John Marshall Jones – Paradise Lost

By: Jamie Steinberg

Q) What are the recent projects that you are working on?

A) I was working on an AppleTV+ series called “For All Mankind.” I think Season 2 will be coming out later this year. It’s a really, really exciting and terrific space drama. It’s a really exciting piece. Also, I work on a project called “Fifty Shades of Fright” that is directed by Sam Raimi, who did the Spider-Man That’s also starring Rachel Brosnahan from “Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.” It’s also a really good project. To have those two going and then I did an All State commercial with Dennis Haysbert that is running right now.

Q) What drew you to wanting to be a part of the series “Paradise Lost?”

A) I think that my career is taking a turn towards being an accomplished dramatic actor. I’ve spent less time in the comedy space and a lot more in the dramatic space over the last three or four years. And I feel really comfortable in that space, too. It’s what my training was originally anyway. Comedy was just something I was good at and Hollywood wanted me to do it. So, if you’re passing out checks…I’m going to come over here more.

Q) How was your character originally described to you?

A) It was originally described as a Southern gothic drama, but it is actually more of a Southern gothic suspense thriller. I didn’t know that it would star Josh Hartnett, Barbara Hershey and Bridget Regan. I didn’t know until I got there, which a lot of times is better for me because sometimes if I know everybody who is in it I get a little too excited during the audition process, like “Pick me! Pick me!” So, it was great to go in blind to all of that and really just prepare the material and find out who was in it a little bit later.

Q) Who do you portray in the series?

A) There is a crime that happened fifteen years ago. A fire was set and people died. And it changed the trajectory of this time. Somehow the Fire Chief, named Ronny Newhart, gets convicted of setting the fire. And now he is known as Uncle Ronny and he has been in prison for fifteen years. He’s the character I play and he was convicted of a crime he swears he didn’t commit. His niece, who was ten years old when it happened, is now in her mid-twenties has become an investigative reporter and she is committed to digging up all that old dirt and proving that her uncle did not commit this crime. As she starts digging and digging up the town’s old dirt, it starts to become very dangerous for her because people want to leave all of that settled and she is not letting that happen. That’s part of the whole suspense mystery of what is going on and her dogged determination. It’s a really, lovely actress by the name of Danielle Deadwyler and her dogged determination to prove her uncle’s innocence is one of the driving forces of the story.

Q) Were you excited to work with anyone in particular on the show?

A) One of the first things that really grabbed me, even before I became an actor, was a piece called “Rich Man, Poor Man” starring Nick Nolte. He made a tremendous, tremendous impression on me. Really it was one of the pieces that convinced me that I wanted to become an actor. So, just being in a project with Nick Nolte was an amazing thing for me. I’m still kind of pinching myself.

Q) What are some of your favorite scenes or episodes that you worked on?

A) Well, one of the main things is that Uncle Ronny is in prison. So, the only time you actually see him is in his visitations with his niece. The push and pull between them…Uncle Ronny does not want her out there trying to dig up all this old dirt because he knows how dangerous these people are. So, as she is determined to get him out, he’s determined to stop her from doing it and he’s not being successful about it. That causes a lot of angst and worry and creates a really strong dramatic tension that runs throughout the piece.

Q) With such intense material, how did you shake off a long day of filming?

A) We were in Louisiana. They have no shortage of amazing food and amazing mixed drinks. So, shaking it off was not a problem.

Q) What do you think it is about the series “Paradise Lost” that will make it a fast fan favorite?

A) Well, every episode takes you deeper through the looking glass. And everything that you think is something, it’s not that at all. At the same time, you get deeply involved in the human experience and the displacement of a character from what would be their normal life to this small Southern oligarchy that is run and controlled by Nick Nolte’s character, The Judge, and how he has these puppet strings that he’s moving behind the scenes that the people that you’re watching think they’re doing one thing but he’s already pulling strings and moving them in the opposite direction even though they don’t know it. With every episode, you go deeper and deeper and deeper into it. It’s really a fascinating piece. I think that once you get to the end of episode one you are going to have to get into each episode. I can see people sitting down and binge watching this whole thing over a weekend.

Q) You’ve had quite an incredible and lengthy career. What were some of your favorite projects that you have worked on?

A) Wow. I did a movie called White Men Can’t Jump back in the day, which was so much fun to work on. Oh my gosh! It was just all these guys out there playing ball. We were hanging out together afterwards and competing with each other, but in a fun way. It was one of the most fun projects I’ve ever worked on. Then, of course, the show “Smart Guy,” which…Because of how African Americans were being portrayed on television in the 80’s, I made a decision not to take any of those pushers, murderer, rapist roles and to create something positive that could be exported around the world. And I turned down a bunch of stuff for like ten years before I got “Smart Guy,” which was everything I wanted it to be. It was the first ever African American genius on television. As a cultural thing, because of its outreach in the community, it made it cool for little black boys to be smart. They had a loving single father when black men were being portrayed at large as deadbeat dads. Those positive images were exported through syndication to a hundred and seventy-five countries around the world. When I was in Cannes a few years ago with my film The Last Revolutionary, the young black men in France treated me like I was Denzel Washington. Almost every day, some young man comes up to me and almost verbatim says, “You really impacted my childhood. You were the father that I didn’t have at home and I always wished that I would have a father like you.” My answer to them is, “Well, and look how you turned out. So, I’m proud to have had an impact into your life, that you would turn out to be the young man that you are.” So, it’s always fulfilling to be able to put out a piece of material that impacts an entire generation.

Q) You do a lot of mentor work within the African American community. Why is that such an important philanthropic endeavor for you?

A) I’m glad you asked. I’m the national spokesperson for Kappa League, which is part of Guide Right. And Guide Right is the oldest and most successful African American male mentorship program in US history. It was founded in 1922. So, in two years we have our hundredth-year anniversary. So, to celebrate that we have our still developing partnerships…But we have developed some partnerships that are going to help us to reach our goal of getting 140,000 young men into college by the year 2032. So, we have structured a program that allows us to be helpful to these young men in preparing them for college and helping them identify colleges and getting their application process taken care of early on so they can know what their options are. We also have established our own television station called Kappa League.TV on YouTube where any parent or any student that is interested in Kappa League can go to Kappa League.TV and see videos about young men all over the country doing positive things in their community and preparing themselves for a successful life after high school, college and definitely prepare themselves to become successful professionals. That is really the number one thing going on in my life now. It’s a long-term project that we have. Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Inc. has a hundred forty thousand initiates around the country that are ready to go to work on behalf of these young men.

Q) How can people reach out to get involved with Kappa League?

A) You can reach out to us directly at KappaLeagueTV@gmail.com or they can come to our Instagram page. On Instagram, almost every Kappa League has their own account. So, if you are interested, you can just type in “Kappa League” and your local city and you will find a Kappa League account where you can get in touch with your local league directly. It starts around from twelve to eighteen years old. That’s about the age group and we are accepting all kinds of young men. If you’re a mom who doesn’t have a male figure in your life for your son and you feel like he needs mentorship or if you’re a young man who is looking for men to model yourself after this is the perfect place to come because we’re going to do everything that we can to help you get into college and help you succeed in life.

Q) What would you like to say to everyone who are fans and supporters of you and the work you do?

A) I’m sending out prayers for all of us and keep a distance. Stay safe. Stay home. Let’s emerge from this crisis in a way that makes us all better. It’s time to just let go of all of the hate and the anger that we’ve been seeing in our society for the past years. We need each other. It doesn’t matter what your skin color is. It doesn’t matter your religion. It doesn’t matter your sexual preference. None of that matters to a virus. So, it’s just kind of time to drop all of that and let’s get back to thinking of ourselves as human beings that need each other.