TONYA MOSLEY, HOST:
This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley. A hit man drives across Houston with his newborn in the back seat, searching for breast milk. His wife has just died, and nothing in his line of work has prepared him to keep their three children safe without her. That's Latif, the man at the center of Mahershala Ali's new film "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother." The character he plays is a devout Muslim, a devoted father and a contract killer. And this film is hard to categorize. It's an action thriller, a family drama and a meditation on faith set in a world movies rarely show - Black Muslim Life in America. And the title comes from an Islamic teaching about the singular place of mothers.
It's the kind of role Ali is especially good at, men who look composed while something much more complicated is happening underneath. In "True Detective," he played a man whose life and memory unfold across decades. In the 2021 film "Swan Song," he played a dying man who arranges to be secretly replaced by a clone of himself. And in "Moonlight" and "Green Book," that same restraint helped him win two Oscars. And, Mahershala Ali, welcome back to FRESH AIR.
MAHERSHALA ALI: Thank you for having me. It's good to be here.
MOSLEY: Well, you know, I have never seen a character quite like this one, the one that you play in this movie, because Latif, I mean, he knows how to kill people. He's an assassin. What he does not know is how to take care of his own kids. And we have not seen that play out in the same movie. What interested you about that contradiction?
ALI: I think exactly that, the contradiction, or the breadth of that character's responsibilities. You know, as an actor, you are searching for your new mountain to climb and someone to climb it with you, Bassam Tariq in this case. And...
MOSLEY: The director, yes.
ALI: Yeah, the director.
MOSLEY: And writer.
ALI: And writer, yes. And so, just upon reading it, I was just blown away by just all that came along with trying to fill the shoes of this character and bring him to life, which was, yes, being a contract killer, which was inherently already interesting. Him being a Muslim, which is rare for me to see and to meet on the page, and especially with such dimensionality. And then also a father of three, and specifically the infant that we're really dealing with in this case. And so all these elements sort of stitched together just jumped out to me on the page. And so it was kind of like I couldn't say no to it.
MOSLEY: And, you know, the thing about Latif, his faith doesn't make him righteous. If anything, it kind of gives him this standard that he keeps failing to meet throughout the film. And I want to play a scene where...
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...We learn that Latif had promised to stop working as a hit man.
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: And it's a promise that he has not kept. And he's talking to his imam, played by Giancarlo Esposito, who has just found all of this out. Let's listen.
(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER YOUR MOTHER")
GIANCARLO ESPOSITO: (As Abdul Malik) I didn't see you at prayers today.
ALI: (As Latif) Yeah, I lost track of time.
ESPOSITO: (As Abdul Malik) I taught you better than this. You sat right here with Khadija, promising that you were done being a hit man.
ALI: (As Latif) That man murdered Imam Bashir in cold blood. The feds did nothing.
ESPOSITO: (As Abdul Malik) The Rasul met his enemies with mercy. Violence was the last resort.
ALI: (As Latif) He killed a holy man. Jail would've been a mercy. These men ain't got no code. They lawless. Sometimes you got to take things into your own hands.
ESPOSITO: (As Abdul Malik) That money had nothing to do with it?
MOSLEY: That is my guest today in his latest film, "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother." You know, what struck me listening to that is that he's trying to make sense of something his faith tells him not to do. And you've said one of the first things you ask about a character is where he stands with God.
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: Where do you land particularly with Latif?
ALI: I believe that Latif is a man that, I think, discovers that he is struggling with his belief, his faith and his relationship with God. I think he's in shock by his new responsibilities. He's in shock from the loss of his wife and partner and mother of his children. And I don't think he has the larger understanding of how to mourn and being sort of gracious with himself. And I don't think he has the capacity to be patient, especially with this ticking clock of a child needing to be fed immediately and not having the source of that food, essentially, not having his partner to love this child and to feed and take care of this child.
And so, suddenly, that responsibility, all that falls onto him. And he actually feels truly overwhelmed. And so in the moment, he's just angry. I think he's angry about it all. And it opens up - I don't want to say opportunity, per se. But it leaves him really questioning and challenging God and wanting God to make sense of all this or to even take it back, correct this mistake. Yeah.
MOSLEY: Why do you need to know where a character stands with God before you can understand?
ALI: Well, I think it's more of being aware that it's my responsibility to sort of breathe life into these characters. And I feel strongly that we are spirits having a physical experience. And I think it's just helpful for me to sort of locate how much I think a character is in conversation with his creator. So it's just a place in which I can begin to ask questions that I think have real resonance for me as an actor as you begin to stitch together choices over the course of a journey or story.
MOSLEY: One thing you talked about wanting to do for a long time is action films. And you had a chance to step into that water, including in this latest project. I mean, you came to this film with an unusual amount of physical preparation. I think when people see you, they will see that in you. And you have the sword work, the martial arts.
ALI: Yes.
MOSLEY: And it's violent.
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: How did you approach Latif, understanding you've got this new physicality that you were working towards "Blade" that never happened? And so now you are in this step of trying to transfer that physicality to this guy, who's doing it, though the violence is for protection, for his family. So there's kind of, like, a softness. And there's a real hardness and brashness. Like, that combination is just so interesting to me.
ALI: Well, it also brings up the fact that I think for Latif, it's attached to, like, his passion for justice. Like, I don't think the Giancarlo Esposito character necessarily agrees with him on that. But I almost feel like Latif almost believes, like, he has a calling towards justice. And that is in the same way that if you look at, like, a character like Batman, who goes off and he's a vigilante. And he's doing certain things that are clearly violent, but it's in part because, you know, he's doing something that the police force can't do or won't do, so to speak. Latif is doing this act essentially because he feels like justice was essentially overlooked in this instance. And he feels tasked to handle that. And then there's also him, yes, having to protect his family. And so, therefore, fortunately for him and them, he is - he's equipped to do that. But it definitely comes at a cost. His daughter, in particular, is impacted, I think, emotionally by having to witness some of the things that her father has to do to protect them at this point.
MOSLEY: If you're just joining us, my guest today is Academy Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali. His new film is "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother." We'll continue our conversation after a short break. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. And today, I am talking with Mahershala Ali. He's won two Academy Awards for "Moonlight" and "Green Book." And his new film is "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother."
This relationship between the children that your character, Latif, was trying to protect, there's kind of this interesting reversal in the film. So Latif is trying to figure out how to take care of his kids. But over time, we begin to see the ways that they're taking care of him, too.
ALI: Absolutely.
MOSLEY: And it's an interesting dynamic to be in as a parent, 'cause I don't think we think about that, you know, that...
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...And even in the soft ways that we probably can't articulate the ways that our children are doing that for us. Did making this film change anything about the way you understood that relationship between parent and child?
ALI: You know, I think perhaps it's made me aware that that kids are also protectors, that they do it in their own ways. Like, for instance, like, my child, who's 9 years old, sometimes experiences things, and you have to find out the hard way that she's experienced something, and I think in large part is because she's trying to protect you from knowing that she's experienced something difficult. So you would almost imagine that in the way in which when your kids are younger and they fall down at the park and then they just look at you and see how you react, and depending on...
MOSLEY: Yes, yes, yes.
ALI: ...How you react, they just run to you like, I hurt myself. Right? Well, that begins to shift at a certain point, where when they're not in front of you, if they experience something like that could be terrible, they may not tell you because they're processing it. And I've recently experienced that with my daughter this summer. And I got so upset, like, sort of at her because she didn't let me know that she was going through something, that something had happened to her. Like, I had to hear it from, like, the camp counselor, you know, kind of thing.
MOSLEY: Yep. Oh, yeah. It's the worst feeling in the world to feel - kind of when your children...
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...Are older, and they start to tell you all the things they didn't tell you about...
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...That you didn't know about.
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: Did you and Bassam, the director, talk about these things? 'Cause what's so interesting about this script, too, in particular, or this story, is a lot of this kind of happened. For Bassam, he was searching for breast milk in the same way as this character when his wife needed it at a certain point.
ALI: She had an infection, yeah.
MOSLEY: Yeah,
ALI: Is what - yeah.
MOSLEY: And she could not provide.
ALI: Yes.
MOSLEY: She could not provide for their child. I'm always so fascinated by the conversations fathers might have about these types of things. Did you guys?
ALI: Yeah. We talked so much, but then there became a point where we were just - we were kind of thrust into it, and we were, like, living it together. And from moment to moment, scene to scene, you start discovering things that are, like, written and also just - and not written that end up revealing things about character. You start dialing in little moments.
There's a moment in which - towards the end of the film in the third act, there's a moment where Latif fixes Fatiha's hair. And I think Bassam just came up with this idea and wanted me to - in this moment where I'm going to take off, and you're not sure if we're ever going to see each other again, but just sort of as, like, a gentle fathering act...
MOSLEY: Tender.
ALI: ...To see him. Like, yeah, to stop and take a moment and just fix his daughter's hair as they're saying goodbye. You're just sort of open to - part of what filmmakers need to do is create a sacred space. And there are so many things that can come up in that space where the film can finish being written in the moments that you're shooting it, that they're never finished, you know, in that way.
MOSLEY: This title, it comes from an Islamic teaching in which a man asks the Prophet Muhammad, who deserves the best of him? And three times, the answer is, your mother. Only after that comes, your father.
ALI: Right.
MOSLEY: What did that teaching mean to you before this film?
ALI: I'm someone who grew up, like, really adoring my father. He died when I was 20. And I think in some ways - and my father lived in New York, and I was growing up in California. And I think my mother was so present in a way that I think I got to take her for granted on a certain level. And we also had our own moment in time where we weren't as close as I think either of us would have liked to have been. And I think once I had converted to Islam and I started delving more into the teachings and learning more about the faith and how it impacts all aspects of your life.
Two of the teachings that really stood out to me was that heaven was at the feet of your mother and the Islamic teaching that our film opens with in terms of, like, your mother being - that you should hold your mother dearest to you. And so it was just really just emphasized how much - at least for a believer or a Muslim or whatnot - it emphasizes how much God values the mother and values women in our faith. And it challenges you to really reflect on why and what it is that women must sacrifice and how much of themselves must they give in order to raise you or in order just to even just bring you into the world. And so you're supposed to hold your mother dear in your heart and have a lot of respect for women in general. And, of course, that doesn't always play out, you know, culturally or - you know, or whatnot. But the teaching is that you are to, like, who you value most in this world are the beings, the people, the women that brought you into this world.
MOSLEY: That's really interesting. Now being a man, being able to reflect and see that maybe I took my mother for granted because she was there. This relationship with your dad, kind of this absence makes the heart grow fonder because he was a dancer. He lived in New York...
ALI: Yeah. Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...I can imagine just your childhood brain imagining his life across the country.
ALI: Yeah. Well, you know, and also, like, one of my earliest memories is my father won a dance contest on "Soul Train" of all things when I was a little kid. So - and he won a car on TV. So to be on TV back then, it's, like, one of my earliest memories, and him coming home with a brand-new car and $2,500 that he wins in '70s and he ends up moving to New York, and, you know, I'm growing up and visiting him in the summer, and I'm backstage or on tour with him for "Dreamgirls" and meeting all these wonderful people, some of which are still working in the business to this day. And, you know, I'm just exposed to certain things that I didn't know how to go back to Hayward, California, where I was growing up and tell anybody about those things. And a lot of times there's kids who didn't even, like, believe me (laughter) when I would share certain things, or, like, I'm watching a music video or watching a commercial and my dad or a really close friend of his is on the commercial or on TV or doing an episode or something or on a show.
So there's this compartmentalized thing that I was experiencing that no one else around me, like, totally got. So I think all that sort of added to - and when he was with me, he was, like, really present. He was awesome. We had a great time. But then I would go back and experience the day-to-day mundane of just growing up and having to do homework and getting in trouble if I acted up in class or all the things that you deal with, like, growing up as a kid. Like, those are the things that, you know, my mom is, like, dealing more so with on a day-to-day basis. And so all that contributed to I think my childhood and my experiences with my mom being, like, colored a certain way. And my parents were also really young when I was born. Like, they were teenagers.
MOSLEY: Teenagers.
ALI: And so...
MOSLEY: Yeah. You watched them grow up, essentially.
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: They...
ALI: Exactly.
MOSLEY: ...Raised you. And I'm curious the kind of dancing your dad did. So "Soul Train" dancing, "Dreamgirl" dancing. What was his specialty?
ALI: Well, he went to Dance Theatre Harlem, but he also, like, you know, he studied ballet and tap and jazz and all of, you know, and then by the early '80s, he was, like, understudying in "Dreamgirls" and then eventually playing the James "Thunder" Early role on the road for the national tour. And by the time he passed away, really trying to transition into legitimate acting, you know, out of trying to get out of the musical theater, dance kind of world and always really considering himself an actor, which, when he started to, like, say that, like, oh, I'm an actor, I was like, huh, I didn't - and I don't know anything about acting at this time 'cause it's not - as much as I was coming in and out, it wasn't my world. I was - if anything, I was more on the athletic sort of pathway.
MOSLEY: 'Cause at that time, you were in college playing basketball still.
ALI: He passed away going into my junior year. So it was kind of like halfway through that college basketball journey that he passed away, but I did just start getting into, like, theater, sort of, like, accidentally. Like, right before he passed away, I did a play, and I remember him saying, you know, that I had the bug or whatever.
MOSLEY: Oh, he saw you? Did he see you in that play?
ALI: No, he didn't see me in it, but it was just more me, like, just talking about what I was doing. What he did see me do was I was writing a lot of poetry back then. And those poems started to essentially act as, like, monologues because it was, like, early in that slam poetry sort of era. So I would share those with him and friends of his and whatnot, which they all kind of loved. And so that was a bit of a transition into acting because I was basically performing my own writing, and I got a lot of encouragement around that.
MOSLEY: Our guest today is award-winning actor, Mahershala Ali. We'll be right back after a short break. I'm Tonya Mosley, and this is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF ART FARMER & BENNY GOLSON JAZZTET'S "KILLER JOE")
MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. I'm Tonya Mosley, and my guest today is Mahershala Ali. His new film is "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother," in which he plays Latif, a devout Muslim father of three who is also a professional killer, suddenly left to care for his children after his wife dies. His other work includes "House Of Cards," "Luke Cage," "True Detective," "Ramy," "Swan Song" and the Spider-Verse films. He won Academy Awards for the films "Moonlight" and "Green Book," becoming the first Muslim to win an acting Oscar. Ali grew up between Oakland with his mother and the East Coast with his father, who worked as a dancer. Ali went to Saint Mary's College on a basketball scholarship and later earned a graduate degree in acting from NYU. Before acting fully took hold, he also recorded music as the rapper Prince Ali.
I just have a few things I'm curious about about this time period in your life. You're getting up on stage, you're performing poetry, and eventually you become Prince Ali.
ALI: (Laughter) Yes.
MOSLEY: Who was Prince Ali, and what did that persona give you?
(LAUGHTER)
ALI: Oh, I think there was, like, several iterations, and I think I eventually landed on Prince Ali. But, you know, honestly, the first time I was ever rapping and on stage, I was 12 years old. I was in Toronto, Canada, and...
MOSLEY: What were you doing there?
ALI: ...My father was doing "Dreamgirls" there in '86. And myself and a friend named Sean (ph) - and our fathers were in the show, and I remember we both got, like, $5 a day 'cause they were, like, in tech week, and so they were, like, putting the show together and about to open. And so we would go while our dads were rehearsing. We were kind of like latchkey kids on the road. And so we would go off to the arcade and, you know, play games for half the day. Like, that could go for a while back then.
He and I, we both, like, had an open love for hip-hop at that time. We both loved Run-D.M.C. and LL Cool J. And one day, Sean was like, well, you know, I beatbox, and he started, like, you know, beatboxing and making the beat with his mouth. And I was like, well, I rap. And I had written my little rhyme, and I had it memorized. And so we're in the elevator with our fathers one day, and we're going up to our rooms, and Sean just breaks out beatboxing, and then I start rapping and then their jaws, like, drop. Next thing you know, a week later, for opening night of the show, we're on stage. There was, like, 2,000 people in this club that they were able to get us in, but we had to sit in some section where they weren't serving alcohol or whatever. But we ended up performing. We got shirts made that said DT on them - Double Threat (ph).
MOSLEY: (Laughter).
ALI: And, like, he's beatboxing on stage, and I'm rapping, and we - like, we tore it down. Like, it was an experience I will never forget.
But that - around that time, like, that's when - I started writing, like, pretty young. I wrote my first poem when I was 9 years old. I was writing my rhymes at, like, 12. And...
MOSLEY: Do you remember what it was about, that first poem?
ALI: My first poem, I remember it vividly (laughter). I kid you not. Yeah, it was about God. It was about God. And it was, when I was young, I was blind, sad and lonely all the time. I felt like I was trapped in a shell, visiting Satan in his hell, until a person shared with me that God's the glory of being free. So then I turned to Jesus, my friend, and he'll stay with me till the end.
So it was, like, at this Bible study retreat-type thing and - so that was 9, and then I kind of, like, always sort of wrote a little bit on the side. Just, again - like, just processing things, you know?
MOSLEY: Oh, Mahershala, that's kind of remarkable. I'm thinking about you as a 9 year old. You know, you come from a home where your mother - she's a minister, right? So...
ALI: Yeah , yeah.
MOSLEY: So faith is deeply ingrained in the place where you are. But it sounds like you've always been, in a way, a seeker - a seeker of understanding a higher power.
ALI: Yeah, I think so. I feel like on some level I've always been at a place where I've seen just prayers be answered, and I think that that ends up sort of feeding one's relationship to God or faith. And, you know, I'm really grateful for that relationship.
MOSLEY: You've talked a lot about your parents - your mom and your dad - but recently, I have also been hearing you talk a lot about your grandmother in particular.
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: You said that there's no way that you'd be really, basically, sitting here without her.
ALI: Not at all.
MOSLEY: Who was she to you?
ALI: Oh. She just had her 92nd birthday yesterday.
MOSLEY: Oh, my gosh. Happy birthday, Grandma.
ALI: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. She's - oh, man. Let me just tell you. Look, this is my grandmother. I remember I was 22 years old and I had just completed California Shakespeare Festival. So I did that summer program, and I had got to work on the main stage with the professional actors in the company, and then I was also part of the apprentice program as well. But I had a pretty wonderful summer. And this is - like, I'm literally - had - I'd just graduated from undergrad from Saint Mary's College, and I was able to step right into this California Shakespeare Festival program with real audience and real actors. And just such a pretty remarkable experience.
And going through that program, by that time, I had a couple of people say to me - one gentleman who was in - was one of the professional actors. I think his name was Martin Kildare (ph). And then I had a professor as well from Saint Mary's College named Victoria Trussell, who had - both of them were like, you need to go to grad school, and I was like, OK. And so I had decided that I was going to audition for NYU. I knew that it was - like, they only accepted, like, 16 to 18 people and that they were going to audition potential students nationwide.
So my grandmother one day - I was living with them, you know, in the summers. They're aware of, like, what the chances are of me even getting in, so to speak. But I'm walking into my room and she kind of, like, cuts in front of me to go and put some stuff in my room. And this is, like, December. I don't even audition until, like, February. It's, like, December of '96. And my grandmother walks in my room and she's got, like, these sweats that she got from Kmart. They're just generic, like, gray, thick, warm sweats. And she just - I was like, what are those for? And she was like, well, you going to need these when you move to New York, and she just kind of, like, set them on the dresser for me.
And it was such a reflection of how she believed in me and supported me. And I got in, you know? And I ended up going to NYU for three years. And, yeah (laughter), I had those to keep me warm. And she was also - like, my grandfather didn't know, but I didn't get this loan in my third year (laughter) of school. I didn't, like, apply for something - right? - so I was, like, short on some money. Like, it was, like, a lot of money I was short on. And, like, she's like, sneaking me, like, thousands of dollars. Like, you know, I feel like it was, like, $15,000 or something like that. She's, like, sneaking me money. And she's like, yeah, but you got to pay me back when you get out. I was like, Grandma, I got you. I got you. So when I got my first gig, when I got "Crossing Jordan," like, part of my check is, like, going to, like, pay her back, like, immediately, you know, 'cause I was like, I can't have you, like, stressing about this money. So I got - I paid her back.
MOSLEY: Let's take a short break. If you're just joining us, my guest is Academy Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali. We'll be right back after a break. This is FRESH AIR.
(SOUNDBITE OF MUSIC)
MOSLEY: This is FRESH AIR. And today, my guest is Mahershala Ali. His new film is called "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother." Soon after graduating NYU acting school, he got roles on television series, including "Crossing Jordan" and "The 4400," but he always wanted to do movies.
What was the role where you first thought, now we are talking? This is the kind of work that I have been trying to get to.
ALI: Wow. "Curious Case Of Benjamin Button." I booked that. It was my - technically my first feature film, and I booked it in 2006. And we were doing reshoots up until, like, October 2008, and it came out at the end of 2008. So I think that - so my - that kind of - I don't want to say chip on my shoulder, but that sort of attitude about, wow, I'm in a David Fincher film - so thinking and feeling like things were just go to, like, open up for me. I - that part was - for where I was at at that time, and that's like 20 years ago, and it's six years into a professional career, and I was able to suddenly be transitioning out of television into film - and a David Fincher film - that meant a lot. And so to get to be in a movie and to be with, you know, Brad Pitt and company, you know, Tilda Swinton and Cate Blanchett, and you go on and on and on, like, the - Taraji P. Henson and the folks that are in that movie, it's unbelievable. So so I felt like I got to dip my foot in that water, you know, for sure. And that I just wanted to stay in that space. And if I couldn't stay in that space, I want to get back to that type of work and in a more full way as soon as I possibly could.
MOSLEY: You know, I've heard you talk about how you want to be this actor who just moves through time and isn't set on one particular character, you know, in one way, you know, if a character were a Marvel character, for instance, a Blade or something like that, you would be forever synonymous with that particular character. And you've said how that kind of scares you. And "Moonlight," in particular, is such a special, singular, magical film that feels like it only comes once every blue moon, to have a script in front of you that allows you to articulate what you werere able to do in that film. When you think back in particular about that experience, what do you hold onto? What is the thing that you also take with you in the same way that you did with "Benjamin Button"?
ALI: There is a feeling from the moment I read that script. And that feeling only grew. It was like you could - it was just this beautiful flower. And it just - the whole process - watering it, growing it, talking to it - it just continued to grow and just got more and more beautiful, like, the whole way through. Being on that set, and we just did not have any money. Like, there weren't chairs. There weren't - like, we were sitting on, like, the ice box or what have you. We didn't really have, like, a proper trailer to change. We had this bus that - like, every department was in this bus. Like, I kid you not. Like, hair, makeup, like, everything. We were all in this bus. Like - but I got - to be way real with you - and I'd been on enough sets that were fully funded by this point - nobody cared. It was so profoundly special.
Barry Jenkins was shooting "Moonlight." It was extraordinary at creating a sacred space. And it was one where other people's ideas or - the moment itself had an opportunity to speak and to be additive and to deepen. Like, good directors are expecting you to deepen what is there on the page and to help really be - bring it alive in the same way they expect the director of photography to make their contribution and the production designer to make his or her contribution.
MOSLEY: There's something strange about reaching a level of success after spending years of doing the work...
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...And then discovering that it doesn't necessarily make the work or getting the work easier.
ALI: It's true. It doesn't.
MOSLEY: Yeah, to have a film...
ALI: Yeah.
MOSLEY: ...Like "Your Mother" to such a meaty role. But what do you think winning your second Oscar, what did you think it would change that it didn't?
ALI: You know, I thought that the sort of leading man opportunities would just open up, you know, because I just felt like even the Don Shirley role was so close to a leading man part, like...
MOSLEY: And remind people...
ALI: Like for...
MOSLEY: ...About that role.
ALI: In "Green Book," and - 'cause if you think about it, like, Viggo's character - Viggo Mortensen's character - he had a certain runway. Like, you got to see him by himself. You got to see him with his family. You know, the Don Shirley character enters into the piece in a different way 20 minutes into the film kind of thing, right? And so, at some point, you're hoping for those opportunities and that lens and being a little bit more centered and the dimensionality to be consistent. And even the type of filmmakers that I would be put in front of, you know, I think I was hoping that that would change, and it would - there would be these, like, what I would call no-brainer opportunities. And so, I guess I was just surprised that, like, it would be...
MOSLEY: You're still fighting for leading roles?
ALI: And just even just fighting - like, wondering why, man, that phone is really not really ringing. Or, like, you're not getting those calls from, like, these seasoned, extraordinary, award-winning, like, filmmakers and getting asked to come and do their films or even considered parts, you know, kind of thing. And so, I think that that, it just - for a while, it just sort of surprised me. And then, at a certain point, it just goes back to accepting that, OK, well, I guess this is just what it is. And so then you move forward into just, like, looking for the best thing that comes your way. And every now and then, something great comes along. Or in the meantime, sort of going like - considering things and going, well, can I elevate this?
MOSLEY: You're still pretty hungry as an actor. I mean, you actually said that you're the hungriest you've been as an actor in a long time. Is the hunger different now from the hunger you had when nobody knew who you were?
ALI: Yeah, I think my hunger has matured. I think I have less fear in a certain way. And so, therefore, I have an energy that is, like, ready to attack the part. So in that way, I just feel hungry to get to it. I feel hungry to interpret, metabolize the material and, like, get to work on set. I just feel like, yo, let's go play. Let's get to it. Like, let's fail during rehearsal. Let's fail on camera until we find it. Like, I just feel like, let's just get to it. I don't feel like talking about it. Let's go, you know?
And so, and fortunately, I have, like, a wonderful part that's, like, feeding me right now. You know, I'm getting to do Season 2 of "Task" with - for Brad Ingelsby, the showrunner, and getting to work opposite of Mark Ruffalo. So that's been absolutely wonderful. And we're a little over halfway through the season. But, like, I'm just hungry to eat through it. Like, I just want to keep going so we can, like - not even, like, get it done, but it has been a grind. It has been a while, and it is very tough work. But I'm just waiting for the next time I go to set because I'm just ready to work.
MOSLEY: Mahershala Ali, it's been such a pleasure to talk with you. Thank you.
ALI: Thank you.
MOSLEY: Award-winning actor Mahershala Ali. His new film is called "Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother." Coming up, John Powers reviews Chris Rock's new film, "Misty Green." This is FRESH AIR.
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