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Dolemite Is My Name will begin streaming on Netflix this weekend and I got the opportunity to sit down with the other members of the cast, Wesley Snipes, Keegan-Michael Key, Craig Robinson and Mike Epps. You can see my sit down with Eddie Murphy by clicking here. This movie tells the story of Rudy Ray Moore and the efforts he had to go through to make his cult classic movie Dolemite and how he had to fund the film out of pocket and tour it around the country before selling it to a major film company after being turned down by everyone including the Blaxploitation film companies.

With Eddie Murphy as Rudy, and Wesley Snipes as D’Urville Martin the director of the cult film Dolomite, this movie features two icons and heroes to the Black community so I asked them what this meant in terms to their career and Key summed it up perfectly saying, “It gives you a renewed sense of responsibility to the community. I just got chills as you asked the question. Something that we as a community need to strive for on a regular basis is excellence. There is a thing called excellence. Not Black Excellence, not white excellence. Excellence. When I work with them, you’re seeing people that are the masters of their craft. It reminds you to redouble your effort to achieve excellence.”

I also got to chat with Wesley Snipes who steals the show in this movie and when I told him that, he joked that he loves it when we speak truth to him. Wesley is hilarious in this film and I think people forget his talents as a comedic actor. His performances are one of the reasons they are remaking his roles, Blade, Nino Brown in New Jack City and White Man Can’t Jump. I asked him if he feels like he needs to be consulted when a new actor takes over one of his roles. He promoted that he loves when Black actors get to work, whether it’s him or not while adding, “Not really. It’s rare that you know at the time that something is going to work and if something is going to have the legs and the impact globally or in the community that certain films have. You’re just trying to do the work.”

Wesley continues that he is just trying to continue to push the envelope of acting and trying to master his craft, “I want a black belt” in acting.

We also sat down with Craig Robinson and Mike Epps who star in Dolemite Is My Name as well. Craig froze up when talking about his rock bottom and opened up about his life after The Office, and how it affords him the luxury to turn down roles when he couldn’t in the past, but he does realize that it’s hard for him to get dramatic roles now. He also goes on to say that he will have to create those types of roles for himself like Rudy Ray Moore craved out a path for himself.

Dolemite Is My Name streams on Netflix this weekend.

Wesley Snipes Talks About Actors Playing His Characters After Him | Extra ButterĀ  was originally published on globalgrind.com