Exclusive: John David Washington On Playing Ron Stallworth In Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansmanPosted by Wilson Morales
August 8, 2018
Hitting theaters Friday August 10 is Spike Lee’s highly anticipated biographical crime movie “BlacKkKlansman.” Based on the memoir by Ron Stallworth, the film was written and directed by Lee and produced by Jordan Peele (Get Out.)
In “BlacKkKlansman” we follow a black detective apart of the Colorado Springs police department, who heads a sting operation infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan in the 1970’s. Posing under the guise of a white supremacist over the phone, and through his white co-worker Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) Stallworth bravely aims to take down the hateful organization from the inside out.
The fascinating feature is led by John David Washington, (“Ballers”) in the role of detective Ron Stallworth, and the supporting cast also includes Laura Harrier as local BSU leader Patrice, Topher Grace as infamous KKK leader David Duke, and Corey Hawkins the late civil rights activist Kwame Ture.
For Washington, whose has been starring in HBO’s Ballers opposite Dwayne Johnson and is Denzel Washington’s son, this is a huge role for the former football player. Not only is this film a breakout role for him, but he also has two other films coming out soon, “Monsters” and “Monsters and Men.”
In an exclusive interview with Blackfilm.com, Washington talks about his experiences on the film, from getting the role, getting into character, and having his parents see the film and their reaction to his performance.
In playing Ron Stallworth, who is still alive, how did you get into character?
John David Washington: Well, my way in was understanding the times, the decade that he decided … even before he decided to become a police officer, but his lifespan, like where he was in ’65 to ’78, because I had to understand those times anyway. So my way in was music. I eliminated all hip hop and R&B from my diet for about almost three months. I was just totally immersed in the time period and really wanted to understand what it was like and try to live like it as well and get the vernacular and the slang, as they called it jive back then, and seeing … and I got to do that through movies as well. What I would do now, if I was this age then, what would I be doing, listening to? What movies would I be going to see? Where would I live? All of that even before meeting Ron, but that really helped, and then I was getting great insight from Spike and from a lot of friends, and my uncles and mentors.
Allen Hughes gave me a playlist and told me a lot about those times, him working on Dead Presidents and all, and Lenny Kravitz hooked me up with a playlist, who’s a family friend, and John McClain, my uncle, runs Marvin Gaye Studios. He just unloaded all kinds of information and karate films and I put some of that into the film, because I would have been into kung fu movies. I’m into them anyway, but just at those times, I was totally … for some reason, our culture really took to that culture and that genre of films. So all of that was in that sort of gumbo before even Ron Stallworth, I got to meet him. Obviously I read the book and was watching interviews online, but then I got to meet him and it all came full circle.
How did this role come to you? Did you audition for it or did Spike come to you saying, “I want you to play this role”?
John David Washington: Yeah, I got a text. I mean, Spike wanted me to call him. I don’t talk to Spike Lee on the regular… I don’t have him on speed dial. I don’t even have his number, you know what I mean? So I was still sort of surprised. I call him and he’s telling me about this man who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan, and I’m like, “All right, so this is sort of in the spirit of Dave Chapelle, I guess,” and comedy was involved, so we’re gonna do a little skit bit. I get it. I’m curious to read it. He just told me about a book instead of the script, though, and he said it was a true story. I couldn’t believe it. I read the book, I called him back, and I told him, “This is the most incredible thing I’ve ever heard of. This really happened, man. This is true.” And he said, “Yeah.” And I was like, “Oh man, this is great, Spike.” He’s like, “Yeah, see you this summer.” Click. That was it.
This is a big lead role for you. You’re the center of this movie. At any point in time, was this presenting a challenge for you as an actor as you’re growing into this business?
John David Washington: It was a great time. These are the sort of roles that frighten you. Those challenges is what you want. You want to be able to stretch the muscle, and it was a great opportunity for me to be able to show … to diversify the portfolio, to show another layer of truth telling, and honestly, I don’t think I’d do this role if Spike Lee wasn’t telling it. This is the kind of story that’s so delicate, tonally it has to be specific and have to be handled by a master filmmaker, and this is Spike Lee’s backyard, this sort of film. I loved how the film is not suggestive. He doesn’t point at the bad guy. He doesn’t point at a moral. He doesn’t highlight or celebrate necessarily or throw in your face the humanity part and the whole buddy cop thing is a natural feel between Adam and I. It was the natural flow of story.
So again, all those elements that you could easily take as low hanging fruit and just sort of dramatize or overly present, he didn’t. That means that took a lot of trust from Spike Lee, a lot of trust for his performers, which I appreciate, and it gave me this courage and confidence that I didn’t realize I needed but got from it, and from them on, it was on.
You’re practically in almost every scene with mostly all of the actors. How was that for you working and establishing that chemistry between you and Adam Driver, you and John Burke, you and Laura Harrier? And on and on.
John David Washington: I mean, with the actors you’re naming … Paul, even the guys on the Klan side … everybody is so good. A movie with fantastic actors, actors that I was very excited for people to see and this industry to see. There’s some people out here that can go, that can really act. So I just sort of had to jump in the passenger seat with Adam, with Topher, with Laura, with Bob, with Ken, with Mike. It was a fluid expression. Again, the environment that was created by Spike Lee made it that much easier and freeing to go and try things and to really trust your partner and just trust the elements and the design that we’re in, that we’re really in the 70s and we’re really doing this, authentic. I mean, Corey Hawkins, what he did. He channeled that spirit of Kwame (Ture). Topher channeled the spirit of David (Dukes). Laura channeled the spirit of many women of those times representing them for the cause. So it was easy when you … not easy, but it made me very comfortable seeing and being a part of this cast.
Your parents were there the New York premiere. Was that the first time they were seeing the movie?
John David Washington: Yeah, my mom is my biggest fan. She’s seen it a couple times. She’s seen everything I’ve been in, so she was very proud. That’s the first time my dad had seen it and my dad hasn’t really seen all my work. That was the first time he had seen my work really, and I got some very positive responses from him, which I couldn’t believe. They both have different love languages and they had the same love language that night. It was a special night.
When you do a movie like this, and you also have Monster and Monster and Men coming out, all of those three films incorporate what’s happening with the government system. As we’re approaching the one year anniversary of what happened in Charlottesville last year, what do you bring to the table when you talk about the film? How do you walk away from this or what do you take away from this movie as you go on in your career?
John David Washington: It was really the process of all those films will never leave me. It was life changing. A sociopath from Jersey I play in Monster, but I did two weeks in Newark and got to meet some people that some of these people don’t have a chance. They don’t stand a chance against what they’re up against, the nature of the neighborhoods, and it’s an uphill battle, but there’s a lot of people that do want the best for themself. They want better for themselves. They don’t have the resources. I got to go visit a couple schools and talk to some principals, and they were saying how we can get them to school and they’re good, it’s that walk home. It’s the elements they’ve gotta face when they go home, those streets that they’ve gotta walk when they go home, and there’s high recruitment, and sometimes you just get picked. You get drafted into the streets. And unfortunately, that becomes your new school. That becomes the way you learn life, unfortunately, and once you’re in the system, it’s hard to dig yourself out. It becomes so normal. It becomes just a way of living. I got to visit Judge Pratt in Jersey and she showed me the cases. There’s some people though that definitely did need to be locked up.
But those are the people I drew from. Again, the victims. You wonder about what happened to them as a kid, and it seemed, being on the other side of the law, being with police officers, police officers that look like me … Ron Stallworth, that looked like me … to their side of the story and their perspective until I got to ride with them and talk to them. I spent a lot of time and I feel for them and I encourage anybody who’s in law enforcement that they’re doing their job the right way to be proud of these movies, to know that you are represented. It’s a thankless job, the ones that are doing it right. They don’t get the credit they deserve and I wanted to make sure I did that for them, to tell it accurately and as true as possible and to show everybody, and myself included when I learned that information, that there are men and women doing their job out there that look like us and we should not have to make them choose brown, black, or blue. They’re for the cause as we are. They’re protecting us and serving us like they’re supposed to.
What can we expect from you in this season’s Ballers coming up?
John David Washington: A man trying to be mature, trying to do the right thing and failing miserably.
Clip – The President
Clip – Undercover
Clip – America First
