-(cheering, screaming, whooping) -Thank you. Hi.

Such a beautiful crowd here. Wow.

The pitches of the screams are not usually that high.

Although, I feel you're used to that.

Um, before we get into this movie in particular,

is it safe to say that you are

the least typecast actor in Hollywood?

Because, like, like, if I think of all the movies

that you're in, whether it's Uncut Gems,

you know, whether... whether it's, like, Get Out--

I mean, like, Get Out, like,

that was an extreme feat of acting.

'Cause you were playing a black man

who was a white man at one point who used to be a black man.

That's powerful act... Not many people can do that.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, I appreciate it.

Um, I... I would hope I was, uh, the least typecast.

You know actors-- we... we don't like that.

Right. You want to be in as many different roles as possible,

and that's something you've achieved.

Do you... do you purposefully choose your scripts like that?

So do you go, "I'm gonna go from one movie to another type"?

You don't just stay in one genre?

Yeah, I kind of try to pick things that speak to me.

Um, so, you know, as I grow, um, the kind of things

that I'm attracted to and affect me kind of, uh, sort of expand.

-Right. -So yeah, I just...

I just try and be close to the things that mean something.

I've been very fortunate to be a part of...

of a whole bunch od different kinds of projects.

Not-not many actors would take the chance

of going into a rom-com, you know, because it's...

it's-it's scary when you've gone from drama.

Comedy's difficult. You know, romantic comedies--

in many ways, people are saying you're bringing them back now.

You know? It's been, like, what, 15 years

since we lived through the golden age

of black romantic comedies.

You know, Thin Line Between Love and Hate,

with the, you know... Like, all those movies.

-Love & Basketball, et cetera. -Right.

You're seeing on screen two amazing actors that people love.

You know, it's yourself and Issa.

-Mm-hmm. -Is that part of the reason you chose the movie,

where you were like, "Oh, yeah, this is, you know,

this is, like, for this generation now"?

It was. I wanted to see a resurgence

of dark-skin love on-on-on screen, and so...

(cheering, applause, shouting)

Yeah, so that was... that was a big part of it,

but the story was written very well.

-Right. -I wanted to work with Issa.

Um, I wanted to work with Stella.

And so everything fell into place in a nice way.

You, uh, you've been called

one of the mavericks of the red carpet.

Just by people.

-You know, most people... most of us, -(laughter)

when we're on a red carpet,

we try and-and look, like, appropriate for the carpet,

like, we would, like, stand up and do the...

You... you have broken the red carpet multiple times.

Like, you get there, and you just do your own thing.

-(whooping) -You sat down...

See? Like, you just sat there at the Emmys.

And then, I think there was another red carpet where, yeah,

you just came in, right, in a, in a ski mask, right?

And then, one of my favorites was at the Joker premiere.

You just showed up as the...

You, you don't take it, you don't take it seriously at all,

-do you? -I don't give no (bleep), no.

-I don't. -(applause and cheering)

Is there a reason?

-Uh, just got to be comfortable, man. -Right.

You got to do things your way, and, you know, you got

to enjoy yourself, I think is the most important thing.

Sometimes, it's a little bit too high strung and-and stressful...

-Right. -...to, like, to appease everybody,

so you got to have fun, and that one, my legs were just tired,

-so I sat down. -(laughter)

Wait, your legs were tired, like, just from standing

-on the thing? -Yeah, it was a lot of interviews,

so I was going up and down, so let me take a seat real quick.

(laughter)

I like that about you, LaKeith.

You just got this, you got this swagger about you,

where you just like, "I'm just gonna do my thing."

Yeah, you got to, man.

It's too stressful trying to make everybody happy.

(laughter)

(applause and cheering)

Um... Issa's in the movie.

She's one of the funniest people, both, like,

scripted and off the cuff.

Um, the two of you are, uh, you know,

y-you're playing back and forth together.

I've always wondered this.

When you are in a movie like this,

is there a point where you find yourself,

like, by mistake falling in love?

-I think-- -'Cause you're opposite, I've always genuinely,

I've always wondered that, like, when you're, when you're

in a romantic movie with somebody.

Yeah, I think you're trying to design a connection

that will translate on camera, so I think you're trying

-to get into a flow with the person. -Right.

Like, kind of break down the barriers

of, uh, what you don't know.

And-and tap into what you do know,

which is a sort of universal spirit.

So, that way, when the cameras come on,

there's a natural thing going on, so, yeah,

it's just rapport, breaking down the ice,

cracking jokes, kicking back, you know what I mean?

Relaxing and... and then when you get on screen,

it looks like you guys have known each other,

but you know, there's different ways of chipping at it

and getting at it, but I think the main, best way to do it

is just trust-- get in there, trust fall.

Go in naked, you know, emotionally, so to speak.

I've heard, I've heard directors say about your acting,

specifically, that what makes LaKeith special

is that you don't care about what you look like on screen.

-Mm-hmm. -You care about putting the character, you know

what I mean, getting the character across.

-Yeah. -You-you, you've been acting since you were, like,

-what, 14, maybe even earlier in life? -Yeah.

Where do you, where do you develop that from?

Where do you just wake up and go, like, "No, I'm,

"I'm fully in this, I'm not LaKeith in this moment.

I'm fully this person, and I don't care

what I look like, I care what the person sees"?

-I'm a little crazy, um... -(laughter)

But, also, I think it's, uh, you know, first of all,

it's-it's appealing to the story.

-The story's the most important thing. -Yeah.

And then, the characters come secondary.

And what I look like really ain't got nothing to do

with nothing, so I just kind of try to focus on the job

and execute, like, that's the...

But if I need to be worried about what I look like,

-then I'm worried, you know? -Right, right, right.

Just-just depends on what's necessary.

Where-where do you go from here?

Because, I mean, you've been in, I guess, like,

a thriller-slash-horror, y-you've been in an action,

you've been in, like, surreal, dark comedies,

you've been in romantic comedies-- where-where?

Is there something that you want to do that you haven't done?

Is there, like a dream project you have?

Yeah, I think my dream project is the one I have coming out.

Um, it's a untitled Fred Hampton project.

I did it with Shaka King and Daniel Kaluuya

is my costar and... it's just a beautiful story

that's about this guy who really fought for our freedom

and our love and our ability to-to love and express

the way we want to and those are the kinds of things

I want to be a part of.

If I can talk about something and say something that means

-something when I got an option to? -Mm-hmm.

That's what I want to do, so that's my kind of project.

-That, that sounds amazing. -(applause and cheering)

Yeah.

That really sounds amazing.

I'm excited to see you, uh, in this movie.

I'm excited to see what you do for the rest of your career.

I've, I have money on you beating

Samuel L. Jackson's record for the most movies.

-Oh, shit. (laughs) -I genuinely,

I think, I think you might.

That be fine.

(laughs) Thank you so much for being on the show, my friend.

-Pleasure, man. -Great having you here.

-(applause and cheering) -The Photograph

will be in theaters February 14.

Valentine's Day, people.

LaKeith Stanfield.