Tag Archives: AMC

06Jul/22

Kadeem Hardison Talks About Starring in AMC Plus Sci-Fi Series Moonhaven… Truly, a Different World

Kadeem Hardison as Arlo – Moonhaven _ Season 1 , Episode 6 – Photo Credit: Szymon Lazewski/AMC

Every time I see Kadeem Hardison’s name all I can hear in my head is “Dwayne! Dwayne!” in the voice of Whitley Gilbert played by Jasmine Guy on the hit show A Different World, but these days you can find Kadeem Hardison in the new AMC Plus series Moonhaven… a show where he is literally on a different world, the moon to be exact. The actor talked about his new show with Taji Mag and gave us an introduction to his love for comics books. 

Dapper Dr. Feel (DDF): How did you become a part of this project and what was your inspiration for this role? 

Kadeem Hardison (KD): Life as an actor is pretty much the routine of you audition and then you wait. So I auditioned then I waited, but I got the part. The good part was I got sent a script, I read it, and I got very excited at the prospect that this was gonna actually be a show… like, this was already financed and happening. It wasn’t like someone was sending me a script and hoping they could raise some money. This was the beginning of a series. I was thrilled at the idea of being a part of the show because of what it suggests (in regards to the world and human existence) and how it tackles the issues [humanity has faced over the years]. I found interest in the culture that is created on the moon, this society, and the different ways people are living there. These are the same humans on Earth, they are just living a different way of life. They have figured out a way, over a hundred years, to have worked out all the kinks that have plagued society on Earth. I just thought it had a lot of good stuff to say.

What inspired my character, Arlo? For me, the character comes from the writing. Usually, I read the, script, I get an idea about how the character should walk, talk, stand, etc. There wasn’t anything specifically in other roles where I’ve gone ahead and said “okay, this guy’s gonna be a little bit like this” (an amalgamation of a bunch of different characters that I’ve either seen in the past and loved or thought “this is something I’ve always wanted to do”). This was pretty much the future and on another planet! So there wasn’t anything I could draw from the present. It wasn’t going to be like Denzel in John Q. The one thing I know about this Arlo is that he is true, a hundred percent committed to this cause, and not fake in any way. He may have problems or issues, but his focus is “we have to build this bridge to save mother Earth”.  

DDF: Are there any methods or technology from the series that you would like to see present today? 

KD: Hell yeah, I would love it if you could just take a little piece of wood and point it at something and click it, then anything you want to know shows up. That’s the first one, the fact that any surface really can be a tablet.  Anything you’re looking at, you can just tap it and it turns into a tablet. 

I loved that the detectives are more concerned with the living than the dead and the mystery of how they became dead. Now we’re more concerned with you and how you are feeling and how you’re dealing with this tragedy because your balance is my balance. If you are outta whack, then you might go out and do something crazy. That’s more work for me to try and clean up. So making sure you are okay and that you are balanced keeps the rest of us in balance. 

 DDF: So what would your utopian world look like?

KD: It would probably look a lot like Moonhaven. I really thought the things implemented in the script, in our society on Moonhaven, were pretty damn good. No, one’s hungry, no one’s stealing, very little crime and jealousy. You have those feelings, but you learn to work them out through practices and methods put in place. Music is everywhere, the alphabet is musical. There’s a dance in it. I didn’t see any animals. There’s only one dog on the moon. After realizing this, I was like “Huh? Does that mean there are no animals on the moon?”. I don’t remember the moon inhabitants dealing with animals besides the one dog and a big bird. Then I thought to myself “is that dog real?”. Yeah, I’d have some animals for sure.

DDF: Were you able to keep your composure and be in sync with Dominic during your dance routine in the series? 

KD: Yeah, absolutely. We learned that dance and it’s pretty simple. We couldn’t wait to perform it and the showrunner kept saying “We’’ll probably let you do half of it.” They let us do maybe two movements and it was like “Oh man, really?”. 

Kadeem Hardison as Arlo and Dominic Monaghan as Paul Sarno – Moonhaven _ Season 1, Episode 4 – Photo Credit: Szymon Lazewski/AMC

DDF: Speaking of dance moves, what is your go-to move if you are asked to dance at some place like a bbq? 

KH: I like the gigolo from back in the day. That’s pretty much my go-to because it doesn’t involve a lot of movement and I am not going to sweat a lot since I don’t have to move my feet. 

DDF:  So let’s say you could bring four people from any time period to your utopian moon, what four people would it be? 

KD: I’d probably bring my idols. I’d bring Bruce Lee so he could teach us Jeet Kune Do. I’d bring Muhammad Ali so he’d give us confidence beyond ourselves. I’d probably bring Malcolm X because he starts some shit… he’d definitely find some shit to start. I’d bring Prince because he is a musical genius and he would figure out new instruments. He would invent instruments and find ways for us to enjoy sound. 

DDF: I see you like comic books, who are your four favorite comic book characters? 

KH: I’d have to say Spiderman, Batman, Black Panther, and Wolverine.

DDF: What other sci-fi character would you like to be? 

KD: Any of the Dune characters. I don’t care who it is.

DDF: The Mooners focus on healing in Moonhaven. What way(s) do you use to heal? 

KH: Usually peace and quiet. If that doesn’t work, then usually loud music and video games. Comics are also my go-to and have been since I was eight years old. It is a form of escapism. You can dive into a comic and next thing you know, you’re doing voices. Then you’re trying to read each character differently and create something new. 

DDF: I was a huge “A Different World” fan growing up. When I saw your character killed by television in “Def by Temptation”, it kind of scarred me. 

KH: Killed by television, right? Which became an actual fear (of mine). I was like, “I gotta get off this show because I will never be able to do any movies or other projects. I don’t wanna be killed by television”! So yeah, that’s funny.


Moonhaven starring Kadeem Hardison, Emma McDonald, Joe Manganiello, and Dominic Monaghan starts streaming on Thursday, July 7 Exclusively on AMC+.

Full interview with Kadeem Hardison

08May/22

Kamal Angelo Bolden On NBC’s New Hit, ‘The Endgame’

THE ENDGAME SYNOPSIS: A pulse-pounding high-stakes two-hander about Elena Federova, a recently captured international arms dealer and brilliant criminal mastermind who orchestrates a number of coordinated bank heists throughout New York City for a mysterious purpose. Her antagonist is Val Turner, the principled, relentless, and socially outcast FBI agent who will stop at nothing to foil her ambitious plan. The gripping heist drama reveals how far some people will go for love, justice, and the most valuable commodity in the world: the truth.

While watching the pilot of the new NBC series, The Endgame, all I could think about was the relationship between lead character Val Turner (played by Ryan Michelle Bathé) and her husband, Owen Turner (played by Kamal Angelo Bolden ). The show gives us this loving couple who’d been together for years, and now Owen is divorcing Val. All the while she is having a cerebral chess match with a crime boss in custody and orchestrating multiple bank heists involving hostages all over New York City. Just brutal! Luckily for Taji Mag, we were able to sit down with actor Kamal Angelo Bolden and ask him “what’s up with Owen in The Endgame?”

Dapper Dr. Feel (DDF): How did you get involved with this project?

Kamal Angelo Bolden (KAB): My agent hit me up with the opportunity to audition last summer while I was in Chicago filming a TV show for AMC (61st street) and I read the script. I was lucky enough to get a script. At the time, the Owen character was named Elgin. That’s a little Easter egg for some people. The first time we encounter Owen, he’s issuing his wife divorce papers inside a correctional facility. And I was automatically like, “Wait a minute. What is this? I thought this was going to be, like, network television”.

It’s hard-hitting and not like your typical show. I was like, “this is kind of deep!” because the further I read on, I found out that his relationship with his wife goes back to when they were about five years old. So they’re, like, not just only high school sweethearts, but they’ve known each other their entire lives.

After getting to know more of the story, it was something I had never ever had an opportunity to explore or relate to. You automatically question, “How could Owen divorce his wife (Val) like that, with all that history? So, I was already taken by the script and I was like, “Okay, I’m gonna do my best…if I get this particular callback.”

I got a callback and the dominoes kept falling in place because I got the screen test while I was at home in Peoria, Illinois (my mom’s house). Obviously, I knocked it out of the park. I felt God sent the job my way.

DDF: How would you describe Val and Owen’s relationship to someone who hasn’t seen the show?

KAL: Their love is deeper than words can describe. When you encounter these two individuals who have been together their whole lives, they have a certain amount of trust to make it as far as they have.

So when you see the pilot, there’s a sense of betrayal. But they’re both fighting for something bigger than themselves. Val, played by Ryan Michelle, is fighting to keep their relationship while trying to bring down Elaina Federer over the international arms dealer who’s seized seven banks across New York City. And in the same point, she’s also dealing with some of her personal paths with her father and her mother. And then she’s also trying to figure out why her husband is in prison, you know, ’cause I’m a former FBI agent who [was] accused of stealing money.

So there’s a lot going on there. She’s trying to figure out if I’m on her side or if I’m on the side of the other people who are running these heists. And for me, I can only divulge so much information to her, even as she comes and visits me while I’m in prison.

Right now we are further along into the series and finding out some really, really deep, intricate stuff about Owen and Val’s relationship.

Kamal Angelo Bolden as Owen Turner

DDF: What is going through Owen’s mind while he is going through all this?

KAL: What I think Owen is really experiencing while he’s behind bars is a sense of struggle. There’s like a battle between feeling helpless and protecting his wife from the inside of this correctional facility, but there’s this sense of optimism that it’ll all be worth it in the end. There’s this plan that Owen has.

And so every day is a battle. It’s a struggle inside there. You’ve lost your freedom. You are in there with other criminals, and being an FBI agent in a facility like that, you’re not a welcome, you’re a persona non grata. He has got to watch his back all the time, but at the end of the day, he’s trying to work towards getting his wife.

DDF: I’m trying to get you to think objective now. Who would you choose: team Val or team Elena?

KAL: So we have two strong cerebral women that are competing against each other. You know, it changes each episode in a way. Objectively, when you start off in episodes one and two, I think it’s pretty easy to be team Val.

The thing is whether you’re team Val or team Elena, you know that both women are very strong for different reasons and have very strong motivations for why they go head to head.

So you root for Val because she has the smarts, she has the intuition, and she has the, like, stamina to go after these things with such a passion and ruthlessness.

As for Elena, she is slick, smooth, and she’s pulling off stuff that you’re like “how does she pull it off?” Because she thinks so many moves ahead! They’re both playing tough. So it was kind of like watching two chess masters go against each other.

In the end, I don’t care who wins. This is just an exciting match to watch.

DDF: What’s been your favorite experience while shooting this series?

KAL: Shooting in New York. First of all, there’s that. It’s a different energy to the city of New York, you know? I’m from Illinois. It’s just something about New York that reminded me of Chicago, but just a little bigger and a little bit more energy.

My favorite part is just the people. Everybody from the cast and crew is super dope!

They’re super goofy. We have a lot of fun, but then even our hair and makeup people…they’re hilarious! They keep the day going. And our crew is hilarious. Shooting in New York is super fun and super dope. And I think we make good TV.

DDF: In a previous interview. You said your favorite character you play was Emile Griffin. Would you be interested in turning it into a film?

KAL: Absolutely! I would love to direct it and not have to play the lead. I would be honored. I believe his story 100% deserves, like, a $50 million, a $100 million budget. His story is absolutely phenomenal. He was a great human being, but he was also coming through in a time where his sexuality and his humanity were not only questioned but attacked.

It was easy for people to kind of paint him a certain way because of what he did for a living, which is boxing. And of course what happened to him, tragically, against Benny “The kid” Paret is heartbreaking. It’s a beautiful story, man.

DDF: Say you are doing an action film? Who would be your sidekick, love interest, or villain, and who would direct it?

KAL: That’s a crazy question, man. Who would be my sidekick in this bad boy? You know what? I’ll cast for this movie right now. If I’m filming an action film, I’m going to say I want Don Cheadle to play my pop. Right. Okay. Um, I’m going to have Lisa Nicole Carson play, even though she is not old enough, to play my mother but we can figure something out. As for my sidekick, I would have to go with my boy Aaron J. Who would be my nemesis? Let me see? Dang. You got me on that. Oh, you know what? I might go with either Yaya or LaKeith Stanfield.

That’s a good question, man. That’s a good one.

DDF: Okay. So who’s going to direct this big-budget, phenomenal film?

KAL: I think I might have to go with Ryan Coogler.

Until he shoots his dream action film or biopic film, you can catch Kamal Angelo Bolden as Owen Turner in The Endgame on NBC and Peacock. Hopefully, Owen will redeem himself because where he is in early episodes is not a good look.

14Apr/22

Actress Andrene Ward-Hammond Says 61st Street is Not Your Typical Courtroom Show

Andrene Ward-Hammond in 61st Street

James Baldwin once said, “Not everything that is faced can be changed; but nothing can be changed until it is faced.” The new AMC series, 61st Street, does just that. It’s a story about the struggles of a Black man named Moses and the obstacles he must face in pursuit of his college dream. Andrene Ward-Hammond, the actress portraying Norma, the mother of Moses, let Taji Mag know why 61st Street is not a typical courtroom show and talked about what makes the series relatable. 

Dapper Dr. Feel (DDF): What made you choose to be a part of this project?

Andrene Ward-Hammond (AWH): Other than getting booked? Lol. I came off of the show Your Honor, and Peter Moffat (61st Street creator) sent this project to me. So I’m super grateful for that. A mom raising two Black kids, specifically black sons in Chicago. I don’t know if I would want to pass up the opportunity to portray the character. I’m a Black mom, a few different sides of her, you know?

DDF: How did you approach this role? 

AWH: I am originally from New York and moved to Georgia. I [have] a daughter, and the part of Georgia we moved to, didn’t see much of us. It wasn’t a hard reach playing a mom, and it was easy to pull from experiences because I knew my challenges raising my daughter. Like, we are not seen in the best light in America…how we protect our tribe, how we protect our family, and how excited we are about our culture. It’s not hard to pull from because I am wildly protective of my daughter, my family, and of my friends. So to raise two Black men as characters, it’s already sitting in there ’cause we already fighting for Black men in America. So it’s like, we’re not way too far off from that. 

Andrene Ward-Hammond in 61st Street
Andrene Ward-Hammond as Norma Johnson in 61st Street Photo Credit: Chuck Hodes/AMC

DDF: What do you think Norma is thinking internally as her son is being blamed for killing an officer? 

AWH: That (Norma) wants him alive by any means necessary. She knows who her child is. She knows who she raised Moses to be. He is not the criminal the police are making him out to be. It’s so outside of Moses’ character, she tells him to run. She saw a child who was always the good kid. So it’s always a battle internally, too. Like, what can save him? What can she do to ensure that his life is saved? [The authorities] do not see him in the best light. Norma just wants to see her kids happy.

DDF: What was it like on set with the rest of the cast?

AWH: Mr. C (Courtney B. Vance) is dope. He is like that uncle you always wanted. Ms. Aunjanue (many flowers given) is like a big sister I absolutely needed. It’s so funny because we were just texting today. Tosin and Bentley were the sweetest ever. They can’t get rid of me now. Tosin’s like my little brother. Bentley’s like my son. Holt is hilarious and the best host ever. As for Mark. I just want to be on a comedy show that Mark writes because he is absolutely fricking hilarious. You can’t say no to a project that’s led by Courtney B. Vance and Aunjanue. It was a given, it was a gift. I don’t care how it turned out. 

DDF: What do you think people will get out of this project? 

AWH: It’s not your typical courtroom show. It shows how these cases, like the one in 61st Street, affect families outside of a courtroom. It doesn’t lean towards anybody being a good or a bad guy. It’s based on your moral compass. So you get to determine, “okay well, this is how I feel about that”, but, more than anything, start to engage in conversation that’s incredibly uncomfortable. But it’s not like it’s going away ’cause it’s happening now. Although the show is [only now] made, the creators started on it six years ago. To have it land at a time after the kneeling on the neck incident, it just shows you how relevant the conversation is and how it needs to continue. We clearly still have a fight ahead of us.

The first two episodes of 61st Street have provided more than enough interest for me to stay invested. I want to see what paths each character will choose since the Chicago environment places some tension between the police and its citizens, much like real life. Veterans Courtney B. Vance and Aunjanue Ellis bring their chemistry from Lovecraft County. The series looks promising as Andrene and other castmates add to the intensity and compelling stories in the series.

Promising high school teenager, Moses Johnson (Tosin Cole), finds himself running for his life after he is wrongfully accused of killing a police officer. His only hope is Franklin Roberts (Courtney B. Vance), a lawyer down to his last case and struggling with his health. Will Moses be placed on the path of prison or will he be able to live the life for which he’s worked so hard? 

61st Street | Where to watch: AMC 

Starring: Courtney B. Vance, Aunjanue Ellis, Andrene Ward-Hammond, Tosin Cole

Executive producer: Michael B. Jordan