BACK TO THE CUL-DE-SAC

Last year, we got hooked to a twisty romantic thriller The Couple Next Door on STARZ. Each week, we were hooked on couples who lived in a cul-de-sac who had so much going on in and between their homes. As we don’t want to share any spoliers, if you have yet to check this out, you need to. With S2 of this show currently airing their latest season, you hear more about what took place in S1 as well as getting connected with new characters that will leave us open mouthed on what takes place!

We sat down with Sam Palladio (Nashville, The Princess Switch franchise, Catherine the Great) as well as his co-star, Sendhill Ramamurthy (Never Have I Ever, Heroes, New Amsterdam). We wanted to know how they came to this franchise, approached playing their characters, as well as preparing to bring them to life, and more!

ATHLEISURE MAG: Well we have been fans of both of your work, so it’s good that you guys are here! What drew you to The Couple Next Door?

SENDHILL RAMAMURTHY: It was just very different! I was doing a show for Netflix that was a real kind of fantasy show where there were a lot of special effects, and it’s very kind of heightened where people have powers and all of that. This was just more of a grounded scenario and it really appealed to me, because I’ve been talking to a tennis ball stuck on a stick for weeks and weeks! So to be able to actually speak to Sam and to Bel was really nice to speak to human beings! That was the draw for me!

SAM PALLADIO: Yeah, for me. I think you know I grew up in the UK. I’ve been in Nashville and in the states for over a decade, but I really felt a draw to go back and do some, um, great, you know, British television, even though we shot it in Belgium!

Finding a role that was something different. This is my first time sort of playing that character that’s not just the sort of charming singer/songwriter, you know? Jacob obviously, given a huge arc to the show and becomes our villain, you know, and that was really exciting for me to lean into that as a sort of? As I sort of age into my late 30s and finding a bit more gravitas and having lived a lot more life, it was a really exciting challenge to a bit like Sendhill says. Play something real and grounded, but a character that that does some dark things you know and explore that world with a British production behind it.

AM: Wow!

What is that creative process like when you’re bringing these kinds of characters to life? Are there certain things that you do and how do you connect with each of the people you play with?

SR: We were really lucky in that we actually got to sit down for a few days, just kind of like the 4 of us around the table with our director, Dries Vos and just read through the scripts. I mean, it wasn’t quite a rehearsal –

AM: Right.

SR: Bit, it was as close as you get on television to a rehearsal. I don’t know about you Sam, but for me, that that’s never really happened. We’ve never had the opportunity to kind of like, sit there, and you know, you get the table. You get a table read every once in a while, but we, you know, you never get to sit around for hours, talking about scenes, and like, “hey, I’m not sure this works or I don’t understand this –“

SP: Yeah!

SR: This was all before we guys came on set, that was like it was a huge blessing really. I’m grateful that they made sure that we were able to have that because I think that it was hugely helpful for all of us!

SP: I think that’s it. The production team were really collaborative, and I haven’t been part of a show where I felt like we were all equal, you know, and had a say and and they really valued our opinions. You know, there’s a lot of jobs you do where you’re a number on a call sheet, and you turn up on the day, you learn the lines, you’re in and out, and nice to meet you guys bye! This felt from the ground up, like a like a big collaboration. For me, sort of preparing, well, one thing we got to do, which was amazing, was, you know, I? I play an anesthetist and Bel is my wife and an incredible heart surgeon. Ahead of filming, we got to go and observe, a real open heart surgery.

AM: Oh, wow!

SP: We were able to be in the room and be a fly on the wall. Well, kind of more than a fly on the wall, actually, because the surgeons were really excited to meet us, even though they were in the middle of the bowel replacement! We were really chatty, and myself and Aggy (Oh Ramona, Eden Lodge, The Perfect Escape) went along that that morning and was just trying to like, be quiet, and they were just asking questions and they were really excited. But for me to observe the anesthetist and his world, it was just invaluable, you know? Because a lot of that hospital drama and the medical drama, you know, we didn’t want to just be actors.

AM: Right.

SP: You know? So that was a really great grounding for all that medical side of the show. And then, for, you know, the sort of emotional side, I just had lots of threesomes!

AM: As you do, apparently!

SP: Haha no – no!

AM: Right, exactly?

Well, we were huge fans of S1. This show is all about the intricacies and dynamics that take place over the season, and if S1 was any indication, it will be exciting to see how it plays out here as well!

What can you tell us about Jacob and Leo that we should be prepared to know in watching S2?

SP: What you need to be prepared to know is that, I think what was so great about series 1, and that we’ve sort of expanded on in series 2, is this relationship drama. This sort of, you know – coming from episode 1, there’s this kind of tension, and this this thriller aspect to it, which I think is really watchable and really enjoyable for a viewer. It’s nicely paced. It doesn’t sort of jump straight in and throw these characters into crazy situations. It’s like a slow burn, which I really like, because that allows you to sort of get to know the characters.

You know, Jacob, is this sort of high flyer? Got it, got it. All you know, seemingly has a great relationship, but they are also at a stage in their life where they don’t have kids, they’re sort of like they’ve reached the kind of peak of, like, we’re great at what we do. We’ve got the house we’ve got all you know, what’s missed in and there is something missing from their relationship, and it turns out that Mia is quite a catalyst for bringing out this darker side and these darker fantasies, and I think it’s just interesting watching a couple explore that. Obviously, Jacob’s jealousy, professional jealousy, and personal jealousy really starts to amp up and progresses as things start to unravel. So for me, it’s a really great opportunity and challenge to show some of those darker colors, and you know, and not giving too much away - it’s quite a journey.

AM: It’s exciting!

SR: From Leo, the thing that I guess the audience should know about and the thing, though I really enjoyed about him, was also very hard to kind of, you know, to convey. He was an insider in this group, but he was a very different person. He wasn’t a fully formed human being. He came from an extremely wealthy family. He was very spoiled, very self-involved, and he has his heart broken, you know, by Bel’s character, Charlotte and he leaves. This is him coming back as a much more involved person and somebody who’s learned from life. He’s kind of like an observer a lot of the time, you know?

He’s able to see Charlotte, for who she was and who she is now, and what may be lacking and saying to Jacob, like they’ve never had a great relationship. They’ve always kind of been like in opposition to each other, and those were, you know, some of my favorite things to play actually were with Sam when we got to, you know, kind of, because we get along really well off camera.

AM: Right!

SR: We’re living above each other in the same facility, and we were hanging out all the time, but we got to have this very different relationship on camera. That was something that was a lot of fun to play, but I think it’ll be fun for the audience also to just kind of watch. Like, it’s always fun watching, like two kind of alphas going for the same girl.

AM: Love it.

SR: Yeah, it’s fun. I think that people can expect a thrilling kind of ride, and it goes in places that I never thought it was gonna go! As I was reading it, I was like, “we’re gonna do that?”

Okay! I think there’s a little something in there for everyone.

IG @sampalladio

@sendhill_rama

After chatting with both of the male leads in this series, we took a few moments to chat with another co-star, Annabel Scholey (Apollo Has Fallen, The Split, Dead and Burried) who plays Charlotte, a surgeon that is married to Jacob. We wanted to find out more about how she came to this series and what we should expect when we’re about to watch this thriller.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What drew you to want to be part of The Couple Next Door?

ANNABEL SCHOLEY: Well, I saw series 1 actually and really loved it, and I’m from that part of England. I’m from Yorkshire.

So that was a big draw because I haven’t - I don’t always get to play that region!

AM: Right.

AS: Because I went to drama school, and I have a pretty RP accent (Editor’s Note: An RP accent or Received Pronunciation, is a non-regional, educated accent of English associated with the upper classes and public schools of southern England, rather than a specific geographic region.) So, it was really nice to go back to my route, and I’ve always wanted to play a surgeon because I’m a big Grey’s Anatomy fan –

AM: Same.

AS: Oh yeah! Christina Yang (Sandra Oh) has always been my favorite, so I was, like, oh my God, this is amazing! I get to be Christina Yang! It’s kind of the initial attraction and it is just a really brilliant part - very complicated and quite challenging, physically as well. I like a good challenge normally.

AM: And what was that creative process like, for you and being able to bring Charlotte to life?

AS: I had to work pretty hard on particularly the medical stuff, because obviously you can’t really - you have to fake it so well, right? It just looks, shit, basically if you don’t do it right.

We did do a lot of research. We went into an open heart surgery.

AM: That’s what Sam was seeing this morning!

AS: Yeah, it was incredible. It really was it. I thought I might faint because I can be a bit fainty, but I just thought it was the most incredible thing I’ve ever seen and really empowering. And I just thought, thank God, there are humans who can do this!

AM: Exactly.

AS: Sam and I had quite physical things to do together with the big scene towards the end. It’s very physical, very difficult. Obviously, the sex element of it was quite a big challenge as well. Sam and I got on so well, right from the start from our chemistry test so we’d be comfortable with each other, which really helped obviously.

AM: Well, what can you tell us about Charlotte? Like you, we love S1, so it will be exciting to see what the dynamics will be for these characters.

AS: Yes, I think, because she’s 40 and so am I, that is an interesting point in a woman’s life, I think, you know? Charlotte hasn’t got any children, I do, but she’s at the top of her game. She’s worked really hard on her career. But she doesn’t know what’s next.

I think it’s an interesting moment turning 40. It doesn’t mean what it used to mean like, that’s it, you’re done. And it certainly doesn’t mean that anymore. It’s more like a rebirth, and I think that that’s what she goes through during this. She has a rebirth and that was really attractive to me to explore.

AM: So, what do you want fans to walk away from as we watch S2 and seeing this cast of characters together?

AS: I really hope the fans, I mean I know the fans are HUGE fans of Sam Heughan (Outlander, The Couple Next Door, Love Again), so I, I hope they come back!

AM: Right!

AS: We have the wonderful Sam! I feel like, because it was loved and the momentum of the show, it is shocking. It has a lot of twists and turns. It’s gripping. I’ve been told by everyone over here who watched it that they couldn’t stop. They binged it. I really want people, though, to, to get the sense that, you know, it’s okay to keep exploring yourself sexually. When you’re married, don’t just settle out of a habit, you know? I do think it explores those themes and that has happened in the UK. I think the audience did. That was the topic, the conversation. Like, I think that’s great. What it is to be a woman and to feel sexy also professional, and not necessarily a mother. And so, yeah, I really hope the audience obviously, enjoy watching, the sexy and the thriller side of it this time; more so than in series 1 I think. But yeah, I think that that’s what I wanted to take.

IG @bel_scholey

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | STARZ/The Couple Next Door

Read the SEP ISSUE #117 of Athleisure Mag and see BACK TO THE CUL-DE-SAC in mag.

SEASON 4 POWER UNIVERSE | POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN LONDON BROWN, HAILEY KILGORE, MALCOLM MAYS

We're a few days out from S4 of Power Book III: Raising Kanan with its season premiere on STARZ on March 7th. The Power Universe is always pulling us in as we see how they navigate in their world, new faces, and the importance of family dynamics. If you have yet to catch up on the season, now is the time! There are no spoilers here if you have already watched the series; however, if you haven't there may be references in previous episodes.

We sat down with 3 members of the cast London Brown (Ballers, American Soul, Back to the Good Life) who plays Marvin Thomas, Hailey Kilgore (Amazing Stories, Respect, Cinnamon) who plays Laverne "Jukebox" Ganner, and Malcolm Mays (Southpaw, Snowfall, Them) who plays Lou-Lou Thomas. We wanted to know more about their characters, how they see them, where we find them, and chat about what we can look forward to as we get ready for the upcoming episodes.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so great to connect with you all. London, we have talked ahead of every season and it’s so good to check in with you again. Hailey, I had the pleasure of chatting with you prior to S2 I believe which was great. Malcolm, it’s nice to connect with you! What do you enjoy about playing your characters Marvin, Jukebox, and Lou Lou before we delve into the season?

LONDON BROWN: For me, it’s been fun for them to allow me to play the character my way. The fact that they were open and willing to hear the ideas that I had on Marvin and I could tell that the writers started to write for me! That’s always great when the writers know that you are going to do something with their words. I was able to feel that and I knew that they had figured it out.

I’m like, “yo, throw it at me – whatever it is!” Let it be emotional, fun – whatever you want to do. Do you want guns? Do you want him holding some food? I’m ready to have a good time! I just appreciate the writers for even allowing me and trusting me to deliver their words properly, you know?

AM: It’s always fun when I see you on screen London as you always own that screen and it’s great to see how we you have navigated playing Martin.

Hailey and Malcom what about Juke and Lou Lou?

HAILEY KILGORE: Juke is a badass! If I was walking around unafraid like that and willing to be bold would be amazing. I don’t think that I have that personally.

MALCOLM MAYS: I kind of like that he’s kind of a mark, that’s kind of nice. I’m not like that and I don’t get to relate or empathize with mark ass behavior in my life. Everybody is not built of steel, you have to pretend to be built of steel. It’s nice to occupy that space sometimes. In life, much like Black women, Black men don’t get that opportunity to be vulnerable with that physical consequence.

AM: As we wait for S4 to start, where did we leave your characters last season and where are we picking up with them again?

HK: Ooo

MM: Ha! There’s so many seasons!

LB: You know, that’s a good question! I would say that with the last season, I feel like Marvin – you guys are catching him still in the strive of his journey and he’s trying to find his real groove. He’s trying to be a guy that is taking on more responsibility for himself and not trying to be sonned by Raq (Patina Miller). So moving forward, in this season, you see Marvin taking more initiative and making his own moves outside of whatever his sister has going on.

That’s his way of trying to be a little more independent and to take back his position in and within himself. That way he feels validated and so the season of things that Marvin and Stefano Marchetti (Tony Danza) share is because of that. Marvin is trying to find someone that really appreciates his work because for so long, he feels like his loyalty and things like that were slept on! This season, he’s like, “yo, I’m about to figure it out on my own!”

AM: What are you excited about for S4 that fans should be looking forward to?

MM: I think that I just got out of rehab so they should be looking forward to a more sober and less crash out Lou – that’s what I remember!

HK: Listen, I think the fans have been demanding this switch to flip in Juke and I think that they’re going to get that this season.

LB: I’m excited for the fans to see the real family side of the show. I think that sometimes, because it is in the Power Universe, I think that the fans only think about you know, the dramatics, the street life, but I think that this season, the audience will really be able to see that yo, they’re involved in all of the nefarious things, but they are a real family with real issues and son/daughter dynamics – they’re trying to figure it all out. But at the end of the day, they really are family. The family stuff that the audience will finally get to see is going to finally be able to explain and answer some questions from previous seasons. Oh, that’s why Raq and Marvin have this dynamic because of that, this is why Lou is doing what he’s doing – we kind of break it down some more and that has been fun!

AM: It’s incredible how you have all brought these characters to life and we’re looking forward to how we see it on screen soon! It’s great to chat with all of you to get your takes as we get ready for S4 and I always love each season catching up with you.

LB: Thank you so much, I appreciate you!

IG @reallondonbrown

@haileyfkilgore

@imalcolmmays

@raisingkananstarz

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | STARZ/POWR BOOK III: Raising Kanan

Read the FEB ISSUE #110 of Athleisure Mag and see SEASON 4 POWER UNIVERSE | POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan London Brown, Hailey Kilgore, Malcom Mays in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG #110 | FLOYD MAYWEATHER JR.

In this month’s issue, our front and back cover story is undefeated boxer and promoter with 15 Major World Champion over 5 weightclass and entrepreneur Floyd Mayweather. We talked with him about his phenomenal career, how he approached his fights, exhibition boxing, his latest projects 1O1 supplements, and his real estate empire.

We sat down with HBO's CELTICS CITY director Lauren Stowell and Producer Gabe Honig to talk about this 9 episode docuseries which will debut on on Mar 3rd. They talk with us on how they approached covering the 75 years of the Boston Celtics as well as being a dynasty with their 18 Championships that they have won.

We also talked with Alex Donnelly, the director of ROKU's United States of Rugby which looks at growing the game in the US and specifically Major League Rugby's Chicago Hounds. We also talked with 2 of the stars from this franchise Noah Brown and Charlie Abel.

S4 of STARZ's Power Book III: Raising Kanan will drop on Mar 7th. We caught up with the cast London Brown, Hailey Kilgore, and Malcolm Mays to find out more about who they play and what we can expect from the upcoming season.

We took some time with HGTV's Married to Real Estate stars and power couple, Egypt Sherrod and Mike Jackson. We talk about how they got into real estate, being an agent, broker, interior design, and construction. They also talk about how they got into TV, upcoming projects, and small businesses.

During NYFW FW25 which took place early Feb, we saw a number of runway shows, presentations, and events that gave us insight to trends and aesthetics that we can look forward to later this month. We share our finds from Frederick Anderson, NYMD, FILIPINXT, and more.

We make our way to Ireland to sit down with Chef Vincent Crepel of Terre to talk about how he got into culinary, where he trained as well as what we can expect when we are coming into his restaurant.

This month's The Art of the Snack takes us to DC with Tapori which recently opened on H Street and has a menu of Indian street food and phenomenal cocktails. We chatted with restaurateur Dante Datta about this new spot.

This month's Athleisure List comes from The Class, created by Taryn Toomey and is located in Tribeca as well as in Santa Monica. In addition, we also have the Gayn Museum in Jaipur, India which has a number of stunning apparel and accessories that can be viewed via private appointment.

This month we have our 9PLAYLIST from NFL Super Bowl Champion Jalen Hurts of the Philadelphia Eagles. Our 63MIX ROUTIN3S comes from Team USA Olympic Gymnast Nastia Liukin (G1,S2,B1). This month's THE 9LIST 9CH3FS comes from Chef Jeffrey Budnechky of Apocalypse BBQ, Chef PJ Calapa of Marea Beverly Hills and our THE 9LIST 9B-L-D comes from Sommelier Belinda Chang as she shares what wines she would pair with Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner.

Read the FEB ISSUE #110 of Athleisure Mag.

NEW YEAR, N3W YOU

Read the JAN ISSUE #109 of Athleisure Mag and see NEW YEAR, N3W YOU in mag.

IN TIME | CHARLES VANDERVAART

Currently, you can enjoy the second half of the S7 of STARZ's Outlander which is a historical romance time travel series based on the books written by Diana Gabaldonof the same name. It follows Claire Randall (Caitríona Balfe), a British nurse who travels from the 20th-century to 17th-century Scotland. In the new timeline, she meets and falls in love with a Highland warrior, Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). With only 1 more season left, we're looking forward to see what other stories will be told in future spin-offs which we're looking forward to.

We sat down with Charles Vandervaart (Holly Hobbie, The Craft: Legacy, Murdoch Mysteries) who plays Jamie's son, William Ransom to find out about how he came to this show, what he loves about it, as well as upcoming projects that he is involved.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What was the first film or series that made you fall in love with acting and when did you realize that you wanted to be an actor?

CHARLES VANDERVAART: I was very young. I remember going to a play at my local theatre when I was about 6, and I was just enthralled by it. In the car home I asked my parents if I could try to do a play. I got my first ever gig at that same theatre. I fell in love with acting playing Tiny Tim in A Christmas Carol.

AM: What do you enjoy about storytelling?

CV: Storytelling is so very human, we come together in the telling of stories. We can learn to empathize with and learn from others and in doing so, learn more about ourselves and the world around us. We endure through stories. Beauty that may otherwise be lost is protected and preserved in story.

AM: We've enjoyed watching Outlander and we know a number of fans also enjoy the book, how much did you know about this series before you came to it?

CV: My aunt has been a really big fan for years now. I remember her talking about the show when we would get together for holidays. I watched a couple of episodes on my own before I auditioned, but after my first audition I binged the whole thing and fell in love with the story.

AM: You play William Ransom. Can you tell us about your character and how he fits into the world of Outlander?

CV: William Henry Clarence George Ransom is the bastard son of Jamie Fraser, however he believes he is the biological son of the 8th Earl of Ellesmere, who died on the day of his birth along with his mother. He was raised by Lord John as the 9th Earl. He grew up in affluent circles, learning about the world through the lens of the ultra wealthy in England. English patriotism and a loyalty to the crown became major aspects of his identity. When William learns of his true parentage, his entire identity shatters. He becomes this tornado of rage, feeling betrayed by Lord John and everyone else who kept this secret from him.

AM: How do you approach playing William and what is it like acting in a period piece?

CV: Well I get a lot of help from the writing, costumes, accent, etc to create William. Carol Ann Crawford, the dialect coach on the show was a tremendous help in finding William’s accent. Once I start talking like him, the rest of William quickly followed.

AM: We know fans of the show enjoy the cast and of course, Sam Heughan. What is it like playing against him?

CV: I remember one of my last scenes in season 7 was with Sam, even though we’ve been filming for a year at this point it only hit me then that my character’s dad was Jamie Fraser. It felt a little like I was watching the show in real time. I was feeling very grateful for this amazing journey. He's a hell of a scene partner.

AM: A few weeks ago, S7 part 2 began releasing episodes what can you tell us about this portion of the season?

CV: Identity crisis is central for Mr. Ransom. S7 part 2 involves a great deal of pain for William. He also hurts a lot of people this season. Let's hope he grows from his pain and becomes better. I think he needs some therapy for sure.

AM: In terms of filming a show such as this, we imagine that it can be long hours - what do you do to prepare when you're going on set and what do you once you complete filming for the day?

CV: Coffee coffee coffee!! The long days and early starts can be a lot, no one likes to wake up at 4am. The Scottish Highland air help wakes you up though, one of the many perks of shooting in such a wonderful country.

AM: When you're not on set, how do you stay in shape and what are 3 workouts that you do that we should consider adding into our routines?

CV: Rock climbing has been my go to over the last couple of years. I absolutely love it. It feels nice to have such a simple task to complete that requires creativity and athleticism. As far as gyming goes, my three go to’s are probably hip thrusts for legs, pull ups for my back, and shoulder press for shoulders and triceps.

AM: When you're taking time for yourself, what would we find you doing?

CV: I love a good hike, outdoor rock climbing, gardening.. get me outside and I’m happy.

IG @charles_vandervaart

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 87 Dio Anthony/Groomer Valissa Yoe | PG 88-93 STARZ/Outlander |

Read the DEC ISSUE #108 of Athleisure Mag and see IN TIME | Charles Vandervaart in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG #108 | JACK HUSTON + MICHAEL C. PITT

In this month’s issue, our front and back cover story is with actor Michael C. Pitt (Boardwalk Empire, Asphalt City, Reptile) and Jack Huston (Boardwalk Empire, Expats, House of Gucci) who makes his directorial debut in Day of the Fight. With Michael playing Mike Flannigan and Jack directing, producing, and writing, this film which also stars Joe Pesci, Steve Buscemi, and Ron Perlman to name a few - this film which centers on boxing, redemption, and the future is one that should be seen! We had the pleasure of speaking with both of them about the film, its themes, the power of cinema, and more! 

This month, we launched THE 9LIST 9TASTING by having a fun virtual event with Doreen Winkler, Founder of Orange Glou. We talked with her about natural wines, natural orange wines, the history of orange wines, and we delved into the world of this category that is available at this LES wine store with a retail front and tasting room.

We're excited for the X Games Aspen which takes place Jan 23rd - 25th and we're excited that we had some time with Hailey Langland, 2X Team USA Olympic Snowboarding and 3X X Games medalist who will be a sports analyst at this year's games! We talked with her about the sport, her passion for it, competing in the Olympics as well as medaling in Bronze, Silver, and Gold at the X Games, and how she will approach her role at this year's games!

While you enjoy the second half of S7 of STARZ's Outlander and anticipate the release of S8, we took some time to chat with Charles Vandervaart (Holly Hobbie, The Craft: Legacy, Murdoch Mysteries) who plays William Ransom, the son of Jamie Fraser (Sam Heughan). We talk about being an actor, what drew him to it, how he came to this role, playing in this beloved series, and more.

This month, we have a Glamping Editorial that shares must-haves to enjoy when you find yourself camping in a luxurious way. These are great items to gift yourself as well as to give to others as we continue to navigate this long holiday season.

This month's The Art of the Snack comes from Clock Tower Grill in Brewster, NY. We chat with Rich and Cassie Parente to talk about how the restaurant, what we should enjoy for our next meal, and their focus on sustainability with their farm. 

This month's Athleisure List comes from Peck Slip Social in Lower Manhattan in NYC and Fomo Momo in NYC's East Village.

This month we have our 9PLAYLIST from EDM DJ/Producer Paul Van Dyk as well as Saraya who shares the songs that are on their playlist. Our 9LIST STORI3S comes from Olympic and X Games snowboarder, Hailey Langland and actor in Netflix's Griselda - Maria Camila Giraldo who share their must-haves in beauty, fitness, and style. Our 63MIX ROUTIN3S comes from STARZ Outlander star, Charles Vandervaart as well as Celeb Fitness Trainer, Jenna Willis who share their routines on what they do, enjoy, and have for the Morning, Afternoon, and Night. This month's THE 9LIST 9CH3FS and THE 9LIST 9B-L-D comes from Chef Bryan Donaldson of Nostrana in the Pacific North West, Chef/Restaurateur Matt Baker of Gravitas and Michele's, and Chef/Restaurateur and TV Personality Curtis Stone.

Read the DEC ISSUE #108 of Athleisure Mag.

NEW YORK COMIC CON 2024

This month, Athleisure Mag also hit New York Comic Con which took place Oct 17th - 20th. We enjoyed navigating the booths and experiences at the Javits Center, hearing about new series and movies that we can't wait to attend those press junkets that will begin over the next few months!

In addition to navigating the show floor, costumes, and large exhibits, we also sat in on a panel of Apple TV+'s Shrinking. To hear the cast share that the show has been greenlit for a 3rd season, to share a few minutes from an upcoming episode, and to just listen to them chat about this incredible show was a lot fun to listen to.

Other panels of interest included HBO's The Penguin, HBO's Dune Prophecy, STARZ's Outlander, and Prime Video's Cross. It was just as much fun to watch enthusiasts of the shows as they listened to the cast share their experiences and thoughts, how they truly enjoy being able to get to know more about these programs and to meet those that are involved.

We're defintiely looking forward to next year as it's a great opportunity to enjoy programs that have an avid and engaged fan base as well as to check in with some of the best prestige TV shows! For those planning ahead, mark your calendars for Oct 9-12th in 2025!

IG @newyorkcomiccon

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 186 + 190 Kimmie Smith | PG 188 The Penguin Panel + PG 192 Outlander Panel Craig Barritt/Getty Images for ReedPop |

Read the OCT ISSUE #106 og Athleisure Mag and see New York Comic Con 2024 in mag.

STORIES FROM THE DELTA | NICCO ANNAN + SHOSHANA GUY

Readers of Athleisure Mag know that we enjoy watching STARZ’s P-Valley. In fact, we even interviewed members of the cast for our MAY ISSUE #77 for the last season of this series. This series focuses on Chucalisa and the chosen family of those that work at The Pynk. In this series, we get to know about this strip club, those who work there, and the events that take place in the community that affect those that work there. We love that we get to see a lot about these multi-dimensional characters in terms of their hopes, dreams, how they support one another and beyond!

Although we’re all waiting for the upcoming season of P-Valley, today we get to watch Down in the Valley that lets us know more about the cities that represent Chucalisa as well as the stories that come from there as well as how elements of those lives directly tie into the show. In this companion series with 6 episodes hosted by and is Executive Produced by Nicco Annan (Shameless, Snowfall, Claws) who plays Uncle Clifford in the show and Executive Produced by Shoshana Guy (Rock Center with Brian Williams, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, The 1619 Project), we get to hear their stories and learn more about what we have all come to love about this series!

We had the chance to sit down with them to talk about the Mothership show, how this series came about, why it was created, and what we can expect from it!

ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into Down in the Valley, what attracted you to P-Valley and why did you want to be in this incredible show which I have loved watching over the seasons?

NICCO ANNAN: Well thank you, what attracted me to this show, P-Valley, I am going to say is the fact that it was created by such an auteur as Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Hurt Village, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical). She is really a person who I love her work in the theater and I was reading her work before I was actually even auditioning for anything like that. I also love that it was something that was a true reflection of where I came from and all different types of our culture. It wasn’t just limited to a narrow viewpoint of how I saw myself and my community.

AM: In watching the show, I love the complexities, the characters, the topics that are talked about, and the city almost becomes a character in and of itself. Although I know that the city portrayed in the series is fictionalized, it seems more like a composite of a number of cities in the South. How did Down in the Valley come about as I feel that it allows the city as a character to step forward a little bit.

NA: Yes, part of Down in the Valley, we wanted to be able to go to different cities, You're absolutely right! Chucalisa, Mississippi is a fictitious city, but it is a real Native American burial ground. In the world of P-Valley, all of this is behind us and we are really an amalgamation of the South and it would be almost like if Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis had a baby! You know with a Mama in Tunica. Haha – that’s Chucalisa.

One of the things you know that Shoshana and I talked about in creating this show, Down in the Valley, we really wanted to go to different parts of the South that were in The Delta – that Bible Belt space to see what it was really like. It was about the real people and the real places!

AM: So how did both of you become attached the show. Shoshana, I have also been a fan of your work as a journalist and a producer. As a Telecom major in college, I have been enthralled by your work. How did both of you come to this project?

SHOSHANA GUY: I had worked sort of adjacent to Starz on the 1619 Project and so I had a relationship with them there and you know, I am always looking for new folks to collaborate with so it was really exciting for the idea of - I mean, I love the Mothership Show as we call it. So it was a really exciting idea for me to be collaborating with Nicco and Katori and of course, a new production company Zero Point Zero (Nomad with Carlton McCoy, United Shades of America w Kamau Bell, Somebody Feed Phil) which it was produced out of. So once I sort of had that initial relationship, the idea of collaborating with a new group of people was very appealing to me so when I got the call, I said yes, that sounds interesting to me.

AM: And Nicco?

NA: What’s the question?

AM: We love you in the Flagship show but what drew you to come in as the host and the Executive Producer in this show? What were the stories that you wanted to tell as you mentioned earlier about focusing on the different cities and the people within it. I came across a quote that, “even though The Valley is a concept, and a state of mind, it actually reflects various areas.” As someone who is from the Midwest originally and has lived in NY for over 2 decades, I love learning about other communities.

NA: You know, when I created this show, I had the idea for this show back during S1 of P-Valley! So it was something that was always in my mind and it was about the right time. The industry has been going through a lot of restructuring, the big strike, there was this thing called COVID that the entire world experienced. So it just felt like, now is the time that we can have some space to do it. I had a little time off from the Flagship show, so when I brought it to the network, my ideas and I got that all pitched out and partnered up here with Shoshana, we really went in and found a team of people, a team of diverse people, Black women, queer people, people that were connected and had passion for the South to be able to come together and to tell this story and always having Katori in the mix!

It's so funny because my brain really just went for half a second to the script and the world of Chucalisa and I had to say, wait!

SG: Haha you were going to recite some lines for us?

NA: Right! I was going to go into a whole other place!

SG: Yeah! He’s an amazing multi-tasker!

AM: Right haha!

NA: It was just a natural, I mean honestly, it was a natural process and it was a labor of intense love, it has been one of severe dedication, you know to make during this past year. And it’s something that we wanted to do where it wasn’t about a replacement of P-Valley, it is about an expansion and creating something more. I really felt like it was an opportunity because I meet fans and other members of the Pynk Posse and there is an intense love! We can be quite intense and so I wanted to make sure that I could do something that is reflective of who I am meeting and who I am encountering, and I think that sometimes in life, you can forget the beauty and the strength that we can come from. So, I wanted to make something that was full of love, full of intention, and low on trauma.

SG: Yeah, I have to add to that to say that one of the fun things about being in the field is watching people’s reactions to Nicco was that they already felt so connected to him because of this character that he plays in the show. It was such an interesting and enjoyable piece of the operation to be moving around in space and to see how it all came together!

Remember when we went to the tailgating event?

NA: Yes!

SG: This older woman came up to me and asked me could he come over for just a second? So I looked over to where Nicco was and I said (waving her arms over), come on over here! She said to the group, “he’s coming home!”

NA: Yesss!

SG: I always remember that moment because it really felt symbolic of the way that people feel about the Mothership Show and also for us to be able to bring that feeling of home onto the screen.

AM: In preparation for this interview, I watched the entire season as I wanted to have a great backdrop for this series and to juxtapose that with the Mothership show.

I love that there are aspects of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. As you have this travel component in many respects and you also have this journalistic and getting into sociopolitical issues that are taking place and doing this without having the trauma aspect involved. That is such a complicated, nuanced, and beautiful mix to be able to put that together in a half hour show that is not coming off preachy, but is talking about issues that are also a crossover into what is being discussed and shown in the Mothership!

SG: Girl, who are you telling?

AM: I mean, in your mind it’s like “boop, boop, boop” triangulating all of this!

NA: Hahaha!

AM: I mean, I’m impressed by it and seeing how it is laid out and the depths of its connective tissue – it’s amazing.

NA: Oh thank you!

SG: Yes, thank you so much! It’s wonderful that you see the notes of No Reservations in there because we obviously produced it out of that kind of legendary production company, so it’s always going to have that sort of feel and flavor of that underneath it. You know, I'm a trained journalist, I have a degree from Columbia University. I worked at NBC News for many many years. So everything that I approach, has that kind of journalist feel underneath it. I’m always interested in how stories and narratives collide with real issues that are going on. We know that as Black people, it’s always a lot of things that we are working on, building on, celebrating, but also processing as a people. So our goal was to make sure that that came through. A nice balance of the fun and also the real things that we go through.

NA: To also add in, all of the creativity with the dance, and the dance elements that are in the storytelling, it’s connected. Things are elevated and there are moments of hyperreality so to speak. Like you experience that in the Mothership Show, we experience it in real life. It was just a way to capture that on screen and really tell these complex stories of real people who have real lives that are intertwined and showing you that it is really laced into the stories of P-Valley in this fictional world and here is the real world that is showing you those real things. Elements like how Hoodoo is ensconced in the community and it’s not something that the character Diamond (Tyler Lepley) just came up with out of thin air, you know what I mean? Some things like the superstition that we all have of “don’t sweep my feet,” like my grandmother would say that. Or throwing salt over their shoulder you know what I mean? Little things like that that you don’t necessarily know the root of, but you’re able to go in here and see where it all derives from in a fun, sexy, and entertaining way.

While we wait for the next season of P-Valley, watch Down in the Valley on STARZ and/or stream it on the STARZ app.

IG @alldaynicco

@pvalleystarz

@shoshanaguy

PHOTOS COURTESY | Down in the Valley/Starz

Read the JUL ISSUE #104 of Athleisure Mag and see STORIES FROM THE DELTA | Nico annan + Shoshana Guy

DOWN IN THE VALLEY WITH NICCO ANNAN + SHOSHANA GUY

Readers of Athleisure Mag know that we enjoy watching STARZ’s P-Valley. In fact, we even interviewed members of the cast for our MAY ISSUE #77 for the last season of this series. This series focuses on Chucalisa and the chosen family of those that work at The Pynk. In this series, we get to know about this strip club, those who work there, and the events that take place in the community that affect those that work there. We love that we get to see a lot about these multi-dimensional characters in terms of their hopes, dreams, how they support one another and beyond!

Although we’re all waiting for the upcoming season of P-Valley, today we get to watch Down in the Valley that lets us know more about the cities that represent Chucalisa as well as the stories that come from there as well as how elements of those lives directly tie into the show. In this 6 series episodes hosted by and is Executive Produced by Nicco Annan (Shameless, Snowfall, Claws) who plays Uncle Clifford in the show and Executive Produced by Shoshana Guy (Rock Center with Brian Williams, High on the Hog: How African American Cuisine Transformed America, The 1619 Project,), we get to hear their stories and learn more about what we have all come to love about this series!

We had the chance to sit down with them to talk about the Mothership show, how this series came about, why it was created, and what we can expect from it!

ATHLEISURE MAG: Before we delve into Down in the Valley, what attracted you to P-Valley and why did you want to be in this incredible show which I have loved watching over the seasons?

NICCO ANNAN: Well thank you, what attracted me to this show, P-Valley, I am going to say is the fact that it was created by such an auteur as Katori Hall (The Mountaintop, Hurt Village, Tina - The Tina Turner Musical). She is really a person who I love her work in the theater and I was reading her work before I was actually even auditioning for anything like that. I also love that it was something that was a true reflection of where I came from and all different types of our culture. It wasn’t just limited to a narrow viewpoint of how I saw myself and my community.  

AM: In watching the show, I love the complexities, the characters, the topics that are talked about, and the city almost becomes a character in and of itself. Although I know that the city portrayed in the series is fictionalized, it seems more like a composite of a number of cities in the South. How did Down in the Valley come about as I feel that it allows the city as a character to step forward a little bit.

NA: Yes, part of Down in the Valley, we wanted to be able to go to different cities, You are absolutely right! Chucalisa, Mississippi is a fictitious city, but it is a real Native American burial ground. In the world of P-Valley, all of this is behind us and we are really an amalgamation of the South and it would be almost like if Jackson, Mississippi and Memphis had a baby! You know with a Mama in Tunica. Haha – that’s Chucalisa.

One of the things you know that Shoshana and I talked about in creating this show, Down in the Valley, we really wanted to go to different parts of the South that were in The Delta – that Bible Belt space to see what it was really like. It was about the real people and the real places!

AM: So how did both of you become attached the show. Shoshana, I have also been a fan of your work as a journalist and a producer. As a Telecom major in college, I have been enthralled by your work. How did both of you come to this project?

SHOSHANA GUY: I had worked sort of adjacent to Starz on the 1619 Project and so I had a relationship with them there and you know, I am always looking for new folks to collaborate with so it was really exciting the idea of – I mean, I love the Mothership Show as we call it. So it was a really exciting idea for me to be collaborating with Nicco and Katori and of course, a new production company Zero Point Zero (Nomad with Carlton McCoy, United Shades of America w Kamau Bell, Somebody Feed Phil) which it was produced out of. So once I sort of had that initial relationship, the idea of collaborating with a new group of people was very appealing to me so when I got the call, I said yes, that sounds interesting to me.

AM: And Nicco?

NA: What’s the question?

AM: Well we have loved you in the Flagship show but what drew you to come in as the host and the Executive Producer in this show? What were the stories that you wanted to tell as you mentioned earlier about focusing on the different cities and the people within it. I came across a quote that,  “even though The Valley is a concept, and a state of mind, it actually reflects various areas.” As someone who is from the Midwest originally and has lived in NY for over 2 decades, I love learning about other communities.

NA: You know, when I created this show, I had the idea for this show back during S1 of P-Valley! So it was something that was always in my mind and it was about the right time. The industry has been going through a lot of restructuring, the big strike, there was this thing called COVID that the entire world experienced. So it just felt like, now is the time that we can have some space to do it. I had a little time off from the Flagship show, so when I brought it to the network, my ideas and I got that all pitched out and partnered up here with Shoshana, we really went in and found a team of people, a team of diverse people, Black women, queer people, people that were connected and had passion for the South to be able to come together and to tell this story and always having Katori in the mix!

It's so funny because my brain really just went for half a second to the script and the world of Chucalisa and I had to say, wait!

SG: Haha you were going to recite some lines for us?

NA: Right! I was going to go into a whole other place!

SG: Yeah! He’s an amazing multi-tasker!

AM: Right haha!

NA: It was just a natural, I mean honestly, it was a natural process and it was a labor of intense love, it has been one of severe dedication, you know to make during this past year. And it’s something that we wanted to do where it wasn’t about a replacement of P-Valley, it is about an expansion and creating something more. I really felt like it was an opportunity because I meet fans and other members of the Pynk Posse and there is an intense love! We can be quite intense and so I wanted to make sure that I could do something that is reflective of who I am meeting and who I am encountering, and I think that sometimes in life, you can forget the beauty and the strength that we can come from. So, I wanted to make something that was full of love, full of intention, and low on trauma.

SG: Yeah, I have to add to that to say that one of the fun things about being in the field. Watching people’s reactions to Nicco was that they already felt so connected to him because of this character that he plays in the show. It was such an interesting and enjoyable piece of the operation to be moving around in space and to see how it all came together!

Remember when we went to the tailgating event?

NA: Yes!

SG: This older woman came up to me and asked me could he come over for just a second? So I looked over to where Nicco was and I said (waving her arms over), come on over here! She said to the group, “he’s coming home!”

NA: Yesss!

SG: I always remember that moment because it really felt symbolic of the way that people feel about the Mothership Show and also for us to be able to bring that feeling of home onto the screen.

AM: In preparation for this interview, I watched 3 episodes in their entirety and saw portions of the remaining 3 as I wanted to have a great backdrop for this series, but time got in the way! This weekend, I will watch the remaining ones as I love the stories that were shared.

I love that there are aspects of Anthony Bourdain: No Reservations. As you have this travel component in many respects and you also have this journalistic and getting into sociopolitical issues that are taking place and doing this without having the trauma aspect involved. That is such a complicated, nuanced, and beautiful mix to be able to put that together in a half hour show that is not coming off preachy, but is talking about issues that are also a crossover into what is being discussed and shown in the Mothership!

SG: Girl, who are you telling?

AM: I mean, in your mind it’s like “boop, boop, boop” triangulating all of this together!

NA: Hahaha!

AM: I mean, I’m impressed by it and even in what I have watched, seeing how it is laid out and the depths of its connective tissue – it’s amazing.

NA: Oh thank you!

SG: Yes, thank you so much! It’s wonderful that you see the notes of No Reservations in there because we obviously produced it out of that kind of legendary production company, so it’s always going to have that sort of feel and flavor of that underneath it. You know, I’m a trained journalist, I have a degree from Columbia University, I worked at NBC News for many many years. So everything that I approach, has that kind of journalist feel underneath it. I’m always interested in how stories and narratives collide with real issues that are going on. We know that as Black people, it’s always a lot of things that we are working on, building on, celebrating, but also processing as a people. So our goal was to make sure that that came through. A nice balance of the fun and also the real things that we go through.

NA: To also add in, all of the creativity with the dance, and the dance elements that are in the storytelling, it’s connected. Things are elevated and there are moments of hyperreality so to speak. Like you experience that in the Mothership Show, we experience it in real life. It was just a way to capture that on screen and really tell these complex stories of real people who have real lives that are intertwined and showing you that it is really laced into the stories of P-Valley in this fictional world and here is the real world that is showing you those real things. Elements like how Hoodoo is ensconced in the community and it’s not something that the character Diamond (Tyler Lepley) just came up with out of thin air, you know what I mean? Some things like the superstition that we all have of “don’t sweep my feet,” like my grandmother would say that. Or throwing salt over their shoulder you know what I mean? Little things like that that you don’t necessarily know the root of, but you’re able to go in here and see where it all derives from in a fun, sexy, and entertaining way.

AM: I appreciate you guys taking the time! I hope that there is another season or version of this that continues on as I find it intriguing and like many who will see this, I can’t wait for the next season of P-Valley! It’s been great chatting as I am a fan of your work separately and having both of you here together has been such a great chat!

You can watch Down in the Valley starting tonight on STARZ and/or stream it on the STARZ app.

PHOTO CREDIT | STARZ/Down in the Valley

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

BMF | HEATHER ZUHLKE, KELLY HU, & MORGAN ALEXANDRIA

Season 3 of STARZ's BMF premiers on Mar 1st. There are light spoilers in this interview, so make sure that you catch up on what you've missed of this Detroit crime family show that is based on a true story of brothers Demetrius Edward "Big Meech" (Demetrius Flenory Jr) and Terry Lee "Southwest Tee" Flenory (Da'Vinchi).

We took some time to sit down with BMF's Showrunner, Executive Producer, and writer, Heather Zuhlke. We wanted to know more about her background, how she came to this show, and what she is looking forward to in terms of this season!

ATHLEISURE MAG: We have been such a fan of your work since Southland and of course on POWER so congratulations!

HEATHER ZUHLKE: Oh thank you!

AM: What kinds of stories are you drawn to in terms of writing and Executive Producing?

HZ: Oh yeah, always character driven. Things that touch us really on a soul level! I love – I mean, Southland was never about the case, it was about the people. This show is marketed as a crime and family drama, but the heart and soul of BMF is the family aspects – the blood family and the street family. I think that people really relate to those themes because family is so universal. It’s heightened in our story because your brother is a drug kingpin, your son is a kingpin, so everything is heightened!

AM: I live in NY now, but I grew up in Indianapolis, so I’m familiar with the BMF story as they were in Detroit.

What drew you to being involved as I knew you signed onto the second season and now you’re a Showrunner and helming everything for this season.

HZ: So my journey started – gosh, 9 years ago when I met Randy Huggins (The Unit, Criminal Minds, Star) on the original POWER along with 50, and Randy hit me up and said, “hey, will you be my number two Season 2?” Randy really empowered me on set to produce and to get to know everyone. Then he unfortunately had a health complication right after we wrapped Season 2 so 50 asked me to step in and so this has been so much more for me than a job, because we’re carrying on Randy’s legacy and honoring his vision! And again, this isn’t just a TV show, or a job, we’re really a family.

AM: Obviously, the first 2 seasons were amazing, and the 2nd had me at the edge of my seat with the finale. We had the pleasure of watching the first 3 episodes of the 3rd season and it’s beyond exciting to see what’s going to take place.

What are you excited about for us to see in this new season?

HZ: You know, I’m really excited about the collision of the streets, hip-hop, and pro sports! What you saw in episode 3, there are some big moments for the fans.

I’m also really excited about the finale and the way it pushes story forward and there is going to be another big moment. I’m really excited for the world to see Russell Hornsby (The Affair, Fences, Lincoln Rhyme: Hunt for the Bone Collector) who plays Charles Flenory and he has his directorial debut which will be for episode 7 and Randy Huggin’s daughter Ms Haven Huggins is making her acting debut in that episode too!

AM: We can’t wait to see how it all plays out! The season is off to a great start and being a fan of yours for such a long time, it’s awesome to see how you bring your worlds to life and your style. It’s great to see you in this show that touches all the points of prestige TV!

HZ: Thank you for being a fan as we do it for you guys!

IG @heather_zuhlke

@bmfstarz

In addition to chatting with Heather, we also wanted to talk with the cast for them to share their thoughts on being in this show and what we can expect from this season. We sat down with Kelly Hu (The Scorpion King, Dietland, Arrow) and Morgan Alexandria (How to Get Away with Murder, Twenties, This is Us).

ATHLEISURE MAG: It was so exciting to watch the first 3 episodes from the screeners and to get right into it after how Season 2 ended! It will be exciting to see how this season turned out!

Before we dig into that, why were you drawn to BMF?

MORGAN ALEXANDRIA: For me, I was really excited. Obviously, it’s a great story, it’s a true story, and I know of a lot of people who know a lot about the story as they grew up around it and that type of thing. So, it’s legendary in that sense. I’m not going to lie, I was so nervous to play a cop, because it’s one of my things that I’m like, “ah, I don’t know with all of the jargon and so forth!” My team pushed me, I pushed myself and then I was like, the writing is so good and then joining it was such a blessing! Being able to work with Kelly was such an honor, seriously! It was so much fun! She made it so fun!

KELLY HU: We had a lot of fun on set! It’s such a great show and it’s really well done and it’s well written. The actors are amazing and 2nd Season when I came on, I got to do almost all of my scenes with Steve Harris (The Practice, Law & Order: Organized Crime, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty) who was so much fun! It was nuts! And this season, I get to do all of my scenes with Morgan and we had a blast, seriously! We got pretty close on this.

AM: You can definitely see the chemistry between you and how you’re connected. It made it fun to watch. After I finished the screeners, I wanted to know what happens in the remaining part of the season between your character’s dynamic, because it’s always fun to see the interaction between you on screen.

Kelly, for our readers who need a bit of a refresher. Where do we leave Detective Veronica Jin and what can we expect from her this season?

KH: Well in the 2nd season as I mentioned, she had partnered with Detective Von Bryant. They had their thing going, and that went beyond the police partnership and he got in trouble and she was trying to help him out and got sort of dragged down with him. This season, she’s really trying to save herself and him!

AM: Morgan, this is your first season and we’re just getting introduced to Detective Colbie Anderson! What can you tell us about her?

MA: She’s really an interesting character. For me, there is really a dichotomy going on between her and her internal feelings. She’s a wealthy girl, she comes from a really great background, but she’s still connected to the streets in a sense that she wants to save everyone and try to make a change within her own community. It’s not always welcomed, but we’ll see, you know?

AM: Seeing you guys as partners this season, it’s fun to see the dynamics and how both of you are unveiling certain things about your characters, what can we keep an eye out for that you’re able to share?

KH: I think that we start off the season where Morgan and I are very at odds with one another because of this background that she has as this rich girl. If people saw how I entered into Season 2, they’ll see sort of the same thing going on with me and Steve. You know, me being the new girl and now Morgan in this season, and how things have turned and I sort of get to switch and become Steve’s character where I am testing her all of the time, but then you can watch as we go through the season on how our partnership really blossoms.

MA: I would say that for my character, Anderson, it’s just a lot of proving herself. Not even necessarily of whether she can do the job, but just her background alone makes a lot of people standoffish.

AM: We can’t wait to see how it unfolds. We’ve been a fan of both of your careers in other projects and it’s really cool to see your dynamic together!

IG @kellyhu

@shesmorgann

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | STARZ/BMF

Read the FEB ISSUE #99 of Athleisure Mag and see BMF | Heather Zuhlke, Kelly Hu, & Morgan Alexandria in mag.

ONE LAST RIDE | STARZ HIGHTOWN - REBECCA CUTTER, DOHN NORWOOD + ATKINS ESTIMOND

We've enjoyed seeing everything that has gone down in Provincetown, MA in STARZ's Hightown! With the 3rd and final season premiering on Jan 26th, we get to see how the story wraps up with our favorite characters whether they're fighting crime and giving voices to victims or bulding their criminal entrprises. The complicated lines of the characters and the way that lines get crossed is a big draw in watching this show.

We had the chance to sit down with Rebecca Cutter (The Mentalist, Gotham, Code Black), Creator, Executive Producer, Showrunner and Writer of the show. We also talked with Dohn Norwood (Hell on Wheels, The Sinner, Mindhunter) and Atkins Estimond (Lodge 49, Inside Man, Swarm) to talk about what they love about this show, their characters, and more.

There are light spoilers of the 3rd season. So if you have yet to watch the previous seasons or have not watched the 3rd season, you may want to watch prior to reading our conversation about the final season of Hightown.

ATHLEISURE MAG: We’re such fans of your work as we enjoyed Gotham and Code Black. What kind of stories are you drawn to telling?

REBECCA CUTTER: I think that I am always drawn to crime dramas because I sort of love the structure and the kind of engine that it gives and always with really character driven stories. To me, just plot or just action is very boring unless you care about the people in it and why they are doing the things that they are doing. In Hightown, no one is just doing their job. They are always fulfilling something in them. So hopefully, it makes it interesting.

AM: When we had the chance to screen the final season, it was such a treat to see how everything has come together. What were you hoping to accomplish in this season?

RC: I think that I thought that it was important to look at what the inevitable end was to these characters? What do they deserve? What is their endgame? What is their final form? So it was kind of working backwards from their final form and then seeing how they got there.

AM: Where did you get the inspiration for Season 3? The characters are amazing as you’re drawn to their intricacies.

RC: You know, I had so many stories to tell and knowing that it was the end, I was like, “great, I get to leave it all on the table.” There was the story of the missing woman is something that I have been playing with in my head for a long time in other projects where I tried to write a feature about that.

There has been a lot of things that I was excited to do and knowing that this was the final season, now was the time!

AM: What do you want fans of the show to walk away with after watching the finale?

RC: I think that I want them to feel and to get the sense that everybody has reached their final form and that whether you hate or love them, that that was the place for them to end! I hope that they got to feel that they watched a great crime drama with a lot of twists and turns.

AM: How many episodes total will be in this final season as I know the screeners we have access to have 6 episodes?

RC: 7.

AM: Oh great! Because when the 6th episode ended, I was like, “wait, there has to be more – we can’t end with this!”

RC: Yup!

AM: What is your favorite moment from this series?

RC: From the whole series?

AM: Sure!

RC: Oh my gosh! I could not pick one, and one moment is from the finale!

AM: Whichever you want to choose!

RC: I will say that I directed the finale and there are a ton of great moments. I don’t know, I just loved the whole pilot because we shot in Provincetown and we recreated a whole Pride parade and It was before COVID, so we had this huge crowd and Jackie (Monica Raymund) finding the body on the flats was the exact vision that I had in my head so that was pretty special to see. Because I grew up going to that place. So to see exactly what I imagined on the screen was very special.

AM: Are there any upcoming projects that we should keep an eye out for that you’ll be involved in?

RC: Oh yes! Well I am going to have another show on STARZ network called The Hunting Wives and we start shooting that in March. I’m super excited about that!

AM: Well we can’t wait to see that show as we know people loved the book and I know that Malin Åkerman (Billions, Soulmates, Dollface) is starring in it, which will be amazing! And our team can’t wait to see the final episode as there are so many questions and we appreciate you creating such an amazing show over these past 3 seasons!

IG @rebecca_p_cutter

@starz

@hightown

We always enjoy hearing why those who create a show want to present a designated story and how they hope that viewers will have various takeaways. But we also wanted to talk to those who played key characters so that they can share their insight!

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s a pleasure to talk with both of you, Dohn and Atkins, as I have been a fan of your work outside of this show and obviously in this one too.

ATKINS ESTIMOND: Thank you!

DOHN NORWOOD: Thank you!

AM: What drew you guys to want to do this show?

DN: Employment ha!

AM: Ha ha that’s always good!

DN: Right? It’s always good! Aside from that, there’s great writing and it’s always good to be part of shows where you’re not having to justify a lot of your lines and things like that. There’s fully developed characters that are grounded and based in real things and it’s what I feel that most actors feel like they’re looking most forward to in their characters and the types of roles that they’re going to do.

AE: All of what Dohn said! Yeah I mean, it’s a great story. The crime genre is not new, but this is definitely a fresh take on it and that was exciting and also, when I saw the people that were attached, I was like, absolutely! That was a greenlight all the way!

AM: Exactly!

Where do we leave your characters in Season 2 and where are we picking them up again in this final season?

DN: I think that they did a good job of seeing us just a little further along but not majorly. That way we can piggy back on what was there before, but not right on top of what we just did. The audience, whether it’s a new one jumping in or the old audience that is very interested in seeing what happened next, it’s still tantalizing and just enough intrigue to go and see what’s happening and for the questions that are posed to be filled in on the following episodes.

AM: I really enjoy the dynamic that both of you guys have especially when you’re in the same scenes together. How do you both go about preparing to play these characters?

AE: Well you know, it’s easy when you have someone as talented as Dohn to work with! But yeah, I feel that we find ourselves in interesting moments and obviously we’re on different sides of the law and there are so many points for our character where we differ and I think that it creates very interesting moments. The set up is so easy that when you get in there, it’s very easy to make those moments really cook because all of the points are already there. You can just walk this thing in on its own.

AM: You know what I also loved is that after watching the screeners we had access to, your characters particularly have vulnerabilities that you guys are showing that maybe we haven’t really seen in the previous seasons. Also, mentorship is an interesting theme and you both show it in different ways which is really interesting to see. It was one of the favorite things that I liked seeing from both of you in this final season.

What were your favorite moments in playing this show whether it was in an early season or in this one?

DN: Mmm that’s a good question.

AE: Yeah it is.

AM: We’re in the hard stuff now!

DN: There’s things that build up and accumulate and we’ve been waiting for the bubble to pop and I can’t give away too much, but it's some things that really got aggressive in this season and it’s good to see and feel and to get to that place with my character. His other facets and dynamics on who he is and how he deals with things. What lines he’s willing to or not willing to cross and how that is changing for him and how it is for everyone else!

AE: Yeah! Osito has had some moments to be vulnerable, to be weak, and that has been something that I have really enjoyed. A lot of times when we see someone who is bad or a bad guy, it’s just that they’re bad and always bad no matter how many times we come across them – that’s what happening! But with him, there are so many other things happening and you’re seeing so many sides of him and I have been able to do so many cool things with this character that I didn’t know that I would be able to do as an actor. I have had countless moments where I thought, this is so awesome!

AM: There have been a number of times where I go back and forth with your character where we know he does bad things, but he is also a nice guy.

AE: I know right?

AM: Now that this is coming to a close, is there anything that we should keep an eye out for that you guys are working on that you’re able to share?

DN: Contractually can’t say as where we are at this point, I can’t share because someone would email me at this point – so don’t say nothing haha!

AE: I have a project that is coming out on Netflix, A Man in Full which is an adaptation of a Tom Wolfe book. I’m not sure when it’s coming out, but it should be at some point!

IG @dohn_n

@atkinsestimond

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDIT | STARZ/Hightown

Read the JAN ISSUE #97 of Athleisure Mag and see ONE LAST RIDE | STARZ Hightown - Rebecca Cutter, Dohn Norwood + Atkins Estimond in mag.

POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN REALITIES OF LIFE MEKAI CURTIS, JOEY BADA$$, LONDON BROWN

Season 3 of STARZ's POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan is back on Dec 1st at midnight on the STARZ app (all STARZ streaming and on-demand platforms) as well as on STARZ at 9pm ET every Friday night! We caught up with MeKai Curtis (Arrested Development, Girl Meets World, Milo Murphy's Law), Joey BadA$$ (Wu-Tang: An American Saga, Mr. Robot, Grown-ish), and London Brown (The Hustle, Ballers, American Soul) who are all back for the latest season. We wanted to find out about what we can expect for this season (season 4 is not only renewed but is already in production) as well as what we should be excited for!

MeKai plays Kanan Stark in the 90's in the origin story of the character played by Curtis "50 Cent" Jackson in POWER, the flagship series. We know he's the devoted son of Raquel "Raq" Thomas (Patina Miller) and as he searches for answers that he will ultimately evolve. We wanted to know how he approaches Kanan, what drew him to this series and what he is excited for.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so exciting to be able to connect with you. How do you approach playing Kanan?

MEKAI CURTIS: You know, I approach it like any other character that I would approach and like how anybody would approach life. I take it line by line, scene by scene, day by day, reaction by reaction – I kind of just try to make it as organic as I can. That’s all acting it. It’s reacting.

AM: Where did we leave Kanan last season and where are we picking up with him again?

MC: I think that you’ll kind of find Kanan in the same spot that you left him at the end of season 2. He’s just trying to get a lot of answers to a lot of questions that he has and some of the answers that he’s getting aren’t necessarily adding up. So he dives deeper into finding those answers and then he builds his truth and his new world around that information! So you know, you’re just again finding an inquisitive young man trying to figure out what he is doing in life and who he is.

AM: What made you want to play this character as well as to join this amazing cast?

MC: Ah man, I mean, wanting to play this character, it stemmed from partially being a fan of the original franchise and then just wanting to push myself as an artist and to take on something new, to stretch my chops and to do something that I knew that I could. But even signing on, I had no idea in certain ways on what I was stepping into. I’m beyond grateful for it. I’m beyond ready for it. But even the magnitude of where we are and what we’re creating, it wasn’t so heavily on me at the time. It was just again about doing good work and getting to be part of the POWER franchise!

AM: What should fans be excited about as we come into the season as I can’t believe that it launches this Fri on Dec 1st!

MC: Ah wow! It is crazy! Oh wow, it is coming up on Fri!

AM: I know, right?

MC: Yo, time is moving – I mean time is just timing! It’s just happening. Everything is happening so fast! I mean, you just threw me for a loop with that one!

I mean it’s about just being able to watch the season! It’s about continuing the journey and continuing the ride with us. It’s about continuing to unfold and discover this world and these characters and what made the person – the original people that the fans of the original franchise are really able to get to understand. It’s about knowing the person that they saw from the original and new people that we have garnered and have started to bring onto the ship. They’re getting to enjoy just a really good story. It’s a coming of age story, a story of love, a story of forgiveness, a story of ups and downs and bonding. It’s about just trying to pave your way and making it do what it do every day that you’re allowed to!

IG @themekaicurtis

We've been a fan of rapper and actor, Joey BadA$$ and the energy that he brings into playing playing notorious drug lord, Kadeem “Unique” Mathis, a character that continues to unveil his complexities from season to season. In addition to finding out how he brings this character to life, we also wanted to know what he loves about playing him as well as what drew him to the POWER universe.

ATHLEISURE MAG: How do you approach playing Unique?

JOEY BADA$$: Well you know, once I get suited and booted, it’s definitely like I get 5 points for that! You know what I mean? Just being in the attire! Also, it’s just more of the mental preparation than anything. You know, I’m thinking about what must be going on in the character’s mind, what are the current challenges that he’s facing and how can I bring that to life on the screen? How can I show that with my actions or my mannerisms or even my facial expressions.

AM: Where did we leave Unique last season and where are we picking up with him again this season?

JB: So you know, last season we saw the villain become the hero and I thought that that was very interesting. You know, I think that with this new season, historically, he was the guy that you hated that you loved or the guy that you loved that you hated. But now, I feel like people are going to see him in a new light this season because he’s in much more of a vulnerable space navigating this chemistry between him and Raq. So, you know his brother being back home and Ronnie’s (Grantham Coleman) not happy with what Unique has done. So there’s this work-life balance that Unique is facing and you know, I think that people are really going to see more of the human aspect of Unique more than anything this season so I’m excited about that!

AM: What made you want to play this character and be part of this phenomenal cast?

JB: Well I’ve been a fan of the original POWER series you know for a long time. When I saw that they were doing a spin-off, I just thought, look I just need a role. It don’t really matter which one it is, but once the role of Unique came and I auditioned for this character and it landed on my desk, I’m like, this is it – this is me. You know, by every means, this is me. I felt like I was born to play this character, you know what I’m saying? It’s been exciting to say the least and I’m super grateful to be part of this universe and to be part of the family.

AM: It’s always fun to see when you’re on screen! Are there any other upcoming projects that we should keep our eye out for that you can tell us about?

JB: Well, as we know, Raising Kanan Season 3 is coming. I’m working on a new album right now to put out at the top of next year. So I’m looking forward to that! Yeah and you know, more film stuff. I’m actually starting up a production company right now so I’m actually looking to get my hand involved in the executive level in this film industry so I am genuinely excited about that! I’ll be producing some of my own projects. I’m just looking forward to elevation and growth!

IG @joeybadass

Before the series premiere of this show, we caught up with London Brown who plays Marvin Thomas, who is Raq's older brother and Kanan's uncle. In that interview, he introduced us to POWER BOOK III, and it's great to now touchbase with him ahead of the 3rd season, to know more about his thoughts on the intracacies of Marvin, how he continues to approach him when playing him, why he enjoys bringing him to life and of course, what we need to know to be prepared for the upcoming season.

ATHLEISURE MAG: How do you approach playing Marvin?

LONDON BROWN: With a lot of concentration and focus in the sense that I just try to make sure that I try to create a lot of layers for Marvin so that he really becomes 3 dimensional and that he’s just not just some caricature, but more so a real person with real feelings. That way, the audience can go on a journey with me.

AM: Where did we leave Marvin last season, and where are we picking up with him again?

LB: We leave Marvin last season injured and in the middle of trying to repair relationships and we pick it up with him right there in the sense of he’s learned some lessons and now he is trying to apply those lessons to really become a better person. Not only for himself, but for those that he loves.

AM: We had the pleasure to catch up before the first season aired and so to talk with you again has been great. What do you enjoy about playing him across these seasons?

LB: The thing that I enjoy is experimenting with the arc of Marvin. That’s what I like! I don’t like for any character to stay in one thing and you can’t put Marvin in any kind of particular space because he’s doing different things. People can even experience that from the first season. This is true even from season to season. Even within a scene, you'll see Marvin go from one extreme to the next. So that’s been fun, just to get into the layers of playing Marvin.

AM: What should we expect from this season as we’re excited that this show is back!

LB: I think that people should expect plot twists and more specifically with Marvin. Just when people thought that they understood Marvin, they’re going to see a completely different side of Marvin that people can appreciate and whatever ideas that they thought that they had of Marvin in Season 1 like, “oh man, he did – oh wait – he is – he’s like this and like that!” But Marvin is still Marvin. So Marvin don’t start no issues, but if you cross him, he’ll finish them. So the undertone of Marvin is still there, but there are a lot of new notes to Marvin that we explored.

IG @reallondonbrown

PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY | STARZ/POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan

Read the NOV ISSUE #95 of Athleisure Mag and see POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan - Realities of Life | MeKai Curtis, Joey BadA$$, London Brown in mag.

HOLIDAYS, HEALTH, + HAPPINESS WITH LA LA ANTHONY

We always enjoy when we have the opportunity to catch up with STARZ’s BMF and Showtime’s The Chi star, La La Anthony! We love when we see her in a number of projects whether it’s in TV, film, as an entrepreneur and more! With the holiday season that’s known for a number of events as well as taking that time to think about how you are stepping into the New Year, we wanted to catch up with her to see about how she navigates this business season personally and professionally!

She partnered with Delsym because when a cough starts making its way around La La’s house, there are two things La La’s family needs to feel better together so they don’t miss out on any holiday festivities: Delsym, the #1 doctor recommended, 12-hour cough suppressant, and her favorite Puerto Rican Chicken Soup recipe, her go-to comfort meal when her family is feeling under the weather this cold and flu season.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s the holiday season. We can’t even believe that it’s the end of the year!

LA LA ANTHONY: Right? How did that happen?

AM: It’s like we blinked in April and here we are in Dec!

We’re enjoying tons of activities, but it’s also the time of year that we can get a bit under the weather. How do you navigate that during this time of year?

LLA: Well, that’s exactly why you know that I wanted to do this partnership with Delsym. It’s been a staple in my house so especially having a son for a very long time. So, you know when that cough is starting and we’re not feeling well, that is my go-to. So why not let the world know?

Delsym, you know is the #1 doctor recommended 12-hour cough suppressant. That along with this chicken soup that my mom taught me how to make when I was growing up, that’s the one thing that I learned in the kitchen, because I’m not that good in the kitchen. That combo right there, you’re good to go. So I definitely wanted to be part of Delsym’s, Bring Comfort Home Campaign. In this kit, you’ll also get all the ingredients to make my favorite chicken soup. It’s DelsymMealKit.com. You’re seeing it behind me right now and it’s just something that Kiyan, my son, and I have been rocking with for a very long time.

AM: When you’re under the weather, you have the things that you do. I have my favorite set of cashmere, my streamed shows, that oversized mug that I’m drinking out of. I love a good chicken soup recipe so what is it?

LLA: So, I grew up in a Hispanic household. Both of my parents are from Puerto Rico, so it has Spanish, Latin, Puerto Rican flavor in there. So, it’s however my mom taught me, what seasoning to use, how to mix it up – it has that kind of flavor to it, which is why I love it so much and it’s easy. Because if you follow the steps, I feel that anyone can do it, because if I can do it, anyone can do it, because I don’t know how to cook at all, so it’s literally like, if I follow it and she tells me what it is start to finish, the result is going to be good! It definitely has Latin flavors like Sazon to it. So you know it’s going to be good!  

AM: Definitely checking it out as the other night I enjoyed having Avgolemono (Greek Lemon Chicken Soup), which I thought was amazing and I had never had it before. So this, sounds like another winner to me even if I’m not sick because I do love Chicken Soup!

LLA: Oh no, that’s the same with me! It’s just my go-to for holiday seasons in general. I don’t know, there’s something about eating something that you had growing up that makes you feel nostalgic, like holiday, and home. So, it kind of for me, brings all of that out for me.

AM: There are a number of traditions that we enjoy as well as those that we make as we go along. What are some of your favorites during this holiday season?

LLA: So for me, I grew up and always had tons of people in my house. It was my whole family, that’s how it has always been. So I have continued that tradition so now in my home, Thanksgiving just passed, I had 30-35 family members – it might have been more now that I think about it. 35 family members in my house, which my house ain’t even big enough to fit 35 people! So we were all just cramped in there and we’ve always been like that. Just playing games, music, laughing, and fun. We just had a great time and the same thing with Christmas, it’s just continuing that family gathering and having everyone together and taking a break from their crazy lives, work, and everything that they have going on. So, it’s always been like that. It’s nice to be in a place where I can continue that same holiday tradition.

AM: Well, this season means that we do tons of different activities whether it’s with our colleagues at work, friends, and family. What’s the best way that we can keep it cute and fresh when we’re doing all of these different things?

LLA: Stay healthy! That’s how you keep it cute and fresh! The holidays are when people get sick, so stay healthy so that you can be outside and that you can enjoy these social events and gatherings. It’s fun being outside and doing the Christmas parties, the NYE parties, it’s fun. You get to be social, you get to meet people, and you don’t want to miss out on that stuff because you’re not feeling well. Stay on top of your health, stay on top of you’re A-game. Another reason why this partnership was important to me is because I want to be my best, and I want Kiyan to be his best so that he can be great at everything that he is doing.  

AM: What are you thinking of in terms of gifting friends and family this year? What are things that we should also be thinking about for our holiday lists?  

LLA: So candles to me are always great! Like, candles are easy, but they are so symbolic and they have so much meaning. You can get candles that are engraved, you can get candles that say a quote or a scripture on it, whatever your preference is. But, I think that that’s like a not too expensive gift that it’s intimate and it feels thoughtful. That’s always my go-to. Like, who doesn’t want a beautiful candle?

It’s not something that you’ll ever have enough of. You’re not going to be like, “oh, I’m at my candle limit!” There’s no such thing.

AM: Especially those that are in those big jars!

LLA: Oh yeah, I love! Those are really pretty.

AM: Well, you’re an amazing mom, a great actress, and you’re always putting your name and intention behind great things! It’s always great when I have the ability to be able to interview you and to see all the things that you continue to do. I know that with you, it’s always going to be excellence.

LLA: I really appreciate you saying that, thank you so much!

You can sign up to win a Delsym Comfort Meal Kit, featuring La La Anthony's Puerto Rican Chicken Soup recipe ingredients beginning today through Friday, January 5th by visiting DelsymMealKit.com. Winners will be selected and notified in early January. Terms and conditions apply. But we also want to give you the scoop on her recipe as well which you can read below!

Read the latest issue of Athleisure Mag.

THE QUEEN'S STATE OF MIND | SERPENT QUEEN

For the past few months, we have been excited for STARZ's The Serpent Queen as it tells us the story of Catherine De Medici. We caught up with Samantha Morton who plays Catherine as she fills us in how she approached it and why this show spoke to her.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What drew you to want to be in the Serpent Queen and obviously, being Catherine Medici?

SAMANTHA MORTON: I think that firstly, it’s an incredible role to play as an actress and to be given the opportunity to play her. To play somebody that goes from being an orphan, the daughter of a shopkeeper and to be put in a convent to then marrying a prince, be sent off to a different country – child trafficking basically. Them having to be an adult, a child in an adult’s world. To then becoming Queen of France to then becoming Regent is incredible. And so, that is what drew me to the role and I had been playing another fantastic role for a very long time which is Alpha in The Walking Dead and now the spin-off that we have, Tales of the Walking Dead. That again is another incredible character to play. She’s very complex and it’s a juicy role and I wanted to do something that was going to challenge me as much as Alpha had. You know, when you’ve played that role, the next thing you want to do is something different, but equally as exciting.

AM: Very true and I love that the format of this show between breaking the wall and this modernized version and being able to see Catherine as an adult and also as a child, how did you prepare to play this character?

SM: Firstly, Justin Haythe (The Clearing, Revolutionary Road, Bohemian Rhapsody) who is the showrunner, the writer and the director – I was speaking to him and he sent me the scripts and the synopsis and just getting to grips with what this show was going to be. Then I listened to the audio book about her because it is based on the audio book. That was just fascinating and really really interesting. Then, I tried to find portraits of her – photographs because I wasn’t able to travel everywhere. I was in NY so whatever I could find online and also trying to understand the time that she lived in. How things were different then and what her world was like, but ultimately, I had to go back and to rely on the scripts because that’s my launch pad – that’s my Bible if you like. That was my everything. And also spending a huge amount of time, thank you very much Justin! I asked a lot of questions and making sure that I understood the dialogue. Looking at who’s who and because I don’t play the younger Catherine, I had to make sure that I was really aware of what Liv Hill (Three Girls, The Great, Serpent Queen) was going through so when I inhabited the older Catherine, that I carried that history.

AM: I like that because seeing you and Liv go back and forth, how much did the two of you work together? We see bones of how she will be when she is older and then we see certain uncertainties in the beginning – how much work was that between the two of you?

SM: We had quite a few conversations where we talked about our interpretations with the character, falling in love because of her relationship with Henry and my relationship with Henry. And then we were trying to talk about – a little bit about ourselves personally. This way, I don’t know so that we had a connection which we did and we’re both from a very similar part of the world and so we had a similar approach to acting. We have a down to Earth way of acting and about inhabiting the character from the heart – the inside out – rather than the outside in. So that was really nice and we had a voice coach Nia who I had worked with before who then came on board to help Liv understand some of the way that I spoke and things like that. That way, we could have a bit of continuity and likewise, me with her. I had done a lot of period things before so I was used to wearing the corsets - you breathe differently, you walk differently and so just having those conversations!

After talking with Samantha, we took some time to chat with Liv Hill. She plays the younger Catherine and we wanted to know how she approached this role and how she sees this royal.

ATHLEISURE MAG: What drew you to wanting to play in Serpent Queen and playing Catherine Medici?

LIV HILL: I remember reading the script and having a visceral reaction to it and I just felt that I must play this character. It’s a gift for any actress. She’s so multi-layered, she’s vulnerable and also emotionally available and at times she isn’t. She’s weak, she’s strong – all these things and very compassionate, but stoic when needs be. The idea to play her and then to be able to be surrounded by these really talented people as well in every department. I would be so stupid if I didn’t take the opportunity to play her.

AM: I love the subject matter and I remember reading about her in school, but the format of the show is next level and your facial expressions when you’re breaking the 4th wall is so good!

LH: Oh thank you!

AM: It’s so modern. How did you prepare to play this character?

LH: Well I started reading the book Catherine De Medici: Renaissance Queen of France by Leonie Frieda which was really dense with information, but I didn’t finish reading it before we started shooting because it was really thick! But it was very very good! After that, I went to the director, the writer, the producers and a bit with Samantha (Minority Report, The Walking Dead, Tales of the Walking Dead) as well! Just to discuss motivations, intentions – I think that the main thing that I remember is that in playing her with the intentions to survive. I just kind of – literally that’s it! So I dialed that up and down depending on what the scene required, but that was always a state of being.

AM: What’s that like because we’re constantly flashing back and forth between the younger and older self of her. How much work did you do with Samantha when you’re looking at where you need to go or the nexus of where this was going to start?

LH: I mean, we didn’t talk as much as I thought that we were going to which wasn’t a bad thing either. We talked a little bit about Catherine and our interpretation. The main thing I remember her saying was that I needed to trust myself and that she was very happy that I was playing the young Catherine and that felt like a really generous and kind thing for her to say to a young actress. I think that she knew that I felt a little bit overwhelmed to fill her shoes. So, that gave me that relief and it made me do my own thing and I didn’t feel too overwhelmed and imitating Samantha. I just focused on who I thought that Catherine was.

AM: What do you want everyone to take away from in watching this. It’s beautifully done, I love how modern it is, the style of the music! People may not know the story, but what is it that you want audiences to feel in coming to the premier of this?

LH: Well the Serpent Queen has that connotation of being evil and manipulative and two-faced and all that stuff. Even if you don’t know Catherine beforehand and she is known notoriously in history as being this “evil” Queen, you would kind of already have this idea going in – this is what she was. But I hope that audiences take away is that this show debunks that. It shows her in all her glory and in all of her weaknesses as well.

I think that the fact that she remains so resilient and has this unwavering self-belief in herself despite this emotional and physical abuse that she receives throughout her life is very inspiring and I think I think that’s what I hope that most people will take away. Just that inspiration to be resilient in their own lives.

AM: In playing her, how was it to wear the corsets and learn how to do the things that you would normally do in such a constrictive garment?

LH: Yes, I mean that’s exactly it – it was restrictive. That corset was made to keep women restricted in that aspect! Those costumes were some of the most amazing garments that I have ever worn and what it did do for me is that it gave me a different posture. It made me feel more powerful and strong. I gained a confidence that Catherine desperately needed because she was somewhere that she didn’t belong. She needed to keep her strength and it really helped in playing that.

IG @samanthamorton

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | STARZ/The Serpent Queen

Read the SEP ISSUE #81 of Athleisure Mag and see THE QUEEN’S STATE OF MIND | Serpent Queen in mag.

IT'S ALL ABOUT FAMILY | POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN SEASON 2

We always like chatting with those who are in the POWER universe. STARZ's POW- ER BOOK III Raising Kanan is back for Season 2 on Aug 14th. We caught up with its creator, executive producer and writer, Sascha Penn (POWER, Survivor's Remorse, CREED II) and two of the stars from the show Hailey Kilgore (Respect, Ain't Misbe- havin', Into the Woods) who plays Jukebox and Omar Dorsey (Genius: Aretha, Queen Sugar, Halloween Kills) who plays Cartier.

We caught up with them to talk about how they prepare for being in this series from channeling the era of the 90's as an actor as well as to get the feel of the show through music and clothing. We talk about where we left these characters last season and where we find them now. More importantly, we look at how this show, as a prequel, has a set destination while having the challenge to create the origin story that we have the ability to see the connective tissue of those involved!

ATHLEISURE MAG: You were a producer and writer for the flagship POWER - how did that transition feel when you became the creator for POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan for the roles of showrunner, executive producer and writer?

SASCHA PENN: I will tell you that Courtney Kemp who is obviously the creator of POWER, she warned me! She said, “I don’t know if you want this job!” She was right ha ha!

It’s a lot more work, it’s a lot more responsibility. Obviously, I had to create a world that didn’t exist whereas the other POWER BOOK’s do have the luxury of characters that are already in the original POWER. So in the case of this particular series, there’s a lot of invention that had to happen and that was a real challenge and still staying true to the original series, that’s always important!

AM: Absolutely!

SP: To have it feel part of that and at the same time, distinct from it, that’s part of the challenge. As well as the fact that you know how the story is going to end with Kanan (Mekai Curtis) if you watch the original POWER. So how do you make that interesting? How do you make that compelling? I mean, it’s a very very different job, and Courtney, I appreciate her warning me because she was right, but it’s a great job too and I can’t complain.

 AM: What’s your creative process like? Like you said, you're establishing a be- ginning of the universe and yet you know where it’s ultimately going to go.

SP: Yeah, first off, I’m very fortunate that I have a room full of writers to help me figure out these stories and to deconstruct these characters and then build them back up. You know, the process is that really in TV, you start from the characters. That’s the starting point for everything in TV. We had Kanan and then it was the question of again, to your point – we know how the story ends, where do we start? It’s not that interesting to tell the story of a sociopath if that’s how he starts! We really landed and I hope that it works that this is a family drama. It’s the story of this family – Kanan’s family and understanding how he became who he became. If you’ve watched it, you know that he has started out from a different spot then where he ended.

AM: What are you excited about in terms of Season 2 with the storylines and dif- ferent things that you can share with us?

SP: I think what’s exciting is first off, there’s this business of how Season 1 ended that we have to clean up right? That’s a real challenge because it ended in such a dramatic fashion and so you know that obviously that had an impact on Raq (Patina Miller) and Kanan’s relationship and the family in general. At the same time, she’s balancing these very personal issues with her expanding business. That is in some respect the balance that we all have to sort of address which is work and life and how do we do it? In her case, the stakes are significantly higher. But you know what's great in Season 2 and really any series that gets another season or multiple seasons, you get the opportunity to go deeper, go into different places and really get the opportunity to explore these different characters in a way that you haven’t before. In this series, we’re fortunate that we have incredible actors who are doing it. That’s the other thing. In Season 1, you don’t to- tally know what you’re going to get and in the case of Raising Kanan we have been so fortunate that the actors have been so incredible and it really allows it to be able to write bigger storylines and dramatic moments because these actors can kind of do anything!

AM: It feels like that in addition to the great characters and the storyline, having it set in the 90’s, you have the music and just the clothing that’s also another character. It’s just as big and brings that ambiance factor. How was it to navigate that? Getting clothes and sneakers that are distinct to the era?

SP: It’s a huge challenge and that’s a great question because it’s a huge, huge challenge! It’s probably one of our great- est challenges because of course, all the great sneaker releases when they release the Jordans, like the Jordans 5, they look slightly different from the ones of that era. So we have to be really careful because you know, the viewers they know better than we do and they will call us out! Twitter is undefeated! So it really is a big job and we are very fortunate, we have a Costume Designer Tsigie White who spends months and months and months going through people’s warehouses and closets trying to find the original deadstock stuff that we use. We’ve also been fortunate that we’ve worked with designers of that era like Dapper Dan who have built stuff for us like Unique’s (Joey Bada$$) outfits, those are original Dapper Dan – such as that jacket. The goods news is what’s old is new again and all this 90s stuff like Sergio Tacchini is back!

Looking at the show, we got to see the complexity of having the character's ends set in stone while also being able to really dig into who they were before who they came to be in POWER and even as they continue in the other portions of the POWER universe!

We wanted to talk with Hailey who is one of the actors who plays a character that we saw in POWER, Jukebox. We wanted to know how she came to the show, connected to her character and how she found her way to catch the 90's vibe of that time and in NYC in order to bring her to light. We also wanted to find out about Omar and his character Cartier.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You play Jukebox and Cartier, what attracted you to want to be this character as well as to be part of this show?

HAILEY KILGORE: I was so into being a princess when I was younger. I wanted to play princesses and I wanted to be a damsel in distress and that’s exactly what I got to do when I was on Broadway and I did my first couple of roles. I remember calling my team at one point and saying, “I want to do something gritty, do something different. I want to get down in the mud and really go there with a character!” So Jukebox came into my inbox and I was just immediately so pulled to this character and her story and who she is at her core. So yeah, I was like, I’m absolutely going to do this, I’m a huge Anika Noni Rose (The Princess and the Frog, THEM, POWER) fan. She was the original Jukebox on POWER as an adult.

AM: It was like perfect kismet! What about you Omar?

OMAR DORSEY: Honestly, I was into the Raising Kanan from the first episode because of Patina Miller (Madam Secretary, The Hunger Games: Mockingjay Part 1 + 2, The Many Saints of Newark). I think she is one of our most gifted artists. I did a stage reading for a Broadway show with her a few years ago and was impressed with her. So, when I got the call about the show, Patina was the first thing I thought about.

AM: What’s it like for you preparing since this takes place in the 90’s as you’re playing the character and taking on this iconic era.

HK: Yeah, that was a very very different time and especially in NYC in the 90’s. Oooo it was such a different time and women really had to survive on a day-to-day basis. I really just went to the root. I watched a lot of documentaries. I listened to a lot of rappers that came up in NY. If you just listen and pay attention, you hear the struggle and the pain. It’s so interesting because to them, it was an everyday scenario. So, I just really like to ground my performance in the realism of survival. Jukebox really wears that mask. You see with her family that she’s silly and wants to laugh and she can cry and confide in them. But then, when she’s out in public, she’s stoned face and I have fun with that.

OD: With Raising Kanan taking place in the 90’s, the preparation was easy for me. The 90’s were quite a time for me. I was in high school and listening to all the music, wearing all the clothes that we did in the show. I felt like I was pretty much taken into a time machine.

AM: Where do we leave Jukebox in Season 1 and where do we pick up with her again heading into Season 2?

HK: Season 1 leaves Juke really heartbroken and so when we come back, we see her as quite a shell of herself. We see how she starts picking up the pieces and put- ting them back together in her own way.

AM: Tell us about Cartier “Duns” Fareed and what can we expect from his as we watch him this season?

OD: Cartier is an international man of mystery. What does he do to make all the money that he has? He's a Shakespeare spewing, art collecting gent ... with a serious secret. Let’s just say he introduces people to each other.

AM: Hailey, you are involved in so many things and the fact that you are part of the world of Broadway and TV as well, what are some upcoming projects that you have going on that we should keep an eye out for?

HK: I have a couple of projects coming out! I finally, have really invested my time into music so I will be dropping an EP very very soon. My first single off that EP, Worth It, drops on Aug 12th which I’m so excited about! This will be my first time leading a movie, it’s called Cinnamon and that will be coming out very very soon.

AM: Omar, we have enjoyed seeing you in a number of projects from Ray Donovan, Genius, Queen Sugar and even being Pastor Green in The Lower Bottoms podcast! What are some other projects coming up that we should keep an eye out for?

OD: Queen Sugar’s final season airs Sep- tember 6th. I’m so very excited for the world to see the culmination of the entire Bordelon clan. Hollywood and Vi (Tiffany Lifford) in particular. Their love has been an inspiration to see on TV weekly for almost a decade. I’m also returning to the Halloween franchise as Sheriff Barker for the finale of the Blumhouse produced trilogy, “Halloween Ends.” I think old Mike Meyers will finally meet his match!

IG @pennsascha

@haileyfkilgore

@omarjdorsey

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | STARZ/POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan

Read the AUG ISSUE #80 of Athleisure Mag and see IT’S ALL ABOUT FAMILY | POWER BOOK III: RAISING KANAN Season 2.

BIG DIVA ENERGY | BIG FREEDIA

Hip hop has a number of sub genres that we can enjoy when we're at our favorite club, dance festival, studio class or just hanging out at home. We've been long time fans of Bounce, a New Orleans sound that make it impossible to not dance to. A number of people are associated with this sound as well as popularizing it!

In this month's issue we catch up with Big Freedia, the Queen Diva who is known for Bounce music. Whether it's watching her successful show Big Freedia: Queen of Bounce which gave access to her life on tour as well as just navigating the industry, watching performances or even seeing her in shows as HBO's Treme, guest judging on Rupaul's Drag Race All Stars or this season's P-Valley on STARZ - the focus to push New Orleans as well as this genre is always at the forefront of her efforts. Without a doubt, she is known for her Big Diva Energy whether she's in the studio or outside of it. We wanted to take some time to find out about what The Queen of Bounce is working on, collaborating with Beyoncé and partnering up with No Kid Hungry to combat food insecurity among children!

ATHLEISURE MAG: You’re known for popularizing the hip hop genre, bounce music. Can you tell us more about what this is and its link to New Orleans?

BIG FREEDIA: Bounce music is a fast-paced call and response style of hip hop that was born in New Orleans in the late 80s and popularized globally in the mid-late 90s with Cash Money Millionaires (Juvenile, Mannie Fresh, Lil Wayne).

AM: You were sampled on Beyoncé’s Formation, but what was it like to collaborate with her on Break My Soul and the video?

BF: Working in any capacity with Beyoncé is incredible. I am always – and still have to pinch myself to see if this is really happening!

AM: New Orleans means a lot to you and you recently partnered with No Kid Hungry X Williams-Sonoma in creating a spatula where proceeds will go to providing funds for children to reduce food insecurity.

Why did you want to participate this year and why was it important for you to be involved?

BF: I feel very strongly about helping the kids of New Orleans. When you don't have enough food, you can’t focus on school or develop properly. So, to me, this is a way to get them the food they need–and help them early.

AM: When you’re not working how do you take time for yourself to recharge your batteries?

BF: To recharge, I have to have nothing on my calendar! I love to cook, hang out with my friends and family.

IG @bigfreedia

PHOTOGRAPHY | PG 136 - 137 Nelson Cosey | 9DRIP PG 60 - 61 Brad Hebert, PG 61 + 63 Nelson Cosey |

Read the AUG ISSUE #80 of Athleisure Mag and see BIG DIVA ENERGY | Big Freedia in mag.

ATHLEISURE MAG #80 | AUG ISSUE

In this month’s issue, our cover story is with World Cup Champion, Juventus F.C. and the France National Team Midfielder footballer, Paul Pogba. We caught up with him to talk about his passion for the game, his excitement to play for Juventus again, what it was like to win the World Cup with the French National team in 2018 and more. With STARZ’s POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan Season 2 out now, we caught up with the show’s creator Sascha Penn and two of it’s stars Hailey Kilgore and Omar Dorsey to talk about what we can expect, what it’s like getting into that 90’s frame of mind and more. We also interview CFDA jewelry designer Sheryl Lowe of Sheryl Lowe Jewelry. We talk about how she went from a MUA in film/TV to creating this line, creating an additional line MR.LOWE. where her husband Rob Lowe and children have modeled for it and the importance of philanthropy within her collection. This Labor Day Weekend, Electric Zoo is back from Sept 2nd – 4th and we give you a heads up on what you can expect at this year’s festival on Randall’s Island here in NY. We also talk with Cheat Codes, a trio DJ/Producer trio who will also perform at this year’s event. We talk about them drawing 3 albums in under 2 years during the pandemic, how they create their music and their upcoming country project with Dolly Parton, Jimmie Allen and more. We also caught up with The Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia to talk about Bounce, No Kids Hungry and working with Beyonce.

This month’s 9PLAYLIST comes from EDM DJ/Producer Benny Benassi (cover of DEC ISSUE #60) and choreographer, dance fitness founder of the NW Method Nicole Winhoffer has one as well. Our 9DRIP comes from our STARZ’s POWER BOOK III: Raising Kanan’s, Omar Dorsey and the Queen of Bounce, Big Freedia. Our 63MIX ROUTIN3S comes from last month’s JUL ISSUE #79 cover and UFC World Champ and TUF Season 30 winner Julianna Peña. Our The 9LIST STORI3S comes from PGA golfer Justin Thomas and The 9LIST STORI3S comes from Leylah Fernandez, Felix Aliassime and Carlos Alcaraz who will be playing in this year’s US Open.

Our monthly feature, The Art of the Snack shares a stunning spot that’s known for their mussels in the Meat Packing District, Mollusca. This month’s Athleisure List comes from Bear Donut and RANG NYC. As always, we have our monthly roundups of some of our favorite finds.

Read the AUG ISSUE #80.

BACK AT THE PYNK

In 2020, the first season of P-Valley, an adaptation of Olivier Award, Pulitzer Prize winning and 2X TONY nominated playwright Katori Hall's (The Mountaintop, Tina: Tina Turner Musical, The Hot Wing King) play Pussy Valley, premiered on STARZ. Katori serves as the Executive Producer and showrunner for this series. This series takes us to the Mississippi Delta where local politics, a strip club and the need to elevate in society come to a head.

The sophomore season of P-Valley begins June 3rd and we caught up with some of our faves of The Pynk in Chucalissa, Mississippi. In our roundtable, we talked with Elarica Johnson (Eastenders, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, A Discovery of Witches) who plays Autumn that we meet in the first season after running from her problems to the town of Chucalissa and becomes a dancer at The Pynk; Parker Sawyers (Succession, Snowden, A Discovery of Witches) who plays Andre Watkins who is an an associate at a commercial investment company trying to secure land for The Promised Land Casino and Resort. We also talk with Shannon Thornton (POWER, Dynasty, Inventing Anna) who plays Keyshawn a dancer at The Pynk who is also making her debut as an artist and J. Alphonse Nicholson (Mr. Robot, Self Made: Inspired by the Life of Madame C.J. Walker, Just Mercy) who plays the up and coming rapper, Lil' Murda.

We find out how they came to this series, why this show is powerful and what can we expect as we head into season 2.

ATHLEISURE MAG: It’s so great to talk to you guys and we've been a fan of your work in this series as well as other projects that you have been attached to. Before we delve into P-Valley and the upcoming season, what led you to want to be an actor?

ELARICA JOHNSON: Ohh I like this question! I was that performing artist kid – the annoying one that has to do performances at the age of 4 or 5. Then I watched Annie in the theater and saw this little girl doing this performance and I was like, oh my God, I want to do that. And then I think that the biggest part is the storytelling. I loved reading stories when I was younger and the fact that I can dress up and be whoever is handed to me and to be who I want to be, that’s the most incredible thing.

PARKER SAWYERS: What’s the expression? Nothing is as queer as folk – nothing is as queer as people? I just love exploring humans man! We’re just a strange animal! So far, my degrees are in philosophy and psychology. I like thinking and reading about people and then I didn’t start acting until I was 27. I’ve always been a keen observer of human behavior and just like – what? Why is that? I’ll give you an example. I was surprised by Katori, I think she had been out of her hometown for awhile like a decade! She had been in NY like Columbia, Harvard and this kind of stuff. And then, her accent is still quite strong! I love thinking about how she loves her hometown and she’s seeing all the stars, her place, the dialect – she loves it so much! That accent isn’t going anywhere! Whereas some other people, they move and they want to assimilate – I live in London and some Americans, they want to feel part of the culture and it’s not on purpose but their accent will start to go British. I love thinking about stuff like that and then putting it on screen whenever I get the chance.

SHANNON THORNTON: I wanted to be an actor since I was a kid. I have always just been a creative person. I don’t know if it’s because I’m a lefty as we’re always creatively and artistically inclined. I don’t know if that has something to do with it as well! I’ve always had a passion for drawing, I was involved in everything band, choir, drama club, African dance, ballet – anything that just involved being on the stage and performing. I was just a part of it and ever since I was a kid from my first play in middle school, I’ve always wanted to create and to express myself artistically. I really couldn’t see myself doing anything but what I am doing right now.

J. ALPHONSE NICHOLSON: For me, it came later in life. I’m a musician first, I’ve been a percussionist my entire life, but I will say that I have had a lot of artistic influences growing up from my mom writing church plays to being on a step team in high school to being in a marching band – so the showmanship was always there. Once I got to college, I was 18 at North Carolina Central University thinking that I was going to be a band teacher, I had a wonderful teacher come up to me and said that I should pursue this theater course and to audition for this play because I had a great personality. I did it and I fell in love with it. Here we are now at 32, 12 years later and I found a lot of success through storytelling and it just grew on me and I knew it was something that I was going to do for the rest of my life outside of any of my other endeavors. Storytelling is important to me and once you realize that you have a gift for it, it doesn’t feel like work – it’s something that you want to keep going after.

AM: I love that. What drew you guys to wanting to be part of P-Valley? I remember hearing about it before the 1st season dropped and I was excited. It sounded like it was going to be really good and when it came on, I was obsessed with this show and the characters! It was everything that I could have imagined and more.

EJ: I mean, I read this script and I fell in love very early on! I was like, this one’s for me – yes! The writing is amazing and Katori does an incredible job with the characters and the space and even the language – I had never seen it before. I knew that it had to be mine. You don’t see scripts like that very often.

PS: The same, the same! Elarica already said it, but as actors, I don’t know how many scripts we get and especially during busy months of the year, it can be 5 or 6 a week. I mean a lot of them look the same and I get confused! I’m like, did you already send me this one? But when I got P-Valley, it was so new and fresh – I got it and I understood it! Oftentimes, I don’t understand some of the humor written down or something in the script. But this one I was like – oh that’s funny, I got this, that’s cool. Reading it I was like, that’s interesting and I know that and I know that world – a little bit. So that’s just something that just leapt out.

ST: The writing is what pulled me in for sure. As soon as you read the script, I remember going into my manager’s office one day to put myself on tape for another project that I was auditioning for and they were like, “listen, this came across our desk and I know you don’t do nudity and that you don’t play this type of character, but it’s definitely worth a read.” I read it on the train ride home as I was living in NY at the time and I cried. It was so beautiful and I hadn’t come across anything like that in my entire career up until that point. The characters are just so beautifully fleshed out and complicated and this world is just so real and familiar to me. I absolutely, despite my reservations, absolutely had to at least throw my hat into the ring and see.

JAN: Same! Katori Hall! The writing! I knew of her genius as a writer prior to coming to P-Valley. We both come from the theater world in NY. So I was very fond of her work and when the opportunity came to work with her and to have an opportunity to audition, we went for it and when you add in the complexity of playing Lil’ Murda right? Him being a closeted rapper so as a heterosexual man, you get a little apprehensive and say, “hey is this a story that I feel comfortable in telling” and then you do it and it's so rewarding! For me, I feel like I have played a part in being an ally in a really dope community and that’s what drew me to it. 1. being an ally through storytelling and then 2. just this incredible writing by Pulitzer prize winning Katori Hall.

AM: That's great. One of the things that we love about this show is that everyone is haunted by something in this series and they are trying to escape to other things in their life. Where did we leave your characters last season and where do we pick up with them again going into the 2nd season which launches next month?

EJ: I mean, when we left my character Autumn, she was at the auction house and I know that there are a lot of questions from fans on where is that situation now and does she really own this space now and what is her relationship like with Uncle Clifford (Nicco Annan – Snowfall, This is Us, Claws)? I can tell you that it’s very bumpy! She does own the majority of The Pynk and is in partnership with Uncle Clifford and she is the boss now. This is a huge difference from her 1st season but the space belonged to Uncle Clifford for so long and has been in her life for so long that this battle has been going on for a very long time.

PS: With Andre, we’ve seen him where we left off with him failing at a mission again. We open up with him out of a job and sort of lost. And in my mind, a bit of a bum, overgrown and he’s stopped grooming himself and maybe stopped showering and maybe stopped washing his legs – I don’t know! He’s a bit lost, but then there’s something that happens that gets him out of it. Not immediately but it starts him on his path to getting back to himself. But he does it quickly and it’s pretty impressive.

ST: Season 1 as far as Keyshawn, you last see her at The Pynk, she had at this point, pulled a gun on Diamond (Tyler Lepley - 90210, The Haves and the Have Nots, Harlem) to protect her abusive boyfriend Derrick (Jordan Cox - TURN: Washington's Spies, Dynasty, The Outsider). We pick up where we left off, maybe a few months later where we are now in the throws of a pandemic and Keyshawn is dealing with the consequences of her actions. We see in season 2 whether or not she’s forgiven by Diamond or forgiven by her co-workers at The Pynk and where the relationship stands or goes with Derrick.

JAN: We find Lil’ Murda in a similar place at the end where he’s trying to figure him self out and to find himself. We absolutely find him in the same place that we’re at right now, dealing with a pandemic and dealing with how to cope with that. By the time we get to the end of season 2, we see him in a much more clearer space with himself but still complicated and complex none the less. We see him go through this incredible journey as a musician, a lover, a friend as a big brother to Keyshawn and how he moves through that space. So we find them in a multitude of different levels and a lot of different levels and then we find out how they even that playing field for themselves.

AM: The cast is really great and as you're watching the story unfold, there are interesting dynamics between them. In terms of Autumn and Andre, there is a tension between them will we continue to see that as we continue into the next season?

For Keyshawn and Lil' Murda, there is a great vibe into your characters in their relationship as friends and business partners. How will that evolve into the next season?

EJ: They do! They naturally have this thing. They’re like magnets and they’re drawn to each other regardless of what they’re going through as there’s always going to be something. I think that that is definitely a strong factor in their relationship. Yeah, we see that in this season coming.

JAN: For sure, you see it grow immensely. You see them become very fond of each other and what they are able to offer each other. Not only as business partners but as friends too right and as entertainers. I think that Lil’ Murda knows that he has to admit it to himself and his manager on the show that they can’t do that tour without Keyshawn. So we have to make that happen and then at the end of the day, I think that she knows and I don’t want to speak for her, but I feel like Lil’ Murda knows that Keyshawn knows that I am valuable to her. She feels like, “hey, he’s going to help me get out of these trenches – let’s go on tour and make that happen!”

I am valuable to her. She feels like, "hey, he’s going to help me get out of these trenches – let’s go on tour and make that happen!”

AM: Do you think that Keyshawn feels that way?

ST: Absolutely. Yes! We’re helping each other here. I think that being on tour is a kind of escapism and we were able to just escape reality for a little bit. It’s in the middle of the pandemic, but at the same time, we get to take that breather because we’re going on tour. You’ll see little texts and phone calls that bring us back to reality, but yeah absolutely.

AM: Looking past P-Valley, do you have any upcoming projects that you’re able to share that we can keep an eye out for?

PS: Oh man! The Lost Girls, that’s a movie that’s coming out. Look on my IMDB. Next week, I go off to Europe for a few months to do a couple of shows. I’m doing one for HBO Max and it’s set in the 1970s and it’s a spy thriller. Then I am also revisiting a character from a BBC show that I did in 2018 but because of the pandemic, we’re just getting around to being able to do the 2nd season! It’ll be cool, summer in Europe.

EJ: There’s nothing that I can talk about at the moment but I’m so thrilled to hear about what everyone is doing!

JAN: For sure, so I had an opportunity to work on a really cool project with John Boyega (Star Wars: Episode VII – The Force Awakens, Star Wars: Episode VIII – The Last Jedi, Star Wars: Episode IX – The Rise of Skywalker), Jamie Foxx (Horrible Bosses 2, Baby Driver, Spider-Man: No Way Home) and Teyonah Parris (If Beale Streets Could Talk, Wandavision, Candyman) called They Cloned Tyrone coming to Netflix this year. I have 2 other projects that are in production right now and they are producer projects as well called Shadowbox with Hill Harper (Homeland, Super Pumped: The Battle for Uber, The Good Doctor) and Joslyn Rose Lyons (Looking Glass, Waging Change, Truth to Power) she’s a writer and director of that project. So it’s in the festival circuit right now. The other 2 projects that I am doing right now haven’t had my characters be announced yet so I can’t wait for the audience and my fan base to get a hold of that!

ST: There are a couple of things that are in play right now, that I don’t want to jinx – they’re under wraps for the moment but I am very very excited and I don’t think that anyone will see me in quite this light before.

IG @pvalleystarz

@elarica

@parkersawyers

@shannonthornt_n

@j_fonz

PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 100 - 111 STARZ/P-Valley

Read the MAY ISSUE #77 of Athleisure Mag and see BACK AT THE PYNK in mag.

IT'S ALL JUST STORY | RODNEY BARNES

This year when the NBA unveiled their 75th Anniversary Team of retired and active players, it included 17 members who played for the Lakers which includes the Showtime era of the 70/80s with players Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Magic Johnson. To understand the importance of this era and what it did to how we enjoy the game, and how it moved the game forward in terms of commerce and making players brand, Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty illustrates the dynamics at play.

We talked with Rodney Barnes, who has written for STARZ Heels, STARZ American Gods, Everybody Hates Chris and more. He shares how he got into the industry, the positions he has held, his approach to his work, being the Executive Producer and writer for Winning Time, Zombie Love Studios and his passion for comic books and graphic novels.

ATHLEISURE MAG: You’ve worked in various positions in the entertainment industry as a Production Assistant, showrunner, Executive Producer and an award-winning screenwriter. With all of these roles, what was the moment that you realized that you wanted to work in this industry?

RODNEY BARNES: I was going to Howard University and I was in the School of C (Howard University Cathy Hughs School of Communication) and I was working at Georgetown Law Center as a campus cop at night and I found out that the movie The Pelican Brief was coming to my job to film some scenes. So I was really excited because it’s one thing to go to school for this and it’s another thing to actually be able to see it up close. So I signed up for all of the overtime details and I got them all. I started watching the movie being put together and it was so exciting! So I met a guy and he was the PA, he was a Key Set PA. So I asked him how I could get a job doing what he did. He said that that weekend, they had some big scenes that were taking place at the Washington Monument and that if I wanted to come and do it for a day, they'd be happy to have me.

So I did it and it was the most exciting, fun and best $100 that I ever made in my entire life! It was something about it that felt right. I felt more purpose in doing that and being close to this thing that I wanted to be close to then I did doing anything else that paid a lot better. I quit my job at Georgetown and started working as a PA full time.

AM: What a story, we always tell people that we embrace the multi-hyphenate. As someone who has worked in a number of roles and continues to do so from writing and producing, when did you know that you wanted to take on these areas and what the specific area was that you wanted to start in first? Or was there just a confluence that took place to make all of this come together?

RB: I knew I wanted to be a writer, but I knew what I didn’t know. I knew that I didn’t understand how any of this worked and I had a very fundamental understanding of what writing was and telling stories. Quite frankly, emotionally and psychologically, I wasn’t mature enough or evolved enough to be able to take on the big job. So, working as a PA, I look at it as being an apprentice. I had an opportunity to meet people, to sort of find my tribe, to figure out the psychology of how it would work and to just get my legs under me which was a bit like bootcamp. It was always writing, but I had to build up to the idea of being able to take my shot at it because it just felt too big.

AM: What do you think was the biggest thing that you learned from being a PA that has helped you with your career or was it just being able to see all the parts that were moving and to be able to understand how they connect?

RB: There was that. I think that the thing for me was that I always had this idea that everybody in Hollywood must be a genius and I haven’t met a genius yet. But, what I have met are some folks that have worked really really hard at their craft. It sort of demystified the entire process for me in being able to see it up close and to be able to observe. I wouldn’t say that I was a vital part although I know that some people would disagree. It was sort of the type of thing where getting to know people as friends and mentors even though that’s a problematic word as no one put their arm around me and said, “son this is what you do.” But they allowed me to be in their circle and to be able to see how the sausage is made. I got an opportunity to be able to just see things up close and to decide whether or not I could do it, if I wanted to do it and the closer I got to the thing that I wanted, the better that things got for me, but I wouldn’t have been able to do any of it if I hadn’t been a PA.

AM: From a screenwriting aspect, you have written a number of things. I loved your work in American Gods which I loved that show and obviously Winning Time and then you look at shows like Everybody Hates Chris. How do you get inspiration to write and then where do you start from when you’re trying to put words to paper to create these worlds for us?

RB: I never looked at it from a place of inspiration because if I need the emotional investment to do it, then I’m not going to be inspired some of those days and I’m still going to have to do it. For me, the difference was, approaching every day like I’m at work which was no different then when I was at Walmart or Target or any of those places that I worked at along the way. I had to get up, I had to work, I didn’t feel like it and then somewhere midday or so, it got a little bit better and then a little bit better. I sort of approach writing in the same way. I have a lot of resistance on the days that I don’t feel like doing it, but it needs to be done because I have a deadline. 78% of the time, I’m able to be disciplined and I’m able to get it done and the other times, I might go to the movies, sit and watch a game or do something else when I’m supposed to be writing. But I think it’s more of a discipline of doing the thing than an emotional component to it. There are days where I feel it and if I'm writing something like a horror driven thing like in my graphic novels, I'm enjoying it a great deal so it’s easier to do, but whether I feel it or I don’t feel it or am some place in between, I still do it.

AM: Just to circle back to American Gods, one of my minors in college was Classical Civilization so it covered mythologies of the world in addition to Greece and Rome and included African and Asian nations. So when I watched it, I loved seeing all of these stories that came to life. What was it like writing for that?

RB: It was great! The best thing that came out of it was my relationship with Orlando Jones (Sleepy Hollow, American Gods, The Good Lord Bird) who played Anansi/Mr. Nancy on our show. I had a similar thing as you, I didn’t do it in college but I studied a lot of different types of mythology and some of these characters like Anansi and Bilquis and others, you don’t really get to hear a lot about them. Because of comic books, you get Thor and Zeus, Odin and Hercules and those guys but oftentimes, Gods of color don’t get a lot of love. Even when they do, it’s in secondary roles. Working for American Gods and I’m a huge Neil Gaiman fan. So to be able to play in that sort of world and get some genre credits under my name was great as I have a comic book company and I also tell a lot of genre driven stories so being able to legitimize that beyond wanting to do it was always something that I wanted to do.

AM: It was such a phenomenal series. I remember seeing the episodes and being able to see some of these characters that I had read about being brought to life so fully, it kept me glued and it was truly incredible.

So as a screenwriter, what is that process like in terms of getting attached to a project and how does one pitch themselves to get into this work?

RB: Well my agents do a lot of my pitching. They typically open doors, but I’d say that about 75% of the work that I get, outside of the things that I create, really comes from via word of mouth. Right now it’s a good time because of Winning Time and people seemingly are enjoying it and you get a lot of offers to do things because they like it which I am grateful for and it is a blessing. More often than not, it’s about putting yourself in the right position you know? People know that I write graphic books and comic books so whenever a project like that comes around and it seems like they can use a writer like me, oftentimes, they’ll call or not so much now because I have been doing it for awhile but maybe 7 or 8 years ago, if it was something that I had heard about that was coming down the pike, I would tell my agents to keep an eye out on it and then see if maybe they could get me up there to be considered.

AM: Is it a different flow for you when you’re writing for the BET Awards or the Oscars – is there a different approach because it’s a live audience or a different format then just a show or even the comic books?

RB: Not really, I look at all of it like it’s story whether it’s writing a joke, Chris Rock or one of his specials or whoever I’m working for for the Oscars or an awards show. Even a joke is a story. It has a beginning, a middle and an end. Whether I’m telling a funny story or a horrifying story or a dramatic story, at the end of the day, it’s all a story. So, I approach it all the same way. The biggest thing for me is really understanding who’s going to be interpreting the words. Like, I work a lot with Chris Rock, and I know him really, really well so if I’m going to pitch something to him, I incorporate that knowledge into the pitch. Like, I can sort of filter myself and know that he wouldn’t like this or he would really like that part. In writing the shows, I have built a great relationship with a lot of our cast and so, I try to write to their strengths as well as to the story that I am trying to tell. When I am saying that I’m writing to their strengths, I'm talking dialogue. There is a cadence to how people talk and if you can make it easier for them to interpret the words, I think that they become more comfortable with it so it's really more so about having familiarity with it for the task at hand.

AM: Also in your body of work, you have been a co-producer and a producer in shows like Heels, Winning Time and Wu-Tang: An American Saga. We’ve had a number of WWE wrestlers as our cover and shared their stories so seeing Heels was another show that we enjoyed. When did you realize that you wanted to add these roles into your body of work and how does that change your perspective especially when you're also writing the show as well?

RB: Well it’s funny, those titles of producing can mean a lot of different things. Earlier in my career, say on My Wife and Kids, when I was a producer, it wasn’t really a lot more to do than sitting in a room and writing. It’s sort of like the government, government jobs they have G-1, G-2 as you work up and it’s sort of like that in television in writing as well. If you do it long enough, you start out as a staff writer and then you move up to a story editor and then an executive story editor and then you go up through the WGA (Writers Guild of America) classifications that go with moving up. But then, in certain gigs like in Everybody Hates Chris, I was in the writer’s room and wrote a number of episodes, but I also produced the voiceover that you would hear in every show. So I would write the lines and go with Chris Rock and go record the lines together and then I would place them in the show in editing. So, to me that was actually the beginning of actually producing and so on different shows, that idea of what a producer means is something different.

On Winning Time, I actually work with the actors whether it’s working on set with their lines, working with the director to see whether or not a shot is sort of lining up with how we saw it when we were writing the show – it can mean a lot of different things. There are some shows where I have been an EP and it didn't mean anything more than just writing a show and putting it together or on some shows I'm actually tangibly doing something different. On American Gods, I wrote and also worked on the set with the actors and the director as well and putting it all together. On Heels, not so much. Marvel's Runaways – not so much. But it’s different with each one, so it’s a classification that comes with being a TV writer and as the responsibilities go, it has more to do with what that show requires.

AM: When I first heard about Winning Time last fall, I knew I was going to love it, I remember as a kid in 1986 loving this team even though I grew up in Indiana and it continues even though I live in NY now. So seeing this story, hearing about this story and getting this inside scoop of what was going on has made it really enjoyable to watch. How did you get attached to this project and what made you want to be involved?

RB: Max Borenstein (Kong: Skull Island, Worth, Godzilla vs Kong) who is our showrunner and the other Executive Producer as well, he and I have been writing together for about 10 years and when Jim Hecht (Fairly OddParents, Ice Age 2: The Meltdown, The Ice Age Adventures of Buck Wild) first optioned the book, he got the book to Adam McKay (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, Vice, Don’t Look Up), and he got it to HBO and they said they would do a pilot I believe, I don’t know if the project was picked up then. They hired Max, Max called me and I said yes that I would want to be a part of it. That’s how it started.

AM: It’s an incredible cast and I love McKay films and the people that are in it. In terms of writing this where you had Jeff Pearlman’s book Showtime: Magic, Kareem, Riley and the Los Angeles Lakers Dynasty of the 1980s, how much source material did you have as I know players of that time as well as the franchise didn’t reach out to you on this. How did you coalesce these things all together to create this story and to provide that insider feel?

RB: Well we were really fortunate that book. So we studied a lot of books and Rick Fox, former Laker was our technical advisor, we talked to a lot of folks who were around the team at that time who worked for the organization, YouTube – we did a lot of research everywhere – articles anything that we could find. We sort of incorporated into the narrative and some stuff we had to tie in together for dramatization purposes.

AM: Obviously with the people that were involved, John C Reilly (Gangs of New York, The Aviator, Anchorman II: The Legend Continues), Jason Clarke (Brotherhood, Chappaquiddick, Silk Road), Rob Morgan (Stranger Things, The United States vs. Billie Holiday, Don’t Look Up), Jason Segel (How I Met Your Mother, Dispatches from Elsewhere, Hotel Artemis) and Adrien Brody (The Grand Budapest Hotel, Peaky Blinders, Succession) etc, there are actors in there where there is a lot of secret sauce. You have actors who were athletic but didn’t play basketball and having to do so for this role, having Quincy Isaiah play such a key and iconic person who was new to this platform, how did all of this come together to get that energy, to make an audience believe that these people who be playing this game even though they didn’t necessarily have this background?

RB: Francine Maisler (Uncut Gems, Being the Ricardos, Dune) is our casting director and she did a great job finding folks. Sometimes you get lucky like in the case of Quincy who is from Michigan and was an athlete – a football player. He had to lose 80lbs or so to come down to being able to have a Magic Johnson-like look. Solomon Hughes who plays, Kareem Adbul-Jabbar is an educator, is 7-feet tall, plays jazz and he played basketball on a professional level before. You just get lucky sometimes. I think that that’s across the board in finding people that not only have the talent but also the emotional stuff.

If you think about our players, they have to learn how to play the game because some had never played the game before, they had to be convincing to learn how to play a particular way that their character played, they had to go through physical training everyday and then they had to learn their lines and then they had to act. So there would be times when they would have to come from training, be on set, leave their work, leave set and go and play basketball everyday for however long – for a year or so. Then there is the training that went into it before hand and always having a good attitude about it as they were going. We got really really fortunate to find the folks that we found.

AM: When did you realize that you were going to be Maurice?

RB: I’ll tell you when I was working, Max was working on a movie called Worth in NY that’s on Netflix now. I was working on the first season of Wu-Tang: An American Saga. I was in Staten Island, he was in Manhattan. We would meet on the weekends and we would go over it with Jim Hecht and Rebecca Bertuch (Worth) and we would work on putting the show together. Every now and then, this name would pop up, Maurice, Maurice, Maurice – like who the hell is Maurice? Oh, you’re going to see and it was like an inside joke. They knew that I didn’t know. When we were officially on board and we started in the writer’s room in LA, we had all the pictures up of the actors on the wall and then there was a picture of me. I was like, “why is my picture on the wall?” They said, you’re going to play Maurice and I was like, “oh, ok – haha Maurice.” So Max actually wrote Maurice’s lines and the only scene that I had at one time was the scene with Pat Reily where I don’t let him in The Forum. I thought, “ok, I can do that, I’ve been a security guard my whole damn life!” I know how to say you can’t come in. You don’t even need to even write out the lines just let me stand there and I know how to not let you in some place. Then, all of a sudden, I started seeing Maurice pop up in other scripts! He's like a leprechaun where he sort of shows up in different places and I'm like, "why am I popping up?” and then I had a walk and talk which is very difficult as an actor because you have to walk, you have to think and you have to move which was in episode 5 where I had that scene. I was nervous about that scene. Actually, I messed up the scene that is on. I messed up a line but Gabby Hoffman (High Maintenance, Girls, Transparent) who plays Claire Rothman is so great, you would never know because she kept going and I kept going and so that was it and they cut and we went on with the day – but I messed up.

It's cool, the network likes it, everyone likes him and I think that Maurice is going to come back and probably say more words.

AM: We always like when he pops up!

RB: Well, thank you! As long as I stay big and relatively menacing and intimidating, Maurice will probably be around.

AM: What has been your biggest takeaway of being part of this particular project, seeing it come together and the reception of people loving this?

RB: Anytime you work hard at a thing for a long time that is intended to entertain people, you always want that to land the way it is intended so that people are entertained. I think that we’ve got a great reception and that people really seem to like it and it’s sort of gratifying because I and a lot of people give a lot when you do these sort of things and it’s not easily assembled. For me certainly being able to talk about African American culture as it pertains to sports in a way that is sort of elevated is always an honor. It’s a good thing.

AM: Well, you guys have been greenlit for a second season. What does that look like, what do you want to tackle – will it continue with these same players or will it be another part of Laker history or even another time in NBA history for a Winning Time situation?

RB: As of the moment, the plan is to continue on in the same narrative and to just keep telling the story as we have been. Even now, when we first started the process before, we were going in the third or fourth iteration of what you see on screen now – we were going to go a lot faster. Then, the decision was made during COVID to slow down the process of storytelling and we had to go back to the drawing board a couple of times to slow it down. I say all of that to say that you never know. We could speed up a couple of seasons, we can keep going the way that it is, but I think that the plan for now is to continue going in the direction that it is.

AM: One of the things that I enjoy especially with a lot of the HBO shows is that there is a companion podcast and literally, I can’t wait until Mon to listen to the show which drops right after the episode airs on Sun. I listen to JB Smoove and then I listen to your podcast. It’s great to get your insights, what’s going on – the Rob Morgan episode was really great to hear. Every episode is great as there are so many tidbits that can be enjoyed. How did you get attached to hosting this podcast and how much input do you have over who ends up being on the episode with you?

RB: Very similar to how I became Maurice. Somebody thought that it would be a good idea to have me do it and my first reaction was, I have never done a podcast before and they were like, “oh you can do it.” I think that I tried to back out a couple of times and they were like no just give it a shot. I think that I got better as time went on which is sort of the course of life, the more you do it, the better you get at the thing that you do. But, it also helps that I know everybody. Everybody that I have had on so far whether it was Snoop Dogg, Rob Morgan or Quincy, or Max or whoever, I know them. It’s like having a conversation with someone who is a friend and not so much like talking to someone who is a stranger.

They always ask me who I would like to have on and I try to spread it around between the cast members, but also the people behind the scenes. I had Todd Banhazl (Janelle Monae: Dirty Computer, They Call Me Magic, Hustlers), I had Max, I had Jim Hecht, Rebecca, I had Sarah Scott (Pam & Tommy, The Offer, The Flight Attendant) our intimacy coordinator. I had Idan Ravin whose the basketball coordinator. I had our director Salli Richardson (The Chi, Altered Carbon, The Wheel of Time) and Tanya Hamilton (Big Sky, The Deuce, Snowfall). I try to mix it up where you have one of the cast members and then someone who is a technical part of the team so that for people who are interested in being part of the business as one time I was, you can actually hear some of what they do and realize that there are a number of jobs besides the big 4 or 5 at producer, director, writer. There are a lot of other things to be done and some things may spark to someone and hopefully that podcast can help a little bit.

AM: We love seeing the birth of the NBA as we know it today as this entertainment platform with next level dancers, club lounges and had this came together with Dr. Buss. This has become the standard for what it means to go to a NBA game. Being able to hear more about Jack McKinney and his time with the Lakers. I knew he was a coach for the Pacers, but I didn’t know about his backstory. What is it that you want audiences to walk away with after watching this season or subsequent seasons?

RB: Always with our show, we have what you know and the thing that you can Google and find out. Who won the game, who lost the game and those types of things. But there’s also those things that you didn’t know. Like in the case of Jack McKinney, a lot of people had forgotten not just him, but the accident that he was in – the basketball accident and how that changed the course of the Lakers coaching dynamic. So, being able to tell some of those stories and show the Shakespearean dynamic of the coaching system with Paul West head and Pat Riley, most people know Pat Riley being the Lakers coach and they sort of identify with just him, but there were other guys too.

I think that the other side of that coin is Spencer Haywood who was a big part of NBA free agency and a lot of how we look at basketball today in the fact that we can look at James Harden and see him go from team to team to team or LeBron just being able to go to the Heat and all of that – a lot of that has to do with Spencer Haywood and going to court to battle for free agency rights for players. When I was growing up watching the NBA, I’m from Maryland so we had the Bullets, now the Wizards. Usually if a player got drafted, he played with one team for his entire career. It was big news when a player would move from one team to another.

Now, when you look at the change and the evolution both in the style of play when you look at the Showtime offense of Jack McKinney that evolved and to Spencer Haywood’s contribution, that you see in these 2 gentleman, it has a lot to do with the way that the game is played and it’s rarely recognized over the course of history. Anytime we can incorporate things that folks don’t know, it’s always a treat!

AM: Usually, when an episode concludes, we’re usually Googling about 4 things! It becomes a great way to understand how far the game has come in really such a short period of time and how things are so different and the shoulders that people stood on to get to where we are now.

RB: Exactly.

AM: Where did your love for comic books come from. You have Killadelphia that you’re writing, Marvel, Star Wars universes and Lucas Film Studios – where did this come from?

RB: The only inciting influence that I can find in my mind and my heart was that my mother was a school teacher. Before computers and all of that stuff, she would go to the public library to do her lesson plans and she would bring me. There was always this area where you would have kids like in a pen, your Cat in the Hat, Curious George books etc. I had no interest in any of those books because under those books was a box and in that box was comic books. I knew exactly where it was and I don’t think that they ever changed them in all the years that I went. I would just sit in the corner and read them for hours. It sort of became a thing where it was infectious you know? The moral throughline and some of the stories were more evolved than what my 5 or 6 year old mind could handle but I was intrigued by that idea. Then later, people would give them to me and my grandfather would call them funny books back then. They would give me a stack of them and it was a way to keep me quiet. Later on, when I would have odd jobs, I would buy them. This was during a period of time where you could get comic books anywhere – the convenience store, liquor store, virtually any place that had a spinner rack full of comics. Now, you have to go to a comic shop on Wed to get them. But back then, they were readily available and they were only 20 cents or a quarter. Now they’re $4 if not more.

It was just a love that just evolved along with my life. In the beginning, it was mostly about the art and the story. Then in my teen and later years, there were guys like Alan Moore (Watchmen, V for Vendetta, Swamp Thing) and Grant Morrison (Doom Patrol, New X-Men, Fantastic Four 1234) and Frank Miller (Daredevil, The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City), they sort of made it like literature and evolved into something that was more serious and that kept me involved and then later television and film like most people. So there has always been this relationship.

When I was younger, I tried to write comics professionally, but couldn’t find a way in. Like a lot of things that I’m sure people feel with television and film, it’s a tough nut to crack. But even more so back then, there weren’t a whole lot of African American characters and there wasn’t a big indie space when I was coming up. It was just Marvel and DC and every once in a while there’d be a new company that would pop in. They didn’t have the same distribution chain as DC so you were relegated to those 10 characters maybe if there were 10. I think that a lot of times, companies back then felt like unless you were writing for a character of color, what’s the point of hiring this person? So for me, I wanted to take a shot at writing a comic so when I was on the show Runaways which was a Marvel show, they liked my work and I sort of leveraged the appreciation of my work to say, “hey if you guys have any relationship with Marvel Publishing, I’d love to write a comic book.” They gave me Falcon. I quickly realized that I had no idea what the hell I was doing or how to write a comic book. I just took my shot. It was received ok-ish. Then again like the podcast, I kept doing it again and again and again and I got better and better and better at it and then I had the idea for Killadelphia and started a whole new thing. Now I write 10 books a month and I have my own company and it’s taken on a life all of it’s own.

AM: Which is amazing and I know in looking at your IG, you were talking about The Mandalorian which I’m a fan of. You have a project coming out in June – can you tell us more?

RB: Yes, it’s June the 22nd, The Mandalorian adaptation of the TV show and it’s the first adaptation that Marvel and Lucas Film have done with a project. It’s basically straight adaptation of that story. They don’t let you deviate too far from the story because it’s Star Wars cannon and you can’t really interfere or add new things because it’s connected to the television show. So I basically do my version of the television show would be.

AM: It’s still very cool though!

RB: Yes, it’s an honor to play in that space.

I just finished IG-88 Star Wars: War of the Bounty Hunters and I did Lando Double or Nothing earlier. I love to play in the space. I have a Luke Cage short that’s coming up and maybe a Luke Cage miniseries coming up for Marvel. So anytime you get to play in that space, it’s always fun because it’s such a big fan base that you get to connect with that many people is always an honor.

AM: You created Zombie Love Studio which deals with creating original graphic novels and things of that nature, what are some things coming out of there that you want to highlight?

RB: The first book is Blacula, a reboot of the Blacula character from Blaxploitation era in Oct/Nov which should be dropping then. I also have another book, Florence and Normandie and alien attack story that takes place on the corner of Florence and Normandie famous because of the Rodney King riots that started from there. I’m writing that with Xzibit. I have Tales from the Crip with Snoop Dogg which is the Crip Keeper. I have a book called Crownsville which is set in one of the first black mental asylums in America that’s a ghost story.

There's a bunch of other things that we’re developing that are moving along. There aren’t enough hours in the day, but I’m really excited about it all and it’s coming together slowly but surely.

AM: The depth of what you’ve done is truly phenomenal. What are things on your bucket list that you have yet to do or areas that you want to put into that body of work that you haven’t but that you’re still interested in tackling.

RB: Well certainly, developing the Zombie Love books and Killadelphia and things like that into my Substack page where I do 4 of the books. 3 that are connected to the Killadelphia world which is the book that I do at Image. There are 3 books that I do at Image, Killadelphia, Nita Hawes’ Nightmare Blog and Monarch an alien attack miniseries that I am doing. My Substack page has 3 other series, Johnny Gatlin who is a gun slinger in hell and hell is like the Wild West. 20 Degrees Past Rigor which is a zombie story set in Flint, Michigan where zombies are connected to the polluted waters of Flint. The Butcher of Black Bottom which is a serial killer story set in 1920’s Black Bottom section of Detroit. Then there’s Elysium Gardens which is in the back of Killadelphia which has an ongoing story on a Substack page. So, there are those books as well. There’s a lot of stuff and next, I hope to adopt a lot of those things into other forms of media whether it’s animated, live action or television or those kinds of things.

AM: Because you have so many projects that are just in constant rotation, how do you deal with the overlap? Do you have to be at a certain point before you take other things on – do you slice it up like a pizza and mix it the best that you can?

RB: Ha! That’s basically it. I try to tackle each thing as the day comes at me. I usually get up at 4 in the morning and then I start writing and I get the comic book stuff done in the morning. Then I tackle my day jobs like Winning Time or anything else that I have in front of me and I take it as the day comes. Whoever is yelling the most that is owed the thing to them – so yeah! Whoever’s voice is the loudest at the moment!

AM: I think that the time that we’re living in right now, although there is still a need for a lot more representation, to think of myself now versus the younger me who wouldn’t have thought to know that there would be an Ava Du Vernay (A Wrinkle in Time, Queen Sugar, Girls Trip), yourself, Shonda Rhimes (Bridgerton, Inventing Anna, Grey’s Anatomy) all these people that are moving storytelling forward. How important is it for you to reflect that in your work and to have POC be able to see themselves as well as for others to understand why they need to be an ally and to make these spaces more open?

RB: Well I think it’s important because the world doesn’t connect in the same way anymore like physically. We don’t talk to each other the way that we used to and it wasn’t perfect back then either. It’s more important than ever to be able to tell stories that have a ring of truth or some semblance of honesty. That way you get to see people as they are good, bad and indifferent more so than as a caricature or something that feels contrived in some way. I think that a lot of the biases that we hold with each other comes from those depictions. I know since 1619, a concerted effort was made speaking directly to African American culture to make us less than human. There’s one idea of being less than human, but you have to reinforce that on a regular basis. So you either make them caricatures or villains – one extreme or the other. If that idea has the ability to sort of ferment for 400 years or more then you’re at a place where it almost becomes truth because you’re so used to seeing that be the case.

So when you have this culture that is fighting for a slice of the pie or some semblance for respect and dignity, living in a culture and you’re sort of burdened by living with that depiction. It's really a hard thing to overcome because then even the culture itself starts to believe it – is this who I am and some people do. That can be problematic in its own way because you start to devalue yourself and people who look like you.

So I think that the more folks that can get in for various gender, sexual orientation, race or whatever it may be – to be able to speak to your truth in an honest way cannot only help you and the group that you’re in but also people outside of that group so that they have a better understanding of who you are and the struggle that you navigate just to be a human being and to have a human experience.

AM: Who are 3 people that you feel were profound, instrumental or helpful to be in your career?

RB: Damon Wayans (My Wife and Kids, Lethal Weapon, Major Payne) is always first! He was the first person that gave me an opportunity to work on a television show. Were it not for him, I wouldn’t be here. Don Reo (Everybody Hates Chris, Two and a Half Men, The Ranch) who was the showrunner and creator with Damon on My Wife and Kids. He helped take whatever raw ability I had and allowed me into a space in a way that pushed me to a space where I was able to see for myself what I had to do. I’m eternally grateful to him as well. I have to say that there is a tie for number 3 Allen Hughes (Dead Presidents, Menace II Society, The Book of Eli) of the Hughes Brothers, a director. He helped me to bridge art and commerce. He gave me an opportunity to write in a different type of way and helped me find my way of doing art. He was very supportive in that. Then, Max Borenstein who is our showrunner on Winning Time who sort of did the same thing but in a different way. There’s a push sometimes that you need to get out of where you have been to where you want to be and Max was very helpful in being able to push me. Beyond him pushing me, was me pushing me as well. There are a lot of other people and if you had given me 10 or 20, I could have continued on with other people who have helped me even if it was just survival – that’s important as well. So when it comes to writing and being a professional writer, those people come to mind.

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PHOTOGRAPHY CREDITS | PG 78 Warrick Page/HBO MAX | PG 81 - 85 STARZ/American Gods | PG 87 + 88 STARZ/Heels | PG 91 -102 HBO MAX/Winning Time |

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