Criminal enterprise
Brown plays lawbreaker in action/sci-fi flick ‘Hotel Artemis’
Crooks, and only crooks, check into “Hotel Artemis,” a premise Sterling K. Brown found irresistible. The two-time Emmy winner, on a career upswing as Randall Pearson on NBC’s “This Is Us,” could check off several boxes with “Hotel Artemis.”
A slightly futuristic tale where Jodie Foster’s Nurse runs an ER open only to members, all criminals, the script was “really exciting, original, character driven, with this unique situation with all these criminals under one roof who can’t escape,” Brown, 42, said.
“It’s about what happens with really bad people.”
For an actor whose goal is variety, “This was a lead role in an action genre film, something I haven’t had a place to do. He’s so different from Randall and that is something I’m always on the lookout for.”
In “Artemis,” Brown is known only as Waikiki. He’s protective of his wounded younger brother Honolulu (current Tony nominee Brian Tyree Henry), who is mortally wounded — and a drug addict.
Waikiki is complicated. “He’s not a perfect human being. He blows somebody away, he steals, but he’s also that guy you want to root for.”
Brown created a backstory for Waikiki and his brother. “We’re from the United States, probably East Coast. They lost their parents at an early age and have been on their own for some time.
“I’ve been that caretaker and keep my brother, a wild card, on the straight and narrow.
“I probably ended up in a life of crime to make ends meet. My brother was inspired by that and tried to latch onto a life of crime and was not suited for it.
“Waikiki doesn’t know how to let his brother go and he blames himself.”
For Brown, a working actor for decades, the hits have changed his profile.
“It all started with ‘OJ’ (playing Christopher Darden in “The People V. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story”) and then went into a higher gear with ‘This Is Us.’ I used to say life’s the same and that’s being falsely modest.
“The access to opportunity now is night and day. The level of recognition is night and day, almost to the point of being frustrating at times. But that’s a champagne problem.”
Can he see “This Is Us” going on forever like “The Simpsons”?
“My bet,” he answered, “is it doesn’t go longer than seven years.”