{"id":72187,"date":"2015-06-06T13:25:28","date_gmt":"2015-06-06T13:25:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/0de2709a84.nxcli.net\/0-kjasnb\/2015\/06\/06\/joseph-sikora-and-naturi-naughton-talk-powers-season-2\/"},"modified":"2018-12-18T03:44:53","modified_gmt":"2018-12-18T03:44:53","slug":"joseph-sikora-and-naturi-naughton-talk-powers-season-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.blackfilm.com\/read\/joseph-sikora-and-naturi-naughton-talk-powers-season-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Joseph Sikora And Naturi Naughton Talk Power\u2019s Season 2"},"content":{"rendered":"

Joseph Sikora And Naturi Naughton Talk Power\u2019s Season 2\u00a0<\/strong>Posted by Brad Balfour<\/p>\n

June 6, 2015<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

Actors Naturi Naughton<\/strong> and Joseph Sikora<\/strong> are the tough side in both seasons of Power<\/strong>. The 31-year-old Naughton plays Tasha, the hard-edged wife of drug baron turned club owner James \u201cGhost\u201d St. Patrick, who has been at his side as he\u2019s struggled to get to the top. And she\u2019ll be damned if she\u2019ll lose him now even though he\u2019s in throes of passionate affair and an effort to go straight.<\/p>\n

As an East Orange, NJ, native, the diminutive Naughton has the natural smarts to both play into the character but also her lend nuance and vulnerability, qualities that she has possessed as both an actress (in Fame, The Playboy Club, and Notorious, among others ) and as a singer, particularly as one of the R&B trio 3LW.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/a><\/p>\n

Chicago-born Sikora plays Tommy Egan, Ghost\u2019s old buddy whose been his right-hand man, a toughened white guy in an urban world where he\u2019s fought to be tougher than everyone else in order to succeed. Now he won\u2019t relent as Ghost tries to get out of the trade even while forces conspire to pull him in deeper or get him busted.<\/p>\n

The 38-year-old actor has had years of experience in televison dramas (Law & Order: SVU, ER, Grey’s Anatomy, Criminal Minds, Without a Trace, CSI: Miami, Prison Break, Lost and Dollhouse) as well as such films as Shutter Island, Safe and Jack Reacher to manage both Tommy\u2019s conflicted mind-set.<\/p>\n

During a recent roundtable held at the Park Hyatt, the two teamed up to explain before a small group of journalists, how much they share in creating these characters who both propel the series forward and have to react to the lead characters\u2019 conflicts.<\/p>\n

Season 2 of Power airs on June 6 at 9pm on Starz.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

When we met you last season you were a genteel, sweet young man, just as you are today. How do you psych yourself up to get into this intense character?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Joseph Sikora:<\/strong> I grew up in the city of Chicago [where] I did get a lot of street education in my life, so I have been in front of the people that are very close to who Tommy was, men with depth in their eyes, right? Time and again.<\/p>\n

I was an amateur boxer for seven and a half years, so I know how to work with these two. So there\u2019s certain aspects of Tommy that are alive in me that I bring to the character, that are there. I also was, , an angry enough young man, as many urban young men are, and I think that now that I\u2019ve given that up, which is not easy to walk away from stuff, and as Tommy, I don\u2019t have to.<\/p>\n

So I think that you find stuff that you\u2019re able to dig inside yourself. One of the great things that people don\u2019t give enough credit to is that ability to pretend. And if you\u2019re a good actor you have a good imagination and pretend really well.<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

And Naturi, you look so sweet here as well, but then you\u2019re the one hiding the gun for Ghost and doing all this and that. Where do you find your inner bad ass.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Naturi Naughton:<\/strong> I\u2019m always playing a gangster, I don\u2019t know why. I don\u2019t know why! But, I love playing this character of Tasha. I think the dichotomy is that you just find what\u2019s real in yourself and bring a little bit of that to the character \u2014 but Tasha\u2019s definitely a lot more daring and risqu\u00e9 [than me].<\/p>\n

She does some things that I wouldn\u2019t do, but I definitely feel I can connect to her, so I\u2019m not that drastically different. Maybe Naturi\u2019s a little bit more demure, sweet, not as wild, but I definitely enjoy getting the permission to be a little bit of a bad girl. She definitely has the permission to go there, and I don\u2019t get to do that in my real life, so it\u2019s fun.<\/p>\n

As an actress, is that something that you purposely pick out to do in your roles?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> No! I was Lil Kim, legally and haphazardly.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve seen a lot of you\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> You\u2019ve seen a lot of me? Literally? [Laughs]\n

And you always play these bad girl characters\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> I never seek out that intentionally. Lil Kim came to me in a really very surprising haphazard way. I was just auditioning, I actually thought I had the worst audition I ever had, I couldn\u2019t even rap that well. I totally felt like I blew it, and then I got a callback. I was like, \u201cOh really?\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s so much happens with actors. We just don\u2019t know what they see in us, and sometimes you\u2019re just being yourself. So to me, I don\u2019t seek out, \u201cOh, I\u2019ve got to play this bad girl or I\u2019m going to prove that I\u2019m this sexy\u2026\u201d I actually just seek out realness and vulnerability in characters.<\/p>\n

Tasha might be strong and she\u2019s a good woman, but she comes from a street background. but I just think she\u2019s vulnerable, she\u2019s in love with her husband, and she\u2019s still a real woman. She may not do everything that everybody out there might think is permissible, but she\u2019s somebody who wants to be loved by her husband. She doesn\u2019t want to be cheated on; she wants to take care of her family and kids. That\u2019s real!<\/p>\n

So I can connect to the authenticity of the character. And whether they\u2019re gangsters, whether they\u2019re sexy, whether they\u2019re crazy. I think we just try to find what\u2019s honest and play it.<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Joseph, 50 actually compared your character to Eminem. What do you think about that?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> How did he compare them? That\u2019s a pretty blanket statement, I doubt he just said, \u201cHe looks like Eminem\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n

No, he didn\u2019t say you looked like him.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> So then what did he say?<\/p>\n

Basically it\u2019s Tommy\u2019s immersion into the urban culture\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"PWS2_203_102014_0498.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Let me guess, he said it\u2019s like Eminem in D-12, so like somebody who grew up in a black environment where had to prove himself.<\/p>\n

He didn\u2019t actually cite D-12, but basically you\u2019re immersed in a culture that\u2019s authentic to who you are.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Let me help you out. I don\u2019t think that\u2019s an incorrect comparison. So you see somebody like Em who grew up, , at least very influenced by Black culture and Black culture within close proximity, and then his crew being predominantly Black, and then him kind of emerging as the best of them all, so I\u2019ll take that [laughs].<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_201_092414_0522.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

It was meant as a compliment.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> I know, I know! I wasn\u2019t calling you out, putting you on the spot, I just wanted to see how red you could get.<\/p>\n

How much fun is it playing this crazy role? You\u2019re the modern-day hitman go-getter, that type of thing.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> I\u2019m going to steal Naturi\u2019s word in saying [I have] the permission. Within the character of Tommy, I\u2019m really given the permission to go from zero to 60, and go very extreme. It adds to the dynamism of the character, because he\u2019s a goofball at the same time. But he\u2019s not meaning to be funny, he\u2019s just kind of silly in some of those ways.<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I think I was saying to 50 that to me, that\u2019s reflective, sometimes, of stuff in hip hop. I remember listening to LL Cool J that \u201cI\u2019m Bad,\u201d like, \u201cI\u2019m gonna crush you like a jellybean, \u2018cause I\u2019m bad,\u201d and\u2026 Alright. So, I think that juxtaposition of all that is, is valid within Tommy and plays to a lot of different levels. So I have a great time [with the character].<\/p>\n

In this world, where a white male is thought of as a person who has it a little more made, if a woman succeeds in Power, or if someone who\u2019s mixed-race succeeds, they have succeeded through 10 times more skill. And with your characters, within that framework of success, each one has to be 10 times more at it than anyone else, to stay on top of it. Then there\u2019s the reverse for Tommy who has to be badder than anyone else to succeed. So both have success but having more skills.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Spot on. I had to be tougher, I had to be in that neighborhood. I had to work 10 times harder to get the cred of that.<\/p>\n

And you\u2019re playing you character in the same way. You\u2019re the wife of the alpha male and you\u2019ve got to be — and then you\u2019re being challenged so you have to be on it more.<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> Yeah, I think being the woman and — especially because a lot of people assume that the wife is going to be the naive one who doesn\u2019t know about the drug business, the one that\u2019s kind of like, \u201cGet out of the game, honey\u201d \u2014 Tasha definitely is not what you would expect her to be, especially in episode one. She\u2019s like, \u201cYou\u2019re the biggest goddamn drug dealer in New York City, and that\u2019s sexy and I want you to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s kind of the relationship, that Bonnie and Clyde dynamic that they\u2019ve always had, but it\u2019s hard being a woman and people of course assume that you\u2019re just going to be this sweet damsel in distress. But she\u2019s just as hard, just as much a go-getter, just as cutthroat. She\u2019s telling Ghost how to cut up a body in Episode Two of Season One. She\u2019s like, \u201cYou know what we did back in the day? That\u2019s what we\u2019re going to do right now.\u201d I wouldn\u2019t cross Tasha either if I were you, for sure.<\/p>\n

But for you to compete, you\u2019ve really got to be on it, to compete within that community.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Yeah, and with Ghost I keep trying to remind him what they react to in this kind of environment. And that is immediate force, rather than — as he\u2019s trying to consistently go — but I\u2019m too extreme. I\u2019m trying to go with too much force, just straight to the violence, and we saw that that did not necessarily work out well in season one.<\/p>\n

But then Ghost is trying to be too — what do I want to say? What\u2019s that s-word I\u2019m trying to use\u2026? Yeah, strategic, and like, he\u2019s got too much savvy, he\u2019s working it like that. That\u2019s not going to work. That\u2019s not going to be responded to well because people are going to start\u2026 We need to be in this position of power, otherwise we\u2019re not going to be respected, we\u2019re not going to be able to move this way, and this whole thing that we\u2019ve worked our whole lives for is over with, especially if you keep messing with that.<\/p>\n

An actor\u2019s only as good as the lines, so what do you think of the writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> This show is written so well, that I think the complexity of each character is what gives us the freedom to live on the screen. We don\u2019t have the ability to be great unless the writing is great. We don\u2019t get the opportunity to shine unless the writing gives you an opportunity to shine.<\/p>\n

We don\u2019t get a chance to flourish unless the writing is actually on the page, so I always say we wouldn\u2019t be here if it wasn\u2019t for Courtney\u2019s genius mind and for an executive producer like 50 Cent who gets that hip hop culture is a part of the main culture. That\u2019s what separates Power from the rest of the bunch.<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> They write for us now. It\u2019s hard to memorize stuff and blurt it back out if it doesn\u2019t ring true. I\u2019m not talking about a medical drama or something [like that where we need to know a lot of technical stuff].<\/p>\n

If the lines weren\u2019t written well and don\u2019t sound like how a human speaks, it\u2019s tough. And then a step better than that is not only how a human speaks, but how this character that you\u2019ve been developing speaks. They kind of know how Tommy would say that line, and then they give me the little bit, that I can junk it up a bit more. I get just enough of that freedom but everything is written. There\u2019s very, very little improv.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

The writing is so good \u2014 we\u2019ve seen the first few episodes \u2014 but what\u2019s next?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> The writing\u2019s so good in season two because they allowed themselves to establish the characters so thoroughly in season one, that now that\u2019s established, the writing was able to kind of go to this crazy action and the dynamic of all these inner worlds colliding. The writing has just been phenomenal for the second season.<\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> Courtney Kemp Agboh, a Black woman who\u2019s our showrunner and creator, has just done a great job of putting the voices into these characters. Not only the women. But because she\u2019s a female, I think people are like, \u201cWow, look howsa woman writes how these men are talking\u2026<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> She\u2019s tough.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> She plays hard and she goes into it. I think that\u2019s another thing that Power does really well. We don\u2019t shy away from anything, we don\u2019t dilute anything, we\u2019re not making this to be bright and fluffy like, \u201cOh New York City, it\u2019s pretty.\u201d No.<\/p>\n

This is dark, it\u2019s in the back alleys, you might get shot up or stabbed. This is real, it\u2019s gritty, the sex is honest, and it\u2019s purposeful to the story. Even the violence is part of New York as a whole, so we use the character of New York City as a part of the backdrop of our show, and I think Courtney does such an amazing job.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> And the ethnic diversity of both worlds \u2014 not just of the drug-dealing world \u2014 but also the ethnic diversity within the government and the police [is there as well].<\/p>\n

And the club world itself.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Absolutely.<\/p>\n

Not just the drug world.<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> There\u2019s two worlds at play. Essentially, Ghost leads a double life.<\/p>\n

For both your characters, where does Tommy and Tasha\u2019s loyalty lie? Who are they most loyal to? Themselves? Is it Ghost?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> That\u2019s the problem. There\u2019s not a lot of loyalty in Season Two! That is part of the problem in it. There\u2019s not a lot of loyalty.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Also, people are questioning where their loyalties lie.<\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> Exactly, Tasha at points even questions Tommy and his loyalty. And , we\u2019re brothers, like a brother-sister relationship. Tasha\u2019s questioning Ghost and his loyalty to her and the marriage. I mean, I don\u2019t know if Tasha can clearly say right now. Even if her best friend, Lakeisha, played by La La Anthony, I don\u2019t even know if her loyalty, if I can really put that in her.<\/p>\n

In season two, it\u2019s a lot of pieces this year, where you don\u2019t really know who you can trust, you don\u2019t know who\u2019s really your friend, because the world gets so intense that people start doing things out of character, people start reaching for power any way that they can get it. And that\u2019s always a little bit scary. So I don\u2019t know, Tasha\u2019s loyalty\u2026 I mean, she\u2019s loyal, she\u2019s loyal. But is everyone loyal to her, that\u2019s part of the problem.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

Is she loyal to herself or more loyal to Ghost?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> She\u2019s so loyal to Ghost that she sometimes can\u2019t see straight. She continues to go back to him. She even presents to him, \u201cLook, get rid of Angela. If we do that, we\u2019re good. We\u2019re back on track. You\u2019re my ace boom. We good.\u201d<\/p>\n

I think that at the end of the day, she wants it to work so bad, and that\u2019s loyalty. She will not give up on this relationship. She will not give up, and a lot of women out there probably can relate to that. But I think Tasha for sure is loyal to Ghost. This season, though, she\u2019s going to have to choose herself.<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> To answer your question as well: who\u2019s Tommy loyal to\u2026 Tommy loyal to the streets, so it\u2019s going to be interesting to see, the further Ghost gets from the street, how far is Tommy\u2019s loyalty going to be stretched?<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

That\u2019s the thing about your two characters. Your characters are on the razor\u2019s edge. You are both dealing with the idea, if it goes one way, could you go the other way?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> If Ghost could just get his mind right. , Tasha and Tommy can connect on the fact that Ghost is not in the game. And that\u2019s [where] we kind of have a connection, our characters do especially, because , we just want our guy back, we want our leader back, we want our best friend back, we want our husband back. We want the man that we put our faith and trust in, we just want him back, and that\u2019s what I think causes the tension.<\/p>\n

On the flip side, you guys represent a holding onto the past. He\u2019s moving forward and maybe you guys need to pick up on moving forward. Is there some pressure, are we going to see that revealed in the later scripts?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/a><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Yes. [Laughs]\n

NN:<\/strong> God willing, in Season Three, if we continue to do well, and this is just Season Two, I think Courtney\u2019s going to evolve these characters into a whole different mindset.<\/p>\n

And this is autobiographical\u2026<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> 50 Cent\u2019s life. I think that 50 has already said — it\u2019s still 50, and 50 has put himself and his life — so the situation with Ghost and Tasha, what happened was that 50\u2019s first baby\u2019s mother, when they were on the Jersey Turnpike when he got out of jail, when he got shot it was 12 in the afternoon, so he was feeling like there\u2019s no time that this can happen. So his baby\u2019s mother took the gun to hide it. So that\u2019s autobiographical\u2026<\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> That\u2019s what Tasha does to save Ghost.<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> That\u2019s what Tasha does to save Ghost, so I think that 50 has added in aspects of his life to our characters. Like Tommy, even though he\u2019s white, was kind of based on his–the guy that 50 came up with a little bit, this guy Rude Boy. So there\u2019s definitely things that have been planted in reality.<\/p>\n

\"Power<\/a><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> And he\u2019s from New York City which is another key point of why we\u2019re shooting here. That\u2019s a huge aspect of our show that I think was important to 50 and important to all the producers involved.<\/p>\n[They] know how important it is to keep it real. You can\u2019t do a show like Power and not have the grittiness of New York, the diversity of New York, the bilingual aspect of our show represents New Yoricans. I think all of that is a huge part of what makes this show so real. And in order to keep it real, why not shoot it in New York City?<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> And in so many of the shots, we get to shoot from across the street. We get to shoot down the street. If you\u2019re not here, you can\u2019t shoot like that.<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> We shoot in Brooklyn and people are across the street in a Jamaican spot where a new character, Dre, played Rotimi, is part of Kanan\u2019s crew, and they shoot a lot in this little Jamaican spot in Brooklyn, in Bed Stuy, and so many people are like, \u201cOh my gosh, what up?\u201d So I was over there and they know their block. They feel connected to the story because they\u2019re a part of it in a way, they\u2019re a part of the culture.<\/p>\n

Do you guys have input into your characters?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> We got to meet with the writers. Naturi and I and all the lead characters got to sit with the writers\u2019 room and just [talk with them] about [ourselves].<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_202_100114_0149.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> They take notes like, \u201cYou know what, we\u2019re going to make Tasha sing next season.\u201d , I wasn\u2019t supposed to be singing but Courtney said, \u201cOh my gosh, let\u2019s put that in episode six,\u201d having me sing \u201cSweet Thing\u201d at the club to Ghost is something that was completely created because of my singing background. So I just think that the writers in this group are really, really collaborative.<\/p>\n

If it wasn\u2019t called Power, what other name would you say would be perfect for it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> I\u2019m going to steal this from 50. Choices.<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_208_012915_1016.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

He already gave us that, we need a new one.<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> I love that.<\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> If it wasn\u2019t called Power, another name that this show, hmmn. Oh, gosh. Now you got \u201cChoices\u201d in my head. I was going to say \u201cYou Can\u2019t Run\u201d. You can\u2019t run from the truth, you can\u2019t run from the lies, you can\u2019t run from your past, you can\u2019t run. Actually, I kind of like that. I\u2019m going to be like, \u201cI got inspired by this group! My next single, \u2018You Can\u2019t Run\u2019\u201d [Sings] So I\u2019m just saying, you can\u2019t run! That\u2019s my title, \u201cYou Can\u2019t Run\u201d.<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> You could call it \u201cThe Kingdom\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"PWS2_208_012915_1016.jpg\"<\/a><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> Oh, I like that. The kingdom.<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Because there can only be one person wearing the crown.<\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> And everybody wants it.<\/p>\n

So are you writing?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> Yeah, I write. But I usually write with a producer friend, a friend of mine, Logic, who plays the piano, I work with him and Ryan Toby, who\u2019s actually in the group City High, we\u2019re working on my solo project. But we write together, which is easier for me because it\u2019s collaborative. I like working with people.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/a><\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing in the studio and that\u2019s just something I\u2019m doing because I always want to be singing and doing music. But I want to be doing more features as well. I\u2019m getting close to things, independents, and major studio features.<\/p>\n

What genres?<\/strong><\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> Oh, I love to do drama. Actually I want to do a comedy. I was really close to doing a comedy this summer, but I haven\u2019t gotten a chance. But I actually got to be a guest star on \u201cIt\u2019s Always Sunny in Philadelphia\u201d with Danny DeVito, Charlie Day, all those guys. I had a blast, I love doing comedy because it\u2019s a release from doing the intense work of \u201cPower\u201d, so I\u2019m hoping that someone lets me be funny one day.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s next on the acting radar for you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> I can\u2019t get arrested here!<\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> He\u2019s so fantastic.<\/p>\n

\"Joseph<\/a><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> I\u2019ve got Tommy, I\u2019m loyal to this show one hundred percent, but man, all these movies where I\u2019m like, \u201cHey, give me a shot, put me in!\u201d<\/p>\n

What kind of role would you like to get and what kind of genre?<\/strong><\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> Oh god. I could do it all. But what I want to do, as I said the other day, \u201cI\u2019d like to be the first American James Bond.\u201d<\/p>\n

NN:<\/strong> You\u2019re bad. He\u2019s lookin\u2019 good.<\/p>\n

JS:<\/strong> There\u2019s a million scripts, if I think the material is good, if I can respond to it. I think the series I was in before Power was called the \u201cThe Heart, She Holler\u201d with Patton Oswalt and Amy Sedaris. So it was a very wacky, crazy, funny comedy series. , I\u2019ll be good. If I like the material, I\u2019ll be fine, I can fit into it.<\/p>\n