WATCH: Antoinette Crowe-Legacy and Ilfenesh Hadera on ‘Godfather of Harlem’ roles
The EPIX series stars Forest Whitaker as legendary crime boss Bumpy Johnson
Godfather of Harlem debuted on EPIX on Sunday and the series that stars Forest Whitaker as legendary crime boss Bumpy Johnson is already making waves.
theGrio sat down with Antoinette Crowe-Legacy and Ilfenesh Hadera to discuss their roles in the series inspired by the story of infamous crime boss Bumpy Johnson (Whitaker), who in the early 1960s returned from ten years in prison to find the neighborhood he once ruled in shambles.
With the streets controlled by the Italian mob, Bumpy must take on the Genovese crime family to regain control. During the brutal battle, he forms an alliance with radical preacher Malcolm X (Thatch) – catching Malcolm’s political rise in the crosshairs of social upheaval and a mob war that threatens to tear the city apart. Godfather of Harlem is a collision of the criminal underworld and the civil rights movement during one of the most tumultuous times in American history.
Forest Whitaker on becoming Bumpy Johnson for ‘Godfather of Harlem’
Antoinette Crowe-Legacy plays Elise, Johnson’s estranged daughter who reappears in his life while Ilfanesh Hadera plays Mayme Johnson, the mother of Johnson’s child.
“She’s the complete backbone of the Johnson household…She has been the sole parent to Bumpy’s child for the 11 years that he has been away so she has really held it down,” Hadera says of her character.
Check out the full interview above.
Godfather of Harlem airs Sundays on EPIX.
Check out the trailer:
