Yahya Abdul-Mateen II has embraced a variety of roles throughout his decade-long career in Hollywood. From a villain in “Aquaman” to Bobby Seale in “The Trial of the Chicago 7.” For the Netflix adaptation of “Man on Fire,” the New Orleans to Oakland native knew it wasn’t just any role he was stepping into. He was stepping into the shoes once worn by Denzel Washington.
Throughout the press run for the show, Mateen has repeatedly emphasized that he had to view the character as his own and not lean heavily on Washington’s 2004 portrayal, which has stuck with fans for more than two decades. Sitting down with Matt Barnes and Stephen Jackson of the “All The Smoke” podcast, Mateen revealed that the team behind the Netflix series wanted to get the two on the phone. Except, a funny thing happened along the way.
“I’m laughing cause we reached out to him. I didn’t want to reach out to him,” Mateen recalled around the four-minute mark of the episode. “You know what I’m saying? I had met him a couple of times. Cool cat. Real cool cat. But I knew what he was going to say, which was like, you know, he said exactly what I knew he was going to say.”
With a deadpan, Mateen told the former NBA stars, “‘What you asking me about? I ain’t I ain’t got nothing to say. Do what you do. Do what you know to do.'”
The remark didn’t catch Mateen off guard but felt more like an affirmation of his work and his craft.
“That’s what he was supposed to say,” he added. “So, nah I didn’t talk to him, but that was his word.”
Mateen has been on a roll in the past few years, from his Emmy Award victory for “Watchmen” to earning a Tony Award nomination for “Topdog/Underdog.” He’s added to his burgeoning list of film credits with a starring role in “Wonder Man” and now “Man on Fire.” But as his star continues to rise, he already has a perception of the changes in Hollywood.
“I think we live in a land of IP. [That] is what everybody’s after right now,” he said. They basically just flipping product, you know what I’m saying? They’re going to say, ‘Okay, what worked back then? Let’s see how we could go acquire those rights and just sell you back the same thing you know again.’ Sometimes it works. I think we got one that hopefully works.”
Mateen also points out that Black success typically leads to a wave of studios wanting their own version. From “Get Out” came plenty of Black horror movies, which is not a “coincidence,” according to Mateen.
“We do need more originality; I think there’s a lot of money in the game right now, right? And there’s a whole lot of money in the business right now. And it really feels like, you know, people want a sure thing. Yeah. So, everybody’s saying, ‘Okay, well, what worked last time or what’s the last thing that worked and then how can we get a little bit of more of that?'”
He added, “So, we need more original stories, and I really do think ultimately those are going to be the stories that win and that win big is, you know, the original stories. The audience wants the same thing that the actors want. We want something new, something fresh, some new material, a different take on something.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Barnes and Jackson get into the crew from “Man on Fire” needing permission to film in Brazil, his upbringing in Oakland, the lessons he’s gained from Regina King, Keanu Reeves, getting starstruck around Lisa Bonet and more.
“Man on Fire” is out now on Netflix.
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