LaKeith Stanfield joins WIRED to answer his most searched questions from Google. Does he like anime? What did he do to channel Snoop Dogg for his role in 'Straight Outta Compton?' What kind of music does he make? How did he meet Teddy Perkins? The actor answers all these questions and more!LaKeith Stanfield stars in THE BOOK OF CLARENCE, in theaters January 12, 2024. https://www.thebookofclarence.movie/Director: Jackie PhillipsDirector of Photography: AJ YoungEditor: Louville MooreTalent: LaKeith StanfieldLine Producer: Joseph BuscemiAssociate Producer: Paul GulyasProduction Manager: Peter BrunetteProduction and Equipment Manager: Kevin BalashTalent Booker: Meredith JudkinsCamera Operator: Shay Eberle-GunstSound Mixer: Kari BarberProduction Assistant: Ariel Labasan; Brock SpitaelsPost Production Supervisor: Alexa DeutschPost Production Coordinator: Ian BryantSupervising Editor: Doug LarsenAssistant Editor: Andy Morell
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00:00 I'm Lakeith Stanfield, this is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.
00:03 [MUSIC]
00:06 What are the people wanting to know?
00:08 [MUSIC]
00:11 All right, where is Lakeith Stanfield from?
00:15 I am from San Bernardino, California.
00:18 What happened to Lakeith Stanfield in Get Out?
00:23 I played Andre and I played Logan.
00:25 What happened to Andre is he got his body possessed by Logan.
00:29 Working with Jordan was amazing, I mean, he's just super smart.
00:33 He had just like this really big vision that was cool.
00:35 At the time, we hadn't heard or seen of anything like that.
00:38 So I think we were just all really excited to try and make something new,
00:42 make something special.
00:43 It was good to know that the world resonated with the content that we were
00:47 making and that people were genuinely interested in a frightened by the movie.
00:51 It's good if you were frightened by Get Out.
00:53 If you're not frightened, yeah.
00:57 How did Lakeith Stanfield get famous?
01:01 I think I started first recognizing that people understood who I was on a sort of
01:06 larger sense when I played Snoop in Straight Outta Compton.
01:09 Get Out really also was one in Atlanta where I realized people started just
01:14 recognizing me from it.
01:15 So there was this time where I was in the museum and
01:19 I was surveying some things in the museum.
01:21 And I turned my head around and
01:23 there's this person standing right in front of me surveying me.
01:26 But they kinda had like a deadpan face.
01:28 And I was like, hi, how are you?
01:33 And they were like, I was like, okay.
01:35 And they were like, I'll let you go.
01:38 And then they walked off.
01:40 I was thankful for being released.
01:42 [BLANK_AUDIO]
01:46 Lakeith Stanfield, anime.
01:49 I did a movie called Death Note where I played a detective named L,
01:53 a character in this anime.
01:55 And that was really fun.
01:57 And it was an opportunity to play an interesting character and
01:59 I had a lot of fun doing it.
02:01 Also, I really like Dragon Ball Z.
02:04 Lakeith Stanfield.
02:05 [BLANK_AUDIO]
02:06 There's two.
02:08 As Snoop, I played Snoop.
02:09 They had me in some platform shoes cuz I wasn't quite as tall as Snoop.
02:14 So they had chucks but they were like high heel kinda chucks.
02:16 Hard to walk in those things.
02:17 I got the role in the morning at like 5 AM, they called me and
02:22 I had to be on set at like 10.
02:25 So I had five hours of prep time.
02:27 I just watched all the videos I could watch of Snoop and
02:30 just tried to like really get his mannerisms.
02:32 And it was important for me to get his voice down.
02:34 And so I just kept listening to his interviews.
02:36 I met Snoop after the movie on the red carpet.
02:40 And someone had recognized me and wanted to bring me over to Snoop.
02:43 And we got through these layers of security and
02:45 there was just like this wall of weed smoke.
02:47 And then when the smoke cleared, there was Snoop.
02:50 And I was looking at his torso because he's actually tall.
02:54 And then I looked up and there he was.
02:55 Lakeith Stanfield College.
02:58 I went to Victor Valley College in Victorville.
03:01 I was kinda finally like leaving the nest a little bit.
03:04 Discovering more that I wanted to pursue acting.
03:07 And so I was in a drama program there.
03:09 Eventually I just decided I wanna try my hand at pursuing acting.
03:14 So I dropped out and just went straight to living in my car to auditioning and
03:20 stuff like that.
03:20 Lakeith Stanfield, Cats audition.
03:24 This audition was really fun.
03:25 I got to dress up.
03:26 I put on all these tights and I put on a wig.
03:29 I did my own hair, my own makeup.
03:31 I drove past this wig shop and I saw something in the display and
03:35 I was like, this would be perfect.
03:37 So I made a little mohawk out of it, like an Afrohawk.
03:40 Then I started shaking them hips.
03:41 And I actually got a call back, but as you can see, I didn't make the cut.
03:47 Does Lakeith Stanfield have a face tattoo?
03:51 I do have a face tattoo.
03:52 I have two actually.
03:53 Come here.
03:55 There's one right here, which is an anchor, represents being grounded.
04:02 And then there is another one up here that is magnolia,
04:05 which is one of my favorite flowers.
04:07 I have a lot of tattoos.
04:09 I have tattoos all over my arms, on my knuckles, on my chest, on my leg.
04:15 I guess I really just like writing on myself.
04:17 I got my first tattoo when I was 17.
04:21 My first tattoo was my mother's name, so she wouldn't be mad.
04:25 She still was mad.
04:26 Does Lakeith Stanfield make music?
04:30 Yes, I do.
04:31 Thank you for asking.
04:33 I'm gonna be releasing some soon.
04:34 My music name is My Name's Backwards, which I guess I best pronounce as [SOUND]
04:40 I love making music.
04:41 I've been making music since even before I started acting.
04:44 Just kinda like in the driveway of my mom's house, beating on pots and
04:49 pans and coming up with these melodies and ideas.
04:51 And so more to come on music.
04:54 Keep your eyes peeled.
04:56 Lakeith Stanfield, new movie.
05:00 The Book of Clarence, yes.
05:04 January 12th, coming to a theater near you.
05:06 See it in theaters.
05:07 Honestly, truthfully, it's one of those ones you wanna see on the big screen.
05:11 There's action, there's dancing, there's love, there's romance,
05:13 there's fighting, and the best part is it all takes place in Jerusalem in 29 AD.
05:18 Lakeith Stanfield, Knives Out.
05:22 Yeah, Knives Out was fun.
05:23 We shot that in Boston.
05:25 It was really cold.
05:26 I played a detective.
05:27 I was being inspired by all the different actors and
05:30 people that I got to sit next to.
05:32 That was really cool.
05:32 And then we went to Chris Evans' house and rode on ATV, and it was quite fun.
05:39 Lakeith Stanfield, Personality.
05:43 Let me know when you find it.
05:45 I like to have fun.
05:46 I'm silly.
05:47 I also am deeply kind of, I take everything seriously.
05:50 So I just try to treat people well.
05:53 Lakeith Stanfield, Fashion.
05:57 It's all about the look.
05:58 My whole thing is just having fun, comfortability.
06:00 So I like to do different things.
06:02 I like to dress up.
06:03 This is a scarf, but it's like a quilt scarf.
06:06 I think that's pretty cool.
06:07 It's a quark or a squill.
06:10 Lakeith Stanfield, Teddy Perkins.
06:13 I was on Atlanta, and I was preparing to shoot the day before.
06:16 And I saw on the call sheet there was this guy named Teddy Perkins.
06:19 It was Teddy Perkins being played by Teddy Perkins.
06:21 So I was like, who is the actor?
06:24 And production's like, Teddy Perkins.
06:26 And I googled Teddy Perkins, and I was like, who is this?
06:28 And nothing came up, and I was very confused.
06:30 I was like, he's an actor.
06:31 How long has he been acting?
06:32 The next day I show up on set, there's no one in the makeup trailer except me.
06:36 So I'm like, OK.
06:37 I go to set, and there's this guy standing.
06:39 He's back to me.
06:40 He has long hair.
06:42 He turns around in this strange way.
06:45 And this is Teddy Perkins.
06:47 And I'm confused, because I still don't know who this is.
06:50 And I'm like, hi, how are you?
06:51 He's like, hi, how are you?
06:54 And then I looked at his feet, and his feet
06:56 were standing in a similar fashion that I know Donald generally stands in.
06:59 So I thought that that was weird, but I didn't really think much of it.
07:02 I mean, his eyes were blue.
07:03 He didn't look like him up close.
07:05 I was like, OK.
07:05 And then one of the crew members finally told me, that's Donald.
07:10 And I was at the same time in awe and shocked as I was disappointed,
07:15 because then the illusion was gone.
07:16 And I thought, how good would that illusion
07:18 have been to just not know who this person is?
07:21 And the whole cast and crew had conspired for me not to know.
07:24 And it was successful up until that point.
07:26 And I still have not and will not release that person's name.
07:30 But Keith Stanfield, sorry to bother you.
07:35 We shot that in Oakland.
07:36 We had very little money.
07:37 I was changing in a van, eating in that same van.
07:41 But I loved the fact that we were working so hard towards something
07:45 that we all believed in.
07:46 And it made every moment worth it.
07:48 And I wouldn't take back a second of what I experienced making that movie.
07:53 The voice aspect of the movie was really interesting,
07:55 because basically we would be saying a line,
07:57 and then it would just turn into that, just like moving your lips.
08:02 And then they went back in in ADR and added the voice later.
08:05 But I trusted Boots, and I knew we were making something fun,
08:09 hopefully, that people would enjoy.
08:11 So yeah, it was super fun.
08:12 But Keith Stanfield, "Uncut Gems."
08:16 Shot with Adam Sandler, who's amazing, just a brilliant, beautiful person.
08:20 With the Safdies, I had liberty to perform without boundaries.
08:25 They had several cameras set up and basically just gave us a scenario
08:29 and was like, play the scenario.
08:31 And somehow, they were able to edit that.
08:33 And I don't know how they were able to edit that footage,
08:35 especially with the audio.
08:36 Perhaps that lent it to the chaotic feel.
08:38 LaKeith Stanfield, voice acting.
08:42 And I've done it a few times.
08:43 I was on "BoJack Horseman."
08:45 I did a show called "Yasuke."
08:47 It's quite different from acting on screen.
08:49 And so it's a muscle that I realized I really need to develop and just
08:53 continue to work at it and get better.
08:55 Shouts out, voice acting.
08:57 Hello.
08:58 LaKeith Stanfield, SZA video.
09:02 Yeah.
09:03 Had a lot of fun doing a video with SZA.
09:05 She's an amazing artist, great collaborator.
09:07 And I love her music.
09:09 And so I knew of SZA's music.
09:11 And we had talked a little bit about spirituality
09:15 and going to spiritual retreats and meditation and things like that.
09:19 She's a real spiritual person.
09:21 One time, she just asked me to be in a video.
09:23 And I was like, yeah.
09:24 So when she calls, I'm around.
09:28 Sorry.
09:30 It's really interesting what people are interested in.
09:33 So that was fun.
09:35 [BLANK_AUDIO]