- Kerry, you don't understand, okay?
- I don't?
- You are my favorite Washington.
- Oh, does Denzel know?
(energetic jazz music)
- Kerry Washington stars in American Son,
it is a new Netflix original.
- Hey!
- And it is the film adaptation
of the Broadway play of the same name.
- Correct.
- I saw the movie a couple days ago.
It is a must watch, you guys!
- Hey!
- Can you please just walk through the storyline
and just the experience of filming that
and going through all those emotions?
Girl, by the end of that movie, I was tired!
- American Son takes place in the lobby
of a police precinct.
And it's all 90 minutes of real-time,
a white father and a black mother
who are desperately trying to find their 18-year-old son,
who has just had some kind of confrontation with the police,
but we don't know what has happened.
So it's like every mother's nightmare,
black mother's nightmare in particular.
- My mama still calls me, I'm a grown man.
- Right?
- Kerry, you know what?
I don't have an hour and a half for this game,
so I'd better get to it, okay?
- (laughing) Let's do it!
- These are some hard questions
and you only got 10 seconds to answer each one.
Some are fun, some are factual.
Oh my God, you ready? - Okay.
- Okay, here we go!
10 seconds are on the clock!
- Oh my goodness!
- You ready for the first question?
- I'm ready.
- Oh, I love this question.
- I love it too, then.
- (laughs) Do you remember Olivia Pope's first line?
10 seconds.
- What, like, what she ever,
the first thing she ever said to anybody?
- First season, first episode, first line.
- Oh my gosh, it's in the elevator
and they're talking whether he's gonna marry her or not,
but I don't remember exactly what she said.
- I'll take it!
Ding ding ding ding ding! (bell ringing)
It's like, do you wanna get marr--
Or, I wanna ask you get married.
- Yeah, yeah, it's something like that--
- You're talking to Steven! - Yes, amen, amen!
- Yes, I'll take it!
- Whoo! (clapping)
- Point for Kerry, okay!
Name two iconic Samuel L. Jackson lines.
Go!
- I mean, could I just say mothafucka 10 times?
(laughing)
- Yes, you can!
- Can I say that?
- Give her 10 points for that one!
- Like again, and again, and again?
- All of his famous lines have it in there,
so I think that should count.
- Yeah, but I love him.
- I need you to name five Shondaland shows
in 10 seconds. - What?
- I'm counting, go.
- Oh man, I can't work like this.
Okay, Scandal, Grey's, How to Get Away,
Private Practice, and what was the one
with Hawaii and the beach?
Or is there another one I should know?
Um, huh? (buzzer)
(laughing) Um, huh?
- Kerry's so close!
Name as many members of the Wayans family
as you can in 10 seconds.
- Okay, Marlon, Shawn, Damon, Damon Jr.,
um, there's so many more.
- Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh!
- What?
- 10 seconds up!
- Kenan!
Did I say Kenan? - What, no, you didn't,
but you did now, yes! (bell ringing)
- Oh, and their sister, who I love!
- Their sisters, yes, yes. - Oh my God.
- Yes, Kim. - Yes, Kim.
- You are doing very good, Kerry.
- I'm doing okay, I do love me some Wayans.
(laughs) I love me some Wayans.
- I think we should take it up a notch
'cause those were all the easy ones.
- Oh no, these were already really hard, you guys.
- Really? - Yes.
- Oh no, I'm gonna go to my second card.
- Oh, geez.
- This is the yellow card-- - Oh gosh.
- So we still have harder questions.
- Do I get to like make a phone call?
Can I call a friend?
- You cannot call a friend.
Unless that friend is Jesus, but that's it, here you go.
- Oh, I always call on Jesus.
(laughing) Always.
- So, you've been in several films with Jamie Foxx before.
- I have.
- Can you name five of the films that you were not in?
- Oh, come on now. (laughing)
Why, why, why? - Oh yeah!
- The ones I'm in are his best films!
- Oh, you know what?
Ray is a slam dunk, okay?
- This is really hard. - But that ain't the question.
Start the clock right now, here we go!
- Is he in Booty Call? - Yes!
- Okay, he's in, what's the one with Tom Cruise
that he was also? - Y'all can yell it out!
- Collateral? - Collateral!
- And then he was also in, what's the White House one
where he plays the president? - White House Down?
Or is that Princess Vana, which one is it?
- Yes, both, I'll take both.
The Soloist. - Yes.
- And the new one, Just Mercy,
that he's gonna win his next Oscar for.
- I'm takin' mercy on you now
'cause you got 60 seconds for this one question.
(laughing) (bell ringing)
Next question!
Now, speakin' of American Son,
you had to reach a place to play that character.
But what was your acting process in just,
how did you attack that role?
- I don't know, I mean, to be honest with you,
it is the scariest thing I've ever had to do to date.
- Really?
- Yeah, for sure.
And I wasn't sure that I would be able to to do it,
quite honestly, and I wasn't sure that
I would be able to do it eight times a week
or for 13, 14 hours a day when we were making the film.
But I think the writing is so strong
that I was really able to put myself
in this woman's position and walk in her shoes
and then be really grateful whenever I left work
that I have a different life from hers.
Although in some ways,
I am vulnerable in many of the ways that she is
because with parenting a black child comes vulnerability.
The film really is like you are a fly on the wall
in this room that you are not supposed to be in
because you're getting to hear people say things
that normally they don't say in public,
you get to hear really the inner lives
of these very different people.
- Go watch this movie, okay?
(laughing) It's on Netflix
and everybody got it!
Next question!
Now, these are gonna get fun, here we go.
Name five things you need when you go to set
every single time, 10 seconds.
- I need my binder, I need my phone,
I need some water, I need--
Five things I need? - Yes!
- I mean, I don't need that much, that's what I need.
I need my shoes-- (laughing)
- I hope you ain't walkin' in here barefoot.
- And my earbuds!
- Okay. - Yeah.
- You know, I was just having a conversation on this--
- But not the wireless, I'm not into the wireless.
(bell ringing) - Thank you!
Is this uncool now?
- It is uncool, but you know what?
- I don't care!
- I'm too hip to be uncool.
So when enough cool kids choose to be uncool--
- Yes!
Then we are now cool.
Exactly!
Thank you, Kerry.
- Not that I seek for your approval.
- You have validated my old-school tradition
of a wired headphone.
I'm just gonna lose 'em!
- You gotta get rid of that rotary phone, though.
- Oh, you know, I still got one in my bathroom.
- Do you really?
- But it's just there for, you know--
- That's kinda cool.
- It's kinda cool, yes. - Again, cool.
- Yes! - I have one too.
- This is a cool question! - Okay!
- Name three musical artists you listen to
that no one would think you do.
- That no one would think I do?
- [Terrell] Yeah.
- How do I know what people think I listen to?
I'm not sure, like--
- I give you like--
- What would you think I listen to?
'Cause I don't know what would surprise you.
- I feel like you like a classical girl, like you bump--
No?! (string music)
- Like I'm like bumping Mozart, like?
- Yes!
- At home with the Beethoven going hard?
- Yes, some people do, yes!
- I do, I can kick a little Tchaikovsky.
- See, I don't even know who that is.
- But yeah, I, no, I mean, I listen to everything,
so I don't know what would surprise you.
I mean, maybe that there's a lot of musical theater,
but maybe that wouldn't surprise you.
I mean, I'm a Jay-Z fan, I'm obsessed with Lizzo right now--
- That's a good one, Lizzo.
- I love a lot of Prince.
In my house, Descendants 3 is very popular right now
with the littles, I'm listening to that.
- This is all good! (bell ringing)
- Okay, good.
- That's, you nailed that question!
What's your favorite Jay-Z lyric?
- Oh, Jay-Z lyric, I mean, the one I got say
as Olivia Pope, "Allow me to reintroduce myself."
- Yes!
- That might go down as, yeah. (bell ringing)
- I miss Olivia Pope so much,
she was my-- - She's missable.
- Yes! - She is missable,
I could see that.
It was time, it was time.
- Yes, absolutely. - But--
- And it ended right, it ended right, like,
I felt fulfilled. - Amen.
- Amen!
Okay, now, you're from the Bronx, okay?
- Hey!
All the way down. - Name five other celebrities
from the Bronx, 10 seconds! - Wow.
J-Lo. - Boom.
- Chazz Palminteri, Cara's one,
Rita Moreno?
- I don't dance now, I make money mo'!
- Hey! (laughing)
Cardi B! - Cardi!
- Yeah. - Ding ding ding! (ringing)
I'll take it!
That's like five.
This is a bit of a creative test, okay?
So, I'm going to give you titles of your films,
but I'm going to put a blank in there, okay?
(laughs)
And you have to fill in the blank with another word
that's not the real word in the title, okay?
- Okay.
- Ready? - Yeah.
- So instead of Save the Last Dance,
Save the Last blank.
- Save the Last Louboutin.
(laughing) (bell ringing)
- That's a good one!
I Think I Love My blank.
- (laughs) My Shih Tzu Yorkie.
(gasps)
(bell ringing) Her name's Josephine Baker.
- Hi Joseph--
No, you're joking.
- Yeah, Josie.
- Hi Josie! - We call her Josie,
but her real name is Josephine Baker.
- I love that!
- 'Cause she has a shimmy.
- Yes!
Little blank, not Little Man, but Little what?
- Little Badass. (bell ringing)
- (laughing) I love that!
Fantastic blank.
- Fantastic 10.
- Ooh, why Fantastic 10?
- I don't know! (laughing)
But it's a good number! (bell ringing)
- Just not four! - Yeah.
- And blank Unchained.
- Oh, My Heart Unchained.
- Ooh, Kerry! (bell ringing)
Unbreak my heart.
- Yeah, which is a Ray Charles song,
which is the other movie I did with Jamie,
so it kind of comes together. - Boom.
What do Shonda Rhimes, Jada Pinkett Smith,
Gabrielle Union-Wade, and Dwayne Wade all have in common?
- They were all producers of American Son.
- Yes! (bell ringing)
- Yeah. - Yes, can you take,
of the Broadway production, right?
- Yes, they were.
- Take me back to just the inception of that whole project.
Did you know that you were gonna be here
a few years later doing a movie for it?
- No, I mean, we shot the film right after the play closed,
so we closed the play
and then I think we had about five or six days off
and then we went straight into the film.
- [Terrell] Oh, wow.
- But I didn't, when I first read the play,
one of the producers sent it to me
and I thought, you know, Scandal had just ended,
all I wanted to do was take a nap,
I was not looking for another project,
particularly not theater,
which I think is like the hardest thing
to do with a character-- - Yes.
- And I read the play and I fell in love with it
and I knew I wanted to do it
and I knew I wanted to produce it and star in it,
and so I called a few friends like Shonda and Jada
and Gabrielle and Dwayne-- - And then put it together.
- And I, you know, people who I knew
would really care about the material.
There's this project I have found
that needs to be told-- - Yes!
- Like, this story has to be told.
We need to make, we need to give everybody
the opportunity to walk in the path
that this family is walking on
because this family and their experience is all too common,
this nightmarish wondering of, like,
is my child gonna be okay in the face of law enforcement?
It's a struggle that so many families are dealing with
and so, if it is your family,
we want to acknowledge that story
and give you a chance to see it
and know that you and your life and your existence matters
and it needs to be upheld in the canon.
And if it's not your story,
you need to spend 90 minutes with this family
to be able to understand what they're facing.
Really know this family and love this family
and know how important it is
to bring this family to the world
now globally thanks to Netflix
and so they all joined forces with me.
- I love that.
Though, you have some good friends!
- I do have some really special friends.
- That's amazing.
So, I read that you took a dance class
and J-Lo was your instructor,
which is an incredible story on its own.
- Not exactly.
- Oh, not exactly?
- So, I grew up in the same neighborhood as Jennifer.
And we went to the same Boys and Girls Club of America.
But and we had a dance teacher named Larry Maldonado,
God rest his beautiful soul,
and he got really sick at some point
and Jennifer, 'cause she's a teeny bit older than me,
was one of the bigger girls who used to substitute
and teach whenever Larry would get sick and leave.
- Wow.
- So I've taken dance classes with Jennifer
when I was an itty-bitty and she was pretty young.
- That's amazing.
And I bet she was slaying the game.
- Oh yeah, of course.
And I remember she had a big final dance concert with Larry,
they did a duet and then she was moving off to Los Angeles
to pursue her career. - Doin' her thing.
- And I used to finish my homework early on Sunday
so I could see her on In Living Color.
- Fly girl, wow. - Hey now.
- Oh my gosh.
And I think this is the last one!
Oh my God, how did we do that so fast?
Okay, name three films that Viola Davis
received an Oscar nomination for.
- Oh.
Oh gosh, she won for Fences, right?
- [Guy] Yes, she did!
Right, she had the one with Meryl, it's not Truth--
- About church. - It's, what is it?
- Doubt. - Doubt!
- Yes, yes! - What's that called?
The Help! - Yes, yes!
- Also a great book. - Yes!
- Yeah, yeah. (bell ringing)
- Kerry, you slayed this game.
- What?
I didn't slay it, but I-- - Yes, you did!
- I try to provide context
when I don't have the actual answers,
so that you at least know that I'm alive and thinking.
- (laughs) We'll cut around that,
and make you look real good, yes!
- (laughs) I hope so!
- Yes, again, I really cannot press this enough.
- What?
- Regardless if you're in the community of this family,
or if you, you know, experienced that before,
or you haven't experienced it,
you have to watch American Son.
It is a work of art. - Oh, thank you.
- And the entire time I was watching it, you know,
I grew up, obviously, as a black male in America,
and it can really happen to anybody, yes.
- I think, I mean, I think one of the reasons
why the film is so special
is because Jamal is black and white,
even though he identifies as black
and the world sees him as black.
Being that his father is white and his mother is black,
really means that he belongs to everybody.
- Yeah.
- And so, when this family is dealing with this issue,
it's not just a black story.
It is absolutely a black story
and this experience belongs to us,
but for me, the film is an invitation to all of us,
globally, regardless of age or race or gender
to understand that we have to love
all of our children as our own.
And we don't get to point a finger at black kids
and decide that that's somebody else's problem
or a certain kind of black kid
is somebody else's problem.
We have to look out for our young people
and we have to be to open our hearts
and see them as our own.
- American Son comes out November first on Netflix.
If you are not there, I don't know where you will be, okay?
But it ain't as important.
Thank you so much for being here.
- Thank you!
- And thank you for being on the inaugural episode
of Just 10 Seconds! - Hey!
(energetic jazz music)