Pals check into Hotel Artemis
Sterling K. Brown, Brian Tyree Henry talk breaking down preconceptions
In a cutthroat industry, actors Sterling K. Brown and Brian Tyree Henry are best friends. And the two men acknowledge they have a lot to be grateful for.
The pair are at the top of their game: they have both been nominated for Emmy Awards — Brown has won two, for The People vs. O.J. Simpson and This is Us — while Henry, whose show
Atlanta took the prize for Best Comedy Series, has also been nominated for a Tony. They are also graduates of world-class universities; Henry went to Yale and Brown to Stanford.
But there is that inescapable question of being Black in Trump’s America. As privileged as they are, they live in a world that is becoming even more polarized. In recent weeks, police have been called on Black people for the “crimes” of sitting at Starbucks, renting an Airbnb or falling asleep in their dormitory at Yale, Henry’s alma mater.
“I love Yale. I will always love Yale, but we all know these things exist,” says Henry, who earned an MFA and who plays rapper Paper Boi, the unmistakable heart of Donald Glover’s Atlanta. “We all know that this stuff happens. But the question is when do we take action to make sure it doesn’t happen again.” “My mom used to say to me, ‘There’s all kinds of discrimination in this world. Whether it’s against homosexuality, or antiSemitism or whatever,’ ” says Brown, who is perhaps best known for playing straitlaced, conflicted Randall Pearson on the top network drama This is Us.
“The thing about racism is that when you see Black or brown people from a distance your prejudice is automatically fired. You see me coming, your thoughts, your preconceived notions about me.”
On an animated call from Los Angeles with the Star, the two friends weren’t on the line to talk about race. They are costarring with Jodie Foster in the science fiction thriller Hotel Artemis, opening in three GTA cinemas on Thursday.
But race has been a subject that has been an unmistakable product of their lives and their body of work, whether it was Brown’s roles in O.J. Simpson or being in a blended family in This is Us, or Henry’s revealing, subversive work in Atlanta.
“We only get a chance to take down those prejudices when we get to know people and, as actors, we get an opportunity to realize fully developed characters,” Brown says.
“You might prejudge when you see someone, but if you stick with it you get to break down your preconceived notions. So, for me, each project is an opportunity.”
“Here’s the thing: we need vehicles to tell other stories for people who have been overlooked. You can completely change the scope of what people might think we are,” Henry says. “We have the luxury of being able to pick and choose projects that are a part of change.”
One vehicle has been Hotel Artemis — on one level a story about criminals and also a story about brotherly love, say the two friends. Director Drew Pearce had heard about the friendship between the two after they met more than a decade ago while working as drag queens on Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play Wig Out!
“They weren’t sure if the lead characters were white or Black, but Drew knew about our friendship and thought it was a wonderful idea to have us play real brothers on the screen,” Brown says.
An almost unrecognizable, visually aged Jodie Foster plays the central role as a nurse in 2028 Los Angeles, who provides medical services to criminals. The two brothers end up in the hotel after a failed bank heist.
“It was a breath of fresh air for me working with Jodie Foster. She’s not in the public eye very much so I mistakenly thought she might be distant, but she couldn’t have been more collaborative, open and sharing,” Brown says.
“She’s been doing this in front of and behind the camera for 50 years, so Brian and I just took advantage of her knowledge and absorbed everything. It was a master class.”
The two friends say, unlike their more sedate television characters, one bonus was they get to star in an action-adventure movie together — although Henry spends much of his screen time in a hospital bed after a dramatic and violent opening scene.
“I guess somebody had to get dragged down that alley like 20 times,” he laughs. “There was a lot of screaming going on.”
“I was waiting for an opportunity like this for quite some time. It’s like you’re 8 or 9 years old, and you’re playing cops and robbers and you’re getting paid for it,” Brown says.
So what’s next for the two friends after co-starring in television and film. Can Broadway be far off?
“I got to hang out with Rita Moreno the other day. I absolutely adore her. She has the Emmy, an Oscar, a Tony. If fortune would smile on me and my brother the same way I would not push it away,” Brown laughs.
“We both trained onstage and Brian can sing his face off. The sky’s the limit to take this show on the road. I think we pride ourselves on being given the opportunity to shatter people’s expectations.”
“(Jodie Foster’s) been doing this in front of and behind the camera for 50 years, so Brian and I just took advantage of her knowledge and absorbed everything. It was a master class.” STERLING K. BROWN