Episode Summary
In this episode we're discussing an actor who you may know from television shows like Boardwalk Empire and Westworld, or his film roles in The Hunger Games and James Bond franchises. You may know him from Angels in America, which earned him a Tony award for the Broadway show and an Emmy award for the TV adaptation. He's played historical figures such as Martin Luther King, Jr. and famed blues musician, Muddy Waters. Most recently, he was a Best Actor nominee for his role as Monk in American Fiction. When you talk about someone having range, this man should be in everybody's top 5, and for that reason, we're discussing our favorite Jeffrey Wright moments.
Transcript
Miguel: Welcome back to They Reminisce Over You, I am Miguel.
Christina: And I'm Christina. And today, we're going to talk about an actor with a long list of credits, a thespian, if you will.
Miguel: I’m not a thespian.
Christina: He's been on the small screen, the big screen, and on Broadway. We're talking about Jeffrey Wright. And you might be saying, some of you might be saying, who? But you definitely know who he is. And I'm not saying this as a dig to him. He's just one of those actors where he's in, like, a lot of things. He plays so many different types of characters. And he also morphs into those characters.
Miguel: He does.
Christina: You kind of tend to remember the characters.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: So according to IMDb, he allegedly said, and I did not fact check, but he allegedly said, "I do have characters who are more well known than I am, which suits me fine." So if he did indeed say that, he knows. So you definitely know who Jeffrey Wright is. So you ready to get into it?
Miguel: I am.
Christina: Let’s do it. All right. So just a little bit about his background. He graduated from Amherst College in 1987, where he actually studied political science.
Miguel: Oh, okay.
Christina: Yes. But somewhere along the way, he discovered an interest in a love for acting. So after he graduated, he ended up getting an acting scholarship to NYU, but he dropped out after only two months.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: To pursue acting full time. So I guess he was like, I already learned all I need to learn.
Miguel: I don't need this school shit.
Christina: Yeah, two months is cool, I guess. So his first role ended up being in a movie called Presumed Innocent in 1990, which we did not watch because we're actually in the middle of watching a new Apple TV remake.
Miguel: And I didn't want to be like, influenced by that and knowing the ending.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: And I'm sure I've seen this movie because it's Harrison Ford. And I was looking at all his stuff around this time. So I don't know why I wouldn't have seen it, but I just don't remember it. So I didn't want to take the risk.
Christina: I don't remember it. Can't say for sure if I saw it or not. And if I did, I'm sure I would not have remembered Jeffrey Wright because he's only credited as prosecuting attorney.
Miguel: Right. And we saw the scene that he was in too.
Christina: He doesn't even have a name. So there was a quick shot of the scene he was in in one of these like montage videos. He may have had a line or two, but yeah. So anyways, that was his first movie role though. He ended up having a few other credits, but his first big break was actually in a Broadway production of a play called Angels in America in 1993. So he actually ended up winning a Tony Award for this, which is like, pretty big for a fairly new actor.
Miguel: I would say so.
Christina: Yeah, and he ended up playing the same role in the TV adaptation of it about 10 years later.
Miguel: And won an Emmy for that too.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: He's halfway to his EGOT with just one role.
Christina: So his first major onscreen performance came in 1996 where he played Basquiat. So this is a lot of big stuff.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: I mean, I guess he did the right thing by dropping out of school.
Miguel: It worked.
Christina: In two months, because he scored some pretty good stuff fairly early in his career. So according to IMDb and broadwayworld.com, he has approximately 90 credits. So we're not going to go over each one.
Miguel: Oh, definitely not. There's too much to get into.
Christina: Let's just do a quick run of some of his selected filmography.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: To highlight the extremely wide range of characters he's played. So let's do it.
Miguel: So probably the biggest thing that I remember him for from a few years ago was playing Beetee.
Christina: Oh, this is more than a few years.
Miguel: Oh, you know what I mean.
Christina: We're talking almost 10, well, 10 years for the first movie.
Miguel: Time is a construct. It wasn't last week.
Christina: 2013 to 2015.
Miguel: Yes, there were things that I saw him in before this, but this is one of the bigger ones.
Christina: From a couple of years ago.
Miguel: Yeah, it was a franchise that he was a part of as Beetee in Hunger Games. He was a former Hunger Games winner from District 3. I don't remember what any of that means because I watched all the movies one time and one time only.
Christina: And only because I read the books and wanted to watch the movies.
Miguel: Exactly. But he was an electronics expert who helped the rebels by making weapons for them.
Christina: Yes. And he was like, a bit of an odd bird. He was always kind of like, twitchy.
Miguel: Yeah, that I did remember.
Christina: Just very like, “I’m scientific.”
Miguel: Because I was reading his IMDb and he was partners with someone who was kind of weird. So they called her “Nuts” and they were “Nuts and Volts.” I thought that was funny.
Christina: Because he was an expert in electronics.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: She was a little off.
Miguel: She was touched, as the old folks used to say.
Christina: So, yeah, “Nuts and Volts.”
Miguel: He was also in Boardwalk Empire, which is one of our favorite shows and something that I've been meaning to go back and start again.
Christina: Me too, because I don't remember really anything.
Miguel: I remember bits and pieces of it. I do remember that he was a doctor from, I think, Haiti or Trinidad. It was one of those two places, but he was based out of Harlem and he was beefing with Nucky Thompson and Chalky White, played by—
Christina: Michael K.Williams.
Miguel: Yeah, but Nucky Thompson.
Christina: Oh, Nucky, I thought you were talking about Chalky White.
Miguel: No, I'm drawing a blank on him. Big eyes.
Christina: Yes, I forgot his name too.
Miguel: Why am I drawing a blank?
Christina: Uh, let me take a quick look.
Miguel: Steve Buscemi.
Christina: Steve Buscemi.
Miguel: It just popped into my head right now.
Christina: Right as I'm looking at it. Steve Buscemi.
Miguel: So he was beefing with Nucky, played by Steve Buscemi and Chalky White, played by Michael K. Williams. And he was like a really dignified character and he was a doctor.
Christina: A doctor of divinity.
Miguel: Yes. And he was, “Uh uhh, woo woo, I'm dressed well.”
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: But he was also a drug dealing pimp.
Christina: Yes. He sold heroin.
Miguel: So he contained multitudes.
Christina: He did.
Miguel: So I thought that character was very interesting.
Christina: I was reading the Boardwalk Empire Wiki.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: He described the character as, he's a doctor of divinity, confusion and mayhem.
Miguel: Yeah, that sounds about right. That sounds about right.
Christina: Yeah, I don't really remember much of the storylines. So I ended up just kind of watching a couple clips here and there. And there's this one scene where he meets Arnold Rothstein, and they're pretending to be gentlemen, but they're just taking jabs at each other.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: They're disgusted by each other. And then after they shake hands goodbye, after having this fake nice business deal, he just wordlessly pulls out a hanky and wipes his hands, and then just puts the hanky back and that's the end of the scene.[1]
Miguel: That is funny. Yeah, so I'm definitely going to have to get back into this one.
Christina: Yeah, I think it's time for a rewatch, because like I said, I don't remember. Like, I remember the characters. I just don't remember the stories.
Miguel: He's also in the James Bond movies, the ones with Daniel Craig playing James Bond. He's playing a CIA agent, Felix Leiter, and basically him and James kind of assist each other on these missions that they're on. It's not a really big role. He pops in and like, hey, James, you need some help? I got you over here and passes him some information or he helps him out with something and then he gets shot at and leaves.
Christina: Yeah, I don't really watch too many Bond movies. So I am unfamiliar with this character.
Miguel: I don't either. I got into the Bond stuff when Pierce Brosnan was doing it. So GoldenEye because of the video game and one of the other ones that he was in, but the Daniel Craig ones, I've watched all of them.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: And they're a lot different than the other Bond movies because he gets his ass kicked a lot. So he's getting shot, he's getting stabbed. He's not like, narrowly missing death like the older Bonds were and jump up and dust their tuxedos off. No, Daniel Craig was getting his ass whooped in these movies. And like I said, Felix Leiter was one of his compadres in these films.
Christina: So, so far, what do we have? We have him playing sort of a nerdy electronics expert. He's playing a pretend intellectual.
Miguel: Well, he's not really pretending. He's not pretending.
Christina: The intellect slash ruthless drug dealer and pimp.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: We have him playing a fancy Bond-like character, the American version.
Miguel: A CIA agent.
Christina: CIA agent. And then we also have him playing a few real life characters. I mentioned Basquiat already, so he's like, this young artist. And then he also played Martin Luther King.
Miguel: Yeah. I remember when this movie first came out, it was a TV movie. And I'm like, how in the hell is he playing Martin Luther King with that complexion?
Christina: He asked the same question. I saw it in an interview and they told him, it's not about how you look, it's how you act. There's something like that. So then he said he spent as much time as he could outside to prepare for the role.
Miguel: It didn't really get him too dark.
Christina: To at least add as much as he could in that department.
Miguel: Yeah, I just remember being thrown off by him looking nothing like MLK. But from what I remember, it was a good movie. His performance was solid. He really got into the character as he does.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: But yeah, he looked nothing like him.
Christina: I think you can kind of say the same about him playing Muddy Waters too in Cadillac Records.
Miguel: Yeah, yeah.
Christina: I don't know much about Muddy Waters. I know the name, but I looked him up and I was like, oh.
Miguel: Yeah, he didn't look anything like him.
Christina: I'm like, this is what Muddy Waters looks like?
Miguel: He looked nothing like him.
Christina: But it does lend to his versatility.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: And he also, him and the other actors also recorded the vocals.
Miguel: Yes, I noticed that when I was watching a little bit of it earlier. And I was like, that kind of sounds like him. And then the longer I let it play, I was like, oh, that is him. I looked it up in the soundtrack. He's listed as singing a couple of songs. So there's some more commitment to his craft.
Christina: But yeah, didn't know that he could belt out some tunes as well. I also ended up watching the Angels in America TV series because when I was just looking up stuff about him, this seemed to pop up a lot in terms of like being one of his pivotal roles.
Miguel: Well, it makes sense since he won the Tony and Emmy for it.
Christina: Right. So I'm not usually into Broadway plays. So I think the TV series wasn't for me because it was very theatrical. You could tell it was a play.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: So I kind of like, skipped through a lot and I basically just watched mostly his scenes and stuff and ended up reading like, a synopsis about it. So he plays a nurse who is also an ex drag queen. So we get to see another side of him. And he has some great lines. I meant to show you at least a few choice scenes where I thought he really shined.
But I'm not NOT recommending this, but just if you do want to watch this, definitely be prepared that it's a play. So it's a specific style that I don't normally watch. But I could see why it had critical acclaim just because of the topic. It's set in the 80s and it's like, about the AIDS crisis and being gay and having to deal with that. And it was like, an ensemble cast. It follows a couple different stories and stuff. So yeah, I mean, in 1993, that's gonna be like, groundbreaking having a story like this. And even the TV series coming out in 2003. So topically, yeah, I get it. But style-wise, it wasn't for me. However, it was fun watching him play the character though.
Miguel: Well, with that said, with all the varied characters that he's played, let's get into some of the things that we wanna talk about specifically in this episode. We have a list of movies that we have seen or TV shows that we have seen that he's participated in. And we're just gonna discuss some of our favorite moments from those without giving any spoilers because a lot of the stuff that he's in is really good and you can't really talk about it because you would ruin it for someone who hasn't heard it.
Christina: Someone hasn't watched it.
Miguel: Yes, someone who hasn't watched it. I don't know what I'm talking about.
Christina: I guess you could just listen to dialogue.
Miguel: You could, but that wouldn't be recommended because you can't see him now.
Christina: Yes, because, good thing you said that actually, because you have to watch his facial expressions to get the full experience because he holds a lot of emotions in his face.
Miguel: He does. So let's start with the most recent one, the one that we watched a couple months ago, American Fiction, where he's playing a writer. It's based off of a book called Erasure by Percival Everett. And he's playing a writer named Thelonious Ellison, AKA Monk. And it took them a while in the movie for them to say that his name was actually Thelonious. They just kept calling him Monk the entire time. And then I think it was the housekeeper, his mom's housekeeper that called him Thelonious.
Christina: I'm not sure. Now I forgot who he was. He stopped by, like, he knew the housekeeper.
Miguel: Oh yes, he was the security guard.
Christina: Security, yeah, yeah. He was like, the security guard for the beach house neighborhood. And he called him Thelonious. And he was like, you're the only person who calls me that.
Miguel: That's right.
Christina: He’s like, it’s a great name. And we're like, oh, that's why they call him Monk.
Miguel: Exactly. So he's a writer. He's also a college professor. His work is well received, but he doesn't sell any books. Like, he's a struggle writer basically. He's also butting heads with his students who seem to think that they know more about race than he does. He's having issues with the administration at the school. So it's suggested that he takes a sabbatical.
Christina: It's the struggle of being black in academia that we start off with. And also the struggle of the understanding of racism in the new world versus the old world, shall we say, where nuances often missing sometimes. So yeah, so he's on a forced sabbatical.
Miguel: Yes, and that leads him to going home for a while and interacting with his family, which leads to other issues. And I can't say much without spoiling it, but you get to see how he has relationships with his sister, mother and brother individually, and then how they act together collectively. And it's similar to pretty much everyone's familiar relationships.
Christina: Yeah, like, they care about each other, but there's a lot of family drama.
Miguel: Yeah, so we can't get into what actually happens, but know that these are the two things that he's dealing with in this movie when he decides to make the choice of writing a very specific book.
Christina: Yeah, so there's a lot of subplots going on to start off with his struggles with his job, and then with the writing, and then now we see some of the family drama.
Christina: But while the family drama is going on, there's still more of this writing stuff.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: I think we could talk about this a little bit. Like, it's in the trailers and stuff like, about the book.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: So basically his editor just tells him that the book isn't Black enough.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: For what the publishers want.
Miguel: Said that the publishers want a Black book.
Christina: Yeah, he's like, I'm Black, it's a Black book.
Miguel: Right, which it should be.
Christina: Yeah. So he's doing his writer tour or whatever, and no one's coming to his panel, and he finds out there's this new up and coming writer played by Issa Rae. So he's like, let me go check her out. Man, that book title.
Miguel: We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.
Christina: We’s Lives in Da Ghetto.
Miguel: Which is hilarious.
Christina: I think what's great about this is the satire is so exaggerated.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Just to show how ridiculous it is.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: So she's getting this critical acclaim for writing like, raw, real stories. Real Black stories. She does this reading, like, “You’s be pregnant all the time!” Like, it’s horrible, right? And everyone is just eating it up and he's standing there like, am I crazy? Like, what the hell?
And sidebar, as much as the satire is very exaggerated at the same time, it almost isn't. ‘Cause this reminds me of something I saw about Boyz n the Hood. Someone had tweeted out comments, I guess when they were, I'm assuming this was when they were like shopping the screenplay around trying to get it made. So there were comments from Orion Pictures about the screenplay. And I just want you to hear the notes.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Because this really plays into what we see in American Fiction.
So I won't read the whole thing cause it's a little long, but “the characterizations are uninspired and flat and the dialogue is stiffly overwritten in its attempt to capture the realistic rhythms and vernacular of street language. Structurally, the piece only succeeds on its most trite level as Bright Tré and athletic Ricky look for a way out of the neighborhood only to end up falling victim to its gang killings. Despite the fact that the script's heart is in the right place, then it is an amateurish attempt at storytelling and does not indicate any strong talent behind it.” So the final rating was “premise was fair, characterization was poor, dialogue was poor, storyline was poor.[2]”
Miguel: So the man who was raised on Vermont doesn't know what he's talking about when he's writing for street characters?
Christina: He doesn't understand street vernacular.
Miguel: Oh man, yeah, I'm pretty sure he knows exactly what he's writing about.
Christina: And I haven't seen the script, but I've watched the movie a bajillion times. I would imagine the dialogue in the script would be similar to what we saw in the movie.
Miguel: I would think so.
Christina: And so to have someone who is probably white tell him that he doesn't know how to write street vernacular is wild. So as much as it seems exaggerated in American Fiction, we've seen what happens when like, racist white people try to talk in Black vernacular. And they end up saying things like, “we's lives in da ghetto.” And so as much as it's exaggerated, is it exaggerated?
Miguel: With that said, what is your favorite scene from the movie?
Christina: Before I even get to that, I do want to say though, I think, and you can tell me how you feel about this. I think what makes this movie good is even though he's, you know, he's looking at We’s Lives in Da Ghetto, like what the hell? Which gets him started on, you know, this path. I don't feel like he's like, looking down on certain types of black art. He was just like, I can't believe people want these stereotypes and can't tell the difference between what's real and what's not, rather than playing into respectability politics. I have to talk proper. I don't really feel like that was his character. He was just like, these are the things that I want to write about, not that. He's just looking down at these sort of stereotypes and low expectations for black writers, I think.
Miguel: Yeah, the way I took it is that he is more disappointed in the white response to this, rather than the actual book itself, versus why am I not looked at as being authentic, when, like you said, I'm a Black writer, so it's a Black book, but all of these white critics want that, so he can't understand why that is, basically.
Christina: And then he kind of falls down the same path and was like, oh, this works. Anyway, that's all I'm gonna say about that. So I have two scenes that I want to mention. So I'd love for that. There's some humor in the movie, even though it's not necessarily a comedy, but what makes these things humorous is it kind of like, you know when you have comedy that's more like, daily observations, and then it makes it funny, because you're like, oh, that happens to me. So when they're out on the beach doing something, this white man walks by and was like, do you have a permit for that? And they're like, “get the fuck out of here, Philip!” And Sterling K. Brown plays his brother. He's like, “I’m going to eat your vest for breakfast” or something like that. Like, “Philip is such an asshole.” So it turns out he's a neighbor they actually know. And it's just one of these daily microaggressions. So that one's funny.
There is another scene that I really like is, while he's trying to write his new book, as he's writing, it's being reenacted in front of him. And I just really love that scene. And is it a spoiler if I say who played that part?
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Okay, because it was great casting. So I'll just leave it there.
Miguel: For me, the scenes with his mom and siblings are my favorite moments, just because you get to see different versions of him, because he's different with all three of them. So that's what I liked about the movie, because like I said, when they're together, it's a different dynamic than when he's with them individually, and you get to see who he truly is, and get to understand why he is the way that he is as well, because they bring up a lot of stuff from their past, and there are some funny moments with all three of them as well. So I liked that.
Christina: All right.
Miguel: So another one that was really big and we both liked was his character on Westworld. He played Bernard Lowe. Westworld is basically an immersive amusement park where guests interact with robots who are very human-like, and it's hard to tell who's real, who isn't. They look human, but they're actually run by code, script and AI. And Bernard is the head of the programming for the company that runs Westworld. So basically he's in charge of all of the robots. Because of that, I can't say what my favorite moment of this show is.
Christina: Me too, that's my favorite scene. I think I have a way of, I'm just going to say it's.
[Music plays]
Miguel: You know what, I'm going to cut that out because that's too close.
Christina: That's too close, all right. You can just beep.
Miguel: Yes, so without saying my favorite moment, just know that his character development over all of the seasons is very important to the storyline of the show.
Christina: Okay.
Miguel: That's all I can say without spoiling it.
Christina: All right, all right.
Miguel: Because this is something that you have to actually sit and watch from the musical cues to just small little things in the script.
Christina: I actually want to rewatch this again now because knowing what I know at the end, I think rewatching it will help me see things that I no doubt, I've missed.
Miguel: Yeah, because just reading some things while prepping for this, I'm like, yeah, we totally missed that.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: Even though it's right there.
Christina: And I'm gonna take notes this time, actually, like this person is that person and this is what they do.
Miguel: See, all of that I was able to follow.
Christina: Not me.
Miguel: It's just the little breadcrumbs that they sprinkled throughout the seasons. When you go back and look at it, it's like, you bastards.
Christina: Yeah, I definitely was confused about some things and I think it deserves a rewatch.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: I think for me, this might have been the role that made me remember him as Jeffrey Wright.
Miguel: Okay.
Christina: Rather than the guy in the thing. Oh, I know this guy. Oh yeah, I like him. It's like, no, this is Jeffrey Wright.
Miguel: Well, for me, the thing that made me remember who Jeffrey Wright is, I told you that I had seen him in things leading up to like, his big career moments, but it's stuff like this where he played Peoples Hernandez in Shaft. And that's what I was like. I like this guy.
Christina: I had never watched this movie until we watched it like two days ago, so I did not know Peoples Hernandez, but I love Peoples Hernandez.
Miguel: Peoples Hernandez is great. He's one of my all time favorite movie characters.
Christina: He is playing a Dominican person this time.
Miguel: Yes, he's a Dominican drug dealer from the Bronx, of course.
Christina: Yes.
Miguel: And he's one of the antagonists in the movie along with Christian Bale. And the only reason that these two even end up meeting is because Samuel Jackson's character, John Shaft is an asshole. And these two shouldn't have even ever been on the path to meeting, but here we are.
Christina: When we watched this, you know, I think I mostly associate him with Westworld or even like, The Hunger Games. So I'm kind of used to him being, you know, a little more buttoned up or whatever. So to see him being like, “motherfuck” and playing this way.
Miguel: And the accent.
Christina: Yes. Playing this Dominican drug dealer was hilarious.
Miguel: I don't know if you watched the interview, but he said that there was a club that he used to go to and the host of the club was Dominican and they ended up having a really good rapport with each other and he said that the guy talked exactly like this. So when he got the role, he invited him over and was like, hey, can you read this? So he had him read it and then he would mimic him. So basically that's how his friend talked and he based Peoples on his friend. I can't remember his name, but he had him read the lines first and then he would mimic that.
Christina: Oh, it's hilarious. I love it.
Miguel: That accent is amazing.
Christina: It is. I think you probably know what my favorite scene is.
Miguel: I don't.
Christina: Oh.
Miguel: There's so many to choose from.
Christina: Well, pretty much when we get introduced to him, he's eating his takeout in the window.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: Watching all the drama unfold below, he's slurping down his noodles, his succulent Chinese food in an all white outfit.
Miguel: A white turtleneck.
Christina: A white turtleneck, white pants, antagonizing Shaft and the other cops. And yeah, and that's how he ends up being in a situation where he meets the other dude. Just forgot his name.
Miguel: Christian Bale.
Christina: Christian Bale's character. Yeah, so this is a pretty entertaining watch.
Miguel: It is. The movie itself isn't very good.
Christina: No, it's not.
Miguel: It's not.
Christina: It's a popcorn movie.
Miguel: And they've made several. I think they're like three Shaft movies in now or something. But Peoples Hernandez is one of the greatest characters in any movie ever. My favorite scenes are the ones with him and Christian Bale. The two times that he comes to Peoples’ house. The first time the dialogue goes in one direction because of some things that I can't say right now that would spoil it. But when he comes back to Peoples’ house, the dynamic has changed. So now he can say a few more things. And I'm really trying to tiptoe around this. But like I said, the dynamic has changed. So he can do and say things that he couldn't the first time the Christian Bale came over. And those are my two favorite. Yeah, I'm just gonna leave it at that. Watch the movie just for Jeffrey Wright and Busta Rhymes.
Christina: Yes, Busta Rhymes is pretty hilarious too, but yeah.
Miguel: Other than that, the movie's not very good.
Christina: Yeah, I mean, I can't really say much more about the movie other than Peoples Hernandez.
Miguel: Yeah, it's one of those movies.
Christina: A little bit of Busta Rhymes sprinkled in.
Miguel: Because it came out in 2000, I believe, or 2001.
Christina: 2000.
Miguel: And it's one of those movies where it's like, you know what, there's a lot of Black people in this movie. Busta Rhymes, Vanessa Williams, Ruben Santiago, Samuel L. Jackson. So it's like, we need to go see this movie and support. But it wasn't very good.
Christina: It wasn't.
Miguel: It was not.
Christina: As they sort of talked about in American Fiction sometimes, you just need some junk food.
Miguel: Yeah, and obviously it's a remake of the original Shaft with Richard Roundtree. He has a small role in it as well, playing Uncle John Shaft. So that part of it makes sense. It just wasn't done very well, in my opinion.
Christina: So the last one we want to talk about is one we actually just watched a couple of days ago as well. It's called OG, came out in 2018. I really liked it.
Miguel: Yeah, in this one he's playing someone in prison who's got like, 30 days left on a 25 year sentence. And basically it's about how he's navigating those last 30 days between the other inmates, the prison administrators. He's getting pulled in a lot of different directions and he's just trying to survive these last 30 days so he can get out and be with his son and granddaughter.
Christina: Well, I didn't know this until you told me. I think also what makes this movie interesting is the majority of the actors, or at least the ones playing the prisoners, were actual prisoners.
Miguel: Yeah, anybody who wasn't prison administration were actual inmates at that prison that they filmed it.
Christina: And they did a good job.
Miguel: Yeah, they're all pretty good.
Christina: I mean, one can say they're basically just playing themselves, however.
Miguel: It's hard to play yourself on camera.
Christina: It's hard to play yourself or a character similar to you and they still have to read, or they still have to say certain lines and whatnot so it's not just like, just talking off the cuff and stuff. So it's actually hard to sound natural, saying a script, basically. So I think they did an amazing, like I would not have known if you didn't tell me.
Miguel: Yeah, same. And I just stumbled across that fact when I was looking up the reviews on the movie.
Christina: It's kind of like a slow burn type of pace where even though a lot of things are happening, it's really slow. There's no action or anything, but it's basically a drama.
Miguel: Right, a lot of dialogue, a lot of conversation.
Christina: So don't expect, even though it's a prison, I mean, there's a fight that breaks out, but it's not like, that kind of prison film.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: Like, it's not a lot of high drama, it's just people.
Miguel: Yeah, basically.
Christina: Yeah, and I don't know if I would feel different if I had a crime committed against me and I had some ill will towards someone who committed a crime, but I feel like it's a good depiction of how prisoners are treated. I get that it's jail and it's not supposed to be nice, but there are definitely things that are not humane.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: And it doesn't really prepare them to come back out and be upstanding citizens.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And then of course, I mean, this is too much to talk about in our little podcast, but like, the basically slavery, having them work for a dollar a day and the prison takes a cut on the way out of their dollar a day wages. So just a lot of stuff about prison life that is shown. I wouldn't say explored because the movie is mostly based on the characters and not the prison system, but you see stuff about the prison system.
Miguel: Yes.
Christina: But I enjoyed it.
Miguel: Yeah, me too. I would recommend that people watch it. And it's something that you really don't hear about. Like I didn't even know this movie existed until like, three or four days ago. It was an HBO movie. I guess that's why it just slid under the radar. They didn't do any promotion for it. Who knows? But I didn't know it existed and it was really good.
Christina: And I think even though we keep saying it's kind of more of like a slow burn, there was enough happening to kind of make you feel a little anxious about how his last few days were going to unfold.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: So what was your favorite scene?
Miguel: It was, I can't say when because that would ruin it, but there's some moments and some dialogue and some things that happen with him and a couple other characters that kind of reminds me of the movie Baby Boy. When Ving Rhames is trying to teach Tyrese's character about different things and giving him some life lessons and yeah, just dropping some jewels on him that he's not really receptive to.
Christina: Yeah.
Miguel: So there's a lot of that in this movie as well, but it was done in a Jeffrey Wright kind of way.
Christina: Right.
Miguel: And it kind of reminds me of that, but there's one specific scene, but I can't say what it is because it would spoil it, but that's my favorite scene.
Christina: Mine is just like, a little small thing. You could tell that he's been there for a long time because he has like, a camaraderie with the administrators.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: It's like, they're almost friends. And so he's talking to one of them about something that's happening. They're just kind of like, shooting the shit and he walks into like, because he's in his office and he just goes into the cupboard and just takes out some snacks and just starts eating.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: And stuff. And then when they're done their conversation, he tries to walk out with this giant jar of pretzels.
Miguel: Yeah.
Christina: And dudes just like, leave that. And then he just comes back, rolls his eyes and plops it on the table and kind of walks out. And it's just, you know what? That's what I was saying, how it's interesting to see like prison life depicted as just sort of everyday people in a way that he's definitely a prisoner, but you know, there is this kind of weird relationship that ends up happening just because you're just around each other for so long.
Miguel: Right.
Christina: So I just thought that was one of those little things that was little, but kind of poignant in a way.
Miguel: So that was quite a wide range of things that he's done that we've given the people some ideas to go and investigate, look into further. He had him playing a Dominican drug lord. You've got him playing an incarcerated murderer who's about to get out of prison. We've got him playing an author. We've got him playing—
Christina: A scientist.
Miguel: A scientist. So the range is huge.
Christina: And don't forget former drag queen slash nurse.
Miguel: Yes, he was a nurse and a drag queen as well. He plays historical figures, Basquiat, MLK, Muddy Waters.
Christina: Different types of historical figures.
Miguel: Yes. So if you really want to watch some good movies and some great acting, check out a movie with Jeffrey Wright in it. You shouldn't be disappointed.
Christina: We've given a lot of options.
Miguel: Yes, and I think it's safe to say, with all the stuff that I've seen, and I'm sure you feel the same way, if he's in something, just watch it, because chances are it's gonna be good.
Christina: Yeah, because even, like we were saying with Shaft, even if it's not that good, you'll enjoy him.
Miguel: Exactly, so is there anything you want to say before we wrap this up?
Christina: Not really, I was going to quote a line from People's Hernandez, but I was like, now I'm gonna mess up the accent, so I'll just—
Miguel: Yeah, it’s best that you don't do the accent. End up like Dee on It's Always Sunny. All right, on that note, we thank you again for coming back and listening to They Reminisce Over You. We try to do this every two weeks, so make sure you come back and listen a couple of weeks from now, and we'll be back in your ear holes doing it. If you would like to buy some of our merch, you can go to our store, teethang.com. T-E-E-T-H-A-N-G .com. Get yourself some t-shirts, caps, hoodies, jackets, all of that.
Christina: We’re working on some new merch that I think you’ll like.
Miguel: Yes, definitely. We have something that is coming soon. I'm looking at some of the samples behind me right now. So you won't be disappointed. So go check that out as well. If you would like to sign up for our monthly newsletter, you can do that at troypodcast.com/newsletter. Like I said, it comes out once a month. It's free. It's full of suggestions, movie reviews, album reviews, jokes, videos, all sorts of good stuff. It's very entertaining. It's free and it only comes once a month. So we're not spamming up your mailbox.
Christina: I look forward to reading it every month because Miguel writes it.
Miguel: See, she knows.
Christina: And occasionally, I might say, put this link in, but, yeah, I'm reading it as a reader and I enjoy it.
Miguel: She ain't lying. We also do playlists for our episode. So if you like music and you like to listen to things, you can go to our website and check out the playlist that we're gonna put together for this episode, as well as playlists that we've done for other episodes.
Christina: You're gonna do a playlist for this episode?
Miguel: Yeah, I think I can pull it off.
Christina: Okay, from some of the soundtracks and stuff, I guess?
Miguel: That's all I got for this episode. And I'm getting kind of hot, and I'm gonna turn the AC on really quickly. So I think that's time for us to wrap it up and get out of here. See you in a couple weeks.
Christina: Bye.