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lOkay friend,” he says delroy lindoAlmost looking a little defensive. “Perspective is important.” Our conversation took maybe 20 seconds, and the British-American star sinners Had warned that he would talk softly, he had lost his voice last night. It must be stressful when you’re an actor, I suggested. If I I’ve lost my voice, I can just spend days drinking lemon tea and trying to do my Harvey Fierstein impression. But what if Delroy Lindo lost his voice? I believe there can be business implications on the wrong day. “I mean, yes,” he says, then brushes off the idea. “You can be stressed, but I try to be really, really, big in perspective. I’m sitting here in this really nice hotel. Man, I could be working at Tesco.”
It’s hard to really consider this possibility, because Lindo is one of those artists whose face is screaming for the camera. Over the past few decades, the now 73-year-old actor has proven himself to be a screen presence of rare, brilliant magnetism. He is perhaps best known for his frequent collaborations with Spike Lee – he is brilliant in films such as crook, malcolm x And da 5 blood – And now there’s serious Oscar buzz to support him sinnersRyan Coogler’s vampire thriller. Today, he is with me in the library room of the Soho Hotel.
“I get tired of my own voice,” Lindo says softly, “but I Never get tired of talking about sinnersIt is clear that this second sentiment is true, even if the first sentiment seems weak. Lindo’s voice, despite being half-bowed, is wonderful: sonorous, steady and characterful. His accent doesn’t reveal anything about his British origins (born in Lewisham, London, he moved to Canada as a teenager) – although the mention of Tesco is a gift, I think.
By this point, whether you’ve seen it or not, you probably know sinnersReleased in theaters in April (and re-released this month), the genre-blending blockbuster has been one of the year’s big success stories: the highest-grossing original film in more than a decade, and a rising star in awards season, Michael B, Jordan leads the film and plays entrepreneurial twins who open a juke joint in 1932 Mississippi, but the club is attacked by a gang of vampires, Lindo plays a droll, world-weary blues legend by the name of Delta Slim – a standout performance in a film positively loaded with them,
You hear this word a lot when it comes to movies. sinnersI say, “smuggling” is – the smuggling Incorporating sophisticated ideas and criticism into popular popcorn entertainment. This is true of filmmakers like Coogler and Jordan Peele (Go), and this is especially true sinnersWhich uses its pulpy supernatural veneer to interrogate complex ideas about race and cultural appropriation. “It speaks to the talent of these storytellers and the way they think,” Lindo says. “But… you mentioned the word ‘trafficking’. And it’s not smuggling. Because it’s very clearHe’s saying, ‘I just want you to connect with the audience,’
even as sinners A good old-fashioned man-vs-vamp descent into bloodshed is always about more than empty thrills. “with sinners“The violence is much more in front of you, much more obvious,” Lindo says, “but I would argue that it’s certainly not violence for the sake of violence. “It’s telling a bigger story about what happens when a community is violated.”
In this post-everything everywhere at once Paradigm, it feels like no awards are off the table for a movie like this sinnersThe rumor that this would be Lindo’s first Oscar nomination is a clear injustice; You could easily make the case for many of his past performances – especially 1993’s crookIn which he played the role of a despicable but well-intentioned patriarch of 2020 da 5 bloodAnother Spike Lee joint in which Lindo shines as a cantankerous Vietnam vet.
da 5 blood One was a particularly gross omission, and he later said he felt “deeply disappointed” by this omission. A few years later, and now he’s fighting against those same forces of expectation. “When people keep talking about you [an Oscar nomination]Certainly it becomes much more present in consciousness,” Lindo says. ”It’s a dynamic one has to navigate. But without fear…the task is to concentrate on the work as much as possible.
What this country instilled in me is the vital importance of knowing one’s history.
delroy lindo
“It’s hard to talk about, man,” he adds, “but I want to keep the focus on the work and the quality of the work as much as possible. Because in the final analysis that’s the barometer by which someone will be ‘judged’.”
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Lindo gives the impression of a person who thinks very deeply about things. When I ask about the UK – the country where he spent the first 13 years of his life – he pauses for a second. He says, “What this country has instilled in me is the vital importance of knowing one’s history. Growing up in Britain I had no idea at all about the Windrush incident, how it directly and fundamentally influenced British culture, which is amazing to consider,” as his Jamaican parents were part of it themselves.
That, he says, is why he began writing a memoir – one that chronicles his life as well as his mother’s life and that of his generation. “The answer is about knowing who is on the planet, and where they come from, and what impact that has on who is in the present and who is in the future.”
Maybe the pronoun “persons” is to blame, but there’s a bit of dramatic grandeur in the way Lindo speaks. It makes sense: Until the 1990s, Lindo was primarily a stage actor, even earning a Tony nomination for his role in the August Wilson play. Joe Turner’s comings and goingsAfter coming on screen, he made his mark as a character actor in films, get Shorty (1995), cider house rules (1999), and romeo must die (2000). But, for most people, his work with Lee will always define his legacy.
“When you evaluate Spike over the course of his career, it’s a pretty amazing accomplishment,” Lindo says. “I was at a concert for Wynn Thomas in Los Angeles, [the acclaimed production designer and 11-time Lee collaborator]Wynn is a genius – and a perfect example of someone whose career has been centrally informed by his work with Spike, as it has been for me and many other actors, When you look at Spike through the influence he had on other creative workers, one understands his adoration, Being inside it, it’s extraordinary,”
Thanks for a hit or two da 5 blood And sinnersIt’s fair to say that Lindo’s stock has never been higher; This is an impressive feat for someone in his mid-seventies. I suggest that most people outside showbiz would have retired by this point – and he almost physically disagrees with it. “I don’t plan to retire,” he says firmly. “I plan to keep working and being creative. And the nature of that creativity will change.”
In addition to the memoir, Lindow also has a film he plans to direct – previously reported to be focused on the Windrush generation – and “hopefully is exploring other creative outlets to broaden his footprint”.
“And I say this with the full understanding that none of this is easy,” he adds. “But as long as there are stories I want to be a part of telling, as long as I feel I can bring something valuable to these projects, I’ll keep working.” and until He As it happens, Delroy Lindo will be one to watch.
‘Sinners’ is back in theaters On BFI IMAX from 12th to 18th December, and is now available to stream on demand