I was asked, how would you feel
if we made you part of the role?
I told him, I think you’ve made
the right choice, and we started
shooting from there.
beginning). I was so happy they
had several different roles even
though they cut some of the roles
that did not work, plus the fires
kept happening around LA, so
that kind of prevented them from
Working with Ben, Man! It was shooting a lot. They kept call-
really one of the greatest experi- ing saying they wanted me, but
ences I’ve had in my life. It’s funny they never made it official, so I
because he’s a big and statuesque thought they were playing games,
guy, so he’s kind of intimating to and I didn’t know what was going
be around, but once you really on. Eventually the fires cleared,
talk to him, he’s very approach- and they wrote a role for this kid
able and one of the nicest persons named Private Blankenship. I
and easiest people to work with. was asked to audition for it, and
He made it fun and comfortable I got the part immediately. The
to work with him.
show is great! And when I found
out Ron Howard was the one pro-
You have a role in the comedy- ducing it, I was more motivated
drama war show “68 Whiskey.” It to join the cast.
aired January 15th. Tell us about
the show and what inspired you We read acting was not your first
to do the project?
choice. You had dreams of play-
ing professional football, and if
When I first heard about the that didn’t work out, your back-
project, I thought it was about up plan was to become a business
drinking whiskey in 1968 (laughs). owner? Do you still have plans to
I was excited and thought, it do something in the athletic and
will be dope! But the people in business field along with your
charge were like, no, it’s a mili- acting career?
tary show— a naval base camp in
Iraq. I thought, Wow! Basically, in Absolutely! I think with business,
late 2018 going into to 2019, I au- I want to be able to build and cre-
ditioned for the role of Petrocelli ate and it all be in the realms of
one of the series regulars on the acting still. My goal in life is to
show. They wanted to use me, but be able to own my own produc-
it ended up not working out be- tion company and to develop my
cause the name Petrocelli is Ital- own content. In anything I do, no
ian and I’m black, but they liked matter what it is, I always want to
me. The casting director, Wendy be in control of my own destiny
O’Brien, who also cast me in The and create my own narrative, and
Way Back told me (at that point) I material. I predominantly want it
was on her short list of things she to be around film when creating
like to send people out on (audi- businesses, but there definitely
tions). I received a text from her are other things that interest me.
and she says, there is this show It’s crazy because I play football
68 Whiskey and I remember you, and you see these guys— they
and I am going to do whatever it have the mentality of football life.
takes to get you on this show be- Grind everyday and don’t do any-
cause I think they’re really going thing besides football until they
to like you (they liked you in the get to the NFL and make a lot of
36 | BSM MAGAZINE | APRIL 2020
money. And they go to different
places and expand their horizons
and find other interest besides
football. That’s why you see some
of these guys, especially smart
players retire because they find
other interests and other things,
and when you have that type of
money and time to be able to ex-
plore outside of the career you
have, you never know, so I would
not rule out the idea of starting
other businesses and working on
other stuff whether it’s in sports,
film, cinema, music, culinary, or
anything. I don’t have anything
set in stone that I would want to
do differently besides the film in-
dustry. I love being able to own
my own stuff.
Was it easy to go from playing
football to basketball in The Way
Back? Name the similarities and
differences being they’re both
competitive sports.
Football versus basketball. The
camaraderie, the fellowship,
brotherhood and the unity of all
sports is always going to be simi-
lar. When you play football and
you’re going out to prepare for a
game, it’s a completely different
mindset compared to basketball.
Kobe Bryant played basketball
and has this whole Mamba men-
tality (killer mentality) and foot-
ball has what Kobe has. A 15-year-
old kid playing football has what
Kobe has—that Mamba mental-
ity because it’s a barbaric game.
Basketball is a little more relaxed,
but I think if you have that com-
petitive nature it’s always going
to be easy to translate it into dif-
ferent sports. I can go without
playing football for months and
as long as I’m still being aggres-
sive can jump right back in. If I
take three days from shooting