Some black women hug me and walk away. A lot of black men talk about dating white women and how they've been there, too. People open up about their racial experiences. I feel like I'm a walking therapy session. It's quite intense. But it means a lot to people.
Daniel Kaluuya
The beauty of any artwork is that it becomes the person that's watching it: What do you take out of it?
I go to Uganda, I can't speak the language. In India, I'm black. In the black community, I'm dark-skinned. In America, I'm British.
I'm dark-skinned. When I'm around black people, I'm made to feel 'other' because I'm dark-skinned. I've had to wrestle with that, with people going, 'You're too black.' Then I come to America, and they say, 'You're not black enough.'
My experience growing up in London and growing up in a working class background is that when people are down and out, that's when they're probably the funniest. They have to be. That's what they do to cope, to find joy, 'cause they don't feel the joy inside. Or they use humor to keep people out.
I've been to so many parties in England and in America that's exactly like that, where you're kind of, like, seen as Other. When you're just living your life, and you have to adopt the Other in order to understand and navigate the society.
I am definitely not a household face, and I don't expect to be one.
I don't think you become a name with just one job.
This industry's hard. The world is hard. Being young and black is tough.
I hope people listen to black people more. You'd be surprised how little people listen to black people when it comes to racial issues. It's weird.
I just want to tell black stories.
Racism isn't just in America... Alienation is felt worldwide in different capacities.
People are decisions and actions.
I like three-dimensional characters - it's just more interesting when you get on set.
I listened to this book, 'The Beauty Myth,' about how beauty standards are messing with women in Western society, and I was like, 'I don't know this.' I have no idea, and I don't pretend to, but now I'm more aware of it because I've engaged on that frequency.
There's a lot of black men running around with crazy trauma scars, and they should be going to therapy. They should be sitting down and talking to people. But they can't. If you've got the armor of being a man, and the armor of being a black man, that hyper-masculine thing can make those scars deeper.
When you're a young black man, you're not allowed to be emotional. One of the reasons I act is people pay me to be emotional.
Really, I have no idea how I'm perceived in the industry.
Racism is like a horror movie. Black kids die because of racism. I don't know what's more horrifying than that.
I have to show off my struggle so that people accept that I'm black. No matter that every single room I go to, I'm usually the darkest person there... I kind of resent that mentality. I'm just an individual.
I have to own the fact that I'm a black man - that's why I did 'Black Panther' and 'Widows' because if I play the industry game, I lose.
What's great about 'Skins' is that the characters are exactly like people around you.
If I was at school and one of my friends said something funny, I'd write it down in a notebook and take it to the writers meetings. I never told my friends about it. I just thought I could incorporate stuff that was true to life.
Writing can be really lonely, and I find that bit difficult. I'd rather be around my people, getting ideas.
When work ends, I'd rather just be seen as Daniel - normal.
I think the traditional stereotypes are loaded in institutional racism.
I go to music festivals, and people want to talk to me about racism. I'm like, 'Bro, I'm trying to have fun!'
I feel very appreciative of my mum, my girl, my family, my friends.
Everything men do is for women.
Usually I do a job, and, like, two weeks later, it disappears and is replaced with something else, but 'Get Out' kept growing and growing and growing, and it keeps taking me to rooms I could never get in before.
I learned so much on 'Sicario' and working with that group of actors, where there was the audacity, the confidence, to do nothing.
Life ain't a drama. And life isn't just a comedy. Life is sometimes horrifying. Life is science-fiction. There are all elements and faculties that we navigate, so I just expect a script to reflect that. As long as it's truthful. I think genre-bending is just being honest.
Loads of stuff that I've done has always had a hint of comedy. I did this show called 'Psychoville' that's a horror-comedy. Because I just think that's what life's like.
I feel like racism's more pronounced in America.
'Sicario' was a lot of improvisation.
I think the 'sunken place' - that term is what I hear when I'm just casually living my life. People say it around me. Not because they're around me; they're saying it because it articulated a state of mind. Lil Wayne's rapped about it.
I did a play, back in the day, called 'Sucker Punch,' and it meant so much for me. I was 21. And I went, 'I just want to do work like that.' Stuff I believe in. And when I have compromised, I've never really felt good about it.
Having something that makes money changes everything. I'm from England, and it's very much about credibility there. And yeah, it is about that. But the money can change things. And so you understand it's a business.
Nas is such a touchstone in my world.
A lot of times, the people who have the confidence to say, 'I don't know what the rules are, so I'm just going to do what I want,' are the most exciting people.
Donae'o is too cold; he's been dropping bangers since 2000.
Giggs is the realest.
Whenever I'm in a film that's from a perspective that is dominant within western culture... I'm always trying to prove myself. When it's from a black perspective, I don't have to - they get it.
I love being black.
All I'm doing is being in films that I would watch if I wasn't in this industry.
What I find really exciting is stories from a different viewpoint.
I resent that I have to prove that I'm black.
Big up Samuel L. Jackson, because here's a guy who has broken down doors.
I know what it means to be stopped by police. I've been stopped by police a lot.
In the real world, there's probably nothing more horrifying than racism. Living racism is a horrifying experience. And then, having to normalize it and internalize it.
