for this. I'm ready to go in.

Yes, ready for about ten minutes. Girl going god you.

I'm good, I'm good man, I'm good. It's gonna be fun episode. All right.

Yeah, I was about to say normally I'm gonna I'm gonna astrew the long jown out episode.

Because there's really no need for this introduction.

I'll just say this much please eight Mile Brother, the Brother Manturian candidate, She hate me, million dollar Baby, Eagle Eye, the hurt Locker notorious nine catches Us, Abraham Lincoln, Detroit Captain America win a Soldier Civil War. Also the hate you give I didn't realize that was thug acronym.

I'll get that later. Black or white, Yeah, yeah, forgive me, all right.

Anyway, The Night the Night Before Avengers at Man uh, striking vibrs, black mirror episode, definitely all the way, the Falcon Winter Soldier of course.

Dude, what about the Matt da.

In One Adjustment Bureau? Come on?

Yeah, yeah, okay, there was twelve more I was gonna name, but fuck it. Ladies and gentlemen, we got on Quest Love Supreme.

Yes, and we're recorded, Yes, we are recording. How are you right now? Man?

I'm good, bro, I'm chilling.

I'm just living life, man, enjoying this unemployment game.

Shut up?

Your job is on TV every week. I don't know what you're talking.

Yeah, I'm like, you're everywhere. So how are you unemployed?

Well?

This minute you finish the job. You unemployed, Thank.

You, sir. There's one person here that knows how unemployment works.

There's one person here that also knows that you probably have five other things lined up.

Yeah, I mean later, yeah, but right now I'm unemployed.

I get that you can actually file.

He's right.

I didn't think about it. Well.

I was told I can't file.

Oh well, I was about to say you can file.

I don't get a stemmy check.

I was gonna say, you got your stimmy, dude.

You's a super fi super I was.

I was. I was gonna file for stemmy and they told me I couldn't.

Yeah, that would be pretty fucked up of a country.

We let the falcon get a stemmy that's.

Incoming quality like a motherfucker? Where are you right? Where are you right now?

What?

Probably the US?

I'm I'm in New Orleans downtown.

You are too boue, too blue knowlans Yeah seven.

World Basketballville hard head know that?

Yeah?

Else New York motherfuckers don't know how to deal with that from you.

Saw the silence afterwards.

Everybody was like, uh, love you to Anthony, thank you.

I was just one and if all the New Orleans All stars knew each other because we talked to Terrence Blanchard in the last month, we talked to PJ. Moore in Tank and everybody is still all the New Orleans folks are in New Orleans. I'm like a lot of other folks.

Yeah, yeah, oh way, it's the best city in the world. Why would you leave?

You get your You get European flavor, with the amenities of America, with the best food in the world.

Why would you leave august Ship. Oh you don't like being neked?

I don't work. Oh wait, what else besides the amount of hurricanes and floods?

No, I just mean it be on fire, Anthony, right, yeah.

You getting the pool and your cat? How whatever your casual is, wasn't getting the pool? My neighbors know me through and through.

Oh why, I'm like, stop.

Looking over the fence. Dog just meant for you.

Stop looking over I'm not gonna make it through this.

I don't think, Oh my god, all right, I don't even like I don't even feel like having a normal ass interview.

Because but he deserves his flowers. So we you know, we say, I think this.

Is our flowers moment. Yeah, man, for real.

Come on, I knew you too long. I'm gonna be good. Go ahead, bro go ahead.

No, no, no, you're good, You're straight.

I'm just waiting to get to this. She hate me conversations.

Oh, here we go. I want to start.

What's your what's your family situation in in New Orleans?

Like?

How many brothers and sisters or siblings?

Uh? Three? Three sisters, two brothers. We all live here.

You know, once you hear, but you always come back, so you know, thankfully, knock on wood.

None of us have had COVID. But I'm the youngest. I'm the youngest.

Okay, are they all artistically inclined or you're the only one that sort of broke the.

I'm the only one they they came. Damn, if you give him a menu to read, it'll be a disaster.

So what drew you to acting?

Uh?

You know what a kid do.

And my teacher, you know, in the nineties, they wanted to put everybody on rig so you know, my mom, my mom came to school and was like, yo, that's a gateway drug. And I was like, what the fuck? What like, what is it a gateway too? So then I got scared and instead my my uh my third grade teacher came in and was like, Yo, he's a good student, he just needs something to focus his attention. So she had me auditioned for the talented and theater program and after that I never had another problem.

Wow.

Yeah, I had some amazing teachers in my life every step of my life. Literally, I am where I am today because of the teachers I had from myself, this great teacher all the way up.

And these all teachers in New Orleans. So they had a Yeah, because we heard about music. I heard a lot about the music in New Orleans. But what's the kind of drama acting scene like locally?

I mean there's Look, the acting scene is great. You know, we have a we have theaters here, we have theater groups here. You know, we've the just the art scene in generals. You know, if you look at the Marty Brow Indians, all of that is just performing.

You know.

All of us are storytellings. You know, New Orleans is a culture of storytelling. So you know, if you sit down with Wynton Marcellus and Terrence Blanchet, you see them dudes could tell a story that could wake up Debby.

You know.

Yeah, it's a part of the culture. Man's that's all it is. Storytelling is a part of the culture. So you know, everybody here is an actor, and they all, right, uh, your.

Parents, what were your what was your what were your parents? Uh?

Uh?

My mom was a housewife, dude, She just like chilled and spanked all six of us.

And my dad was a contract you had a roof and company me.

So you know, he with his education, became one of the most successful businessmen in the city of New Orleans.

Wow.

Just all of honesty and hustle.

It's literally like one of the most amazing stories you would ever think to hear from my grandfather to my dad to his six kids.

You know, the amount of growth and prosperity and appreciation is the biggest thing.

You know.

My grandfather was a share crosser, you know, so you know it was you know, It's just one of those things where I would never defile my family's name just simply because of.

Who my grandfather was.

Like when I got in trouble, my dad used to say, you know you were MACKI right, So you know, the validity of our name always meant something.

Even when I was a child.

Like when we went somewhere, I was never Anthony I was that Macki boy m hm.

So it was already a standard set, and that standards seems like it has a lot to do with the roles that you seem to choose too.

Oh definitely, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, Yeah. That's why I'll never use the N word on screen. That's why I choose roles in a way that people can watch learn and grow from.

Yere you do. When I play a thug is a thug with substance.

I don't want to just be willing Nelly out here, you know, acting like an idiot selling booty for carn Brek.

Yeah, we didn't mention one of my favorite Anthony Mackie roles.

That imagery right there.

Yeah, I'm sorry, I.

Didn't mean that that was so much.

Yeah, I've heard of selling booty.

I feel like you once said that to you and that stuck with you.

Yeah, that's somebody's grandmother's turn. Don't be out there selling My version of that was don't be out there in the corner selling wolf tickets.

We had wolf tickets. That was that ship too ticket? What's that explain that? You know, like wolf tickets like bullshit? Like you don't be acting fool wolf tickets ship be right, you know.

Check you can't cash, you know, Bill, Bill, My dad was the type of person. Yes, like his goal in life, you know, like Chris Rock says, like keep your daughter off the pole. His going life for me was just to keep me from going on the corner selling wolf tickets?

What's the genesis of that? Saying? Though?

Who knows you're talking about? You want to find.

It come from?

I'm all right, we're recordings, all right, recording No, Now, I got to look up wolf.

You know what?

It was some some old black dude got a dog and painted him like a wolf and sell the tickets to see his dog, and everybody when they saw it wasn't a wolf that was the origin.

And that it's improv ladies.

Up.

Yeah, black history fact of the day fact.

So can I, mister love, can I just mention why he's mentioning that role of playing thugs that just are more deeper than what you think the inep No, I was just gonna yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeahs yes, that's it.

Sorry, wait a Bill to answer your question on urban dictionary, Oh yeah.

The often cited urban dictionary.

Yes, well, yes, to try Uh, it's to try and sell a lie, either to yourself or to others.

To yourself.

Where I'm from, that's called marriage. I'm happy.

Wow, let's go in divorce.

Let's do it.

Let's go in club.

Yes, club?

How long you how long you've been divorced? Matkiew you are you back married?

Now?

Where are you at?

No? No?

No, no, no no, I've been divorced four years?

Four years? Okay, gotcha? What you say? Never again? Never, Anthony, Anthony, that's me. You think you think you're doing again? Or you are you good?

No?

You know what.

I'm good, bro, unless it's Oprah like I mean, unless it's somebody like, unless it's Holly Berry.

You don't even man j Lo.

Come on, look at their history, and that's what I'm saying.

I'm like, it's perception, Anthony.

Your your favorite three? Are you doing this on purpose?

I want? I want, you know, drama in your relationship?

Michelle Obama?

Yeah, but want cookie from good times?

I don't know. I don't know.

I you know.

I think now, especially the age that we are now, I think marriage is just finding somebody that you want to that you want to die with, like you want that's the person you want.

To you know what I think, it's finding somebody that's nice like people nowadays just aren't.

And you meet people that unappreciative.

They're not nice no matter what it is, no matter what you do for them, it's not enough, no matter what. They always asking you for something like it's like, just meet somebody that's nice. Like, Yo, I'm outside cutting grass. You look hot. Let me bring you something to drink. Man, you know what I mean, Like, just be nice, like take care of me the way you don't take care

Yo.

Yeah that stuff was loaded.

But come and take care of this when you finished with your boys. You gotta you know, that's what you're supposed to do.

Don't worry about that, Okay when I leave you, When I.

Go out and you have fun with your boys, you enjoy it. How that works?

Even have funds a loaded definition half money to.

Keep your to yourself.

No, that's it, you know, that's anonymous.

We sold.

Our idea of having fun is sitting around talking ship about the stuff we did and having it ship.

You know, my idea of having fun is silence, exist, don't don't be in the baby.

Yeah, raises away for a week and it's just.

Me talking ship.

I love silence. I love silence.

Okay, no, no, I just meant being in a relationship is you know, I'm new. I mean we're in the honeymoon phase still. So it's still like, yeah, we're still on our honeymoon phase. Like, how long has it been? Has it been it too?

I don't hate her yet? Was it twenty two years? Almost two years?

One of those years was a COVID year though, so that's like a year on steroids.

That's like actually five years. Yeah, twenty twenty two years for three years.

And I'm shocked that we survived COVID and so, you know, because a lot everyone else didn't.

So they said, they said the divorce rate during COVID went up like a thousand percent. Really, it's crazy when you actually meet the person you.

Married, that part.

Oh, that's just strange everything exactly.

It's like, yo, be nice, be nice.

You gotta be nice to each.

I feel like that's fair, like just be nice.

It is, but it's harder than it sounds. It's just it's like with some people.

For some people, yeah, for some people.

Yeah, you know, well there's nice, there's also honesty.

Mm hmm to me, you can lie to me, just be nice.

Please lie to me, tell me I'm the prettiest moment. I mean, please lie to me. Don't tell me the truth.

How am I going to segue to Juilliard after this conversation?

It's all lies.

It's all lies. Juilliard's lies. It's all lies.

He's in the middle of a monologue.

So you know, I thought this was the truth circle.

This circle, it is definitely a safe space, definitely a safe.

I'm gonna be all over TMZ. Anthony Maggie said, with.

Y'all, they don't pay attention to quest Left Supremus tune Hurdy.

Trouble.

Yeah, all right, So how did you wind up at Juilliard?

You know, it was a funny story, man.

There was this actor from New Orleans saying, Wendel Pearce and I met.

Him, Yes, when I was fourteen year old.

And when I met Wendell, Wendel showed up at school. He had on a white linen suit. He was driving a Porsche, a black push He had on a white linen Hat.

Honestly, I was like, that's the cleanest black dude I've ever seen.

Wow.

And he gave a speech and I went up to him afterwards and I was like, Yo, bro yo, whatever you did, I'm gonna do wherever you went, I'm a go.

He goes, all right, youngster, go sit down. I'm like, all right, bet bet So. I went to North Carolina School of the Arts. He went to Noka. I went to Nokas. He went to Juilliard. I went to Juilliard.

I went there just specifically because he went there because he was such a role modeling an ambassador to the arts for me, just because he was such a talented dude. And I had never seen a black dude speak so eloquently, a black dude so like emotionally connected with his work, you know what I mean, like the stuff that he was the best part about waiting to say yeah.

They had two scenes yeah true.

That and wait and then y'all both ended up and she hate me together exactly exactly.

She just wants to rust and she hates I don't.

I don't, I don't, I don't. I was just saying I would We'll go back to that you know, put a pin in it. But I just thought that now.

You said that, you said that, and now I'm thinking ship. So that made an impression. So you're saying, that's seeing window and in his clean suit and his Porsche. That made an impression on you, and you were like, that's what I want to that's what I want to do.

No, it was seeing him so clear because I didn't even know he had the porch until I looked out the window. And I'm not a porch dude, like if he had pulled up in a classic Mustang out and been like this guy is God, you know, but just see him, seeing him speak about the arts and the way his passion about the arts, and him being so clean, like, you know, my dad was a contractor man.

My dad was a roofer. Every day my dad came home, he got his I mean, he was like I had.

Never seen a dude that cleaned before, you know, And it really it really changed my perception of what a man was, because to me, a man was a dude who went out and had dirt under his nails and you know, bust his ass for his family and really made sure that.

His house was an arm And I didn't know. I thought only white dues could do that in a suit.

M Wow. See now damn, And you said that.

Now I'm all messed up because whenever I go to Philly, Yeah, I I I purposely try to do the opposite, Like I drive the bummy.

Car and the key.

I'm trying to do this down the earth, blue collar musician thing. And I thought that that would make more of an impression than you.

Know, I think was especially with kids. Kids want to see.

That's why like people in you know, everybody in the music industry and everybody who kids try to emulate, they.

Try to emulate them because they look like they got it.

Right.

That's why women, that's why you know, little girls are asking for these you know, drag queen eyelashes because you know, that's that's the idea becauld think that's the look of when you got it, you know. And my thing was my dad had it, you know. But when I looked at window, like I saw window and he had it.

Hm.

You know, his education level, you know, everything about him, dude, like to this day, like I talked to him last week before he left for Europe, and everything about this dude just exudes confidence.

And success. You know, yeah, like if there's if there's a generation of Latin X these black acts.

No, you're right, he definitely needs to get more flowers out loud.

You're right.

Yeah.

Can I ask you about that class of Juilliard because it's interesting it seems like there's a slew of folks that came out of Juilliard from your year and like either the following or the pre like from I was thinking about Nelson Ellis from True Blood to My Girl from Power, Uh, lawd, you know what I mean? Like, so can you talk about that and if y'all could connected and circle ever circle back in life?

I mean, of course, you know.

The great thing about it is our class was probably the first well I would.

Say routinam Sorry, yes.

Rotina Wesley.

Our class was definitely the first diverse class at Juilliard.

We had five black people, we had a Native American, we had an Asian. I mean twenty people, you know, eight of us were from decent.

You know, so we were definitely the most the first and the most diverse clas as at Julliard ever. And because of that, we were able to do things that other classes weren't able to do. Like, I first got recognition by playing Tupac off Bro and that was the play we developed at Julliard.

You know, we did that play at Juilliard first because it was in the New York Times.

You know, who would expect Juliard students to be able to do a play about Tupac? And I'm like, so, why is acting the only career where you're limited by your level of education?

Like, the more that you have, the less.

No no, no, no no. The more you have, the less black you are.

The less black you are.

Thank you go ahead and say it, the less black you are. And that's the problem. That's the whole situation. Oh, that's the whole situation that really confuses me. You know, if you're a black person with any substance, depth, and weight you looked upon as fake, phony or not black.

That's crazy.

There's been times when I've gone in auditions and they're like, yeah, you ain't black, you went too Julia, or.

I won't say the person's name who told me that.

But you know, that's happened to me a few times in my career, you know, but we don't look at it that way, And that's the sad scary part if you went to Julia or now you're not real. We got to go get somebody that shot seventeen people and can actually smoke weed on set.

Well, yeah, some of them commercials messed that up. When you see the commercials where the people are speaking that urban thing and then they do the behind the scenes and they're speaking proper and you're like, I think those kind of Yeah.

Can you talk about well, before before you started eight Mile, you were in a string of August Wilson place. Was that just strictly for how did you get involved in those projects?

Were they juliarp or later?

Or was this no?

No, no, no, no no, that was just out of love for August. I mean, you know, Piano Lesson was one of the first place I saw and it literally changed my life and changed my relationship with my father because I didn't understand him until I saw Piano Lessons, you know. So as a dear friend and someone who had a lasting impact on my life, and that's why I named my third son August, because of you know, his inability to concede. You know, I mean, he did something no

So f folks giving props, but maybe not enough.

Maybe they gave him a stamp.

But it depends on what you feel like props are. If you feel like, like, do you feel like the black community knows who he is? Do you feel like the world should know? In the world does, but the theater world knows. It's kind of It's interesting in that way because I'm like, I feel like August Wilson has been a part of the conversation for a while now, depending on what you're talking about.

He's been a part of the conversation now.

For I would say that piano lesson since No, No, No, since Denzel. That's then all of a sudden, it's like, oh, we need to read this book. Oh, this should be requiring. Oh and it's like, you know, when he was alive, nobody gave him that They had been trying to make a movie.

When he was alive. Yeah, you're right, you know what I mean. So he deserves that man truth, you know, for all tenements to be done.

What was it about the piano lesson that helps you understand your dad?

I never realized the day to day struggles and hardships of a black man once he left the house.

At the time he got back to my house, you know.

My dad had the big borrow still fight and kill to make sure our roof was over our head as kids, and then he had to come home and deal with us. There was six of months and my mom and whoever else was in the house, you know. And I always thought he was just a mean old dude. I always thought he was just a detached old dude. But no a month like, I always wondered why my dad would pull up to the house and sit in his truck for thirty minutes before coming in.

So man, listen, I do it to this day, I do it right the black man driveway sitting right now.

That is a real.

Thing, the only one in Loan Like sometimes you just got sit in your car for twenty five minutes so you can just I literally thought that was just.

Me, no, not alone, but that is us is And.

I never I never got that until I saw fences.

When I saw you know what, Troy Maxim had to go through the hardships and decay that he had suffered, the experience and bastardizing of his masculinity he went through every.

Day, and then he had to come home and deal with his families, and.

Then his family had to come and deal with him.

That a man, that's a byproduct of everything that he had to go through.

Yes day, I thought about that when you were talking about your father and Wendell Pierce, and I was like, you know, not for nothing. It's a privilege. And even in twenty twenty one, depending on how old you are, it's a privilege to be like emotionally evolved and all

Don't know, Yeah, my dad, like I said, my dad got kicked out of school in eighth grade. Like my dad, you know, was born in the forties, so it was a different time, you know, we didn't, you know. Benjamin E. Mays, who was the president of Morehouse College, said our grandparents studied agriculture so that our parents can study math and science, so that we can study arts and literate philosophy. Right, yeah, yeah, my grandfather and now I think about that. My grandfather

Hell no, you can't do that.

That's why when you when I see these T shirts, you know, I am not my ancestors hashtag these hands.

Yeah, I see them online. It's it's corny, it's fucking cool.

I am not my ancestor. There's that is opposite of what black people should be saying.

That's one hundred percent, one hundred percent. But I mean that's the generational thing. Yeah yeah, yeah, yeah, eyelashes and hookahs.

That's what I call.

How old is your oldest kid, Anthony?

Uh, fifty not fifty eight? Fifty eight?

Okay, that's fine because I know, I know you're dealing with it and whatever.

Whatever.

The ages every day, all day, TikTok the oldest kids, he's eleven. I thought you said my oldest sister.

Oh no, okay, I thought you was joking, and you would didn't want to tell.

Me he's eleven.

Okay, we're good, okay. Me and you were cool?

Okay, Oh girl.

So before y'all weren't cool, I thought aggressive exactly.

That fans just that fair.

So when you came to New York, did you when did you officially start pounding the payment As far as auditions are concerned with movies, Like, at what point did you decide like, okay, I should get an agent, I should do.

Movies, you know, going to Juilliard.

To be honest, the agents come to us, we have auditions, and they invite all the agents.

Is there an active craft? I was about to say, what does it look like? No, this is seriously fascinated by Juilliard in especially I.

Got accepted to Juilliard and couldn't afford to go, So I'm kind of like living through you right now.

Well I think you uh, I think you did all right, So you're.

Singing that already agents come to see, like who's.

We do something called the consortium audition, and basically you prepare two scenes and they pair you up with someone and the agents come.

They watch the scenes, and then we do a repertory season. So the agents come and they're interested in you, and they watch your plays in the repertory season. That's when you get a meeting with whatever agent is interested in you.

Now, the interesting thing is some people get no agents and some people get all the agents, so you know, and then there are the people in between. I was one of those like in between people.

I didn't have a bunch of agents, but I didn't have no agents.

But the agent that I got with, you know in two thousand and one, that's the same person.

Okay, that's what's up? What is it about one thing?

I always wanted to know, what is it about Juilliard that makes it such a great school?

And like, what did you learn? What are some of the things you learned there about acting?

That you still apply to your career today.

You know, the great thing about Julliard was at that time there was no technique, Like, we didn't study Meisner, we didn't study any of the acting techniques. We literally they developed a curriculum where you built your character from yourself and your life experiences. Then you layer things on that character through movement. Then you layer things on that

It was never an idea of technique, you know.

You know because you go to school from now on your second year in you realize mais and it doesn't work for you.

You have to start.

But if you start from yourself, you build from yourself, you'll always be able to create an honest character because you started with yourself.

Yeah, it's from you, Yes, it was.

You know, And that's why you can always tell when motherfucker's are acting. Like when you saw Bernie mack and life, he wasn't acting. He was that dude.

You know, but there's a certain others.

There were certain other people who tried to imitate that, and you can tell they were acting because they had no substance background with that character.

You know.

Damn.

So when you get a role, uh uh do you have to go through that process where you write a six page biography of what your character was and you know, it's like I heard the exercise of writing a complete biography of what your character.

Was born family, nobody, nobody do that. Ship the.

Quest is the show that everyone just knocks the.

Ship man.

Like graduated.

A c K.

But I came here to act, right Dowsis statements ship Holly.

Actors do that though, so you don't, some dude.

I for me is different.

The first thing I do is I read the script and I break it down three three ways, because life is about perception.

It's not about how you act. It's about how people perceive your acts. So if I say it.

And I meant to sincerely, but you perceive it, it's sarcasting. Your feelings are hurt, but I meant to sincerely. So even though I was trying to be nice, it don't matter. You took it as me being an asshole. So now in that reality, I'm an asshole because that's.

Your perception versus intent.

There you go.

So that being said, when I get a script, I read it in three different perspectives. First, when I get a script, I tell my agents don't tell me who I'm playing, because you know, I want to read the script for the story. If the story don't work, if the characters don't work, I'm not doing it. So when you read a script, you read it from the perspective

So you know, you walking goofy, you don't look cool. You look goofy, right right right right, So that affects the way you walk. That affects the way you handle that moment. So the best information you get in the script is what the writer says about you. So if you read a script from the writer's perspective and they say he walk into a room, mug face, sullen, and his first line is oh, I'm so hungry, you know exactly the emotion to put on that line when you say it, You know what I mean.

So you have the three different perspectives of how you read the script. Then once I feel like I have a grasping idea of the emotional state of the character, I find a piece of art, I find a song, and I find clothing that I feel capture the essence.

Of the character. I always I buy a piece of art for every movie I do.

What was the What was your in terms of you know, you talk about finding yourself inside a character.

Where were you in your character for the hurt Locker?

You know what?

The hurt Locker is a great question, hurt The hurt Locker was interesting because for me, the racial.

Dynamic played everything about that you have a black.

So just trying to make it home to his family and trying to make it Who's trying to make his life better so he can.

Use his gi Biel and go to college. That's the way I played it.

That's the character I developed because he wanted to go to engineering school because if you look at Bond text, they're very smart guys.

I mean, these guys go to be Georgia Tech, you know what I mean.

He's a dude who went to undergraduate school and state school, went became a bomb tech, and now he's hoping to get back home so he can go to MIT or you know, Georgia Tech and become an engineer so he can do better for his family. That's when he don't have the privilege to come and goofall and do all this shit like the white dude, you know. And once again it's an example of a white getting privilege just

How much of that for that particular movie, how much of that is you bring into it versus what Catherine is like kind of directing you to do.

Oh, that was one hundred percent my Juilliard experience. But oh yeah, when I read that script, I was like, this is Juliard. Yeah, I'm getting my ass kicked and bust and work in my fucking ass off laying under a piano so I can work on tune in my ears so I could hear different accents and sounds.

And this is mofuck. Ain't even bringing scenes in classes. He's the leader of late. He's the lead. And I never got to lead my entire time was there. The only time I got to lead when I was at julia Art was when I created it. I get it. I get it one time. Shame on you?

What was what?

What was the song? What was your song? For hurt Locker?

What was it?

Remember you know what it was? What was it? I the piece of art.

I got a h Jacob Lawrence painting called Funeral Procession in which literally took my whole herd Locker check here, I mean, but it's as.

You can't you can't.

Note, you know I got a piece called Funeral Procession because you know when when I when I at that piece and I thought about the dignity of this man coming home and his mama taking him to church and saying look, my baby made it through the war. You know how important is that to a soldier for his mama to see her baby coming up the drive man?

You know the famous yeah, the house, Yeah, the whole episode on it.

And the song. I can't remember the song. I remember it was a Tupac song because all I listened to was Tupac, but I can't remember which one it was. I'm sure it had a you know, motherfucker kicks ship. Now, something about that.

Wenes I wish. I wish they would have known.

I wish they would have said something because in the marketing for Notorious, because when I saw Notorious, and I mean I had seen you in a lot of stuff, proud of that, but I was like, yo, why did they cast Anthony Mackie's pot Like that didn't make sense to me. They gave you the backstory is yeah, but now what I'm hearing and something like damn, why didn't they make it a little bit in the press but not context?

Yeah, yeah, because because that would have set it up.

That would have set you up so much better, in my opinion, just to give context as to why you were playing that role.

The interesting thing about Tac, because my first job.

Like I said, I played Tupac off Broadway and his mama came, and his sister came, and all his boys came, and they were like, yo, you killed that ship. So when they said that, nobody else's opinion matters. Like the biggest thing, the biggest.

Thing I got from people about Notorious was he don't look.

Like And I'm like, if that's the only thing you can say, then I won food.

Yeah.

One if you can say, oh, he was good, but it don't look like all right, fine, you go cast somebody that looked like see how that was? Yeah, you know what I'm saying.

And they do that so much like they cast people that can sing and can act, and then you see the movie and it's like, like, why didn't he just cast somebody who could act and dubbed the singers?

Uh, you're right, yep, you're right.

You know if all of us was Jennifer Hudson, she wouldn't be special.

Can you talk about the process that led up to what I'm assuming is your first film, which is eight Mile. Yeah, at the time when it was presented to you.

Papa Doc. Yeah, at the time when it was presented to you, did you.

Think that this would be Oscar caliber and critically acclaimed, because even even when I heard about the rumors of eight Mile happening, I think in my mind I just filed it in the kind of somewhere in between Doctor Dre's the Wash and the Brain. Yeah, Miss Voice. At the time, it's just like Eminem's doing a movie. Okay, cool, But you know, I was shocked that, you know, everyone it was it was.

I was shocked that it was great.

So you know, what was the process of of you getting the role, like the audition process?

And well, the ironic thing was so I had just got out of school. My first movie I did was this movie called Brother or Brother, which to me is some of the best acting or the best acting I've done in my career, which is sad to say because it was my first fucking movie.

But now I'm going to ask you about that. I'm going to ask you about that.

When I was doing Tubac off off Broadway at New York Theater Workshout, and this woman, Molly Finn, God Rest her soul, one of the best casting agents in the business, came to see the play.

Because she was doing a movie about hip hop.

She came back stage afterwards and was like, you know, I want you to audition for the movie.

She called my age Curtis.

So when I read the script, the script was very different than the way it is in the movie.

The script was very very.

Different, like Scott Silver like, we we completely rewrote that script, Eminem and Makaiya completely rewrote that script.

Every day before we walked on set. But it became his truth.

You know, everything about that movie was truth, even his battle against me, calling me Clarence because my parents had a good.

Marriage, I went to private school.

You know.

He just used those facts from your actual life against you and.

Wrote a rap about Wow. That's why I was so mad at the end.

I was like, am I gonna have to sneak in anem on stage.

And you and you didn't know that he had written that before. You didn't know it until you heard it.

No, he came up to me before and he was like, yo, you know, I just wanted to warn you, like there's no reason for me not to like your character, Like your character is a cool.

Dude, Like you a cool dude. I was like thanks. He was like, so, you know, I went online got some stuff, and you know, I wrote a rap. Hey, I wrote a rap and you know I'm gonna do it when we, you know, get on stage.

I was like, that was a warning dope, man, that's all you get. Wow, that's it.

Oh then he opened his fucking mouth and I was like, this.

Motherfucker, how many takes was that?

Uh? One?

Because the crazy thing about the wrap back of the rap battle scene him and it was sick, so he couldn't do a lot of takes, so he literally did it in one take and then after that it was just like him lipping it and like doing the motions and they would play it back on the speaker. But the ship he did like that, And anybody will tell you. When we did that rap battle scene, they literally brought in like three hundred people in this stage they built.

And.

They were and Detroit.

It was supposed to be the st Andrews, but this was a room that they built on the stage, right, So they bring us in there and everybody else was like a budding rapper. So everybody was looking at me like, Yo, how the fuck they cast this dude to play a rapper? Were gonna suck him up when we wrapped? And I'm like, uh, we're acting sir, so.

We're acting. Curtis Hansen was like, Yo, you know.

We need some b roll of people rapping against him and them so we can see him working his way up the ladder of beating people. So we're gonna, you know, we need six of you guys to come up in freestyle against him. He's not gonna say anything because he's feeling kind of the weather under the weather.

We just need footage of you, like rapping against him.

So these six motherfuckers got up and the first dude got up and was like, blah blah blah blah, you suck blah blah blah, and the audience was like, yeah, go yeah.

Second person got up and it was a little chick, and a little chick gave Eminem his lunch and when she finished, the crowd went crazy. It was like a rap. It was. It was the Apallo in this mock. It was crazy. So then Eminem looked at the crowd and looked at her and was like, nah, funk this. He turned the mic and you see the little girl face like, what are you doing? You're not supposed to what do you do? Yo? In off the domes heshit, I mean.

Literally he finished this girl to a point. I'm sure she went and became a nurse and gave him.

And then the next dude gets up and he's like, oh, ship Emine.

Was like okay, and I like your rhymes.

So when when they were doing b roll were they were they addressing him as rabbit but just kind of suddenly using uh emine references that you.

Know exactly they were talking about because you know, they were talking about him as eminems but they were like, yo, you know when you talk about him, you know, talk about him as rabbit, not as eminem. So they're like cool because you know, all these.

Two really talented rappers, So they were just coming off their head, like for freestyle ship.

Man, Mike, that was it.

It was it. It was dumb.

Did you did you not fear?

But were you concerned that you actually had to prep as a freestyle MC to nail this role?

I'll tell you, Like I told Curtis Hanson, I was like, you give me a week, I could fly helicopter. So he was he was like, he was like, because when I first got the role, it's what was funny.

I only had four lines.

And three singles, and I was only supposed to be there a week, and the longer I was there, Curtis started developing a role because we got along together so well. He started giving me more sings. Then he was like, yo, can you stay longer?

I was like, hell, yeah, I ain't got no job.

So I literally stayed there and then he comes up to me one day and he's like, yo, Anthony, can you rap? And I'm like yep, I'm like can you rap?

Can they read Shakespeare? Nor so?

Wait? You wrote your rhyme during that battle?

No, there was this uh, this uh freestyle rapper named Craigs.

He was the one that.

Yeah, No, we worked together and I gave him. I gave him some ship and he took it and made it into a rap. Because when I did it, it was like, yo, yo, check it, check it.

Yo, yo. That ship to get you killed in the battle, you got to come right off. You gotta come right off with it.

It's like jumping.

Wait, can I ask is yo? Yo? Uh? The black version of well my name is done? And I'm here to say here to say right right straight up, stalling bro.

I said, yo, check it for like sixteen balls. This motherfucker's like, all right, sit down. But he really, you know, we sat down for like forty five minutes and really crafted some ship where I could get you know, grid me in emotional with it and really show like the skills of Poppa Doc as a as a battle rap, as a freestyle wrapper. And you know, so I owe it all to him. I mean, if it wasn't him, out looked like booty up him.

Okay, all right, so I have I have a question about Brother the brother. So, of course, now in twenty twenty or twenty twenty one, we're slowly becoming more evolved when when dealing with people who are culturally different than the rest of the world. Your character was a homosexual in this film, so you know, I remember distinctly an interview that Will Smith gave in which he said that Denzel told him.

Right would end his career.

Right.

He gave him a warning about six degrees and said that, you know, be careful how you play this role because this could destroy your career where you know. Of course, now again we're inching towards being evolved as humans in twenty twenty one, but back in two thousand and four we weren't quite there. So how difficult or or hard was it to accept this role as you're the first, so technically you're saying that this is the first movie that you made, even though eight Mile came out first.

Yeah, okay, So I asked for that role. The young man Rodney Evans, who wrote Brother to Brother, he offered me the role of the poet that was played by Larry Gillier because he felt like you needed a gay man to play.

The gay role.

He was like, you played Tupac, There's no way you can play a gay character.

What. I went to Juilliard, So I literally said, I went to Julliard. I read a scene for him, and he was like, all right, I'll give you the role. You can play the role.

And you know what was weird, Like when I was in school, I realized that I was a sexist homophobia.

Yeah, a whole black man in the nineties.

What made you realize that.

There was this act?

My freshman summer, I went to Chautauqua, New York to do a Shakespeare and I said something stupid about my gay.

Teacher, and this other actor came up to me and set me straight.

You know, I just felt like less than a human being for even looking at it, think for thinking it was okay to look at another human being that.

Way just because of their sexual preference. And I was ashamed. I was literally ashamed of myself.

And it took me those three years to exercise that demon And the culmination of that was when I read brother or Brother, I look, look, if I'm an actor, you.

Know, I.

Need to play this role so that I can understand the day to day struggles or what a young gay black man gohoes?

And did that role help you understand that?

It changed my life. It changed my perspective on life.

So talk about that in relation to your Black Mirror episode Striking Vipers, because that was like next level. It was decades.

Afterwards that also went in the direction I.

Did not, and it didn't, but I was. I was so here for it because it was I mean, it's back. So it always makes you think differently and it always makes you think this shit could happen. So I was here for these two black men having this this beautiful moment. I don't know what do you? What are you saying?

The idea of striking vipers, which was so funny. It's the point of cential romance. Every dude would agree when you out with your boys and you're having a good time and your girl call, You're.

Like, fuck, give me a minute, and you jumping.

At the top. They were out having with my boys, right, I'm just killing.

And then she's like come home.

You're like, damn, I don't want to leave my boys because I'm having so much fun, you know. So it's the same thing with Striking Vipers. It's just they took it in a virtual sense. And the funny thing about it was when I read for Striking Vipers, it was supposed to be two white dudes. Then the director was like, maybe it could be a white dude and a black dude, and then one to the director. The director was like,

Yes?

Yes?

And I was like, yes you would.

And he's like, I think black people need to see this, and I was like, yes, they do.

Yes.

It was literally this little white European director who was like, Yo, I'm putting this shit out there on blacks.

Yo, and the two actors and it's so dope too, because it could have been too perfect. Act as you and y'a. I like, especially the perception and the roles that y'all have already paid in the past. So that's why that reaction with Fonte was probably how everybody felt because they would have never imagined these two actors.

Yeah, yeah, I didn't see that that episode going in that direction.

Was sitting on in the airport and there was a dude sitting across from me playing his low like Nintendo switch, right, So he's playing his switch and he looks up and he sees my face and he's like, yo.

He turned his switched off and put it in his bag.

Because because not for nothing have you have you heard any feedback from any especially gay black man. I have a gay black brother that talks about this episode. He's a fan. He's a big marble head anyway, so he's Anny Mackie fan. But for him it meant something different as well. So I was curious if you got any feedback about that.

You know, well, time out, time out, Time out, Margaret, you have a brother.

A black you know, my play brother black people?

All right?

Good lies man. We all asked the question Wolf tickets and ship. You know, it was just five years into the show. I'm like, wait a minute, you have a brother, you have a sibling right now?

No, all only children got a bunch of fake brothers and sisters. That's just what we do.

Sorry.

I only clean my own good And that's why I did the episode because I expected that, like I okay, the conversation, the acknowledgement, the feedback, appreciation, and no, I haven't got that at all.

If anything, I've gotten the direct opposite.

What do you mean, are black people watching Black Mirror?

Yes, yeah, that's why it's called Black Mirror at least.

At least at least a black museum. That was the whole Black Museum season.

So yeah, yeah.

But what was the other reaction that you've been getting?

Just like, you know, a lot of negative no, oh yeah, yeah, yeah.

Yeah.

It's interesting the the the connotation of you know, negative feedback as far as you know, you know, questioning if one I was gay, you know, their opinion of what homosexuality was, uh, their opinion of what.

You know it means, which is something I definitely expected and was ready to question and strike down as soon as conversation came up. But I was just surprised by the fact that, you know, I went out there and like nobody had my back.

Oh I got you.

No, no, no, yeah, yea yea yeah yah. I know there are people out there that do.

But there's been times where, you know, you gotta let somebody know that you're in the gym and you bench pressing two twenty five fifteen times.

Yeah, there's been a few instances like that, you know.

Yeah, yeah, I did not know. Well, I felt the way to that role. I felt the way of that role, especially for you.

No, I really liked that episode. I didn't think there were being any neig feedback.

It was a great experience.

Yeah, all right, before we get to she hate Me, I do have to briefly ask, even though it wasn't a major.

Role, but.

Could you talk about Manchurian Candidate and sort of like the process of doing that and how was that for you?

Uh? Man cheering was hell on Earth?

I mean I was only there a few days because I was doing another movie, and I literally did it just because I wanted to work with Jonathan Demi, you know, being an actor in New York. Jonathan Demi was at the you know, a god like a thing of folklore and legend. So you know, when when he because he knew me from theater and independent films in New York. So he was like, you know, I'm doing this little movie you know. You know, Denzel said, yes, so I have another role for you. I'm like, so, you know,

At casting people. He liked to be around people he considered friends. So it was it was more so the experience just to be on set with him and see him direct.

But they didn't tell us we was gonna be in New Jersey and two feet of snow in fucking January.

Trying to act like we were in the desert in shorts and T.

Shirts sounded like somebody, I'm y, hey take it.

Also, before before we before we had I just wanted before because I know you're about to go in Half Nelson. Man, that's one of my favorite roles of yours. I thought that script was very it was it.

Was Yeah, that shi it was, it was. It was. It was a chance.

I mean, it was risky, you know what I mean, because it could be interpreted in a lot of ways. But tell me about that role in like working with like Ryan Gosling and what was it like shooting at.

Uh, you know, Half Nelson was dope. We literally shot that Belly of Brooklyn. And you know, working with Ryan at that time was interesting because he wasn't Ryan Gosling, you know, so he was taking chances and doing things in a different type of way. There was a different understanding of the way he was working, you know, and that movie made him put him on the map. And you know, for me growing up in the walls, like the drug dealers, I knew were the ones who took care of the neighborhood.

They took care of the block. So if you were a smart kid with good grades and you come out and you're like, yo, I want to sell rocks, there just ain't for you.

You know.

So when I read that script, I talked to the producer and Ryan Anna, who directed it, and I was like, this is this is this? I mean, he's taking care of this little chicken, making sure that she's you know, provided for and taking care of in a situation where she has no one.

You know, he's that dude that take care of the block. He's providing jobs and economic structure for his community when the government has basically bastardized them and condemned them to nothing.

So that was that was something.

I predicated on that role and wanted to, you know, grow and mature that character into because I knew those dudes.

I grew up with those dudes.

You know when I needed when I wanted a pair of Jordan's and my mama wouldn't buy me Jordan's. Like, you know, my my dude on the corner made sure that we had George. Like when I had to take the bus at five thirty to make me to school by eight, my dude on the corner made sure I didn't get beat up on my way to the bush. Wow. You know, so the drug dealers literally found out I was a little artsy dud and they took care of me.

And I never got jumped on the way home.

Wow, Because if you stepped on if you stepped in Basketowville and tried to steal up on me them boys, was still you wouldn't come in the Basketowville talk Listen.

I don't have a lot of are we already? We had Spike Lee on the show. I told him She Hated Me was always an interesting movie for me, just from the storyline of you and the ladies and impregnating them.

I said, Spikes midlife crisis.

I agree with you. I agree with you, and so did his wife and his daughter. But listen my question to you about she hated me outside of the draw of this phenomenal cast, because it should not be forgotten Lynett McGee, Jim Brown, Ozzie Davis, or the Window everybody, everybody was in this movie, because I know that was a draw. But really tell me, Anthony Mackie, when you read this script the way you do with your three layers, did.

You read it three times?

What was the real draw of this script?

To be honest?

Uh, Jeffrey Wright was offered she hated me and he turned it down. Reallyrio Dawphin and Jeffrey right, WHOA.

I didn't want to see him in that physical position like you.

I was.

I was working with Spike on so I hold the record of being the lead of two Spike Lee movies.

Nobody saw it.

Oh, show the movie the movie I was working on the Spike It was called Succer Free City.

It was a movie we did Woman.

Yeah, I totally forgot about that one, but yeah, I saw it.

So when we were doing Soccer Free City, Spike was like, Man, I got this movie War War Woman it's gonna be crazy. You know Jeffrey Wright most deaths, War War Ario. I'm like, bet, let me know when you need me.

So two's later comes back, He's like, yo, my next project. Would you be interested in doing it? I'm like, hell yeah, I'll be interested in doing it. So the crazy thing was when I read the script to me, because of Michael Janet wrote it, it read like a Shakespearean play. If you read a Shakespearean play, you have plot subplot, you have four different storylines and they all culminate into one story.

If you look as She Hated Me, it's really Shakespearean in the way it's written.

Because you have plot subplot, you have two or three different storylines. And the crazy thing about it is people say it was Spike's middle aged crisis.

You know what was the.

Cover of the New York Times magazine the week She Hated Me came out looking for mister good sperm women over forty paying young men for sperm instead of going to sperm banks.

But they and these women were rich in.

Connected, not even not.

At all, not connected at all.

And what was crazier this was the same time that that doctor had impregnated like one hundred and fifty.

With his own ship. It was timely.

It was time even the subplots with the embezzlement and stuff like that, but it.

Was just so it's easy. It's easy.

It's easy to say that, you know, a midlike risis of a man or a man's dream, and a sexist connotation that men disrespecting.

But the reality of it is it was very timely and on point.

That's a nice.

Box.

I mean, I think too in that movie too. I mean, they were the thing I liked about it. I mean, both parties they were making a choice, you know what I'm saying.

It wasn't you know what I mean.

It wasn't like there was this guy that, like you said, homie, that was just giving women his own ship, unknowingly with without their knowledge or whatever.

Both parties were consenting that this is what they wanted to do.

We live in a day and age where is okay.

Yeah, yeah, it's mandatory.

There are a lot of of me that enjoyed that movie. I just you.

Know, I what did you didn't like about that?

Was it?

That was? It was just always odd to me that this man was having physical sex and they were enjoying it and these women were not queer women. They were supposed to be like straight up lesbians. So I was like, and well, did they not just ask this man for the turkey baser where they do that? But I I enjoyed the same.

Is it is?

It is it?

Anthony was okay? At least was the original.

The original script well wound up on the final uh the final cut or where their adjustments made or.

Well forciate me, Yeah, that was pretty much the original script.

I mean when I came on board, Michael had to change some things, but for the most part, that was the script I read. I mean it was pretty it was pretty you know, when Spike comes on board, he does his Spike isms.

But you know, it was it was pretty much the script I read.

Now, this is why I love your journey, Like you're like, I loved watching your active journey because I don't know, every role stood out and every role had a meaning and it was deeper than he thought. Same thing that what you're doing right now with the falcon, because I was like, it's ill that the falcon is getting a little deep. I was like, you know what I'm saying. You put a little Anthony on the falcon.

Yeah, man, Yeah, we talk about Yeah, like how did you come into the Marvel universe? I mean, we know, like the uh Terrence Howard he originally was uh no, that was don.

That right, Yeah it was and iron Man won and then.

Yeah, became war Machine. But how did your journey come into it?

You know, my Marvel experience was very different.

They came to me and uh I was asking them to be a part of the Marvel universe around the time of Iron Man two iron Man three, and then they asked me to come out to la to have a meeting and uh literally we had lunch and they said, okay, we can't tell you what movie, we can't tell you what character, but if we asked you to be in the Marble universe, would you do it?

And you said.

Wait?

And I said would you? Would you want to tell them about that gunline?

Both Mississippi?

Miss Who did you in a dream world? Don't any I mean, I'm sorry, but who would you have wanted to? Is there a a press?

Did you want black Panther?

Oh no, no, no, no, no, yeah.

No no no no no.

For me, it was either because I didn't think they were going to bring the Falcon into the fold for me when I was harassing them. I was harassing them about Black Panther because I thought that would for me. If you look up any press I did before they even announced it, I said very specifically that the movies they should do was Black Panther and Wonder Woman.

Oh yeah, okay, because.

Little brown boys and girls need representation.

How how steep how steep were you into the universe of Marvel before you actually got involved in the film.

Oh not at all. I was never a comic book kid. Like. That's why it's so funny to me either.

That's why it's so funny to me now when people say, oh, I'm a nerd, I freak. I'm like, if everybody was reading comic books, why didn't all the comic book stores go out of business?

Lions the movie and they so Betty and Veronica in the grocery stores too.

But nobody was reading comic books.

In my five year history of this show. I was nervous about you coming on, only because I know that there there's such a there's a contingent, or at least a certain fan base. You know those in San Diego, what do you call them, comic connors? Yeah, that are so deep into the ship, and I I'm not. It's not like I'm not a Marvel head. I just didn't grow up reading comic books and whatnot. I knew nothing about the Marvel. I didn't know it that deep. And

I have notes. What do you need because I want you to hurry and get your question because.

You have to. You have to look at comic I wish I could black you right now.

You can't. You have to.

You have to look at Comic Con this way. Every year, you.

Know, ten to fifteen thousand people go to San Diego for Comic Con.

How many people are in America?

Very true? But there, but Anthony, don't you agree there are levels of these people, Like, it's not just Comic Con or a Mirror. There are like elite different levels in between Comic Con and a Mirror.

But I'm saying the whole thing of not at the bottom.

I see these films.

Now, everybody you talk to grew up reading comic books and knowing everything.

About That's not true. That's not true.

People get everyone has the Internet now, yeah, that's what it is.

Right now, you can.

Go back and read you can become a retroactive comic book fan's right, or just.

You read it?

Yeah, you know, show up the chick dressed as Layer at comic Con, you know, and they're trying to impress her by telling her about the Captain America Truth series.

It's like, come on, stop it stop stop.

What is that process? Like? Like doing con?

Like living up to an expectation of you know, having to go to comic Con and meet these you know, these trekky like nerds and whatnot, Like is it exhausting, Like do you have to do it in.

The marble world or yeah, you definitely have to do it, you know. But the big thing is it feels good to be appreciated. You know, you're so many as artists. How many times have you created something and put it out there and you know no one has reacted or responded.

To or even worse, you put something out there and motherfucker who's never made an album, A motherfucker has no talent whatsoever. Say your shit sucks, right, you know, So it feels good.

Imagine every time you put something out you know, motherfucker, Like, yo, this is the best shit ever.

Yeah, but okay, I have my version of comic Con and that's called Okay Player.

Yeah that a for real for real if no.

But it's it's like it's there's there's a danger in that. I feel like there's a dance. I know you're saying that it's it's it's great to be loved and appreciating da da da da. But then I just see comic Con people as like extreme level of nerdness and.

Not all.

Like okay, yes it's music nerds. It's just yeah, that's what it is.

I mean, it's also a thing where on Okay Player, you know, uh, there's equal amount of hate and disdain and criticism for the roots in quest love as there is love, probably more than so.

Yeah.

Well, for Marvel folks, I think it's more about the writers and what directions they go on with the characters, and that's when the fans get mad, depending on if they go off script. So that's how I work. That being said, Anthony, can I ask you, one of my Marvel heads wanted me to ask you, do you think that the world was were ready for a black captain America.

Uh, what his role was?

I think the idea of you know, was the world ever ready for a green hawk?

Right?

You know it was never? How could you accept the green dude and not accept the black?

You know, I guess because it's Captain America is such an institution and the way he's looked at it's different than a black panther, you know what I mean?

As I think, you know what, I'll be honest, I think, like especially being do.

You have kids? No, I know, Okay, one thing.

I know about kids, and one thing I admire. Kids aren't racists. Yeah, Like they're pretty open minded. We teach them racist. Right, So, if you're making a comic book for kids about a character, no matter what color he.

Is, if he has cool power to right.

But that's assuming that they make all these things for kids, like at this point, Marvel's an institution.

Right wait wait wait but the key.

Phrase at this point at this point, right, so you know, before you know, it was cool to be a quote unquote nerd, before you know, comic cons and people dressing up and doing cosplay. That was you know, books for teenagers a kid you know, so if you present them with a.

Black Captain America. They'll grow up with a Black Captain America. They wouldn't know any different, So how could they not be ready for something they don't even know. They don't even they wouldn't know anything as opposed to Black Captain America. What because nobody can playing when they made British Captain British America.

Right, Yeah.

I always want to ask you about pain and game paying the game bro, Like how bus did you have to like put on for that?

Like what was your training bridgement for that?

I put on?

Like I went up to about two twenty okay, so I was one before I started training for that, And I just literally ate steak and potatoes in the morning and six eggs and oatmeal for breakfast and it was dude, yeah, six no, six and six eggs and oat meals with barriers for breakfast. And then lunch I would do like a weight of masking and protein shake with a steak and some eggs, and then I would have like four more meals because I was eating like thirty five cat.

Good god man, what was that experience?

Like?

I liked that movie. I think I might be one of the only people that actually went up for that movie. I fuck with that movie. But but what was it like working with with Mark in the Rock?

It was great, man.

You know what, Mark is one of the coolest dudes I've ever worked with, and you know, he really.

Gave me an opportunity with that joint. We had a great time.

Like we literally every day came to set shot the ship, had fun. I mean it was like it was you know, Michael Bay gave us the keys to the car and was like, be as ridiculous as you want to be.

Wow.

I was going to ask you on some insider Marvel Baseball on the on the season two episode with the young the older black Man, and the young Black Man. I heard those are actual Marvel characters. I was just going to ask you if that was going to develop into something.

I don't know, But Isaiah Bradley, a lot of people Isaiah Isaiah.

Yeah, a lot of people don't know that the Super Soldier serum was originally was originally tested on Tuskegee soldiers and it was a comic book that came out in the early two thousands called The Truths, and Isaiah Bradley was there was a limited run.

People like talked about it, so it.

Went away, but the writer name was Morales, and he created this cartoon series where basically Isaiah Bradley and a bunch of Tuskegee soldiers were being injected with the simple Search the super Soldier serum so that they can perfect it. And once they perfected it, they gave it to Steve Rogers.

Wow, and so and so the rumor is that the grandson is going to become a young Avenger.

I'm just no, that's that's that's from the comic book.

One thing you have to, one thing you have to.

Really, Marvel never takes the comic book's word for word, note for note. So even if you look at the comic book when Falcon first is introduced, he was a hustler from Marvel.

You know.

So if you watch the movie The Falcons from Louisiana, so you know, it's a completely different world. It's a completely different universe. So it's not something where they take the comic book word for word or.

Note for And have you put any anthony into any of these storylines.

No at all, because I didn't you know Malcolm Spellman, our writer, you know him, and the Marvel crew and carry our director.

They were the.

Ones who came up with the storyline and ideas that came to me. It was like this we'll be thinking, so you know it wasn't me.

It's dope.

I have two questions and then we'll let you go.

One is about just the the the secretive process in the Marvel world, how airtight or Fort.

Knox light is.

Is the the process of actually getting the physical script, Like do they have to like hand deliver it to you?

Like is it?

Yo? It's so crazy.

Matters if you lose your your your three piece or something.

No matter where you are in the world, they send someone to come to you. You sign a letter saying that you received it. That person turns around, goes back to the airport, gets on the airplane and flies.

Back to La.

Wow.

That's it. Okay.

My final question is are you going to do any for a raising into uh directing?

Actually, I'm working on that now. I'm working there this story that I'm acquiring the rights to about this young girl during civil rights who was the first person, the first woman to sit on the sit on the bus and not get up.

Yeah.

Okay, nice, oh man, before we before we go, I got it.

I have to deliver this specially to be mad. Omar Dorsey wanted me to ask you, why is everyone already He said, why does everybody call you an asshole but they love him?

Because out here selling his booty for.

H That is another episode of quest Love of Supreme with Verity Backy Supreme.

You got dunked on, Bro, you got dunked on. I'm sorry and in the world, thank you, appreciate, We see you. M's Love Supreme. I'll see you get your Wolf ticket.

Hey, this is Sugar Steve.

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