Fight Night Q&A (Kevin Hart, Terrence Howard, Taraji P. Henson, Samuel L. Jackson and Don Cheadle).

[Applause] I'm and I know y just watch the first episode I did not going to open that door yeah but I'm also the good stuff is about to happen um are you guys excited for episode two are you excited to meet this a plus plus plus absolutely honored to leave the conversation today with your fellow colleagues the actors for zag a foundation so without further Ado let's please welcome Mr Terrence [Applause] Howard thank you thank you for enjoying the last hour of our work I don't hope I don't get trouble for saying this but I have to say it Sam [Applause] Jackson Mr wow and of course Chicken Man himself Mr Kevin har hello hello hello [Applause] hello welcome you I think we have some fans in the house for the first episode of fight night which is streaming now on peacock yes so because we're in the house that sag AF built and I love the opening bit of the SAG actor the SAG Awards where the actors answer I am an actor because so starting with you Kevin can you share when you discovered your love for the stage can I share when I discovered my love for the stage um a love appreciation admiration came from watching uh Eddie Murphy and you know the early um and just watching the transformation from comedian to movie star regga star Etc and you know I think the the want to somehow get the opportunity to get there that's what that's what it started so Eddie Murphy for sure um that's interesting I my family tells me that I was you know trying to be an actor for longer than I can remember I think I was just a knucklehead just a fo just acted out lot feel like you better be an actor cuz that's the only way that shit's going to work for you so I don't I don't really remember when you know it it it it it started but I know that it kind of really congealed for me when I was in high school uh I had a really good uh theater teacher and we wrote plays and you know we read all the classics and we worked on a lot of different stuff and then I went to California Institute of the Arts and continued my studying and once I graduated I did a lot of theater and it just you know was a snowball that kept rolling [Applause] downhill when did you first admire Don I'm an because I wanted to get out of the hood no that's I was I probably had ADHD when I was a kid but there was no diag you know what I no I digress I was just a very special child had a lot of energy I was um rambunctious and I'm just grateful to God that I had Educators in my life that knew how to funnel and channel that um energy because I didn't go we didn't have money so I didn't go to private school I couldn't I didn't know about art schools you know we in a hood and so I went to the public school and God just placed angels in my life and I remember the first time it was Kindergarten that I've been put in a graduation and I I sang I I did something cuz I was very loud kid and I did something and the audience laughed and I oh that's power happened again in the fifth grade when you used to beat your ass in school being bad I us always get spank in my hand by St rulers and my fifth grade teacher Miss tired of spanking me and she put me on the stage and I every time that kept happening happened to get in the seventh grade then got to high school and I didn't get into Duke Ellington School in Fine Arts and I thought that meant I couldn't act so I made a detour went and tried to take up electrical engine she said when I had to tell you when I haven't gotten here yet why because because the universe kept putting me in these places that's not how I wanted to end it I'll tell you guys on my live later Sam is a [Laughter] hater Mr Jackson I am an actor because it's what helped me to survive the life that um I was placed in this on this planet um when I was a child I stuttered I stuttered very badly I pretended to be a person who did not stutter and it changed everything so I learned to act in a very early age and it was part of my survival and it's been part of my survival ever since um I'm I want to be an actor um oh well I guess I am an actor but I want to be a good actor but I I became an actor because I watched my great grandmother mini Gentry yes who did who Sam worked with and have known I've known Sam since I was eight years old I thought you were AC but my great grandmother she did a play called ain't supposed to die a natural death and I got to watch that performance and put on yes she put curs on that audience there's a magic that she did and there was a captivating nature of it and I wanted to know how to harness that magic I wanted to know what that power was and so I dove into acting and became an actor so I could know that that taboo world you so that's why I'm here Shing your origin story Fight Night is a story of a story night in Atlanta History that was widely unknown until now so how did you go about playing these real life characters to be authentic um because I know a lot of them have passed on Are any are any of them living not chicken man chicken is so what did you do to make it I'll start with you Kevin um being that you are the star and executive producer uh what did you do to make sure that this was going to be a story told authentically uh I I think the biggest thing of course was just educating yourself from the story there was a podcast that was done that was extremely informative um and also we had great show Runners great producers um and great directors that were really a part of the early stages of collaboration when we were talking about how to address the character and you know where we wanted to fall and we want to operate off of so it it wasn't just you know my decision and my decision only um it was a collaborative effort of of how we can make the character as ground as possible and you know not come off um cartoonish in any way you know make should balance the comedian of it all with the seriousness of chicken man's life's this spal road down you um and with these roles um you guys are an amazing cast I know a lot of stories have come out it's like a reunion but talk to me about being on set was it easy or hard um working together being reunited well I I I'll take that because I actually have worked with everybody up here uh prior to this um series and I was really excited to get back in the in the sandbox with everybody and you know making show making everything is hard it's hard to bring all this stuff into fruition and to push it out to really do what it takes to to to hold the line and make sure that you're you're doing it with integrity and it's it's like trying to you know control an explosion that's happening as it's going or trying to build a bridge as you're driving over it it's always that and so uh as Kevin said we had a really good production team and and you can see in the show that you know hair makeup the set de design you know the cars the props everything helped us to kind of be grounded and feel we were really where we were so we could just you know get into the characters and and do the acting but yeah I think I think it's always hard I think it's it's always a struggling these two people right here can attested that um producers uh that we have but [Music] yeah us realize this and what um and anyone can jump in ask what was the personal research that you did for your character especially being that you know they're no longer exist well it you know it's great because there's footage of JD Hudson uh the podcast that Kevin mentioned you he talks a lot he speaks a lot through it so um there was a lot of stuff to dig into and people who knew him you know so uh I was fortunate in that way that I had a lot of uh research material to deal with but you know Shay who who wrote it created it uh that's the Bible and that's what we really take our cues from you know this version of this story this is based on a true story it's not 100% true story but a lot of the uh the groundedness comes from what we had to work with you you can answer that let us all talk yeah Prett much speaker agent we got a gig what's [Music] that dealer oh after that what about you for video um she was Loosely based so for me I just asked the question why until I reached the answers um you know I love taking on period pieces cuz it's like going back in time you know you can try to dream about it but it's actually you get all the props and all the things you need to really be there um and I like it because you get to switch up the tempo your Rhythm the way you move through the univers is very different the way we move back the way they moved back in the same well born just a baby we just got here but you know what I mean the Rhythm and the tempo and the way people talk and the 70s is my favorite era because it's the fashion you know I love to put an afro oil in a bell bottle you know um so for me it's the why it's the who that's all I do is I ask why why did she say it like that why is it why why is she with Chien you know why did she choose this life because life is Choice driven I get to her choices and just want to St with you for one more moment cuz you know you played an arconic character Cookie from [Applause] Empire but when you saw Vivan what was your what was your thought process to make sure that you were not going to play her light absolutely so um um she had some cookie isms no she had a lot of cookie isms but for me it's how for me I'm always interested in how someone stands up for themselves right or not right um let's take a character that I played before like Katherine Johnson she was a very strong woman but in a very different way hers was in numbers and her strength was cereal she was very smart so that's how she used her strength you know she was very um wow a moment of why yall here somebody looking for you you have been wasting your time with us lost my train of thought cookie cookie cookie and I made a difference because cookie cookie wears her heart on the sleeve she's going to tell you exactly you going to know exactly how she feels about you Catherine Johnson would never you know Vivan operates in the world of men she's no punk but there's a special way she have to speak up for herself you women you know how we have to operate in a in a sex brother I had no issues but I'm just saying you know especially when you're doing business when there's business involved numbers money um drugs numbers illegal you know there's a certain way you have to you can't be emotional you know you have to keep your your emotions in check poper face if you want to get things done you know and that's the difference between she said she wanted to stay with me for a minute interruped like I don't my bad I would like to relegate five minutes of my time you want to say you see what I'm saying I'm [Applause] cookie I think we why y'all stay that's why y'all stay right you already go home get back on your yach okay okay to back to um Sam um on the carpet last night uh both will Packer and Shay mentioned that you were the de facto researcher uh for Friday night because you were in Atlanta when this happened you and latan you were married near there why was it important for you to speak up uh and let the cast know and and the creators to know what needed to stay real and what wasn't I'm bother in the cast I just I I wanted to tell the people who were in charge uh who had an obligation to depict Atlanta in a particular way and know that people in Atlanta are going to watch this thing and they're going to have a different idea of what's real and what's not real as opposed to the general populist of America watching it and yes the show can be black black be black but you know there's things that got to be right you know pascals has to be right Pascal can't be like a chicken joint like Chick-fil-A Pascal was a full on blackowned Hotel restaurant nightclub you know people had uh Hunter Street was a vibrant black business Street in Atlanta in the 70s that with businesses and newspapers and insurance companies and all kinds of things going on there's a reason that Frank thought Atlanta was about to explode there's a reason that Chien understood Atlanta had this was pregnant with possibility CU he knew it so all these things when I talked to them about what Atlanta was when I was there when I got there in 66 through the 70s when this fight happened and people got robbed and things happened you know and then people you know naturally in the black community the robbery became way bigger than the robbery was it was a big deal and that was a lot of money taken but you know the the the the the get blew it all up you know bab bab lost $2 million up in there and so and so got her F coat took it take take it you know you know she can neing in the street chanw so all this kind of stuff happened to inflate the story and it was our job to go in there and take the facts that were already there and to put meat on the bones of the fantasy that people put out there I mean even like you know my character me Frank Frank Frank's a Frank's a serious gangster and he does things you know and I had to convince myself to do things that I know Frank Molton the person probably wouldn't do I mean I wouldn't kill people in front of this boy he a g he's scared to be there but I could threaten him and say if you tell somebody I kill somebody but if he told him oh I was actually sitting there watching him when he blew dud brains out that's a whole another set of circumstances so I had to do things that made Frank go out of Frank was because he was so enraged about what was going on around him but you make those choices as an actor because those choices need to be made for the people who are going to watch it to invest themselves in who their character is oh I W with him you know but also know that he's smart enough to have a vision for Atlanta and he's trying to get out of that business in that particular way so that he can gain respect and fulfill the prophecy that his grandparents had given him about what that land means to us and what we invested in it and what we need to get out of it so you take those chances but um Atlanta this story is about Atlanta yeah the robber is you know a catalyst for what it was but this was about people who were in Atlanta trying to get someplace else out of Atlanta he TR to fix the police department for him and his kind you know my wife's cousin was one of those first 28 cops who were in Atlanta he dressed at the wi because they couldn't dress at at the precinct and he became the police chief of the man el bell at a certain point uh and man trying to do this thing for his family because he understands that I'm more than just a numbers guy I know how to get things done I collect people he's a people person he could end up being that sener who was not a people person he was just crook like everybody else you know and Frank has this whole thing that his grandparents have told him you got to take care of the legacy of what we put into this land that's our blood that's in this land so make it that so everybody's trying to do something to make that particular place what they think is going to be and it's become that and it was a hard choice I mean a hard task for them to shoot Atlanta without showing Atlanta as it has become but if you go into the hood Atlanta it looks the same as it did in the 70s those same black houses where the robbery happened and where my wife grew up around the corner from that house where they got robbed those were houses that belonged to teachers and doctors and and and all these professionals and K Heights that was like the the wooi neighborhood for everybody you know and it still looks the same even though it's not the same stature of what it used to be but you can go in there and do it and leave those skyscrapers and stuff cuz Atlanta's growing up and it grew out first cuz now you ask people you know where you from they say oh from Atlant said oh where where you live Mara no that's that's not you know so it's grown out to a point it's now got to grow up cuz people coming to that place like everybody predicted in that mood Hollywood Sou [Applause] not to be interruped get my was important Terence um as Pac Richie uh not only do you have uh some of the best Swag On Film but I also heard the red poet from your hairdresser that you were instrumental in how you wanted your hair to look so tell us about how important it is that you get the costume right well for me I didn't have any pictures of Cadillac Richie there was no um there's very few pictures or anything out there regarding him so I had the Liberty um to expand on or embellish what I thought he would be you know his father having worked for Frank for many years and him being a collegate Allstar with with baseball um him having a sense of money and pride so I was like okay he has a bit of flare to him you know and then I was born with the genetic Coincidence of symmetry you know [Laughter] that I was like bro so what I wanted to do I figured I I figured Farah got her hair from somebody and got hair from someone so since a lot of our culture has been adapted into other cultures I just made the natural leap that he had these flowing locks it worked cuz the moment I put them on it felt wonderful and I had to call Craig and I was like Craig can I do um Fair faucet hair was like I don't know and they called the producers and everybody was okay and Mona made the wig and the moment I put that wig on kind of like Richie t a lot so it was done after that as producer you know very well much more than anyone that whatever whatever is on the page needs to go on the stage but you have an emble of Masters here and I'm sure their intuition you have to allow them to go off script even yourself but when do you know to take that risk to let them do something that isn't scripted well you don't say nothing to them you there's no words you said uh ever there's no level of control that any producer has with Talent of this caliber you're bringing this Talent to the project because you want the talent to do what they do and you know the choices that they make are nine times out of 10 or 10 out of 10 always going to be the right choices um and they understand what's at state which is we want to make an amazing project we all want to have something that we're extremely proud of um nobody here is a is a i Sport player they're not for self so with that being said every scene started with a conversation about the scene we're talking about what we want to establish who we want to accomplish and what the best way to get there and all questions are asked and they're answered and then we move on about our day so um it doesn't get more professional than what you're looking at and the success attached to the resume is there because they know they're doing this is this is a plus Plus+ plus plus plus plus and then then done so I think the best way [Music] to it was too nice I just couldn't leave it there I know you can't I can't say something Jesus we're g to go back and start with teren and come this way but I'm want to ask you all because you again all masters of the craft a lot of the cast members that aren't here are um are new they're just getting their SE legs and the in the industry so what were the things that you told them the most um cuz I'm sure a lot of them are Star Struck and acting uh against your caliber of talent so Terence well I shared with u like miles Bullock who doesn't need any advice he's just a brilliant young man and Brilliant actor he played um Cadillac I'm not not yeah he Willie black he played Willie black and it has such a powerful presence but I talked to Dexter and a few of them and I remed them the same things that Richard dfus told me years ago um he said only one person is going to walk away with the frame I'm not going to let you take the frame away from me and don't you let me take the frame away from you you fight for that frame with everything you got and then you have a wonderful performance at the end of it so I share that you know just you battle to the very end for that friend yeah but but I mean like half of the choices that I made in this in this four Cadillac Richie Sam would whisper and be like go go through this and I'm picking up I'm like no I'm going to listen to this fight for the frame but that's how you fight for it you build up your player build everybody up and then now everybody's on a Level Playing Field and you swing with the best thing you got and lots of times you knock folks out and then sometimes people slip you with something you know so we're all battling for the frame me and taji have been been at War for three decades we want the weed War te well we've been in so many Productions and have worked off of each other and every day you just try and build up the next person build up the next thing I was just explaining to Don that he did something in the episode that blew me away because I thought he had lost it by making a choice and then he came around and did something later on that I had no expectation he would do so it's that trough of experience that somebody's able to pull up and the building up from each other so it's it's really a collaborative effort that what we do it's an ensemble and it should remain an ensemble and at the end of the day there is going to be a star from it but everybody should fight for that frame [Applause] don't listen um for me you know um I show up I show up uh when it's time for me to be on set I try to be in there you know as soon as I can possibly be in there um I go in there I do the rehearsal um I look the other actors in the eye and you know trying and try and uh tell the truth uh and as the Young are there you know I treat them with the respect of you know veterans I don't act like they're you know young actors I just I just I just go at them like I'm supposed to go at them and gently into the actor space that okay give me the best you got let me hear what that is okay and if you respect me as a veteran or you know people people always give me that whole legend like I'm just an actor in here trying to do something with you you know and if you give me what you got I'm going to give what I have and if it's not enough I'm going to ask you for some more you know and if you believe me don't be afraid to come and you know give it to me um cuz I want it cuz I can only get better I can only be as good as you are in the midst of this you know of us telling this story together uh and that's how I like to be so I work by example I show up I hit my marks I say my lines I give the other people the space they need to do what they need to do and let them watch me do that and understand that you know no actor is better than the other actor that's in here you know if you got three Lin or [Music] gotes I can only work by example and even if I don't talk to them or they come to me later and go oh man that was amazing I go you know I'm enjoying watching you work I want to encourage him or pull him in well when I saw him last night at the premiere cuz you work with everybody I didn't work with all those young actors but I watched all the episodes so when I saw them I made sure to let them know hey I believe you I love you thank you for doing what [Applause] you that exactly everything Sam said because he's not going to let me say what I say I literally I'm the example you know um they I have questions I answer um you know I get a lot of uh it was the young lady Theresa what's Teresa's last name Celeste Celeste Teresa Celeste I thought did amazazing job she was my right hand with the big afro what was her character name again Max Max Max she great job um and she's very new and I just remember having I like to tell them a little bit behind the business stuff because what happens is when you first start you're so happy to be there you're just so happy to have a call sheet and tell your mom and your family what channel you're going to be on um and so you know I'm always trying to prevent them from taking the wrong thing making the wrong choices like I did you know um and so I'm always you know stressing who's your team you know are they fighting for you are they are they bringing you jobs or are they answering phones taking 5% so I had to start to think like that and I'm like what else do you want to do it can't be just acting we're the weakest link are you building a brand what happen happens when a strike comes next year what you going to do are you going to be ready what else you got stop wait stop waiting for somebody to open up build your own door like we've all done and maybe you open a door for somebody else like we've all done up here so that's usually my [Music] messaging for me it it kind of depends on who they are because if if they're close to my type I try to tell them things that will S I try to sabotage them it's not that there's not that many RS up here guys and if you're good looking I really go out uh I mean no um I I I did have the opportunity to work with Dexter D who played Le um we were together a lot and we had a lot of scenes uh together and were offset a lot of times together you know went to dinner went to lunch a lot and just hung out a lot and Miles bu and squa um spend a lot spend a lot of time with those guys too and it it is you know as you said there's a level of you know wide eyess about them and they're saying you've been in this for this long OG and you done this long what's like what's this like and and again I I I I feel like r s all of us up here I think there's a generos and and uh you know we're we're I admire them too and admire their grind and and do try to pull their coat about certain things about the business and certain pitfalls and traps that we may have fallen fallen into to to look out for and make sure that you are uh watching your own back I tell every writer I tell every actor to write to try to be a writer you know read as much as you can write if you can um it just helps with everything to understand story uh to make your own way potentially you know I've written a movie that I've produced and directed so there's don't don't just sit around and be inactive and keep your hand out I think just working begets work just digging into so that's what that's you know that's what I tell him I just try to be a good h i I mean it's it's very hard onside the lines of what was said because it's all true I think for me it's just more of a level set um you know when you hear the stories of like acting jobs that became War zones because people didn't get along with some people showed up treated this person or talked to this person this way um I personally don't know how those rooms exist I've never been involved in one because I believe in a level set so how you show up uh and how you respond or engage is is what people n times out 10 follow suit on right and if we are the leads and we are the examples of aist or you know whatever you would refer to as as well we got a job to do and our job is to set a tone for that younger generation that is in this project to show them what professionalism and great energy looks like and they'll feed off of it so I look at this project is one of those projects where you can see it but time being passed in real time like you just heard about a lot of the young that is involved in fight night but that's the future of this business that's the that's the future presentation and culture um that we have and that we're going to be leaning on and looking at so to say that we work with them and that we were a part of the early stages of their career is dope it's a dope thing to tell them that they're the future to tell them that understand your moment make the most of these moments and don't look at any of them as small stages they're all big they're all great opportunities continue to maximize to go forth that energy is dope because they leave with a great understanding of who you are and they then transfer that energy in the projects after to who they work with because they saw it here so I learned a lot from watching how they approach their job I'm a sponge still at this stage in my career and you voed that so um information feeds off the information and I think to everybody's point that we just made it's about giving information but more importantly is just setting the tone and being a good person when you're a good person who loves what you do people will see that respond to that and follow suit so that's what we all are examples of and that's what we did and I think that's why we got the result in the project from the younger Talent tell to stay a good writer you have to read more and you have to write more so as actors what do you do to stay sharp what do you have to do daily cocaine yeah what did she say d did she say what did you say how do we keep it sharp oh how do you keep sharp sharp sharp you just you spoke on you said writing it helped you do stor what they do daily I just hire sharp people I don't I don't do it keep you you hire sharp people uh oh I think to practicing your craft uh comes with a daily routine of some sort in the beginning right like what are you doing to work on your craft uh some people study some people have active coaches so people take classes um for us reading material watching material those are ways to keep your mind sharp um and keep you in the place where you're engaged and aware of what's going on in the craft that you're partaking in so for me it's just the practice it's the practice it's the routine um and it's putting myself in environment to always be around it so stand up comedy of course is my first weapon of mass destruction uh I can say because of stand up comedy interviewing hosting journalism radios there's so much that you can do that just keeps you in the space of talking engaging so that when you do go on set you're never starting over you don't never want to feel like you got to get back on the bike and slow again uh you always want to feel like you're at the top of your game so continue to work on a craft and answer what that is for you when you know your craft in our place it's writing reading uh watching and I would honestly say really it's it's also taking care of your instrument you know really really taking care of yourself we do c you want to make it that's how you make it you be careful about they cut yes be careful get the good that's not on is it are they recording that wait a second Jesus Christ yeah we didn't know that they were recording this Jesus we're finished we're finished oh my God okay thank I'm so sorry [Applause] streaming please audience stay in your seats while this Stellar cast makes their ex thank you all [Applause] got