National Post (National Edition)
All about the mind
“Yo, why are you smiling like that?” Daniel Kaluuya asks, looking directly into the camera during an early February video call. “Why are you smiling? What's funny?”
The answer is nothing, a genial smile turning nervous as Kaluuya continues the line of questioning. To be on the receiving end of the British actor's gaze is to realize how much he controls and shapes the exchange, with remarkable agility.
He then breaks into a smile himself, and returns to discussing technique: “You build and build and build. Later, when I started getting scripts, it was like, you're telling me what to say? Amazing.”
Even relying on prewritten dialogue, Kaluuya, 31, introduces a dynamic quality to his roles. Standout moments often come back to his eyes. The image of his face as he descends to the sunken place in Jordan Peele's Get Out is indelible, eyes wide open as tears stream down his cheeks. In Steve McQueen's Widows, his chosen intimidation method as a mob enforcer involves forcing two soon-to-be victims to rap while he stares them down from just inches away — a spectacle that could have stopped at ridiculous, but to which he adds a necessary layer of menace.
In Shaka King's Judas and the Black Messiah, available in Canada through premium video on demand, Kaluuya radiates charisma. He plays Chairman Fred Hampton of the Black Panther Party's Illinois chapter, who was killed in 1969 by police and federal agents in Chicago. Although viewers know how the story ends, Kaluuya's embodiment of the leader demands their attention, earning effusive praise from critics.
In the process of researching Hampton, Kaluuya says, “I was hit by how brilliant of a mind he was. How much he knew and how much he cared, how much he loved and how much he did.”
He was introduced to the project through producers Ryan and Zinzi Coogler, who pulled him aside during Black Panther reshoots and told him they were interested in him starring as Hampton. They had LaKeith Stanfield in mind for the lead role of Bill O'Neal, who infiltrates the group as an informant.
Judas highlights the humanity of a man the FBI made out to be a villain, underscoring the well of emotion and careful thought driving his political stances — first encountered in the film when Kaluuya delivers Hampton's address proposing socialism as a solution to capitalism's failings.
This scene is when Hampton and fellow Panther Deborah Johnson (Dominique Fishback) meet, leading to a romance that allows viewers a glimpse of Hampton's vulnerable side. Johnson later comments on how surprised she is by his shyness. Kaluuya leans into the charm of this trait, making it clear why an interview tidbit about his desire to star in a rom-com has been making the rounds online.
“This is why I enjoy storytelling,” Kaluuya says. “It's like you get a window into someone's soul.”