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By
Suzanne
Interview with Jussie Smollett of "Empire" on
FOX 9/28/16
I really wanted to make this call, but unfortunately,
they changed the time and dae, and I wasn't able to make it.
Too bad because it's such a good show, and he does an
amazing job in this role.
Final Transcript FBC Publicity: Conference Call with
Jussie Smollett September 28, 2016/9:25 a.m. PDT
SPEAKERS Alex Gillespie Jussie Smollett
PRESENTATION
Moderator Ladies and gentlemen,
thank you for standing by and welcome to the conference call
with Jussie Smollett. At this time, all participants are in
a listen-only mode. Later, we will conduct a
question-and-answer session, and instructions will be given
at that time. As a reminder, this conference is being
recorded. I would now like to turn the conference over to
our host, Alex Gillespie. Please go ahead.
Alex
Thank you, Roxanne. Good morning and welcome to the Empire
Conference Call with Jussie Smollet. Just a reminder that
Empire airs on Wednesdays, which is tonight, at 9:00 p.m. on
FOX. We also have tonight’s episode posted on the Fox
Screening Room, and on FoxFlash, we have photos and clips
that are available.
Without further ado, I’d like to
turn the call over to Jussie.
Jussie So how
are you? Super weird. Nice to talk to you all. Let’s go.
Alex Great. Roxanne, we’re ready for questions.
Moderator Certainly. [Operator instructions].
Alex And our first question comes from the line
of Jerry Nunn with Windy City Times. Please go ahead.
Jerry Hey, Jussie. I’m calling from Chicago.
Jussie All right.
Jerry We love
having you film here. It’s been great.
Jussie
Yes, it’s starting to get cold in Chicago. I’m starting to
cry a lot.
Jerry I just want to talk to about,
like, the LGBT aspect to the show. What’s fans’ reactions
been like over the few seasons and how do you think it’s
changed the dynamic of the culture?
Jussie I
think that it’s shown just a man trying to make it work and
that this is just who he is. What I’ve seen is that it’s
made a lot of people, both members of the LGBTQ community as
well as allies of the LBGTQ community, it’s really opened up
a conversation, and it’s also opened up, I think, some sort
of understanding of that everyone knows someone whether you
know it or not.
Jerry Yes.
Jussie
And again, this show, we don’t preach. We never have, and I
don’t think we ever will. But I think what we’ve done is
we’ve been able to just hold up a mirror to society and the
world while also entertaining them, but just hold up a
mirror and be like, “Is this you?” Everybody’s okay with gay
people until they’re in their family. Everybody is okay with
integration until your daughter brings home a black man. You
know what I’m saying?
Jerry Yes.
Jussie I think what it’s opened up is this very, very
strong conversation about who am I and who I am, what is it
to you.
Jerry Yes. Thank you so much.
Jussie Thank you.
Moderator And our
next question comes from the line of Russell Weakland with
Hollywood Life. Please go ahead.
Russell Hey,
man. How are you?
Jussie Hey, how are you?
Russell Great.
Jussie Wait, where
are you from?
Russell Sorry?
Jussie
Where are you from?
Russell Hollywoodlife.com.
Jussie Okay. Hollywood. All right. Cool.
Russell Working with Mariah, how has that been and do
you plan on recording any music outside of Empire with her?
Jussie Working with Mariah, it’s perfect. It is.
It’s perfect, and I keep saying this. I was talking to her
the other day just to thank her. She didn’t have to show the
incredible amount of support that she has to me personally.
But she has, and I’m very honored to work with her. It’s
just everything.
I grew up in the ’90s and the 2000s
when our main go-to vocalists were Whitney and Mariah. To be
able to sing with one of these greats is just an honor. It’s
an honor. It’s been wonderful. As far as recording music
outside of the show, I would love to. I think that we just
have to talk to Mariah and try to figure it out.
Russell Fair enough. What kind of love interests would
you like Jamal to have this season, if any at all?
Jussie I guess you’ll just have to watch and see. I
will say this, I’m very happy where Jamal is going. This is
the toughest season that I’ve done so far because this
season has made me have to do real research, not just
digging inside of myself but real research of PTSD and panic
attacks and things like that. It’s really made me have to do
extra, extra work, and I love it. So this season, I will say
without giving too much away, I love exactly where Jamal is.
Russell Very cool. Thank you, man.
Jussie Thank you.
Moderator [Operator
instructions]. Our next question is from Ariana Romero with
Wet Paint. Please go ahead.
Ariana Hi, Jussie.
Great to talk to you.
Jussie Hey, Ariana. How
are you?
Ariana Okay. Well, we were just
talking about Mariah, and I know you’re about to do three
performances with her. So how are you preparing for that?
Jussie Praying to the Lord a lot. This is the
biggest thing that I have ever done, so it has to be on
point. So we’re just working hard. I’m working with my
creative team and Fred Gossett [ph], and we’re going to just
put on the very best show that I can. So I’m excited. I’m
just preparing. I’ve already started. I flew here to LA to
start preparing already.
So it’s exciting. It’s
unbelievable because you’re already going to have the Mariah
fans there who have to keep their attention because they’re
waiting on Mariah. You know what I’m saying? So we have to
keep their attention. We have to give a good show. So that’s
what I’m just aiming for. It’ll be great, though. It’ll be
fun.
Ariana And then my other question is we
didn’t get to spend a ton of time with Jamal in the premiere
last week. So what should fans expect to see from him
tonight since it seems like he’s going to be anchoring the
episode a little bit?
Jussie You know what it
is, that when we think of this good versus evil, I always
say that no one is all bad and no one is all good. Lucious
is not all bad, and Jamal is not all good. But what we see
is this battle between the good and the bad, and he finally
admits this episode that he really does have a problem, but
what comes with that problem is rooted in the family.
So this episode, we get to see that he’s really tapping
into his own awareness and sensitivity and awareness of what
really is going on in the world because there’s a certain
level of—I don’t know how to put it—there’s a certain level
of guard that he’s had his entire life. I think that this
season is really about the Lyon brothers opening up their
eyes to the reality of what is out there, that it’s not just
everything that is around us immediately. It’s something
much bigger than us, and I think that you’ll see in this
episode—again, I’m trying not to give too much away—but
you’ll see in this episode that it really is the opening of
his eyes, so to speak.
Ariana Okay. Awesome.
Thank you.
Jussie Thank you.
Ariana
I’ll keep watching. It’s great.
Jussie Thank
you so much.
Ariana You’re welcome.
Moderator We have a question from the line of Malcolm
Venable with tvguide.com Please go ahead.
Malcolm
Hi, Jussie. Thanks for taking the time.
Jussie
Hey, how are you, Malcolm?
Malcolm Good, man,
good. I have two questions on two different topics. One,
well, first of all, did you think Jamal and Lucious will
ever get to a point where Lucious is accepting and even—I
don’t want to say enthusiastic—but accepting of Jamal’s
sexuality and embracing him fully?
Jussie
Here’s the thing—and I’m so glad that you asked this because
it leads me to a slightly bigger point—is that I don’t
think, at this point, really it’s not necessarily about
Jamal’s sexuality. It’s not to say that Lucious is the
supportive father and is going to be on the marches and the
front lines of parents of LGBTQ people, but I also think
that they just have a problem with each other because more
than anybody, they’re most alike. You know what I’m saying?
That is the issue.
So this season, it’s not
necessarily about the sexuality. It’s so much bigger than
that. That leads me to the whole thing of will Lucious ever
accept his son’s sexuality. The thing is—this is the point
that I keep on trying to drive home—we don’t all have to see
the world in the same way. You know what I’m saying? Lucious
has every right to think and to believe that Jamal being
homosexual is wrong. He has every right to believe that. It
only becomes wrong when he sh*ts upon Jamal and Jamal’s
basic freedoms. That’s all.
So Jamal’s obviously a
bigger picture for the world as a whole. We don’t all have
to agree, and it doesn’t make us bad people if we do agree.
It only makes us bad if your disagreement and your beliefs
then trace over my simple basic freedoms. That’s all. I
think that goes for Lucious and Jamal as well.
Malcolm Sure. Great. Thank you. Then the second question
is particularly in tonight’s episode—I want to ask you if I
got this completely wrong—but I feel like particularly in
tonight’s episode, there was this under theme of
black-on-black violence which is a taboo topic within the
microcosm of the Black Lives Matter conversation. It just
struck me as interesting that Jamal’s point of view is
talking about ending violence, and you have Dubois, Taye
Diggs’ character, essentially come on as this voice of “You
guys need to get it together.”
So I was just curious
how you felt about what we’ll see tonight as potentially a
conversation about violence within the black community and
how Jamal’s affected by that, and yes, if this episode is
about black violence specifically.
Jussie
Right. I think that what we’re able to do again in an
entertaining way is really show a conversation and two very,
very valid views in that conversation but two views that if
joined together could actually be much more powerful. So if
you watch the episode, Angelo has some good things to say,
and Jamal has some good things to say, but there has to be a
common ground found between what they’re both saying. But I
think that it’s a much bigger conversation.
My
problem comes in is when someone talks about police violence
or racial profiling, and then the conversation someone
throws up, “Oh, well, what about black-on-black crime?”
These are both extremely valid points, but these points, one
does not outweigh the other. You know what I’m saying? So
that’s the conversation that starts tonight. Trying so hard
not to give too much away, so hard.
Malcolm
All right, man. Thank you.
Jussie Thanks, man.
Malcolm Cheers.
Moderator Our next
question comes from the line of Kristyn Clarke with Pop
Culture Madness. Please go ahead.
Kristyn Hi.
Thank you so much for speaking with us today.
Jussie Of course.
Kristyn So over the
course of the past two seasons into this season, your
character has gone through so, so very much, and as you
continue to go through these trials and tribulations of the
character, is anything that you find that you continue to be
surprised to learn about yourself as a person?
Jussie Sure. But I think that’s a part of art. Yes, I
learn something new about myself every day playing Jamal,
but I learned something new about myself every day when I
was a broke artist before I even knew of anything called
Empire. So you have to understand, also, that I’m older than
Jamal is, not by much but by enough, like five years. That’s
enough. So I’ve been through a lot of things that Jamal has
been through already. The only thing is that now I feel
sometimes like I’m going through them again because now more
people are watching me go through them. Does that make any
sense?
Kristyn Yes, absolutely.
Jussie So it’s a different experience, but sure, I learn
something new. I think that if I’ve learned anything, I’ve
learned from playing Jamal to be as honest and fearless as I
possibly can, and that’s not always going to work in your
favor in the short run, but in the long run, it will.
Kristyn Absolutely. Thank you so much.
Jussie Thank you.
Moderator [Operator
instructions]. Our next question is from James Windley,
TalkNerdyWithUs. Please go ahead.
James Hey,
Jussie. How are you?
Jussie Hey, how are you?
James I’m good, I’m good. So my question is more
about the music. I recently read an article that the song
“Hemingway” that was used in the show, you said that you had
started playing with that idea, written it before you were
cast on Empire. So my question is how much input do you have
into what your character sings and then the music overall
for the show?
Jussie Well, I have input
obviously in what Jamal does. I’m not about to roll up into
Yazz’s sessions and be like, “Yazz, brother, you’ve got to
do it like this.” Hell, no. Let him try to come and show me
how to do a run. No, I definitely don’t—that has nothing to
do with me, but my music, I’m so blessed because there is
such a collaborative thing that happens here at Empire, from
the acting and the scripts and all that type of stuff, the
writers and the show runner, Ilene, and our creators, Danny
and Lee. They’re so collaborative, and I think that’s why
the show reads, even though it’s so big, that’s why the show
and the music reads in a very real way.
James
Yes.
Jussie It’s because it’s so
collaborative, and it comes across as really real. So yes, a
lot of the songs, “I Want to Love You,” which was in Season
One, that was written for my album. I was working as an indy
artist, and that was written before Empire. “All of the
Above,” I wrote that before Empire and recorded it before
Empire. So when Season One happened, I was also pulling
songs that I wanted to release on my album and was pitching
them.
James Right.
Jussie Oh,
yeah, another thing, this episode, I believe—or maybe it’s
next episode—there’s a song called “Come Undone,” which is
my song that I wrote literally four years ago before Empire.
So I do have a say, but the thing is that the team that I’m
working with this season is so phenomenal, the whole
Darkchild [ph] team, I love that everybody this season has
their own team so that everything is tailor-made to that
artist, and I love that.
James Right. That’s
awesome. All right. Then one more question, does it ever
wake you in the middle of the night the fear that Taraji
[ph] is recording you sleeping?
Jussie Every
f**king day because it’s become this thing—this is the thing
is that I’m the most brilliant at this. All these other mark
a** busters on the set, they think they’re cute about it,
but here’s the thing, bro, here’s the thing, they all got it
from me. So I’m the original. I’m the original. So it’s all
good, but the problem is that because I’m so good at it,
everybody wants to try to get their little shine, their
little [audio disruption] by videotaping me. So I’m always
on guard, and I get tired. I get tired. So in between takes
sometimes, we’re waiting for a different setup, I do fall
asleep, and a lot of people over the last months or the last
being back for Season Three have gotten me. That’s fine, and
Grace has posted something today on the Empire fan page—I
know she’s posting it—of where she got me. But that’s all
right because I don’t need to get them anymore. I’m getting
them in other ways. Watch.
James Right. Okay.
That’s cool.
Jussie Raising s**t up, raise it
up.
James All right. Well, thank you very
much.
Jussie All right, man. Y’all keep your
eyes open.
Moderator Our next question is from
Erika Monroy with Universal. Please go ahead. Erika, your
line is open.
Erika Hi.
Jussie
Hey, Erika.
Erika Yes. Hi.
Jussie
How are you?
Erika Thank you very much for the
time.
Jussie Thank you.
Erika I
want to know how difficult is being part of this family,
because I know this is a drama family, too. So I want to
know how difficult it is being part of this family.
Jussie I would think that being a part of the Lyon
family would be very difficult although I also think that it
has its perks. For me playing a part of the Lyon family,
it’s sometimes difficult because with the scenes that we
have to play, they’re so emotional, and we genuinely truly
love each other. But there’s also a level of the reason why
it’s not difficult is because we all trust each other, we
all trust each other in real life, and I think again, that’s
why the show comes across as so real, and you believe us as
a family—good, bad and ugly—because we all genuinely love
each other and are like a family. When we get on each other
nerves, it’s like a family, when we are loving on each
other, it’s like a family. But it’s so family.
Erika Yes. I also want to know you just said that in the
’90s, we have our biggest stars in music like Mariah. So I
want to know your opinion about nowadays, what’s happened
with these big, big stars that I think that we don’t have
any more like this big?
Jussie Well, that’s
the thing, I think that every one of these big stars, they
make their own. As any performer, you make your own path,
and there’s a huge freeway. Everybody has their lane. But I
actually disagree. I think that there are a lot of
incredible artists out now that are our generation’s
superstars. So I think there are a lot of great artists, but
whatever we grow up on, we are turning into our parents
because whatever they grew up on, that was absolutely the
best. So whatever we grew up on, that’s absolutely the best.
We are going to look down on everybody else just like the
next generation will do the same. So that’s just the way it
goes.
Erika Perfect. Thank you very much.
Jussie Thank you.
Alex Okay. We
have time for one more question
Moderator That
question comes from the line of Ny Magee Eurweb. Please go
ahead.
Ny Hello, Jussie. Thank you for
speaking with us this morning.
Jussie Thank
you. It’s Nya?
Ny Ny, N-y, Ny.
Jussie Ny. Nice to meet you.
Ny Yes. Nice
to meet you, too. Thank you. My question is in terms of
Jamal’s growth over the past two seasons—because I know you
probably can’t spoil anything about this season—but in terms
of his growth over the past two seasons, which character arc
has been most rewarding for you to explore?
Jussie
This character arc in the third season because it’s trying
in a way that is it’s absolutely exhausting, it’s
emotionally exhausting. See, before it was emotionally
exhausting because I felt like I had to dig up so much old
stuff, and I had to be honest, and I had to be real. But now
I’m doing that, but also, this takes a lot of work.
After a scene, you feel like you’re literally about to pass
out. But I love it so much as an actor. It’s such an actor’s
dream to be able to sing and do all of this wonderful,
wonderful stuff but also to be able to dip so deep into what
this character is going through. That’s my favorite.
Definitely so far, this is my favorite arc that I’ve had a
chance to play because I feel like I have to be bold in it.
Ny Thank you, and if I can ask a really quick
follow-up question really quick, can you talk a bit about
your character that you’re playing an Alien Covenant?
Jussie No, I cannot because I literally signed a
phonebook. I think I have to give up my firstborn. But what
I can say is that he is a member of the covenant, and it’s
awesome. Listen, working with Ridley Scott and Michael
Fassbender and Carmen Ejogo and Billy Crudup, Danny McBride,
just such an awesome crew. I’ve been so blessed in these
casts that I get to be a part of that we actually are cool
with each other. I haven’t run into any cast—knock on wood
yet—that I’ve worked with where I’m like, damn, I hate these
people, God, I want to go home. It’s always been cool. So
that was a great thing. I don’t know if that answered any of
your questions about Alien, but it’s going to be dope. It
comes out August 4, 2017, and it’s pretty incredible. It’s
kind of scary.
Ny Thank you very much.
Jussie Thank you.
Alex Great. Thank
you. That concludes our conference call. Thank you to Jussie
for joining us. Roxanne, did you want to give the replay
information?
Moderator Certainly. Ladies and
gentlemen, this conference will be made available for replay
after 11:40 a.m. this morning through October 5, 2016 at
midnight.
That concludes our conference for today.
Thank you for your participation and for using AT&T
Executive Teleconference Service. You may now disconnect.
Jussie Thank you.
Alex Thank you.
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