Omar J. Dorsey – When They See Us

By starrymag | June 19, 2019

By: Jamie Steinberg

 

 

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

A) Right now, we’re shooting “Queen Sugar” Season 4. I just finished doing a mini series called “Soul City.” I did the Harriet Tubman bio picture that I think is coming out in November for Focus Films with Cynthia Erivo playing Harriet Tubman. It’s amazing! I saw a rough cut of it a few weeks ago and it’s just tremendous. I have a pretty full plate right now and have some really good projects all together.

Q) Talk about how familiar you were with The Central Park Five before filming.

A) I was pretty familiar with it. I’m around the same age as those guys, maybe a couple of years younger. It really affected me. In the 1989/1990. I was thirteen or fourteen years old. I just remember all the hype around it. Everyone was talking about “wilding” and stuff like that. Just to follow it through the years is crazy. I was about fourteen years old when it happened. So, I sort of forgot about it until these guys got exonerated. You don’t really forget about it, but you’re like, “Okay, well, I guess that happened.” You don’t know. As the facts come out and you see the situation the police did with the investigation it was a very scary thing for me. Anybody that age can be easily manipulated. They admitted to something they didn’t do because they wanted to go home and they had been interrogated for almost two days – without any sleep or guidance. When I was watching it, I was just tripped out. Man! Me, being a forty-three-year-old man now, the first thing I would do is just say “lawyer.” But you don’t know that when you’re thirteen, fourteen, fifteen or sixteen years old. You don’t know what is going on and why you’re here. It was a complete shame. I was quite familiar with the case.

Q) How much research did you do on Elombre Brath before your portrayal?

A) Luckily, I got to talk to Elombre’s son and I talked to his family a little bit. I looked up some of the interviews and read some of the things he wrote and that were written about him. I wasn’t that familiar with him. I’m from Atlanta so I didn’t know a lot about the leaders in Harlem at the time. Of course, I knew who Al Sharpton was, but I didn’t know who Elombre Brath was. I got the role and they asked me to play him. So, I said, “Let me do some research.” What I found was a really strong, amazing great man and a mean leader. It’s funny because I was living in Harlem at the time on 117^th and Lenox. 125^th and Lenox is called “Elombre Brath.” That’s the impact that man had in the community.

Q) What advice did his son offer you?

A) He was just saying how great of a man and how great it was he was about to be portrayed in a movie. He was just a real good guy. We just sat around and talked. He was just talking about how great his parents were and his mother is played by Adepero Oduye in “When They See Us.” It was just a blessing to have that resource there that was that willing and open to be there with you to let you know the ins and outs of the man who was his father.

Q) Were you surprised to learn anything in particular about Elombre Brath?

A) Not really. You have to understand, after doing a movie like Selma and doing other films I’ve played Civil Rights leaders before. These are giants and the things they have done are things I would never even think about doing. I can’t even fathom giving up that much of myself and to be that selfless in order to get some of the things done. You would think that you would. In the grand scheme of things, you are like, “Wow! These men and women really did amazing things!” Just standing on those shoulders…

Q) Talk about working with director Ava DuVernay.

A) She is one of my best friends in the world. I’ve been working with her for the past six years. We started out with Selma and for the last four years I’ve been on “Queen Sugar.” She and I have a beautiful rhythm. Just to watch her grow as a filmmaker and as a writer too…Man, she is amazing! She knows exactly how to play the emotions and the scenes. It’s amazing to see! I was watching her and I was like, “She’s just getting better and better!” Selma was so good. The Middle of Nowhere was so good. And “Queen Sugar” is so good. But she is getting better and I’m just proud to be a part of her journey. She keeps on trusting in me to be able to do some of the most important projects of our time. I often say she is the most important filmmaker of this generation.

Q) What did you do to shake off a long day of filming?

A) Like I said, this subject matter is so amazing. It’s just so near and dear to me. With Selma it was a little bit different because I wasn’t born in the 60’s and here I was playing this role. With this, the subject is so close to my age, it was almost like you need therapy after some of those times. I was talking to Niecy Nash about it a couple of weeks ago. She was like, “Some of those courtroom scenes were so heavy!” With those boys, some of their whole lives are getting thrown away and we were reenacting it. Their lives were being snatched from them just because someone needs their case closed. In the grand scheme of things, these are just babies! My youngest child is fifteen years old, almost younger than all of them! These are babies to me. That’s why the title “When They See Us” is so perfect. They don’t see babies. They see grown men, a wolf pack or they see animals.

Q) What were some of your most memorable moments from filming “When They See Us?”

A) Working with Ava. Working with Adepero. Working with Freddy Miyares who plays the older Raymond. I like him a lot. He’s a young actor and this is actually his first film. His first day ever on a film set, period, was the conversation he and I were having and I am telling him, “You need to get your life back. You have a lady,” this, that and the other. That was probably my most memorable moment. I told everybody, “That kid is going to be a star!” His first day ever stepping on to a film or movie set was working with me and it was that day. He was saying he was so nervous but he came through like a champion. So, I’ll always remember that one.

Q) Since you are a part of social media, did you hope this series would spark a dialogue online?

A) It’s so funny because I’ll text Ava right before anything. Like before “Queen Sugar” came out, she and I were having a conversation like, “What do you think people are going to think of this?” I was like, “I don’t know.” We had the same conversation about “When They See Us.” Thursday night she texted me and was like, “What are you doing?” I told her that I just got off of work. She said, “I’m just on the couch waiting for 12:01 so I can watch this.” We just had a conversation about it and to see what has transpired over the last few days. It’s amazing! Usually when I’m walking around on the street people will say, “Hey Hollywood!” Everybody is like, “Yo! You’re Elombre Brath, right?” I was like, “Yeah!” It’s fresh on their minds! I don’t remember the last time I was walking around and someone wasn’t calling me “Hollywood.” This is really stuck in their heads now. It is like a phenomenon that people just want to get deeper into it. Even some of the police officers and how it was handled.

Q) What do you hope viewers take away from watching this series?

A) Like I said, the name of the series is so poignant. I’m a black male. I’m a human being. When they see a thirteen, fourteen or fifteen-year-old black boy you see a child. It’s not that hard. It’s not hard for me so it shouldn’t be that hard for other black people. I have black girls. I have two daughters, but I talked to a lot of my friends last weekend about raising black boys. They were just talking about those conversations you have to have with them. There were conversations my father had to have with me. I was like, “Why was that dude so hard on us?” But we understand the older you get. When they see black males, I hope they really see human beings.

Q) What can you tease is new this season on “Queen Sugar?”

A) It’s going to be some high drama! It is going to be some real high drama! This season is so good. We’re about ten episodes in to Season 4 and have about four more to shoot. I think everybody has seen that Nova (Rutina Wesley) has written a book and that book is about to explode in many different ways. That will be the catalyst for this season. We’ll just see where we go from there. The writers have worked overtime this season. I give them props, for sure.

Q) You often star in dramas. Is there something about this genre that draws you to it?

A) What’s so crazy is that I started out my career in comedy! I started out in Road Trip and Drum Line. Then, I did Starsky & Hutch. I did a bunch of Todd Phillips’ movies. I don’t know. Probably when I did The Blind Side the shift happened from there. I still like comedy. It’s funny because I think the last comedy I did was “Eastbound & Down.” But I even formed a relationship with Danny McBride and David Gordon Green because from there I got Halloween because Danny wrote it and David directed it. Then, I think I’m doing his next film. I don’t know! It’s essentially like me working with Ava. She does these great dramatic films and it stretches you and makes you a better actor. I wouldn’t mind jumping on something. I tell all my friends that have sitcoms to please bring me on the show. [laughs]

Q) What would you say to everyone who is a fan and supporter of you and the work you do?

A) I just want to thank everybody for supporting me. It’s just amazing! To get on Twitter and people are like, “Yo! I’ve been following you since Drum Line. I’ve been a big supporter.” You never know what you are going to get out of it. I didn’t come into it to be any kind of star or anything. I just wanted to be an actor. I always wanted to be an actor since I was five or six years old and going on to high school. I went to college and studied theater and film, but I never thought of it that I’d have a fanbase. I just wanted to do some go on stage and do some Shakespeare. But it’s blossomed into this and I just appreciate everyone who has been along for the journey and the ride. They give me a whole lot of love where ever I am. I don’t even call them fans. I call them “fam” because they are family. They always reach out to me and whenever I may be there I will take pictures with them. I appreciate it. I can be anywhere else in the world, but with this job I get to do exactly what I want to do and exactly what makes me happy.