Interview Only: Jay Ellis co-stars in Running Point, Top Gun, Insecure and now Freaky Tales.

There's a lot of NBA stuff to get into, make no mistake about that, particularly with the fight for the Western Conference playoff seatings, because that's exactly where I want to go. Here's a look at the current seating out West, where the Douvin Nuggets are currently the third seed, the Lakers are the fourth seed, and the Golden State Warriors are currently at sixth. So we could be looking at a scenario where Lebron and Steph face each other in the first round, and that could be a dilemma for

My guys?

Good bro, It's good to see you. By the way, Tell everybody the first of all, how tall are y'all was with you about two weeks ago. You're about to lookit six three six y four, right, you're about six to four inches?

Yeah, how about six y four that's what they call it?

Yes, right, you intern with the Portland Trailblazers before you became this you know this, this star on television and film. You are damn intern with the Portland tra Trailblazers, were you not.

Yeah?

Man, I was there for the three S two o three season, the jail Blazer season. Man Mo Cheeks was the coach. Obviously know that roster, but yeah, I was there for all the trouble.

Man, there we go. And so that means you know your basketball. So you heard what I said, you heard what I broke down. If you had your brothers knowing that you out in southern California, but you're very familiar with the Bay, et cetera. What scenario would you want most? Would you want Lebron and Steph going up against one another in the first round? Will one of them definitively

I like to see them both get deeper versus that's a great team, man, So I'm not sure that's who they want to see in the first round for sure. So you know, I think you're right. I think it's a lot of fun. I think it's great for the game to go see, you know, the Warriors and the Lakers slugging out in the first round.

So you're you're good with them and at least knowing that one of them will advance past the first round, right yeah?

Man, listen, this is playoff basketball as we know it. These are two great teams, and so you know, I think we're gonna have a lot of fun. You know, I think the series will go longer than what some people might expect it to go. But you know, I think that's the basketball that we want to see, and that's why we sign up, and that's why we watch, and that's why we show up to these stadiums and these arenas to see games like this.

Are you sure it's fair to classify both of them as great when you talk about them as teams, I know they're good, but great. We know great teams when we see them. Do you really feel both of them are great?

Here's what I think.

Boston is great Oklahoma City is great, right, we know what the top of the pack looks like. We know that for sure, Like there's no questions about that. Here's what you can't do though. You can't count either of these teams out. You can't count the experience out. You can't count the pedigree out, you know. And so I think these teams can have had a flashes of greatness and can be great, you know. Sustaining that over the playoffs obviously is tough, and that's what basketball is about.

Would you be excited about a Boston OKC finals, Yeah, give it to me.

I mean, listen, I'd love to see OKAC maker run. I think Boston, you know, will get there. I'm excited to see them back and see them defending their championship. It would be fun to see Okay see you know what I mean, especially as an Oklahoma boy. You know, I grew up in Tolsa, so you know, it'd be fun to see Okay See you.

Know, going there and and have a real shot.

That team is special, man, Like you look at that team, like those guys are really special.

They really show up every I was listening this morning.

Man.

They they might mess around and when seventy games.

Yeah, like, this is a really great team, and I do think it would be fun to go watch a team where everybody is locked arms, you know what I'm saying, going to play basketball.

It'd be fun to see them get there.

There's some other teams that I might like to get there, but you know, it'd be fun to watch.

Let me tell you what I shared before we get in the U a little bit more. Let me tell you what I shared about this season. First of all, I don't want as much as as popular and as much of a bonanza in the ratings it would be for the Lakers to go up against Boston. The reason I don't want to see that series is because I believe the Los Angeles Lakers would get slaughtered by the Boston Celtics. I don't think that's a match they're made for. They're built for that, I don't think so. I just

No, that's a lot of fun, man.

I mean, obviously to see him have to go back home and win a championship would be you know, it would be amazing. That Cleveland team also, Bro, I mean, wow, wow, what a phenomenal team from from one through twelve. Bro, everybody shows up and plays their part. That would be a lot of fun. I mean, obviously, the storylines would be great, you know what I mean in terms of all the other things that come with it. But the basketball, the style of play for those two teams, it would be a.

Lot of fun to watch them go up against each other. But you can't count out a Boston Lakes. No, no, no, you know what I mean, Like, that's that's basketball.

I mean, that's that's that's that's basketball. And I'm not I think Boston is the best team in the NBA and they should repeat. You gotta bet your money on them. I'm just talking about I think that the Lakers are no match for them. Where is there a better match for Cleveland? And so because of it, it would make that it would make for an epic matchup, whereas I think Boston against LA that series ends in five. That's my problem. I won a seven game series for the finals.

Yeah, listen, listen, I think again, you know, listen, really get to seven. I don't know, but I think Lebron and Luca could pull something out. You know what I'm saying that maybe we wouldn't have expected, But you're right. I think Cleveland Lakers matchup is a lot more fun to watch. It's a lot more even again, the style of play of those two teams, it would be fun, the storylines, it would be fun. That'd be fun to watch, man. I also would love to watch Donovan get there.

Man.

I think Donovan is a guy, he's a stud, bro, and I think, you know, he's kind of was overlooked in Utah even though he was doing the thing in Utah as well.

And obviously he's flourished in Cleveland. So would love to see him get there.

Let me transition to you, man, because I got to get to some of the things that you're doing. That's why you're here, not to talk basketball. I just I just got your basketball analysis while I had you on camera. But let me ask you this an NBA star, a corrupt cop, a female rap duo, teenage punks, neo Nazis, and a debt collector and balk on a collision course in nineteen eighty seven Oakland, California. Does this sum up the present the premise of Freaky Tales? Yeah?

Man, this is a wild movie, bro. It brings together four different groups of people in four different stories that

These characters and all these stories.

Why was Sleepy Ford the character you picked? What was that about?

Yet? Yeah?

Man, I mean listen, the first time I read the script, it was the most original thing I feel like I had read in a really long time, you know, and it really jumped off the page of me, and it really set me in nineteen eighty seven, Oakland. I grew up, you know this, But like I spent time in Sacramento as a kid. I had an uncle in Hayward, I got family in Stockton. I spent a lot of time around the Bay and got in and out of there

My practice like that was you know a lot of fun and a challenge.

I love a challenge. I love a physical challenge. And you know, getting to do that in this film was amazing, man. And you know, getting getting to be the hero there we go.

So this wasn't something where you know, you had some stunt double or somebody. This was you doing martial arts and all of that stuff. That's what you would do, Jay.

Yeah, we don't do stunt double Steven and we don't do stun double Steven and we don't do that.

Bro.

Now I'm listen, man, I will tell you something. I hadn't done martial arts since I was about seven eight years old, and I might have got a yellow belt, I'm not even sure. And I met my stunt double living this film and I told him. I was like, Bro, you're not gonna work in this movie. And he was like, cool, that just means you got a lot more to do. And I learned five or six different styles of martial arts.

I learned how to use five or six different weapons. Bro.

I was doing three days. I would do two hours every morning. I would do an hour of lifting in the middle of the day. Then I'd go two hours of weapons at night, two and a half hours of weapons at night, six days a week, and did that all the way up until you know, we started rolling cameras on Sleepy Story.

I heard you called Tom Cruise for some help, some advice, mister Maverick top gun himself. Is that truer submission impossible? Is that true? Yeah?

Man?

I mean, listen, who better to call than than the guy who's really he's really the definitive you know, action star. You know what I mean, Like when you think about that genre and you think about all that he's done, Like, who better to call and say, hey, man, how do I do this?

You know what I mean? How do I train?

How do I how do I recover? How do I prepare myself for this? How do I make sure I don't get injured? How do I make sure I'm hitting my mark and through all this physicality?

How do I make sure that I.

Am absorbing every single one of these martial arts styles and weapons practices that that.

You're you know, you're learning at a time.

And he was gracious, man, you know, he sent me this crazy long text with all these different things to do and think.

About and to watch watch film. You know.

One of the things I keep telling people is like he told me, watch film everything, and every single night before you go to bed, watch it so you can see.

What you did right, what you did wrong, what you need to improve on.

And literally every single night, I would lay in bed and watch whatever I did that day.

How hard is it for you to watch this? I know, doing TV every day. I don't like to do that too much. I really really don't. To me, tomorrow's the next day. I got to show up, right, How hard is it for you to look at it and just watch yourself and critique yourself?

Yeah?

Nah, that's not for me, man, that's not really you know, in a TV show, I think it's interesting because I'm watching to understand the tone of the show. I'm watching to make sure I understand that I'm locked into the right the right show, and then after a while I stop watching. But you know, it's not my favorite thing to do, you know what I mean. I feel like I get to go make it, and that's what I want to do.

I don't.

I'm not the one I want to necessarily watch it. I want other people to watch it and experience it. And you know, I hear how people feel about it, you know, and that's how I know I'm doing my job. You know, whether you love my characters, whether you hate my characters, As long as you feel one way or another, I'm doing my job right.

The key the enemy is indifference. That's the death difference. As long as they'll love you I hate you. You good to go that much? We do go that much, we don't. You know the Netflix series Running Point, which you staring as well, you know you played ahead of the fictitious La Waves. I mean, that's a hit on Netflix right now. You look at what you're doing with all of these projects.

Yeah, I mean, I'll say for the industry, man, I'm feeling optimistic. I'm feeling like, you know, we obviously hit some bumps and bruises, you know, from obviously the pandemic like everyone else in the world, through you know, the strikes that we went through, and obviously there's been a ton of reshuffling and restructuring, but I think some of those,

In the industry, you.

Know, people want to get back to work, man, and writers are getting busy again, and writers' rooms are opening up, and films are being you know, kind of fast track to be made. And so I feel like we're going to make a roaring comeback and start making a lot of stuff again.

And I think, you know, for me and my career and where I'm at, you know, I.

Only dreamed of a lot of this, man, and then I started putting it up on a vision board at a certain point, and you know, I feel like I've been.

Building these pieces and putting this.

Career together of work that I'm proud of, and work that you know, I want to look back and say I did that, you know what I mean, and be proud of it.

And you know, I've been fortunate to do that.

I've been fortunate to work with a lot of amazing people, filmmakers, writers, you know, actors obviously, and you know it's it's beautiful. I think of it like winning a championship. I never won a championship, you know what I'm saying. But I think of it like, you know, next year, you start all over again and none of whatever happened in the past doesn't matter. So you know, I pick up every single day and just keep doing the work, and you know, hopefully the career keep going.

I'm wondering about the challenge of an artist, particularly one in Hollywood, like yourself and others, considering how the industry, according to the reports anywhere, his skill back to some degree sense to strike, you know, how much production is actually being put out there? Seems like content is king, but it also seems like studios, networks, et cetera spending less money, making less of an investment. I guess I'm asking, are these times harder or is it more of the same.

Know, Yeah, that's a great question, Steven.

You know, I think it is challenging, right, There's not as many opportunities out there for people. There's not as many you know, if you're an actor, there's not as many productions going, which means you don't get as many opportunities to go get a job. If you're a writer, there's not as many writers rooms open, which means you don't get an opportunity to get a job. Or when the few rooms do open, they staff so quickly you

So it's definitely been a hard time and it's been a trying time. I think.

On the creative side, though, you try to look at it as an opportunity to create, and you try to look at it as an opportunity to say, if I could tell a story that I want.

To tell, how could I do that right? How do I do that via a scripted podcast? Do I do that via a TV show? Do I do that via a film that I'm writing?

Or I want to direct or a short film, and so I think it's it's really forcing people or giving people the opportunity rather to like go be creative and think about how you want to give back to this creative community and put something into it. And that is, you know, That's how I try to look at it, man. And I think a lot of my friends who aren't as busy as they want to be, like, that's how

Is it challenging when you consider fact like like for me, this is my show, I've created this show, etc. You know, but you got to go out there and get support unless you want to finance it yourself. That's not the role of an actor, producer, whatever. That's not a role that folks customarily want to play. Do you find that to be more challenging, more fulfilling, or too challenging to the point where you're like, damnit, I got to do something new that's got some guaranteed funds in the mix.

Man?

I love a challenge, So I'm probably the person you know what I'm saying, who's gonna go, Who's going to go? Try to figure it out, right, I'm the person who's going to go, you know, be like, oh, well, how do you raise money? Or how do you you know, get this thing made?

How do you do a podcast? Excuse me?

How do you license a piece of Ip's? That's me and kind of how my brain works.

You know.

It is a very daunting thing though, you know, like that is not why many of us got into this.

Many of us became actors because we just want to tell stories, right. We love the power of storytelling and how we can reach the world.

And it is self indulgent at times, like it's no lie, but like at the end of the day, like you know, you do love the work and you love the study of people and you get to perf and so now knowing that you have to add all these different layers, you know, I think of it as you know, putting little things in your toolbox, you know what I mean.

You know, it's a lot to learn.

But I think there's a lot of people out there who who want to do it, and you know, are now given the opportunity to do it because there's no other choice, right, And I think people would rather do that before walk away from it because you love it too much, you know what I mean?

Like, I couldn't imagine doing anything else. Stephen Ey, Wow, you know what I mean.

Like, I just this is my this is what I was put on this earth to do, is tell stories and entertain people.

So I'm going to find a way to do that by any means necessary.

So I'll let you get on out of here.

Man.

Speaking of telling stories, tell us the story of the upcoming the NBA Finals. Who are you seeing? Who do you see winning?

Cool man? Why you do this?

Come on, man, Come on man. You want to tell stories, right? You want to tell stories? Well, listen, Chyson, come with what a variety of forms stories could come with. There could be reality stories, or they could be fantasy. They could be fantasy you know what I'm saying, you could give a fantasy version. I mean, Draymond Green out there talking about the Golden State Warriors gonna win the championship. Some

Okay, okay, okay, okay. I think Boston gets there. I think Boston gets there. I think we know that, we see that.

The West is tough. Man. Listen, I mean you know this.

You do this every single day, man, six, seven and eight, five or five through eight, or like one game apart. Like this is crazy, man, like it is. It is insane to see this. You know again, you know going back to that, you know, you out who your MVP is. You know, Joker is my MVP. I would love to see Denver get there again. I think that would be a lot of fun. Don't wish them and then obviously don't wish that.

You just feel like I don't feel like being in the Maha City, man, I don't feel like being in that altitude. Man. I just don't feel like going through it again, Jay, I just don't. I just don't know, Bro, No, my body doll losing his breath and shit all the time. I mean, you know what's up.

When that dude is on the court, you know it. Everybody knows it. Bro. It's the craziest thing to watch. Man.

You look up and you like, this dude has a triple double in the third quarter and you don't even know how it happened because it happens.

It's so smooth you don't even know, you know what I mean.

And then when Jamal Murray is clicking and you know it's Aaron Gordon can catch the ball anywhere and his bag has gotten better, especially on the dribble.

Man. Like, you know, they're a really fun team to watch, and you know, I believe.

In Okay see, but I think they got to go against some dogs to get there. They got to go get some vets to get there. They got to go and get some dogs to get there. And that's not to say that they're not dogs. But I'd like to see Denver get there. And if it's not Denver, than you know, I like to see the Lakers get there.

Man. I'm a hometown boy. I'm a hometown boy.

So you're a hometown boy that ultimately doesn't want to admit that you're picking the Boss and Celtics to win the championship. Whoa, whoa, that's what you're saying. I mean, that's what that was my interpretation. I mean, I could be wrong, but that's my interpretation.

WHOA. Listen, I don't know what happens when the finals come around.

You deserve the right to hold on to that thought, right.

Yeah, I don't know what happens when the finals come around. Freaky you know what I'm saying. But you know, I would love to see Boston play the Nuggets. And if it's not the Nuggets, I love to see him play the Lakers.

All right, my man? All the best to you, my brother. Freaky Tales in theaters Friday, April fourth, The Running Point, by the Way, streaming now on Netflix and pick up. Did Everyone have an Imagine, every friend or just me wherever you buy your books. The brother is a publisher, He's an actor, the storyteller, extraordinary. The one and only Jay Ellis appreciate you, my man, priud, do you make.

You We'll catch him soon, all right, bro, thank you.

Man and only jay ellis in the house, right here with Stephen Am