Jonathan Majors on racism, absolute power and the ‘big, red flaming flaw’ living at the White House
Jurnee Smollett (left) and Jonathan Majors in “Lovecraft Country”
Jonathan Majors is no slouch as an actor or an interviewee. When we spoke to him in a recent video chat to discuss HBO’s visually stunning and thematically riveting, 1950s-set horror-drama series “Lovecraft Country,” which wraps up its 10-episode run on Monday at 9 a.m./10 p.m. on HBO and HBO Go, he had insightful answers for every question about the different aspects of his life—from acting and working during the pandemic to the evils of racism.
His upcoming projects are top-tier forays into Hollywood stardom, like Jeymes Samuel’s Western film “The Harder They Fall,” in which Jonathan is cast as the leader of a former gang who gathers his friends to seek revenge against the man who murdered his parents.
Even more impressively, Jonathan is set to appear in Peyton Reed’s “Ant-Man 3,” where he portrays Kang The Conqueror, opposite Paul Rudd as Ant-Man and Evangeline Lilly as the Wasp.
Whatever question you throw his way, the 31-year-old Yale School of Drama alumnus and actor behind such films as Joe Talbot’s Sundance-winning drama “The Last Black Man in San Francisco” and Spike Lee’s war-themed movie “Da 5 Bloods,” pulls no punches.
When asked to reconcile his ability to love anything despite its flaws—whether it’s for a work of art or his country (the United States) in political turmoil—he makes it a point to reference the guy currently residing at the White House.
“It’s like a broken vase,” he began to explain. “The vase is cracked and may not be all that good to look at, but the flowers that come out of it are beautiful! At the same time, you can be a great guy and be really sh*tty at making art. Does that make sense?
“I also liken it to living in America, where I am and where they’re killing black folks. It’s mayhem right here. This place has its flaws. We got this motherf*cker in the White House—its big, red flaming flaw. But the more we mature as a country and as a species, we’ll have more patience to separate the things that are and aren’t right.
“It all can come from the same source—and what we have to do is the same way we do with a sick body: You don’t take out the entire liver [when there’s something wrong with it], you take out the tumor to get rid of it. So, yes, we’ve got some problems overall, but we’re working on them.”
The film muses about racism and bigotry in the 1950s. Does he think racial discrimination is as big an issue now as it was back then?
“Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes, yes,” Jonathan stressed. “I think racism comes from ignorance, fear and cowardice. I’m not the person who said this [it’s attributed to Lord Acton], but I’ll say it to you, that ‘absolute power corrupts absolutely’—that’s the situation. And it’s just as bad now as it was. Racism has just mutated in many ways, instead of slavery and chain gangs. We have a police force that uses scare tactics to keep the youth fearful. It’s stopping them from truly expressing themselves and living a full life.
Regina King in “Watchmen”
“That’s racism. They’ve taken the chains off our bodies, but they have doubled down on the changes in our minds. And that’s not just for me and my people [the black community]—the same is true for any marginalized community.”
Jonathan’s eyes lit up when asked to describe how he goes about his day-to-day activities, particularly at a time when much of the world is in isolation.
He shared, “I usually wake up at 4 a.m., take my two dogs for a walk for an hour. I come home and make myself tea. Then, I jump on my bicycle and go to the gym, where I work out, stretch for an hour and a half. I then meditate for 20 minutes there. Then, I go have another tea before my day gets busier around 10:30 a.m.
“I’m preparing to shoot [‘The Harder They Fall’]. I’m here on location in Santa Fe in New Mexico, which has one of the lowest number of COVID cases. I can stay calm because no one walks around with me at 4 in the morning (laughs). And I just keep my mask on at the gym.
“So, after all that, I get my script and kind of go through it, then I make some personal calls. At night, I walk my dogs again. After that, I have tea, then meditate again before I go to sleep. I’m a creature of habit.”
“Lovecraft Country” has come right on the heels of the similarly acclaimed and Peabody-winning HBO series “Watchmen,” which also takes a deeper look into the lives of African-Americans in an alternate reality. The latter won Outstanding Limited Series at the Primetime Emmys last month.
Asked what sets his show apart from “Watchmen,” Jonathan said, “The answer to that might be in the question. It’s not an alternate universe, in our case. With all due respect, many of the producers, writers, as well as our showrunner, are of African-American descent—including Jordan Peele and [producers] Misha Green (who developed the series).
“But side by side, ‘Lovecraft’ and ‘Watchmen’ could work almost like a trilogy. You can put ‘Lovecraft Country’ at the center, add ‘Watchmen’ beside it, then hopefully, something can come along to complete the trio.
“So, while the source material is different, we do share a lot of things in common. I would say these shows are cousins—we’re related. But what sets us apart is that we’re literally referencing something that actually happened.”
