- Yahya, tell me, how was it working with me?
[laughing]
Joyous? You better say joyous.
[laughing]
- Man, it was good. Honestly, you know, I came in as a fan,
you know, to be honest. And so, in the beginning,
there was a lot of curiosity about, you know,
what it was going to be like, you know,
knowing that you had a theater background.
That was something that I really admired.
You know, I hadn't worked with very many actors,
at least professionally, who had done theater,
and this job had quite a few. So, you know, for me,
I was really just excited to get into the room and do
something that kind of felt like the old days.
And, you know,
I was just sitting there, just taking my little notes, man.
It was always a good time.
And you know, the morale was high.
How about you, man? How was your experience?
What was your experience like working with me?
[laughing]
- I mean, it sounds sycophantic, but
I was blown away by your work.
I was so staggered by your poise and the kind of nobility
that you brought to Bobby, but also this kind of volcanic--
You went from being so calm between takes and so still,
and then this kind of fire like, blew up and it was,
it was an extraordinary thing to witness.
So, it was one of the great treats of this
was getting to work with you, mate.
- I appreciate it, man.
- And now I'm just so excited to see what else is coming.
I'm like, desperate to hear stories about Lana
and how it's going over in Berlin.
[laughing]
I know Warner Bros.- I'm gagging to ask questions,
but Warner Bros. would probably kill us.
But, yeah, no, it was a real treat and it's thrilling for me
watching all of the things you've got coming out.
Can't wait to see 'Candyman'-- I'm obsessed with trailers.
- Ah.
- The 'Candyman' trailer has stopped me from
sleeping, so.
- Ah, awesome, awesome, awesome. I'm excited.
So, given that this is a historical film where we represent
actual characters from history,
how did you prepare for it? For a task like that,
how important was it for you to be accurate
in your portrayal?
- You know, for me, one of the great joys of what we get to do,
particularly when you play real people,
is to like, learn. Like, to just sort of immerse
yourself in the world of things,
whether it ends up being useful for the character or not,
but just as a human being. It's kind of--
It's the way that you progress.
So, I read a lot around Tom Hayden,
who I just admired extraordinarily, from,
you know, books he had written, to video clips,
to reading what Jane Fonda wrote beautifully-
He ended up married to Jane Fonda later in his life,
and she wrote beautifully about him on her website.
And for me, I try and like, by osmosis,
take up as much of that information as possible,
but then almost let it all go and just
play what Aaron had written and his word,
and hope that some of the information
that you've accrued kind of bleeds out
of the character somewhere.
But how about you man?
- Yeah. I didn't approach this like a biopic. You know,
I think that was one of the first things Aaron said
in the rehearsals, is that it's not a biopic.
Now, that doesn't take away the responsibility
to be authentic with the character. I still did my research.
I read his books, his autobiography.
I watched YouTube clips and things like that, and tried to
learn a little bit about
more of his vocal cadence, you know,
the way that he expressed himself.
But, for me, it was so important to zone in,
or to key in, on the essence of Bobby Seale,
the essence of what was important to him
throughout this particular trial.
What was important, and how he held onto his humanity,
and his manhood, and his dignity.
And once I found an idea of how he would go about that,
then the rest was, like you said, leaning on the text
that Aaron provided us and really hoping that some things
in my research stuck to the wall, you know,
as I was experimenting with that process.
- It's always so interesting what it is, that thing
that you end up holding on to. And there were--
- Uh-huh.
- This sounds so odd, but there was something
in a lot of the photographs of Tom,
that he would wear these, kind of,
he'd wear these quite sort of thick,
well-worn canvas shirts that you could kind of,
you imagine had a huge history to them and were very robust.
- Yeah.
- And sort of, seemingly, totally lacking in vanity.
And weirdly, the idea of this kind of well-worn
fabric with great integrity ended up being something
that I found oddly useful.
- Wow.
- Which is a very odd way of putting it, but yeah.
So, Yahya, given the world we're in at the moment,
the film seems to sort of have an eerie relevance
to what we're living through, even though
it was set in the late 60s.
What do you hope that people take away from the movie,
or what did you feel like you took away
when you read this piece and how relevant it is now?
- Yeah, that's a good question.
There's a refrain that repeats itself in the trailer,
which is, "The whole world is watching."
You know, and we're definitely in a moment right now
where no one can afford to look away
from what's happening in the world.
So, one, I hope that it's a call to action
in terms of causing people to pay attention,
and to really be informed, and to direct their attention
to what is happening in this changing world.
And then, two, you know, our film is about, you know,
a bunch of guys from various backgrounds
who did go to Chicago to stand up for what they believed in.
- Mmh.
- You know, whether they went together or not,
they did go and voice their opinion in order to stand up
for a cause, and to stand up for what they believed in.
And they were faced, throughout the trial, you know,
with a lot of decisions, you know, about courage
and about backing down and standing up.
And so, I think that our film can be an example
of you using your voice for the right cause,
and knowing that there's a lot of change
that can be made if you use your voice for the right reason.
And to pay attention, because now is a very
particular moment in time where it's important
to use your voice or to use your resources.
Everybody has a role to play.
- Yeah.
- So, I think that's one of the central messages
that I think can be taken away from our film.
How about yourself? What would you say?
- Honestly, I think you've put it beautifully.
I think it was something that Robert Kennedy Jr. said
about, democracy is a very messy thing.
- Mhm.
- But, I think this film shows that,
but the fight for equality is as urgent now
as it's ever been and, oh my god, we need to fight for it.
There was something, again, that Jane Fonda said
about, Tom Hayden said to her just as he was dying,
it was seeing people willing to lay down their lives
for their beliefs--
- Mhm.
- Was what changed him.
- Wow.
- And that's stuck with me,
and really kind of underlined that urgency.
So, yeah.
- Mhm, mhm.