Just one day away from the release of Judas and the Black Messiah, the film’s lead Daniel Kaluuya caught up with RADIO.COM and V-103’s Big Tigger from The Morning Culture, to talk all about the preparation that went into such a demanding role and why he feels this is the most important one he’s ever taken on.
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As you can probably imagine, “a lot of work,” went into preparing to play Chairman Fred Hampton as Kaluuya said. “A lot of reading,” a majority of the books on the Black Panther reading list. Additionally, “in order to be a fully fledged Black Panther, you must go through 6 weeks of political education,” which he also did. He took dialect lessons, visited Chicago to immerse himself in the places and locations of where these historic moments took place, including Maywood, and did lots and lots of research.
As Tigger pointed out, for an actor some roles have a heavier burden than others, due to their meaning and significance. Thus far, in his acting career Daniel’s body of work is filled with films that have made a mark and transcended beyond in terms of significance more than just being a movie.
With that said, within the scope of his career, Daniel, without a doubt views Judas and the Black Messiah, as the most important. “It’s the most important professional thing I’ve ever done in my life,” Kaluuya said. “It was a blessing, that I was in this space. I’ve never worked as hard as I have on something and I think that’s a reflection.”
In addition to that, for Daniel, ranking this particular film as number one and most important was also in part due to “the respect and love I have for what he did,” referring to Fred Hampton. “What he said, what he stood for, the Black Panther party, just the love I have in me about that, you know what I’m saying. For me I respected it, I had to show up, I have to show my fullest self… for that. And give my truth… I felt like my whole career was leading to this moment.”
Daniel hopes that those who see the film, “see how much the Black Panther party loved their community, loved the Black community, how much they gave to the Black community. Through medical clinics and healing the sick… feeding kids with the breakfast program, educating kids, and covering legal aid for people. Seeing what they did with the Rainbow Coalition and uniting with people that they had conflict with outside of their community, but not comprising their love for their Blackness and the Black community.”
Kaluuya went on to note, today “we live in a day and age where we believe it’s either or. If you unite with certain people then you’re compromising yourself or you’re selling out, they just didn’t have that in their mind set. They’d only go towards something that would enrich their own. And I think all those things are just incredible things that you hardly even see now, and I hope they come back to the fore.”
Believing there’s a place in today’s world for the Black Panther party and platform to exist and thrive “especially in local communities.” Daniel shared one of his favorite saying he feels expresses that sentiment perfectly, “do something, start small, start local, keep going.” Expanding his thought, Daniel added, “If you’re trying to change the world, it makes things difficult, but if you’re trying to change your world… I think that’s really attainable.”
Daniel went on to discuss which scenes in particular proved to be more challenging to take on. Hint: it involves nudity, and no it’s not what you think. For that and more, listen to Daniel Kaluuya’s entire interview above. And be sure to check out Judas and the Black Messiah when it comes out this Friday February 12 in theaters and on HBO Max.
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