Omar Epps Stars In Sci-Fi Movie ‘3022’

Omar Epps is in a really elite fraternity of Hollywood actors who can say they’ve labored persistently for nearly twenty years however not appear like it. Whether or not you realize him for his breakout position as a DJ identify Q in Juice or for his eight seasons on the Fox medical drama Home, you’re accustomed to the piercing stare that marks his each position.

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True to his “booked and busy” ethos, in 2019 Epps stars in two current movies, Trick and 3022, and has visitor starred on NBC’s This Is Us, bringing his signature depth to a various mixture of characters.

IN 3022 he’s John Laine, an astronaut who’s midway by way of a 10-year mission when his crew turns into unstable and overcome by the isolation of deep area. Simply as they’re making ready to return to Earth, they discover out there isn’t any Earth to return to, and the race for his or her survival begins in an surprising approach.

BET.com talked to Epps about his new sci-fi thriller and paused to have a good time a few of his profession milestones.

BET: Black of us are sooner or later, congratulations! There was a robust message of hope within the movie. Is that what attracted you to the position?

Omar Epps: That’s one of many issues that attracted me. This concept of connectivity. Love. These are type of grand themes however I believe the movie explores these themes in a singular approach.

So, inform us about your character John. What retains him centered within the expanse of area?

John is an astronaut. An completed man with a whole lot of pleasure in what he does. So that they’re headed out to this area mission, and issues go awry. And I believe he’s making an attempt to maintain everybody’s heads within the recreation, after which they enterprise off into the unknown. They’re on the spaceship and look within the rearview and one thing cataclysmic has occurred to Earth. It doesn’t discover issues essentially from a religious side, however it simply explores these without end human questions: Why are we right here? How did we get right here? And that type of stuff.

Because you’re enjoying a Black man in area, I’ve to place you on the spot. Star Wars or Star Trek?

I’m a Star Wars man. I grew up on it. Star Trek is cool, however I’m extra of a Star Wars man. It was Billy Dee, Chewbacca, Gentle Sabers, Darth Vader, all of it. It’s some genius stuff, and we locked in after we had been little when it first got here out. It took you to a unique world for actual. Star Trek was dope by way of the forged and the appearing, however the look of it seemed extra like a set. So I used to be extra drawn to Star Wars.

Very not too long ago you had been on This Is Us enjoying Malik’s dad, Darnell, and also you wrote a whole guide, From Fatherless to Fatherhood. How a lot of your real-life expertise do you carry to on-screen dads like Darnell?

I believe you carry your whole toolbox. The factor that attracted me to the position on This Is Us is that you just had a teenage being pregnant from an African-American child, and what I believed they did very eloquently is how the household is supportive of him. He’s not this eyesore, they rally round him, difficult him to step as much as the plate and his personal tasks as a father. For me, that was distinctive, and when you’re a mother or father, life type of shifts for you in a really possible way. Me with the ability to pull from that could be a blessing.

When Darnell takes off his shirt and squares up with Randall, I wished to clap for the best way he stood up for his son. What did you channel for that second?

It was about self-worth and respect. There may be a lot classicism on this nation proper now, and cash doesn’t carry respect in the actual world. Simply because somebody has lower than you doesn’t imply they don’t have life expertise to give you. And that second was actually enjoyable to play with as a result of the strain was actual. Particularly with the ladies going at it. We laughed about it afterward, however the males had been making an attempt to remain out of their approach and issues began to escalate. Kay Oyegun, who wrote the script, did a beautiful job of permitting a second like that. And I’m enthusiastic about that transferring ahead.

I believed possibly you channeled your character O.E. from Def Jam Struggle for New York. You already know that basic preventing recreation turned 15 this 12 months?

Wow.

What was your favourite a part of being in that recreation?

Def Jam is an iconic model in our tradition, and simply the truth that I used to be even thought of for one thing like that together with everybody else, it was enjoyable doing the voice overs. And as soon as social media happened, folks saying, “Yo, I simply whooped your ass!”

I used to run for DJs and producers, and you understand how many DJs cite your character Q from Juice as their inspiration for desirous to DJ?

That’s tremendous dope, and that’s a testomony to the facility of filmmaking and the facility of images. Outdoors of the older movies like Breakin and the first-generation hip-hop movies, that was the primary time you noticed a younger child from the block along with his turntables within the crib, and it’s a lovely factor. I’ve run right into a bunch of DJs by way of the years who’re doing their factor, and so they’re like, “GQ is the rationale I turned a DJ.”

You might have two movies turning 20 this 12 months, In Too Deep and The Wooden. Trying again, what would you inform your 25-year-old self about filming these two motion pictures?

I wouldn’t inform ‘em something totally different. Simply buckle down and get busy. I’m happy with each of these items. They stood the take a look at of time in their very own proper. I believe the one factor I’d inform my youthful self is to benefit from the second. Immerse your self within the second. As a result of generally once I was youthful, issues had been occurring so quick that I might miss the precise second as a result of I used to be pondering forward.

Bringing it again to 3022, you had some moments the place John had some deep moments of reflection in solitude. What did you pull from for these scenes?

I pulled from the unknown. That’s a serious factor in regards to the movie in my interpretation. What occurs within the movie is one thing the thoughts can’t fathom. In any respect. For me, there are specific issues in my life, the security of my kids and issues of that nature, the place my thoughts can’t even entertain a sure situation. Which is a really uncomfortable area to be in. And that’s the place I put myself in to be there for John.

3022 is obtainable on VOD.