Actress Taraji P. Henson guesses lines from some of her biggest films and tv shows, including 'Empire' and 'Baby Boy' and talks 'The Karate Kid' and 'overacting' in her first feature film.
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00:00I work like a dog, day and night.
00:04Let me get away.
00:05Who thought that was good?
00:06-♪♪
00:15All right.
00:17I got to put me first. I got to put me first.
00:19Well, that was a very popular meme,
00:21and that was Cookie on Empire.
00:24I got to put me first.
00:26I got to put me first.
00:27I got to put me first, Lucius!
00:29You know, I'm not on TikTok, so that's where it took off.
00:32And I'm always getting told,
00:35like, girl, do you know you're trending on TikTok?
00:37And I'm like, guess I wouldn't know if I was on TikTok.
00:40But, yeah, that's how I found out.
00:43And someone sent it to me in my DM.
00:46Then I reposted it. I just thought it was hilarious.
00:48I was like, out of all the things to pick out
00:52and make viral, it was that.
00:53But you just never know. That's the thing.
00:55You never know.
00:56Here we go.
00:58You know it's hard out. That was a song.
01:00You know it's hard out here for a pimp
01:02when you're trying to get this money for the rent.
01:04That's Hustle and Flow.
01:05Suge from Hustle and Flow.
01:08You know it's hard out here for a pimp
01:12when you're trying to get this money for the rent.
01:15Terrence Howard is an amazing artist on Empire.
01:18He used to battle me.
01:19I wasn't aware of his battle that we were in,
01:22and it was hair.
01:23He would come in, and Lucius, you know,
01:25that explains all those crazy hairstyles he would have.
01:28Because, you know, he was competing with Cookie.
01:31But he could never win.
01:32But apparently, he didn't let that go away,
01:35because you see the wig that he picked for this movie.
01:41So, yeah, I guess we're still in this competition.
01:44But I have orange hair today. Terrence beat that.
01:48Let's see.
01:54Give Me My Shake.
01:56That is from Baby Boy. That's he bad.
01:58I can't believe I'm remembering all of this.
02:00Give Me My Shake!
02:02You know what's crazy?
02:04That was ad-libbed.
02:05That wasn't even in the script.
02:08I ad-libbed that, and John capped it.
02:11Rest in peace, John. I miss you.
02:12Everybody was telling me, oh, my God,
02:14you know what John Singleton does for careers.
02:17And I don't know, discernment told me that.
02:21I guess I started to see simultaneously
02:23how things happen in the business for men versus women,
02:26and I just knew Tyrese would take off, which he did.
02:28He booked two franchise movies.
02:30I still have yet to book a franchise movie.
02:33So there's that.
02:36So I knew that, and I was ready.
02:41I prepared myself.
02:44You are as ugly as an old pot,
02:48but you're still a child of God.
02:50Queenie from The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.
02:55You are as ugly as an old pot,
03:00but you're still a child of God.
03:02A lot of times we start at the beginning
03:03and we move through the end.
03:04You know, we do flashbacks or whatever,
03:06but to start the way that they told it,
03:09in reverse, I just thought it was beautiful.
03:11It was a beautiful story, two people doing this.
03:14Isn't that life, though?
03:16It's just a beautiful way to tell a love story.
03:20There's no such thing as a perfect man.
03:22There's no such thing as a perfect man.
03:24Well, that's true.
03:25There's no such thing as a perfect man.
03:29Is that from Think Like a Man?
03:32Okay.
03:34That was a guess.
03:37Oh, wait a minute.
03:38There's no such thing as a perfect man, right?
03:40Being a strong woman who has got her own money,
03:44it can be intimidating to a lot of guys,
03:46and that's my story.
03:51Why, I'm single.
03:52This ring means nothing.
03:54Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!
03:58Okay.
04:00I work like a dog day and night,
04:04living off a coffee from a pot,
04:06none of you know that!
04:07Yes.
04:08Hidden Figures, Katherine Johnson.
04:10That is a very still viral video.
04:13Ha ha.
04:15And I work like a dog day and night,
04:19living off a coffee from a pot,
04:21none of you wanna touch!
04:24No one knew about these women.
04:25I didn't know Hidden Figures.
04:27Like, I had no idea.
04:29I remember when Ted Melfi sent me the script, the director,
04:31and I read it, and of course, it's a beautiful story,
04:35and I just thought, this is not real.
04:36And I asked him, I said, is this a true story?
04:38He said, absolutely, and I almost fell out.
04:41I was like, it's a true story?
04:42And I was like, well, are any of these women alive?
04:45I said, is Katherine still alive?
04:46And he was like, yes.
04:47I said, I have to go meet her.
04:48I have to go meet her.
04:50So I went and spent time with her and her family.
04:52You know, if you're playing a real person
04:54who's still alive, you wanna get it right.
04:55So it was important that I go meet,
04:57talk to her and the family,
04:59and just, wow, what an extraordinary story
05:01that we had no clue about these incredible women.
05:05But now we do.
05:06For me, it was her mannerisms, and it was her messaging.
05:09Something about her was very regal.
05:11When you're that brilliant,
05:13you kinda levitate above it all.
05:14Not in a pompous, conceited way,
05:17but your brainwave is just different, you know?
05:21And her love of math.
05:23For me, it wasn't about her smarts.
05:25It was about how she can share her smarts
05:27with someone else and get you to have that aha moment.
05:31And that's what I remember the most
05:33about that conversation with her
05:35and how she kept saying we, we, we, not I, I, I,
05:39when she could have,
05:40because she's the one that produced the numbers
05:43to get him to space.
05:44So those are the things that I really picked up on.
05:47She was very soft and demure.
05:50I know that's the saying now,
05:52but I mean that in all seriousness.
05:54She was just, you know, women in that era
05:57just carried themselves in a different way.
06:01Okay, got a lot of cards over here.
06:04Ask him, go ahead, ask him, what's your name?
06:06And how are you?
06:10Do it now.
06:12Ask him.
06:18Ooh, you got me.
06:21Ask him.
06:27Ask him, go ahead, ask him, what's your name?
06:30And how are you?
06:32I don't know.
06:33I am at a loss.
06:34You wouldn't do the pick up your jacket?
06:38Cause I would have guessed it.
06:40Ask him, go ahead.
06:42Ask him, what's your name?
06:45And how are you?
06:46Do it now.
06:47Oh, such a, just a little star.
06:51A little star, very professional.
06:53And I loved how his parents handled it.
06:55Cause you know, kids don't understand.
06:56Sometimes they show up to work and they think it's a play
06:59and you know, and they're like, no, this is a job.
07:02You know, the way they held his hand all the way through
07:04and explained, it was just beautiful to watch.
07:07You know, you always wonder if your kid was in the industry,
07:11how would you move about it?
07:13Or would you even want your kid in the industry?
07:14But yeah, they were, they're incredible parents
07:17to these incredible children who can't live in private.
07:22You know, I enjoyed three months in China with the Smiths.
07:26It was great.
07:27It was a good time.
07:30Every time a black woman gets mad, she's a stereotype.
07:33That is from acrimony.
07:38Every time a black woman gets mad, she's a stereotype.
07:42Well, it's kind of true.
07:44And you've heard black women say that.
07:45If we speak up for ourselves, it's known as complaining
07:48or being bitter or angry, or it's like, no,
07:51I have a right to say this is not comfortable
07:53or this doesn't make me happy.
07:55Every human has that right.
07:57You know, there's a cult following that is pushing us
08:01to do an acrimony too.
08:03And they make these really incredible AI posters
08:06for the sequel and they send them to me and Tyler.
08:11Some have written scripts.
08:13It's a whole cult.
08:14It's really interesting.
08:15It's a whole cult following and they're like,
08:17she's still alive.
08:22Shut up, you old toothless goat.
08:24Please rest in peace.
08:27Luke Gossett.
08:29Rest in peace, rest in peace.
08:30I'm so happy I got to work with him.
08:33Anyway, that's from Color Purple.
08:34Suge said that too.
08:37Oh, Mr. Suge.
08:40Oh, Mr.
08:42Shut up, you old toothless goat.
08:44The book was just, and I was in college
08:49and we did a lot of the scenes from the movie.
08:51And I just remember going to see the movie
08:53and while studying the arts, you know, as a black kid,
08:58you don't know, will I be able to make a career out of this?
09:02Cause it's literally a crapshoot.
09:03My mother was like, oh, you're gonna starve.
09:07But then when she came to see my play
09:10and she was like, I don't know, kids,
09:11you might have what it takes.
09:11So yeah, I just remember going to the theater
09:13and seeing all of these people that look like me
09:16on this big screen and it made,
09:19it just reassured that I was on the right path
09:22and that there is a future in what I was studying in college.
09:26So that's what that did to me.
09:29All right, puppies, playtime's over.
09:32Paw Patrol.
09:35All right, puppies, playtime's over.
09:38It's the perfect work for a creative person who,
09:42I was an only child.
09:44So as an only child, I lived and played a lot in here.
09:47So I can act opposite a rock, a wall.
09:50That's why I did so good in my auditions
09:52because I didn't need the reader.
09:54I had already made up in my mind
09:55how the other person was gonna say it.
09:57You know what I mean?
09:58So I can, I could play both people.
10:00I talk to myself a lot.
10:04A hustler is a hustler, don't be no fool.
10:09A hustler is a hustler, don't be no fool.
10:15I don't know.
10:16I'm lost.
10:18Smokin' Aces?
10:20Was that Smokin' Aces?
10:21Oh, Rich, something I did before I blew up?
10:2624-7.
10:28So when I first did it, it was called 24-7
10:30and then they changed it.
10:32I got it right.
10:35Yes, I couldn't think of the name they changed it to.
10:39A hustler is a hustler, don't be no fool.
10:41Oh, I overacted in that.
10:42It was so bad.
10:44Some things are very hard for me to watch
10:46because I'm like, who let me get away?
10:47Who thought that was good?
10:49But you know, we were all green
10:50and trying to figure it out.
10:51Yeah, I can definitely see the growth for sure.
10:54Yeah.
10:55Yeah.
10:56Yeah.
10:57Yeah.
10:58Yeah.
10:59Yeah.
10:59Yeah.
11:00Yeah.
11:01Yeah.
11:02Yeah.
11:03Yeah.
11:04Yeah.
11:04Yeah.
11:05Yeah.
11:06Yeah.
11:07Yeah.
11:08Yeah.