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For someone who is only 29 years old – really, yes, he’s so young – Lakeith Stanfield has a face best described as “tired of the world”. Maybe it’s coming from his eyes, which harbor an intensity that challenges you not to look away. Or maybe it’s her confident sense of style. When we spoke to Zoom in early February, just after the Sundance premiere of his latest film, Judas and the Black Messiah, he was wearing a nice trench coat, a pair of tartan pants and a knitted beanie. Or maybe the feeling of having been exhausted by the grueling society around us emanates from Stanfield’s career choices. From its beginnings in Short term 12, which premiered in 2013, Stanfield played ping pong from a modern day zombified slave in Get out, to a young civil rights activist convicted Selma, to a weird eccentric in Atlanta, to a troubled office worker who finds himself in a savage conspiracy sorry to disturb you.
Directed by Shaka King, Judas and the Black Messiah stars Daniel Kaluuya as Black Panther frontman Fred Hampton and Stanfield as William O’Neal, the informant who sold Hampton to the FBI, resulting in Hampton’s death at age 21. The real O’Neal committed suicide on January 15, 1990 — the same day his very first interview about his role in Hampton’s death aired.
Stanfield has given… unique interviews in the past, just like he’s talked thoughtfully about all kinds of things in other people, so I didn’t know which Stanfield I was going to find. The conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Allegra Frank: I’m curious about your preparation for this role, especially because you’re known for some really idiosyncratic performances. When it’s someone who’s been around and has this really complicated story, how does that affect your ability to take on the role?
Lakeith Stanfield: In every way really, because it was a unique challenge. As I had assumed, but I don’t think I really understood to what extent, initially. The hardest part for me is probably expressing it in my own way, in my own judgments of the character and leaving the space to be able to see him as a full human being. I didn’t want to run into the question of going with my original assumption, which is, “Oh yeah, that’s just a snitch, and that’s it. I wanted to try and find the more nuanced parts of who he was, even though he didn’t show much. I kind of wanted to try to bring that out, if I could.
Have you done a lot of actual historical research? Maybe even watch the Eyes on the Prize II documentary which is extracted at the end? I was surprised to see actual footage of O’Neal from this documentary, as there were re-enactments of O’Neal’s interview in the movie itself. Eyes on the Prize II has the only real footage available from Bill O’Neal, however, in general.
Yeah. This is the only footage I’ve had, except I was able to get my hands on an unedited version of all of his interview segments in Eyes on the prize, rather than just the little cup they put on. But I watched this documentary years ago actually, even before I was an actor, because I love the Black Panthers, and I was always looking for them independently and trying to understand the group Suite. And I inevitably came across the Illinois chapter and Fred Hampton and Bill O’Neal – in a little way, though.
I could never have imagined that I would play with him six or seven years later – longer than that. I tried to squeeze out as much as I could, as well as some transcripts of his court cases after I had that incident with Fred Hampton, and a few books that were second and third hand accounts of knowing him personally and kind of. things in which he was and did. So it was useful.
Obviously, Bill O’Neal is a huge presence in the movie, and possibly the main character of Judas, but Fred Hampton is the most famous character, especially as someone we just saw The Chicago 7 trial. And I had a hard time not making an immediate comparison between this film and this one, even though they are very different. I am curious if you have seen Chicago 7 and have all kinds of takeaways from how the Black Panther movement – and the Black Panthers themselves – are being portrayed in the media right now, these films coming out kind of close together.
I have not seen it. I love Kelvin [Harrison, Jr., who played Fred Hampton in Chicago 7]. … He’s a very good actor. I’m glad people are now willing to talk more about those stories that have been sort of hidden in history and often not brought up in education at all. It is important that we take care of these characters. I hope to see more, and people pay attention to the details and try to be as honest as possible about their interpretations.
Ever since I started acting I wanted to make movies like this and help tell stories about these great historical figures. So even when I did something like Selma, I felt so good to be in this space. Even if Shaka would have asked me to play the hat on O’Neal’s head, I would play that too. Just to be a part of the story and help bring Fred’s story to the top of the conversation.
So far you’ve played a lot of different characters in your career. Do you think there is something unifying between all these characters, in which you were? Short term 12, against in sorry to disturb you, Atlanta, or here? What is one thing you bring to each of these roles each time?
[Stanfield points at himself.] That face! I mean, I’ve just been lucky enough to be a part of stories where the characters go through a transformation, and you can see them kind of come undone. I could just play Barney in a suit, which, nothing wrong either, but I’ve had the opportunity to play roles that challenge me, and I’m able to start to dive into my inner self and unlock some things.
Is there something that you really can’t wait to try and do that is completely different from what you’ve done before?
Now I just want to tell a great story. I want to be part of stories that move people and that can help keep the conversation going.
I think that’s the best perspective to have when you’re in this type of creative industry, enjoying the text you tailor and thinking about the challenge of that and the collaboration first, as opposed to just “I want to be. in a Marvel movie because it’s the big payoff “or whatever. Which, that’s cool too. But you want to be in the Marvel movie which also has the really challenging and interesting storyline and spot for you.
Yes. And I want to be the bad guy.
Yeah i was watching this GQ video you did months ago where you were going undercover online, and a lot of people were like, “Make him the Joker”, “Make him the Riddler”, which I’m very much there for. Are you rightfully into the idea of ”Lakeith as the Joker?”
Perhaps. But you know, to me, it’s any character that’s challenging, interesting, and smart. And I just think the Joker is all of those things. And Heath Ledger’s version of The Joker was brilliant which I liked a lot. And that’s how I always imagined the Joker to be – just a person who’s been through a lot, [someone with] this intelligence to make different decisions and also to reflect the society to itself. I find these things interesting, and often more interesting than some of the heroes, so it doesn’t matter what villain I play.
And I hope that with William O’Neal some people who might have viewed him as just a villain can see in this rendition that they might have some similarities or some other internal questions and dialogues that might be of use to them as well.
One thing I thought about while doing my research on you was how do you tell your own story. There is this perception that the public has developed of you as this laid back, laid back guy who knows himself very well. But then I also watch your social networks, and you have an interesting relationship, I think, with that. It plays into this idea of you as a deep thinker. But then you also have this strong comic sense. I wonder how you decide which version of yourself and your own story to tell the world.
I do not know. I don’t really think much about it. I just do what I want to do. And sometimes I want to be silly. Sometimes I want to not be stupid. Sometimes I get offended by things and share that. Sometimes I am offensive and I share it. I’m just a human being and … people sometimes get a little out of touch with this reality that I’m just a human being and not really that deep.
And I think on social media you only have a few people. You don’t really understand who they are. You just get a little minor expression and people try to get what they can out of it. … You have to understand that social media is a powerful thing. This is somewhere I go wrong sometimes, because I forget that people actually care about what people say and do, just because I personally don’t invest much in celebrities. But sometimes people do, and so there is a responsibility to understand in that. I think you just have to use it the right way and not let it use you. And often the correct way is not to be at all, because honestly, there are cooler things like leaves and plants etc.
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