March 18, 2022 • 46 mins
Today, hosts DJ Jazzy Jeff and Crissle West talk to actors Jabari Banks (Will) and Cassandra Freeman (Aunt Viv) about tensions between the Banks family members, why this version of the family doesn’t seem as unbreakable as the original’s, and Will’s need to know more about his dad. Find out why Will hasn’t seen his West Coast family in a decade, and watch a years-long grunge between Aunt Viv and Will’s mom Vy explode, in the eighth episode of Bel-Air, streaming now on Peacock.
Learn more about your ad-choices at https://www.iheartpodcastnetwork.com
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Bellair the Official Podcast is produced by iHeart Podcast Network
and Peacock. Hey, we are back episode six of bel
Air the Official Podcast. I am d J Jazzy Jeff
and I'm Crystal West. I just have to say I
am so honored and excited to be hosting this show
with you. I'm really into this Bellair iteration. And we
(00:23):
just watched the eighth episode. Listen, raw, I mean, we
had fights, we had reconciliations. What do you think about
the episode? Listen? There was so much realism in this,
especially the sisters digging up old wounds. You know, they
you saw attention earlier. You know, you knew it was
something there, but you kind of got a little bit
(00:44):
more context about why they have pretty much been at
each other's throat and this was the eruption. Yeah. We
sort of saw the Bank's family as being this unbreakable
unit before. Yeah, no, not not after this, but so
we see that there are real fractures, you know, the
family is not always this tight fist and and everybody's
(01:07):
dealing with different challenges. There's just a lot going on
in this episode, and we're getting more into the family
and the fatherhood themes. Yeah, I love the Carlton and
Will dynamic of them starting to kind of figure out
their relationship and you know it not be so much
tension between them too, But then you have the tension
(01:29):
between the two sisters. Question, did you have a favorite
scene in this It's hard to say. I think we'll
be talking about that fight between vol and Viv and
then Viv actually reaching out to Vay and them talking
about it and being able to squash it. You're always
the strong one looking out for man. I'm so sorry
(01:52):
for saying past that. Hey, you ever forgive me? Yes,
of course, you're must to sides. I can't pin all
my disappointments on you know. I made my choices, and
one of them was Lou. I'm sorry I didn't listen
(02:12):
to you. I'm sorry that I held it against you
all these years. It was super important, not just for
the sisters, but also because Carlton and Will needed to
see that a lack of communication, holding onto grudges, not
really saying how you feel, are being honest about it,
not asking for help, not reaching out, those things can
(02:33):
all create a rift in the family where you don't
really talk and you're not as close as you could be.
For years and years, and so Carlton and Will needed
to see that play out like that at Will's birthday
party in order to get to a place of being like, Okay,
well this this can't be yea, this can't be yeah.
You know, the kids being the catalyst where the two
(02:54):
of them to reconcile was beautiful. It was well to
day we'll be talking think about the themes of family
and fatherhood. One thing that's really different about this new
version of the show is there's a lot of attention
in the family. Oh yes, absolutely, they're not that unbreakable
unit anymore. We even see with Hillary who has kind
(03:17):
of always had feel support and he's always back to her,
been down for whatever she wants to do, even she
now is seeing that, like, you know, that support is
not actually unconditional, and if Daddy don't like something and
then he gonna say it, and even Viv stepping in
to be like, you know, you want to be thought
e chef or whatever, that's your business, but is it
(03:37):
something you actually care about? Is it something that matters
to you? And then with Carlton, a similar situation where
he's dealing with so much pressure to be the perfect
son to be the perfect athlete, to do all the
things he thinks he's supposed to do because of what
his parents have provided for him, and yet having all
this internal turmoil that really comes out in his interactions
(04:00):
with his family has been part of the reason why
he's been so upset with Will. It's part of his
resentment towards his father with the clear difference in treatment
that he and Will both get. So we're seeing the
family kind of start to shake a loose a little bit.
And plus there's a lot of tension and a lot
of mystery around Will's father, Lou. Listen, Now, Lou has
(04:23):
come up. It's the last thing that either one of
us needs right now. But we potentially had much bigger
issue by is considering telling Will about Luke. You're fucking
kidding me. I advised her against it. Good because it's
a horrible idea. Well, yeah, it's horrible, Frost, But I mean,
Will deserves to know the truth about his dad someday,
(04:46):
But on the seventeenth birthday. No, Listen, we gotta stand
together on this one. He's gonna find out about it
one day, and the longer we keep moving dark, the
worst it'll be for all of us. There's some mystery
going on with Lou. I know he left Will and
Vi when they were young, or he was young. It
(05:08):
seems like Phil and Viv know something. Somebody knows something
about Lou. Got some bones somewhere that everybody's trying to
figure out what's going on, and it's something that they
don't want Will to know about. Right absolutely, when Vib
brought up telling Will the truth about Lou and Viv
was like he might hate us. I said, oh, wait
(05:28):
a minute, skirting what happened? Hey is a big word, right,
And so at first I thought, oh, man, I know
chopped this man up. But evidently louis still alive. So
now I'm like, Okay, what did y'all do I mean
to know? And I'm hoping, fingers crossed that will find
out this season. But I am so excited to talk
to today's guests and get their takes on this modern
(05:50):
day Banks family. Today we are talking to Jabari Banks,
who plays Will, and Cassandra Freeman, who plays Viv. Jabari,
like his character and Will Smith before him, is from
we Spilly and studied musical theater at Philadelphia's University of
the Arts. This is his very first on screen role,
I mean while. Cassandra is a Florida born actress who
has performed in film, television, and theater. Some of her
(06:12):
best known roles include Shelley Wayne on the drama Blue
Buds and more recently, Jasmine on The Last O G.
Cassandra got her m f A at n y U
s Tisch School of the Arts and lives in Brooklyn,
two of my favorite characters. So very excited to have
these actors join us. Yeah, I'm so excited to talk
to both of them about the theme because it seems
(06:32):
to be tight like family and off screen. I'm excited
to find find out. Alright, Well, let's not delay any further.
Here is our conversation with Jabari Banks. So, Jabari, thank
you so much for being here. Um, what has it
(06:53):
been like for you to have your first on screen
role be so iconic to be stepping in Will Smith
shows to get the call um Will Smith like, talk
to us about it? Right? Yo? First of all, thank
you for having me. Um. You know, I'm super excited
to be here to talk with you all. And you know,
stepping into these shoes was It's a huge honor. There
definitely was a weight. But you know, I felt like
(07:13):
I had to bring myself to this role and and
to really embody the character. I had to you know,
bring my experiences and bring my instincts, you know. And uh,
it was it was an amazing opportunity to get the
call from Will, you know, he passed it towards and
and the fact that he was like, man, I'm gonna
be to you what Quincy Jones was to me. My
heart was like, oh my god, what. And to to
(07:35):
be able to step into that magazine, uh, and bring
myself to it and be celebrated not only from the
family and from you know, the production, but but by
the world. You know, there's so much love around the
project now and uh, and that's super exciting and I'm
so blessed. You know. Well, I have to say, I
am blown away by your portrayal. And you know, I
(07:58):
kind of have a little bit of a deeper inside
look than most because I remember how all of this started.
I remember Will and are sitting on the steps and
him saying I want to be the biggest movie star
in the world. So to watch all of that, you know,
come to Fruition has been nothing but a joy. For me,
but to watch you, man, I'm like this. I've been
(08:21):
telling people that this is a twilight Zone moment for
me because I'm on the outside watching this story happen again,
almost like it happened the first time. And you are
doing an incredible job, man like, and I have to
say kudos. I needed to say that. I'm curious to know, like,
what have you taken from Will to your approach to
(08:44):
the character? How much of it is Will? How much
of it is Jabari? What's the difference in the two?
You know, I feel like there is a lot of Jabari.
There is a lot of Will, you know what I mean,
There's speedy percent Jabari Will. It's like, there's so many
parallels between my life and the characters life. When we're
out there in the pilot looking over Mulholland Drive and
Will is like, man, this is crazy and this is
(09:05):
first time up there. That's Jabar's first time up there
as well, and so there's just been so many parallels
between my life and what this character is going through.
But as far as what I you know, some of
the mannerisms that I, you know, took from the original character,
you know, whether that be the swing when he when
he gets sort of emotional, or the lips, you know
what I mean, there's something in the eyes, you know. Um,
(09:26):
you know, you know when you started doing the lip thing.
You know, I know that, you know. So those are
those are slight mannerisms that I definitely had to throw
in there, you know, just as a nod to the original.
And um, I think that is a testament to the
collaboration of Morgan Cooper and the rest of the team,
where it's like they're huge collaborators and they've been throwing
(09:47):
you know, little small hints to the original as well,
and I think that's why it's it feels so familiar
to a lot of people. Definitely, does I have to say,
is somebody who was a kid in the nineties when
the first fresh Prince came out to see you portray Will?
You have so many of those mannerisms and just like
small little details that just have me going like, damn,
is this like Will's secret hit or something? Alice, This
(10:11):
boy so good. But there's definitely more tension in this
version of the Bank's family than there was in the
original one. And to be honest, Will is a source
of a lot of that tension. So what are you
exploring or hoping to portray through you and this character
and the tension that he brings to the house, Will
is a he's a fish out of water. The tension
(10:33):
surrounding his whole situation when it comes to his family
and his mother and his father in comparison to the
Bank's family, and you know, the tension between those two families,
one living in l A, one living in Philly and
you know, different class status is there's definitely a lot
of tension surrounding the whole situation. But I feel that Will,
what's happening in his life, it affects everyone around him,
(10:55):
and it takes him some time to recognize that. Through
you know, lessons from Uncle Phil and teachings, he kind
of learns that everything is not always about him. And
you know, growing up with you know, a single mom
that you know, you can feel like that's the case.
You know, you get a lot of attention and uh
and you know, having a brother and two sisters now
he has to learn how to survive and thrive in
(11:18):
this world, you know, but also like keeping the family intact. Now,
one of the things that I've realized is there's a
little East Coast and West Coast thing going on with
the Smiths that you know, the East Coast and West
Coast Smith's haven't really been seeing each other for about
ten years something because VI was hurt and resentful that
(11:39):
Aunt Viv didn't come back to Philly. That helped take care,
you know, their sick mother. But we also see Phil
kind of being advised to you need to get your
family and check if he wants any kind of political
career or future. How do you think loyalty and unity
collide when you're trying to stay true and pursuing your dreams.
(12:00):
M That is such a good question because I feel
like we touch on the topic of what does it
look like to be successful in black and to climb
that ladder, but also stay in contact and stay in
touch with where you come from. That's so important, and
that's that's the push and pull between the Vie character
and the Viv character. And and we see that UM
(12:21):
come to life and that dynamic UM. There's a lot
of questions that we pose. You know, I honestly, I'm
still trying to figure it out myself because because I'm
going through that situation in my life right now. You know,
it's very real for for someone who you know, who's
ambitious and and it is finally you know, kind of
getting to that point of their success that you can
kind of look look back and go, oh, Dan, you
(12:43):
know what I I mean, there's a lot of people back
there like, you know, you should come come do this,
and you should come do that for the church because
you know, there's there's there's a lot and I think
through this show, I have had the opportunity to talk
with Morrigan Cooper and to talk with Will about the
difference between paying it forward and giving back, you know,
and so the huge conversation not only for us as
black people, but you know, for for anyone who is
(13:05):
successful in their career or is gaining success you know. Well,
like I said, I often feel like there are so
many third worlds when it comes down to this is
something that Will and I had to deal with. This
is a portrayal of what Will and I had to
play on the show, but this is something that we
had to deal with in real life, and it really
(13:25):
seems like it's the exact same thing with you. Yeah,
and it's so amazing. I already knew when I got
you know, the call for this role. You know what
I'm saying. Like, I knew that it was aligned, some
sort of alignment in my life aligned with this project.
And my mom always told me and stood in me, like,
you know, what's for you is for you, and when
it's gonna come, it's gonna come. You just gotta be
(13:45):
ready when it comes, you know what I mean. I
kept that in my mind and I was like, man,
this is something about this project was aligned in my life.
And as soon as I read the script, I was like, oh,
this has something to say. Yeah, definitely. Um, this iteration
of bel air pretty trace different versions of family we have,
you know, Will and By in their two person family.
(14:06):
We have obviously the two parent, multi child Banks family.
We even see the extended family when the sisters come together,
all the cousins are together. How do you think making
that move from like you said earlier, just being up
under his mom all the time, being the one who
got all the attention and kind of like fully doated
on to going to this brand new environment with the
(14:28):
Banks family. How do you think living with a father
figure and a family larger than just him and his
mom impacts Will? That father figures is huge for a
and to not have that and to suddenly get this
wave of authority that was not there before, it's definitely jarring.
And so Will is trying to figure out how to
adapt not only you know, living with the whole family,
(14:50):
but with Uncle Phil who is constantly on his back.
It fills in the beginning where it's like, man, this
guy is constantly I can't get it right. He's always
calling me into his office. What's going on? And that's
something that I could really resonate with. You know, Um,
I was fortunate enough to have my father in my life.
I grew up with a lot of kids who didn't,
and so I could resonate with Will, and I understand
where his mind is at when it comes to that,
(15:11):
because you know, authority is something that Will struggles with. Uh.
We see that in the pilot with you know, with
with the interaction with the police and and you know,
and he's he's a very prideful young man, and so
he's definitely learning how to adapt and how to coexist
in this environment, um with with these new figures in
his life. But I think, you know, we get to
(15:32):
see the dynamic in his progression as not only a
young man, but you know, as a as a brother
and as a nephew and as a son um. And
that's gonna be super exciting and recognizable, and it's gonna
resonate with a lot of people. So I also see
that your character is starting to desire to know more
about his dad. I'm curious, you know, why do you
(15:53):
think he's asking these questions. Do you think it's because
he's older. Do you think it's because his mom opened
the door to the questions? You know, a bother's father.
How much does that have to do with the fact
that he is now has a father figure and Uncle
Phil in his life. I think that has a lot
to do with it. You know, Uncle Phil being there.
It's like this is a great father. I see how
(16:13):
fathers is supposed to be. Where is mine? You know,
and don't have deserve the father uh. And it's something
that he struggles with day to day. There are moments
where he looks to Uncle Phil and he sees what
could have been in his life. And so he you know,
he and constantly when he's asking his mom about his
father's she's constantly you know, backtraction, She's constantly pushing it
(16:34):
to the side. She's constantly sweeping it under the rug.
And so you know, he's like, look, I'm seventeen now,
you know, let me figure out who my father is.
Let me find out who he is. Let me and
needs to know his name? What do I look like? Him?
Facebook features something? You know, when he left when he
was he was four, and so you know, not having
that in his life has left a big hole and
who he is and his identity, and so he is
(16:56):
seeking to gain that back. Yeah, which is uh, you know,
super real, especially for people who have you know, grown
up in that environment that for things to change as
quickly as they have for Will, and for him to
already be at such a tumultuous age, you know, these
teenagers are already dealing with a lot. And we see
a very different side speaking of teenagers, to Will and
(17:18):
Carlton's relationship after Vali and Viv have their fight at
the birthday party, and honestly, I was shocked that Carlton
and Will kind of both had the emotional intelligence to
be like, you know, what we what we don't need
to do is be beef in like this look um.
(17:39):
After seeing my moms today, I can honestly say I
have no intention of having a decade long graduate. You
long me either, But I don't know how we can
move forward if you can't accept the fact that I'm
with Lisa. Now all right, Um, this isn't just about Lisa,
all right. You coming here sent me into a spiral.
I was already having a rough time at school, getting
(18:00):
good grades and leading my lacrosse team to state championships,
and my parents needed me to be basically fucking perfect.
All right. It's exhausting, and you just show up and
hook up at my ex So me being with Lisa's
dis stranger broke the camel's back exactly. You just strolled
up in here, and my parents loved you. The girls
(18:21):
at school pretty much couldn't get enough of you, and
it's like everything that I had to work really hard
for him, you just had it out even trying. I
hear you. So basically what you're saying is you're a hater. Yeah, yeah,
I'm playing. I am joking. I feel you get you,
(18:43):
and you know, it's definitely an outside looking in situation
where they're like, Okay, these are two women that we
love dearly. Let's put our differences aside so that we
can help our family come back together. And I think
that's so beautiful to people, for people to watch to
see if family love each other and then and then
fall apart and come back together again, and those that
that that sort of imageres is everything. Right now, you
(19:03):
know what we need? Can you talk a little bit
more about how the fight impacts Will and Carlton's relationship
and and will feelings towards his cousin. I mean, he
is dating his cousin's ex. You know, you would think
you would think you would be a little bit more humble.
But a lot of girls in l A. You have
(19:24):
to pick that. No black girls in bell Air Academy. Okay, okay.
When it comes to Willa Carlton's relationship, I think at
this point, they're like, we understand that we have differences.
We understand that we don't understand you know what I mean.
We know that we get that we don't know each other.
We understand that we have totally different upbringings, right, And
(19:44):
that's clear through my mom being there and throughout Viv
being there, we hear the stories of how our family
is disjointed. There's a moment I feel where something clicks,
where they're like we need to put this aside because
there's a bigger cause, there's a big your issue happening
in our family. I feel like we are now beginning
to see the camaraderie that we all know and love
(20:07):
between Will and Carlton grow. It's crazy because I also
realized and in the scene with Carlton and and Phil
and the golf course, you know, it seems like Carlton's
perception is justified at the fact that that he's treated different.
It's a it's a little bit different. It's you know,
Uncle Phil is a lot more easier on Will than
(20:29):
he is on Carlton. Can you speak to the dynamics
between Phil and the two boys, you know, one being
a father and son and one being uncle and nephew. Yeah,
it's very real. Carl Carlton is totally valid, you know
what I mean for feeling the way he feels. And
I think that's that's that's the perspective that this show
gives on the character Carlton that we needed, you know,
and uh, you know it Will in Pills dynamic is
(20:51):
totally different. Phil understand where Will comes from. Still understand
that Will hasn't had a father, father figure, in his life,
still understands where Will is in his life. Carlton, you know,
has grown up with the father his whole life, you know,
fortunate enough, you know, and still understands that. And you know,
there's something about when you have a kid and you
(21:13):
understand their potential, you know what I mean, You're like,
I see the I see the potential in Carlton. And
so that's why, you know, maybe he doesn't he goes
a little harder on Carlton or why his expectations for
Carlton is a little higher, you know, and he's trying
to get Will to that same level of excellence and
Will lease a little more bit more love, you know.
And I feel like that's that's where the difference lies
between filing Will and feeling Carlton's relationship. And Carlton doesn't
(21:37):
understand that at first. You know, car like he's used
to being the only boy, you know what, being oh,
me and dad and me and daddy time. And so
when Will comes in and he's voiceterous, his energy is everything,
and and you know, he lights up the room and
feels like, man that that kid is special. Uh, you know, Carlton,
It's there's there's definitely moments of jealousy. Um, but I
feel like as Carlton realizes wills situation, you know, and
(22:01):
everything that's going on in his life, Uh, he comes
to an understanding of who this this young man is,
and you know, that's everything is understanding. You know, when
you can understand like the fool, not even the fool
the fool spectrum, but maybe even fifty of who a
person is, then you understand why they moved the way
they do, you know what I mean, and why they
make decisions that they make. But that just takes time.
(22:22):
You know. I have a two part question, and this
is special to me. What is the importance of Philly
to you? And what was the best advice that you
got from Will? Because trust me, listen, Will has been
my partner for thirty something years and he is always
dropping gems and jewels, so I know he gave you something.
(22:43):
You know, the importance of Philly to me? Man, I
feel like Philly is the place where I found myself.
Philly is the place where where I found who I was,
you know what I mean. And and through the city
and through the drive it was like, man, I remember
there was a moment where I actually I actually auditioned
for Charlie mac he was he was creating, he was
he was creating a boy band and uh and uh
(23:07):
I didn't. I didn't make the cut, man. And I
was like, oh that I was right there, man. I
feel like moments like that, uh, you know, and just
being with artists in the city, it just dropped. It
drove me. It drove me, you know, and uh, to
to go harder, to be harder, you know what I mean.
And and so to be able to bring that to
the screen and to actually be in the community. You know,
he was on sixte and Market, you know, shooting the
(23:27):
first first scene, you know what I mean. So we're
right there, you understand it. And so it's super super
important to the story of Will, but also to me
in general, you know, going back home and and seeing
all the love that this the city has brought to
me and into the whole project is a super super,
super super beautiful And you know, we got a mural
up in the Philadelphia Airport that is you know, it's amazing.
(23:47):
So like it's an incredible, incredible feeling, you know what
I mean, to to walk around the streets where you
used to you know, you used to walk around and
now now I'm filming there. They shut the streets down,
you know what I'm saying. And it's really it's really
actually crazy easy. And you know, as far as Will man,
a lot of gyms, a lot of gyms, man, And
that goes without saying. But and that first, that very
first call that we had, he was just like, man,
(24:12):
there's gonna be a lot of ups in your career.
This is a big up, and there's gonna be a
lot of downs, you know what I mean. But don't
let the successes get to your head, don't let the
failures get to your heart. And uh, that is a
big one that I've taken with me. You know. Right
now I feel like I'm on top of the world,
you know what I mean. And tomorrow that that Will
is gonna keep turning, that Will's gonna keep turning in
and you know, the work might not be there, but
(24:32):
keep going and keep pushing and keep creating the opportunities, uh,
for other kids that are coming up like me. And
that's that's what's so important to me about this whole project. Man.
It's like Morgan Cooper made this trailer and Will saw
it and He wasn't like, no, we're not touching that. Well.
It was like, yo, I'm gonna get this kid a chance, Like,
let's see where we can take yea, and look what's
come of it, you know what I mean? And Will
(24:54):
has paid it forward to Morgan, and Will has paid
it forward to me, and Morgan has paid it forward
to me, And so I hope that I could take
you know, you know, excuse my language. I know that
I'm gonna take this energy that they've given me and
pay it forward to the next person. And you know,
there's what we're what we're doing right now. It's so important. Uh.
And you know, the the original Fresh Prince of bel
Air is lighting in a bottle. We can't we can't
(25:16):
really touch that. And so the fact that we flipped
this thing on its head and you know, people are
showing so much love to it, we hope that we
can create the same iconic you know stylars show that
that the Fresh Prince had in the nineties and and
the impact that it had in the nineties, and um, yeah,
so that's that's what's that's what I hope comes out
of this project for sure. Wow, what a great conversation
(25:39):
with this incredible young talent, Jabari Bangs. I am just
so impressed by this young man. Like I said during
the interview, he is so so good at this. All right,
let's get right into our interview with Cassandra Freeman, she
played the iconic Viv. I was just saying before we
got started that I him so incredibly impressed with your
(26:02):
portrayal of this character. Can you talk to us a
little bit about how you felt when you when you
got the call to play Viv. Just, you know, disbelieve
it's so funny about life. You have dreams, but you
don't even realize that there's some things that will be
on the buffet for choosing, and you don't even know
it's gonna be. You're like, I've been looking at this menu.
This's been over that time. So I mean, and I
(26:25):
always like to tell people like I didn't even want
an audition for this role. And then when I had
the interview with Rashid the showrunner and Morgan the creator,
I was just like, this is so sweet. They just
want to talk to me. I was like, there's like
they're not gonna give me this role. This is sweet.
So I really just took it as an opportunity to
(26:46):
speak into the life of Morgan, who is a new
creator in the Hollywood game at least, and I just
wanted to tell him how who I thought he was
in this industry, which is, you know, he has his
own special fire on the inside. And I just felt
like it was my responsibility to be like, listen, you're
the new answer to the Spike Lee Ryan. You know
(27:07):
Bradford Young, Uh, he's an old tour and so I
just took the time to tell him that. And by
the end of that conversation, I remember my husband was like,
how did that go? And I said, you know, I
don't know, but I got to tell him what I thought, okay,
because I have to tell you, Like I told all
the other cast members that the first time that I
(27:30):
saw this, I thought that this was the greatest selection
of a cast that I've ever seen on the television show.
You were born to play this role, like it. It
almost seemed like you made the role and then told
them that you were going to play it. But I
realized that you said that Janet Hubert, you know, one
(27:53):
of the actresses that played Aunt Viv in the nineties show,
made you feel like it was your birthright to take
the space up and be excellent. You know, it's a
funny thing about being African American in America. You know,
you get a lot of people who asked, you know,
questions about like did you see yourself reflected? I saw myself, uh,
(28:16):
certain aspects of myself reflected growing up, but never the
full spectrum of who I am. And that was one
reason why I wanted to be an actress, is that
I kept thinking, maybe America don't know that they're like
black women who are like so much bigger than just
this small thing that they keep shoving in my face
over and over again. And I feel like being a
(28:37):
black little girl most of the times, and even a
black woman listening. Honest, I feel like to be the
black woman, even more so even the black man. Because
if you're a man or a young man in school,
if you're an athlete or even a musician, you might
get some elevation and some shine. But if you're a woman,
it's like they, at least my experience and most of
(28:58):
the women I know around me, you still get overlooked.
You never are special. And if you're darker skin, you
really you're sort of like that thing in the background,
and nobody needs to pay attention to you. And so
that's been my career as a young person and as
an older person in this so to finally get the
opportunity to step into something like this where I'm like, oh,
I hope this generation sees themselves in me, and hopefully
(29:22):
the thing they see in me this time around is yeah,
you can be aspirational, but you can proudly still standing
from where you're from. And for her, it's Philadelphia, and
that's really true. For me, I've I've never wanted to
erase the Florida girl and me, or or the thing
about me that southern like, I've always rebelled against that.
I'm like, why can't this mean elegance and beauty and
(29:44):
bright and smartness to why why do I have to
do standard American English like I want to do on
exactly we and our regular black selves are elegance, We
are grace. And in this dramatized version of the Bank's family,
there's a lot more to and then what we got
in that comedy back in the early nineties. Things are
getting very real. So what are you hoping to explore
(30:08):
through your portrayal of Aunt vivs far as this tension
and the family drama goes. Before I even say that,
the thing I really wanted to say is when you
enter a space and there's a black woman there, you
should assume that she's like Clark Kent, She's actually Superman, Okay, correct?
You know, at whatever space I'm in and I see
(30:29):
another black woman that, I'm like, she must have the
craziest resume, because black women are always do you know,
always are doing so much just to get the respect back.
But I think the thing that's really important was that
for Vivian's character and for this family was to see,
like what does it mean to become like the becoming
(30:49):
of a strong family, or the becoming of being a
full fleshed out, fully self expressed woman. And in a sitcom,
you can sort of already be put to gather, Like
the original Vivian especially, both of them were already done.
They're like, and I'm done. And so the art type
of black femininity, even in um in this country, it
(31:12):
always represents strength. If you put a black woman in
a magazine, she's going to represent strength, which I also
I don't really appreciate that because you know, I'm also fragile,
I am vulnerable, I am weak, I'm these things. And
so I think that's what we want to see from Vivian,
is this becoming of this other part of her that's
(31:34):
been neglected. And the same is true for this family.
All that glitters ain't gold. And just because they live
in that house and they have there, there are all
these tensions that you have to deal with, and that's
the becoming of who she still is, the becoming of
Adrian's character, Uncle Phil. All these characters are in the
mixt of becoming who they were meant to be in life.
(31:56):
And when people are becoming it's like I like to
think it's like that that somehow gets through the concrete.
You know how much tension it text, but that flyer, Yes,
and Will showing up in bel Air when the family
already has so much going on Uncle Phil's campaign and
all that clearly caused a ripple effect throughout the entire family.
(32:19):
What do you think Will's impact is on Vim specifically?
You know what I love about Will showing up in
this world is from the moment she sees him, not
only does she embrace him when he does or says
or acts out his like Philly swag. She loves it.
(32:39):
She's just like, Oh, there's that thing I've been missing.
Oh it's like a warm bath for the soul. So
for her, he becomes sort of aspirational for her in
a way. You know, it's like, oh, there's that residence.
And it's not that she lost it, but it's that
she doesn't get to lean into that art of herself
(33:01):
as much as she can because she's a fish out
of water herself just trying to fit in. And also,
you know, I like to think the first few episodes
of viv I was really nervous that people wouldn't like
me because she's such a cookie cutout paper doll image
of like a Michelle Obama or something. She's just so
trying to fit whatever the idealized idea of a black
(33:24):
woman is right now of excellence, but not her interpretation
of what excellence is in her own body. So the
funny thing is the best advice you give to other
people is usually the advice you need to have for yourself.
It's projection. So when she tells him like show them
that West Philly kid who has swag and talent, but
at the same time, it bounces back in her own
(33:45):
her own face, like wait a minute, who was I
before I became Vivian Banks? Like who is Vivian Smith? Again?
You welcome Will And, but you really had to navigate
all of this tension between Will and Phil. You know,
Will and And also these feelings of resentment are brought
to the forefront with your sister. Just couldn't let me
(34:06):
have this moment? Could you? What? Please do not make
this about our issues. Will is happy with his gift.
That's all that matters. Let us drop it. Help me
throw your money around to disrespect me up out of
my child. I just don't understand you how you've got
like this, like one being successful, because that's what you're
mad about. Because more my dreams can't true. So now
(34:27):
you gotta company down whenever you get a chance. Girl,
your dreams came true because Mama supported you, because I
supported you, and then Phil supported you. You didn't climb
no mountain, you were carried. And what I gave to
you and not to Will, it ain't fleshy or dramatic
enough to be remembered or even given credit for not
(34:51):
trying to outshine you often I quit it kind of
I am not your enemy, but you just kind of
fixed in your mind that that's what I am. You
know what's clear. What's clear that before, before this fancy house,
I was the one who helped you find your voice
as an artist. When you needed materials, I bought them
(35:11):
for you. I have to move to own Lake, and
I paid your bills at the second you didn't need me.
You just you erase me, You erase me from your
You want my son to do the same thing. How
is it navigating that Wolf even vibe? Boy? I think
I watched that episode and I was like, Wolf, I
know that part. It's gonna get even deeper in some
(35:33):
of these episodes with my sister. It's gonna get it
gets really real to the part where I'm like this,
people are gonna be like, did they look at my
own family? It gets very real. I don't know if
I if I say I wanna the navigation part. It's
more like, I love this show so much because you
(35:53):
could almost write a book to tandement about you know,
how to you know, some practical ideas on how to
navigate family in general. And I think when it comes
to will you know what she and Phil are doing
is very rare there's not a lot of people who
would open their house up does someone. A lot of
(36:16):
us would be like, you know what, he didn't think
he needs to be in jail. So I think I think,
whether she knows it or not, a little bit of
her even bringing this young man into their house might
have to do with that. She has survivors remorse and
her own right getting out of Philadelphia becoming an artist.
(36:37):
You know, I think many of us who become artist
and you become successful, you can have survivor's remorse because
you see everybody else just doing that nine to five
thing and people complaining about their life and their job,
and you don't get to complain in that sort of way.
Even though she's sort of left and become more of
this housewife, she's still it's still put it on like
a pretty comfy track. So I think she said him
(37:01):
as like an opportunity to try to help elevate the
part of her family that she left behind. No matter what,
like this time, we're gonna do the right thing this
time and bring everybody with me, and it's everybody's gonna
be him. And I also think having a young man,
people just don't give young boys the same opportunity to
(37:25):
mess up in the way girls get to mess up.
Girls mess up in messy ways, but boys, you know,
a young black man messes up and automatically looks dangerous
and violent and and obviously he wasn't a very dangerous
violent moment, but that is not who his character is
in life. And so I just love that she's like,
(37:46):
now we're gonna bring him in. I don't care what
you think he did do. Who he is is so
much more. And you know, as a woman, and even
as myself, I'm quite clairvoyant, and I can see the
best inside people have given the right opportunities. And I
think that's her, and I think she also sees the
big picture of how it could affect her own family,
of like, listen, this is exactly you know, it's I love.
(38:08):
There's an interview I heard Will Smith say, and it
hit me so hard, and then I heard Seinfeld say
the same thing, of it's nothing like when you grew
up without, but then your kids get to have everything
and you forget that they didn't grow up where you
grew up. Will and Jada both are like women, So
y'all to grow up and fill in Baltimore, friend right now. Yeah,
(38:30):
it's learning how to balance things and um, when you
enter into a partnership, a relationship of marriage like that
is there's a give and take, a balancing of of
roles and responsibilities, and then you add childcare into the
mix and you have to learn to adjust all over again.
And we get to see a lot of that with
an Viev. She's a mother, she's a wife, but she's
(38:50):
also an artist. You know, she grew up in in
West Philly, very much from Will's Neck of the woods,
and now she's in this mansion in bel Air, so
she's kind of learning how to bring around this balancing
act to UM, I know that you can relate to it,
But how do you think she balances her individual self
as opposed to being a member of this esteemed banks
(39:13):
family and the position that she finds herself in now.
I don't think she's done a great job of balancing it.
I think she got got swept up in the bank's identity.
That's definitely my impression so far. It's it's it's a complicated,
uh answer. You know, you know, there's always one person
(39:34):
in the relationship who's a dreamer, and I actually think, uh,
Philip out dreamed her for a moment. I think he
you know, I have my own idea of how these
people met, and I've told the producers this, and so
I don't know if that's true or not, so I
won't share it here to mess everybody's brain. But I
(39:57):
you know, there's a thing that happens when you meet
the per something that you fall in love with, and
you fall in love with an idea, and then you
fall in love with this dream. And I think the
dream he set up for her was the one that
they live in now. He was like, I am gonna
be like I'm gonna be like the best lord. You
know where I'm from, and I'm gonna be a loryer
and I'm gonna get everything back from my people that
(40:18):
they took. You know. I feel like he was like
that militant, political minded dude uh in a world where
she was surrounded by every artist people who are very
philosophical and who think deeply but don't think tangibly in
the world and how it affects everyone. And I think
she probably fell in love with all of that, and
(40:40):
so she followed him. And also his world is anything
outside of the art world. It, it can feel like
it's much easier to chart a course to success. And
so I think to be this visual artist, like look
even still, I'm like, it's uh, it's a very it's
(41:01):
an acrobatic trick to be an artist of any kind,
especially a visual artist, especially fifteen years ago. And how
do you convince your husband like, let me keep doing this? Na, Na,
I'm gonna follow your dream. No, your dream sounds practical,
and so she let's go on that. So I think
she she let go of herself. And the thing that
(41:21):
men don't get. I think, I say men and women,
But we kept talking about me right now is if
you allow me to let go a part of my dream,
you're telling me to let go a part of my passion.
So that means a piece of my passion has to
(41:42):
go dormant. I guarantee you other things are gonna go
dormant in me as well. And so that's why you know,
the writers let me throw on this line about look,
I changed my hair for you, and I said, we
gotta say that because we're saying all these I'm like,
people need to know, like she is fitting her self
into his life. Um, this is one of the first
(42:03):
times that I think this has really been portrayed like
this because everyone thinks that everything that glitters is gold,
Like no one understands the the issues and the resentment
and the things. You know, even down to the family
dynamic that you know, Will comes from a two person family.
(42:24):
You know, it's his mom and Will. But is he
comes out to bel Air and it's a two parent
household and you know it's a bunch of kids and
cousins and relatives, you know, and he's trying to figure out,
you know, how to navigate that. He's investigating his dad now.
(42:45):
So to watch Carlton have his mom and dad from
day one, you know, he's really trying to process that.
But how does that family dynamic linked to your character? Like,
you know, what does that level of family mean to you?
You know, I phil a life for Will being an
only child to walk into a house full of so
many kids. Uh but you know, again, I only have
(43:07):
one kid over here. But for what I care for.
My research is you can only take care of one
kid at a time. Uh, So the other kids have
to sit back and treat their own wounds while you tread,
while you take care and focus on one kid's wound.
There's a good and a negative in that. And the
good is the best good is, and the most hopeful
(43:30):
good is that the other kids will learn what it
means to have perseverance and leadership, how to actually take
care of yourself. But the other part could be you
might end up teaching them what abandonment is and U
and what it means to U disappear. And so right now,
she's taking care of the most important child, which is
(43:52):
the one who is thrown in jail, exposed to high
level violence. She's trying to take care of that kid
and hoping that her other kids are so good that
they'll stay on track. But the juggling act is never
that simple. Um And and I feel, you know, there's
a lot of things you're gonna see with Ali, with
(44:15):
Carlton's character, And I like to believe that people will
watch this and have compassion for people who have more
than one kid and understand that money does not keep
your kid out of trouble. You know, they still have
got to learn. And I feel like I kind of
(44:35):
feel like and we'll see how long this moment lasts
in the culture, which is covid Us being in COVID
in some ways made us realize like we're all on
the same playing ground, Like we're all dealing with the
same thing. It doesn't matter how much money you have, people,
it's an inside job. It's not a bank account job
we're talking about here, and so you sort of start
(44:56):
to see that in this show. But it's very hard
for her, and I think from the very first episode
you never see Vivian totally relaxed. And that is what
it is to be a parent. But I think that's
really what it is to be a mother because dad's
will have these moments where you're like, do you you
You ain't got other things happening right now. And for her,
(45:20):
I really wanted to create a woman who constantly looked
like she was trying to do the math of all
the different people in her life, and it's it's a
hard arithmetic. She never gets out arithmetic right. So I
always wanted you to feel that in her. Oh Man,
I think I actually have even more respect for Cassandra
Freeman than I did before we go before we went
(45:43):
into this, which is wild to even say. I want
to thank Jabari Banks and Cassandra Freeman both for being
on the show. Next week, we'll be talking about the
themes of identity and labels, especially lgbt Q A plus
I Didn't Need Labels and coming into your own with
a Kira Afar who plays Ashley and coach show runner
Rashid Nussen, and check out the next episode of bel
(46:05):
Air streaming on Peacock next Thursday, and come back to
the podcast every Friday to hear more bell Air. The
official podcast is produced by iHeart Podcast Network and Peacock.
This show is hosted by Me dj Jazzy Jeff and
by Me Chris A. West, Supervising producer Mike Coscarelli, producer
and mastering engineer by Heed Fraser. Executive producers from I
(46:29):
Heeart are nicky Etre, Hona Stump, and Miles Gray. Executive
producers from Peacock are Lindsay Vogelman and Amber Ferguson. And
special thanks to Will Pearson from I Heeart and Michael
Scoggin from Peacock
Bellair the Official Podcast is produced by iHeart Podcast Network
and Peacock. Hey, we are back episode six of bel
Air the Official Podcast. I am d J Jazzy Jeff
and I'm Crystal West. I just have to say I
am so honored and excited to be hosting this show
with you. I'm really into this Bellair iteration. And we
(00:23):
just watched the eighth episode. Listen, raw, I mean, we
had fights, we had reconciliations. What do you think about
the episode? Listen? There was so much realism in this,
especially the sisters digging up old wounds. You know, they
you saw attention earlier. You know, you knew it was
something there, but you kind of got a little bit
(00:44):
more context about why they have pretty much been at
each other's throat and this was the eruption. Yeah. We
sort of saw the Bank's family as being this unbreakable
unit before. Yeah, no, not not after this, but so
we see that there are real fractures, you know, the
family is not always this tight fist and and everybody's
(01:07):
dealing with different challenges. There's just a lot going on
in this episode, and we're getting more into the family
and the fatherhood themes. Yeah, I love the Carlton and
Will dynamic of them starting to kind of figure out
their relationship and you know it not be so much
tension between them too, But then you have the tension
(01:29):
between the two sisters. Question, did you have a favorite
scene in this It's hard to say. I think we'll
be talking about that fight between vol and Viv and
then Viv actually reaching out to Vay and them talking
about it and being able to squash it. You're always
the strong one looking out for man. I'm so sorry
(01:52):
for saying past that. Hey, you ever forgive me? Yes,
of course, you're must to sides. I can't pin all
my disappointments on you know. I made my choices, and
one of them was Lou. I'm sorry I didn't listen
(02:12):
to you. I'm sorry that I held it against you
all these years. It was super important, not just for
the sisters, but also because Carlton and Will needed to
see that a lack of communication, holding onto grudges, not
really saying how you feel, are being honest about it,
not asking for help, not reaching out, those things can
(02:33):
all create a rift in the family where you don't
really talk and you're not as close as you could be.
For years and years, and so Carlton and Will needed
to see that play out like that at Will's birthday
party in order to get to a place of being like, Okay,
well this this can't be yea, this can't be yeah.
You know, the kids being the catalyst where the two
(02:54):
of them to reconcile was beautiful. It was well to
day we'll be talking think about the themes of family
and fatherhood. One thing that's really different about this new
version of the show is there's a lot of attention
in the family. Oh yes, absolutely, they're not that unbreakable
unit anymore. We even see with Hillary who has kind
(03:17):
of always had feel support and he's always back to her,
been down for whatever she wants to do, even she
now is seeing that, like, you know, that support is
not actually unconditional, and if Daddy don't like something and
then he gonna say it, and even Viv stepping in
to be like, you know, you want to be thought
e chef or whatever, that's your business, but is it
(03:37):
something you actually care about? Is it something that matters
to you? And then with Carlton, a similar situation where
he's dealing with so much pressure to be the perfect
son to be the perfect athlete, to do all the
things he thinks he's supposed to do because of what
his parents have provided for him, and yet having all
this internal turmoil that really comes out in his interactions
(04:00):
with his family has been part of the reason why
he's been so upset with Will. It's part of his
resentment towards his father with the clear difference in treatment
that he and Will both get. So we're seeing the
family kind of start to shake a loose a little bit.
And plus there's a lot of tension and a lot
of mystery around Will's father, Lou. Listen, Now, Lou has
(04:23):
come up. It's the last thing that either one of
us needs right now. But we potentially had much bigger
issue by is considering telling Will about Luke. You're fucking
kidding me. I advised her against it. Good because it's
a horrible idea. Well, yeah, it's horrible, Frost, But I mean,
Will deserves to know the truth about his dad someday,
(04:46):
But on the seventeenth birthday. No, Listen, we gotta stand
together on this one. He's gonna find out about it
one day, and the longer we keep moving dark, the
worst it'll be for all of us. There's some mystery
going on with Lou. I know he left Will and
Vi when they were young, or he was young. It
(05:08):
seems like Phil and Viv know something. Somebody knows something
about Lou. Got some bones somewhere that everybody's trying to
figure out what's going on, and it's something that they
don't want Will to know about. Right absolutely, when Vib
brought up telling Will the truth about Lou and Viv
was like he might hate us. I said, oh, wait
(05:28):
a minute, skirting what happened? Hey is a big word, right,
And so at first I thought, oh, man, I know
chopped this man up. But evidently louis still alive. So
now I'm like, Okay, what did y'all do I mean
to know? And I'm hoping, fingers crossed that will find
out this season. But I am so excited to talk
to today's guests and get their takes on this modern
(05:50):
day Banks family. Today we are talking to Jabari Banks,
who plays Will, and Cassandra Freeman, who plays Viv. Jabari,
like his character and Will Smith before him, is from
we Spilly and studied musical theater at Philadelphia's University of
the Arts. This is his very first on screen role,
I mean while. Cassandra is a Florida born actress who
has performed in film, television, and theater. Some of her
(06:12):
best known roles include Shelley Wayne on the drama Blue
Buds and more recently, Jasmine on The Last O G.
Cassandra got her m f A at n y U
s Tisch School of the Arts and lives in Brooklyn,
two of my favorite characters. So very excited to have
these actors join us. Yeah, I'm so excited to talk
to both of them about the theme because it seems
(06:32):
to be tight like family and off screen. I'm excited
to find find out. Alright, Well, let's not delay any further.
Here is our conversation with Jabari Banks. So, Jabari, thank
you so much for being here. Um, what has it
(06:53):
been like for you to have your first on screen
role be so iconic to be stepping in Will Smith
shows to get the call um Will Smith like, talk
to us about it? Right? Yo? First of all, thank
you for having me. Um. You know, I'm super excited
to be here to talk with you all. And you know,
stepping into these shoes was It's a huge honor. There
definitely was a weight. But you know, I felt like
(07:13):
I had to bring myself to this role and and
to really embody the character. I had to you know,
bring my experiences and bring my instincts, you know. And uh,
it was it was an amazing opportunity to get the
call from Will, you know, he passed it towards and
and the fact that he was like, man, I'm gonna
be to you what Quincy Jones was to me. My
heart was like, oh my god, what. And to to
(07:35):
be able to step into that magazine, uh, and bring
myself to it and be celebrated not only from the
family and from you know, the production, but but by
the world. You know, there's so much love around the
project now and uh, and that's super exciting and I'm
so blessed. You know. Well, I have to say, I
am blown away by your portrayal. And you know, I
(07:58):
kind of have a little bit of a deeper inside
look than most because I remember how all of this started.
I remember Will and are sitting on the steps and
him saying I want to be the biggest movie star
in the world. So to watch all of that, you know,
come to Fruition has been nothing but a joy. For me,
but to watch you, man, I'm like this. I've been
(08:21):
telling people that this is a twilight Zone moment for
me because I'm on the outside watching this story happen again,
almost like it happened the first time. And you are
doing an incredible job, man like, and I have to
say kudos. I needed to say that. I'm curious to know, like,
what have you taken from Will to your approach to
(08:44):
the character? How much of it is Will? How much
of it is Jabari? What's the difference in the two?
You know, I feel like there is a lot of Jabari.
There is a lot of Will, you know what I mean,
There's speedy percent Jabari Will. It's like, there's so many
parallels between my life and the characters life. When we're
out there in the pilot looking over Mulholland Drive and
Will is like, man, this is crazy and this is
(09:05):
first time up there. That's Jabar's first time up there
as well, and so there's just been so many parallels
between my life and what this character is going through.
But as far as what I you know, some of
the mannerisms that I, you know, took from the original character,
you know, whether that be the swing when he when
he gets sort of emotional, or the lips, you know
what I mean, there's something in the eyes, you know. Um,
(09:26):
you know, you know when you started doing the lip thing.
You know, I know that, you know. So those are
those are slight mannerisms that I definitely had to throw
in there, you know, just as a nod to the original.
And um, I think that is a testament to the
collaboration of Morgan Cooper and the rest of the team,
where it's like they're huge collaborators and they've been throwing
(09:47):
you know, little small hints to the original as well,
and I think that's why it's it feels so familiar
to a lot of people. Definitely, does I have to say,
is somebody who was a kid in the nineties when
the first fresh Prince came out to see you portray Will?
You have so many of those mannerisms and just like
small little details that just have me going like, damn,
is this like Will's secret hit or something? Alice, This
(10:11):
boy so good. But there's definitely more tension in this
version of the Bank's family than there was in the
original one. And to be honest, Will is a source
of a lot of that tension. So what are you
exploring or hoping to portray through you and this character
and the tension that he brings to the house, Will
is a he's a fish out of water. The tension
(10:33):
surrounding his whole situation when it comes to his family
and his mother and his father in comparison to the
Bank's family, and you know, the tension between those two families,
one living in l A, one living in Philly and
you know, different class status is there's definitely a lot
of tension surrounding the whole situation. But I feel that Will,
what's happening in his life, it affects everyone around him,
(10:55):
and it takes him some time to recognize that. Through
you know, lessons from Uncle Phil and teachings, he kind
of learns that everything is not always about him. And
you know, growing up with you know, a single mom
that you know, you can feel like that's the case.
You know, you get a lot of attention and uh
and you know, having a brother and two sisters now
he has to learn how to survive and thrive in
(11:18):
this world, you know, but also like keeping the family intact. Now,
one of the things that I've realized is there's a
little East Coast and West Coast thing going on with
the Smiths that you know, the East Coast and West
Coast Smith's haven't really been seeing each other for about
ten years something because VI was hurt and resentful that
(11:39):
Aunt Viv didn't come back to Philly. That helped take care,
you know, their sick mother. But we also see Phil
kind of being advised to you need to get your
family and check if he wants any kind of political
career or future. How do you think loyalty and unity
collide when you're trying to stay true and pursuing your dreams.
(12:00):
M That is such a good question because I feel
like we touch on the topic of what does it
look like to be successful in black and to climb
that ladder, but also stay in contact and stay in
touch with where you come from. That's so important, and
that's that's the push and pull between the Vie character
and the Viv character. And and we see that UM
(12:21):
come to life and that dynamic UM. There's a lot
of questions that we pose. You know, I honestly, I'm
still trying to figure it out myself because because I'm
going through that situation in my life right now. You know,
it's very real for for someone who you know, who's
ambitious and and it is finally you know, kind of
getting to that point of their success that you can
kind of look look back and go, oh, Dan, you
(12:43):
know what I I mean, there's a lot of people back
there like, you know, you should come come do this,
and you should come do that for the church because
you know, there's there's there's a lot and I think
through this show, I have had the opportunity to talk
with Morrigan Cooper and to talk with Will about the
difference between paying it forward and giving back, you know,
and so the huge conversation not only for us as
black people, but you know, for for anyone who is
(13:05):
successful in their career or is gaining success you know. Well,
like I said, I often feel like there are so
many third worlds when it comes down to this is
something that Will and I had to deal with. This
is a portrayal of what Will and I had to
play on the show, but this is something that we
had to deal with in real life, and it really
(13:25):
seems like it's the exact same thing with you. Yeah,
and it's so amazing. I already knew when I got
you know, the call for this role. You know what
I'm saying. Like, I knew that it was aligned, some
sort of alignment in my life aligned with this project.
And my mom always told me and stood in me, like,
you know, what's for you is for you, and when
it's gonna come, it's gonna come. You just gotta be
(13:45):
ready when it comes, you know what I mean. I
kept that in my mind and I was like, man,
this is something about this project was aligned in my life.
And as soon as I read the script, I was like, oh,
this has something to say. Yeah, definitely. Um, this iteration
of bel air pretty trace different versions of family we have,
you know, Will and By in their two person family.
(14:06):
We have obviously the two parent, multi child Banks family.
We even see the extended family when the sisters come together,
all the cousins are together. How do you think making
that move from like you said earlier, just being up
under his mom all the time, being the one who
got all the attention and kind of like fully doated
on to going to this brand new environment with the
(14:28):
Banks family. How do you think living with a father
figure and a family larger than just him and his
mom impacts Will? That father figures is huge for a
and to not have that and to suddenly get this
wave of authority that was not there before, it's definitely jarring.
And so Will is trying to figure out how to
adapt not only you know, living with the whole family,
(14:50):
but with Uncle Phil who is constantly on his back.
It fills in the beginning where it's like, man, this
guy is constantly I can't get it right. He's always
calling me into his office. What's going on? And that's
something that I could really resonate with. You know, Um,
I was fortunate enough to have my father in my life.
I grew up with a lot of kids who didn't,
and so I could resonate with Will, and I understand
where his mind is at when it comes to that,
(15:11):
because you know, authority is something that Will struggles with. Uh.
We see that in the pilot with you know, with
with the interaction with the police and and you know,
and he's he's a very prideful young man, and so
he's definitely learning how to adapt and how to coexist
in this environment, um with with these new figures in
his life. But I think, you know, we get to
(15:32):
see the dynamic in his progression as not only a
young man, but you know, as a as a brother
and as a nephew and as a son um. And
that's gonna be super exciting and recognizable, and it's gonna
resonate with a lot of people. So I also see
that your character is starting to desire to know more
about his dad. I'm curious, you know, why do you
(15:53):
think he's asking these questions. Do you think it's because
he's older. Do you think it's because his mom opened
the door to the questions? You know, a bother's father.
How much does that have to do with the fact
that he is now has a father figure and Uncle
Phil in his life. I think that has a lot
to do with it. You know, Uncle Phil being there.
It's like this is a great father. I see how
(16:13):
fathers is supposed to be. Where is mine? You know,
and don't have deserve the father uh. And it's something
that he struggles with day to day. There are moments
where he looks to Uncle Phil and he sees what
could have been in his life. And so he you know,
he and constantly when he's asking his mom about his
father's she's constantly you know, backtraction, She's constantly pushing it
(16:34):
to the side. She's constantly sweeping it under the rug.
And so you know, he's like, look, I'm seventeen now,
you know, let me figure out who my father is.
Let me find out who he is. Let me and
needs to know his name? What do I look like? Him?
Facebook features something? You know, when he left when he
was he was four, and so you know, not having
that in his life has left a big hole and
who he is and his identity, and so he is
(16:56):
seeking to gain that back. Yeah, which is uh, you know,
super real, especially for people who have you know, grown
up in that environment that for things to change as
quickly as they have for Will, and for him to
already be at such a tumultuous age, you know, these
teenagers are already dealing with a lot. And we see
a very different side speaking of teenagers, to Will and
(17:18):
Carlton's relationship after Vali and Viv have their fight at
the birthday party, and honestly, I was shocked that Carlton
and Will kind of both had the emotional intelligence to
be like, you know, what we what we don't need
to do is be beef in like this look um.
(17:39):
After seeing my moms today, I can honestly say I
have no intention of having a decade long graduate. You
long me either, But I don't know how we can
move forward if you can't accept the fact that I'm
with Lisa. Now all right, Um, this isn't just about Lisa,
all right. You coming here sent me into a spiral.
I was already having a rough time at school, getting
(18:00):
good grades and leading my lacrosse team to state championships,
and my parents needed me to be basically fucking perfect.
All right. It's exhausting, and you just show up and
hook up at my ex So me being with Lisa's
dis stranger broke the camel's back exactly. You just strolled
up in here, and my parents loved you. The girls
(18:21):
at school pretty much couldn't get enough of you, and
it's like everything that I had to work really hard
for him, you just had it out even trying. I
hear you. So basically what you're saying is you're a hater. Yeah, yeah,
I'm playing. I am joking. I feel you get you,
(18:43):
and you know, it's definitely an outside looking in situation
where they're like, Okay, these are two women that we
love dearly. Let's put our differences aside so that we
can help our family come back together. And I think
that's so beautiful to people, for people to watch to
see if family love each other and then and then
fall apart and come back together again, and those that
that that sort of imageres is everything. Right now, you
(19:03):
know what we need? Can you talk a little bit
more about how the fight impacts Will and Carlton's relationship
and and will feelings towards his cousin. I mean, he
is dating his cousin's ex. You know, you would think
you would think you would be a little bit more humble.
But a lot of girls in l A. You have
(19:24):
to pick that. No black girls in bell Air Academy. Okay, okay.
When it comes to Willa Carlton's relationship, I think at
this point, they're like, we understand that we have differences.
We understand that we don't understand you know what I mean.
We know that we get that we don't know each other.
We understand that we have totally different upbringings, right, And
(19:44):
that's clear through my mom being there and throughout Viv
being there, we hear the stories of how our family
is disjointed. There's a moment I feel where something clicks,
where they're like we need to put this aside because
there's a bigger cause, there's a big your issue happening
in our family. I feel like we are now beginning
to see the camaraderie that we all know and love
(20:07):
between Will and Carlton grow. It's crazy because I also
realized and in the scene with Carlton and and Phil
and the golf course, you know, it seems like Carlton's
perception is justified at the fact that that he's treated different.
It's a it's a little bit different. It's you know,
Uncle Phil is a lot more easier on Will than
(20:29):
he is on Carlton. Can you speak to the dynamics
between Phil and the two boys, you know, one being
a father and son and one being uncle and nephew. Yeah,
it's very real. Carl Carlton is totally valid, you know
what I mean for feeling the way he feels. And
I think that's that's that's the perspective that this show
gives on the character Carlton that we needed, you know,
and uh, you know it Will in Pills dynamic is
(20:51):
totally different. Phil understand where Will comes from. Still understand
that Will hasn't had a father, father figure, in his life,
still understands where Will is in his life. Carlton, you know,
has grown up with the father his whole life, you know,
fortunate enough, you know, and still understands that. And you know,
there's something about when you have a kid and you
(21:13):
understand their potential, you know what I mean, You're like,
I see the I see the potential in Carlton. And
so that's why, you know, maybe he doesn't he goes
a little harder on Carlton or why his expectations for
Carlton is a little higher, you know, and he's trying
to get Will to that same level of excellence and
Will lease a little more bit more love, you know.
And I feel like that's that's where the difference lies
between filing Will and feeling Carlton's relationship. And Carlton doesn't
(21:37):
understand that at first. You know, car like he's used
to being the only boy, you know what, being oh,
me and dad and me and daddy time. And so
when Will comes in and he's voiceterous, his energy is everything,
and and you know, he lights up the room and
feels like, man that that kid is special. Uh, you know, Carlton,
It's there's there's definitely moments of jealousy. Um, but I
feel like as Carlton realizes wills situation, you know, and
(22:01):
everything that's going on in his life, Uh, he comes
to an understanding of who this this young man is,
and you know, that's everything is understanding. You know, when
you can understand like the fool, not even the fool
the fool spectrum, but maybe even fifty of who a
person is, then you understand why they moved the way
they do, you know what I mean, and why they
make decisions that they make. But that just takes time.
(22:22):
You know. I have a two part question, and this
is special to me. What is the importance of Philly
to you? And what was the best advice that you
got from Will? Because trust me, listen, Will has been
my partner for thirty something years and he is always
dropping gems and jewels, so I know he gave you something.
(22:43):
You know, the importance of Philly to me? Man, I
feel like Philly is the place where I found myself.
Philly is the place where where I found who I was,
you know what I mean. And and through the city
and through the drive it was like, man, I remember
there was a moment where I actually I actually auditioned
for Charlie mac he was he was creating, he was
he was creating a boy band and uh and uh
(23:07):
I didn't. I didn't make the cut, man. And I
was like, oh that I was right there, man. I
feel like moments like that, uh, you know, and just
being with artists in the city, it just dropped. It
drove me. It drove me, you know, and uh, to
to go harder, to be harder, you know what I mean.
And and so to be able to bring that to
the screen and to actually be in the community. You know,
he was on sixte and Market, you know, shooting the
(23:27):
first first scene, you know what I mean. So we're
right there, you understand it. And so it's super super
important to the story of Will, but also to me
in general, you know, going back home and and seeing
all the love that this the city has brought to
me and into the whole project is a super super,
super super beautiful And you know, we got a mural
up in the Philadelphia Airport that is you know, it's amazing.
(23:47):
So like it's an incredible, incredible feeling, you know what
I mean, to to walk around the streets where you
used to you know, you used to walk around and
now now I'm filming there. They shut the streets down,
you know what I'm saying. And it's really it's really
actually crazy easy. And you know, as far as Will man,
a lot of gyms, a lot of gyms, man, And
that goes without saying. But and that first, that very
first call that we had, he was just like, man,
(24:12):
there's gonna be a lot of ups in your career.
This is a big up, and there's gonna be a
lot of downs, you know what I mean. But don't
let the successes get to your head, don't let the
failures get to your heart. And uh, that is a
big one that I've taken with me. You know. Right
now I feel like I'm on top of the world,
you know what I mean. And tomorrow that that Will
is gonna keep turning, that Will's gonna keep turning in
and you know, the work might not be there, but
(24:32):
keep going and keep pushing and keep creating the opportunities, uh,
for other kids that are coming up like me. And
that's that's what's so important to me about this whole project. Man.
It's like Morgan Cooper made this trailer and Will saw
it and He wasn't like, no, we're not touching that. Well.
It was like, yo, I'm gonna get this kid a chance, Like,
let's see where we can take yea, and look what's
come of it, you know what I mean? And Will
(24:54):
has paid it forward to Morgan, and Will has paid
it forward to me, and Morgan has paid it forward
to me, And so I hope that I could take
you know, you know, excuse my language. I know that
I'm gonna take this energy that they've given me and
pay it forward to the next person. And you know,
there's what we're what we're doing right now. It's so important. Uh.
And you know, the the original Fresh Prince of bel
Air is lighting in a bottle. We can't we can't
(25:16):
really touch that. And so the fact that we flipped
this thing on its head and you know, people are
showing so much love to it, we hope that we
can create the same iconic you know stylars show that
that the Fresh Prince had in the nineties and and
the impact that it had in the nineties, and um, yeah,
so that's that's what's that's what I hope comes out
of this project for sure. Wow, what a great conversation
(25:39):
with this incredible young talent, Jabari Bangs. I am just
so impressed by this young man. Like I said during
the interview, he is so so good at this. All right,
let's get right into our interview with Cassandra Freeman, she
played the iconic Viv. I was just saying before we
got started that I him so incredibly impressed with your
(26:02):
portrayal of this character. Can you talk to us a
little bit about how you felt when you when you
got the call to play Viv. Just, you know, disbelieve
it's so funny about life. You have dreams, but you
don't even realize that there's some things that will be
on the buffet for choosing, and you don't even know
it's gonna be. You're like, I've been looking at this menu.
This's been over that time. So I mean, and I
(26:25):
always like to tell people like I didn't even want
an audition for this role. And then when I had
the interview with Rashid the showrunner and Morgan the creator,
I was just like, this is so sweet. They just
want to talk to me. I was like, there's like
they're not gonna give me this role. This is sweet.
So I really just took it as an opportunity to
(26:46):
speak into the life of Morgan, who is a new
creator in the Hollywood game at least, and I just
wanted to tell him how who I thought he was
in this industry, which is, you know, he has his
own special fire on the inside. And I just felt
like it was my responsibility to be like, listen, you're
the new answer to the Spike Lee Ryan. You know
(27:07):
Bradford Young, Uh, he's an old tour and so I
just took the time to tell him that. And by
the end of that conversation, I remember my husband was like,
how did that go? And I said, you know, I
don't know, but I got to tell him what I thought, okay,
because I have to tell you, Like I told all
the other cast members that the first time that I
(27:30):
saw this, I thought that this was the greatest selection
of a cast that I've ever seen on the television show.
You were born to play this role, like it. It
almost seemed like you made the role and then told
them that you were going to play it. But I
realized that you said that Janet Hubert, you know, one
(27:53):
of the actresses that played Aunt Viv in the nineties show,
made you feel like it was your birthright to take
the space up and be excellent. You know, it's a
funny thing about being African American in America. You know,
you get a lot of people who asked, you know,
questions about like did you see yourself reflected? I saw myself, uh,
(28:16):
certain aspects of myself reflected growing up, but never the
full spectrum of who I am. And that was one
reason why I wanted to be an actress, is that
I kept thinking, maybe America don't know that they're like
black women who are like so much bigger than just
this small thing that they keep shoving in my face
over and over again. And I feel like being a
(28:37):
black little girl most of the times, and even a
black woman listening. Honest, I feel like to be the
black woman, even more so even the black man. Because
if you're a man or a young man in school,
if you're an athlete or even a musician, you might
get some elevation and some shine. But if you're a woman,
it's like they, at least my experience and most of
(28:58):
the women I know around me, you still get overlooked.
You never are special. And if you're darker skin, you
really you're sort of like that thing in the background,
and nobody needs to pay attention to you. And so
that's been my career as a young person and as
an older person in this so to finally get the
opportunity to step into something like this where I'm like, oh,
I hope this generation sees themselves in me, and hopefully
(29:22):
the thing they see in me this time around is yeah,
you can be aspirational, but you can proudly still standing
from where you're from. And for her, it's Philadelphia, and
that's really true. For me, I've I've never wanted to
erase the Florida girl and me, or or the thing
about me that southern like, I've always rebelled against that.
I'm like, why can't this mean elegance and beauty and
(29:44):
bright and smartness to why why do I have to
do standard American English like I want to do on
exactly we and our regular black selves are elegance, We
are grace. And in this dramatized version of the Bank's family,
there's a lot more to and then what we got
in that comedy back in the early nineties. Things are
getting very real. So what are you hoping to explore
(30:08):
through your portrayal of Aunt vivs far as this tension
and the family drama goes. Before I even say that,
the thing I really wanted to say is when you
enter a space and there's a black woman there, you
should assume that she's like Clark Kent, She's actually Superman, Okay, correct?
You know, at whatever space I'm in and I see
(30:29):
another black woman that, I'm like, she must have the
craziest resume, because black women are always do you know,
always are doing so much just to get the respect back.
But I think the thing that's really important was that
for Vivian's character and for this family was to see,
like what does it mean to become like the becoming
(30:49):
of a strong family, or the becoming of being a
full fleshed out, fully self expressed woman. And in a sitcom,
you can sort of already be put to gather, Like
the original Vivian especially, both of them were already done.
They're like, and I'm done. And so the art type
of black femininity, even in um in this country, it
(31:12):
always represents strength. If you put a black woman in
a magazine, she's going to represent strength, which I also
I don't really appreciate that because you know, I'm also fragile,
I am vulnerable, I am weak, I'm these things. And
so I think that's what we want to see from Vivian,
is this becoming of this other part of her that's
(31:34):
been neglected. And the same is true for this family.
All that glitters ain't gold. And just because they live
in that house and they have there, there are all
these tensions that you have to deal with, and that's
the becoming of who she still is, the becoming of
Adrian's character, Uncle Phil. All these characters are in the
mixt of becoming who they were meant to be in life.
(31:56):
And when people are becoming it's like I like to
think it's like that that somehow gets through the concrete.
You know how much tension it text, but that flyer, Yes,
and Will showing up in bel Air when the family
already has so much going on Uncle Phil's campaign and
all that clearly caused a ripple effect throughout the entire family.
(32:19):
What do you think Will's impact is on Vim specifically?
You know what I love about Will showing up in
this world is from the moment she sees him, not
only does she embrace him when he does or says
or acts out his like Philly swag. She loves it.
(32:39):
She's just like, Oh, there's that thing I've been missing.
Oh it's like a warm bath for the soul. So
for her, he becomes sort of aspirational for her in
a way. You know, it's like, oh, there's that residence.
And it's not that she lost it, but it's that
she doesn't get to lean into that art of herself
(33:01):
as much as she can because she's a fish out
of water herself just trying to fit in. And also,
you know, I like to think the first few episodes
of viv I was really nervous that people wouldn't like
me because she's such a cookie cutout paper doll image
of like a Michelle Obama or something. She's just so
trying to fit whatever the idealized idea of a black
(33:24):
woman is right now of excellence, but not her interpretation
of what excellence is in her own body. So the
funny thing is the best advice you give to other
people is usually the advice you need to have for yourself.
It's projection. So when she tells him like show them
that West Philly kid who has swag and talent, but
at the same time, it bounces back in her own
(33:45):
her own face, like wait a minute, who was I
before I became Vivian Banks? Like who is Vivian Smith? Again?
You welcome Will And, but you really had to navigate
all of this tension between Will and Phil. You know,
Will and And also these feelings of resentment are brought
to the forefront with your sister. Just couldn't let me
(34:06):
have this moment? Could you? What? Please do not make
this about our issues. Will is happy with his gift.
That's all that matters. Let us drop it. Help me
throw your money around to disrespect me up out of
my child. I just don't understand you how you've got
like this, like one being successful, because that's what you're
mad about. Because more my dreams can't true. So now
(34:27):
you gotta company down whenever you get a chance. Girl,
your dreams came true because Mama supported you, because I
supported you, and then Phil supported you. You didn't climb
no mountain, you were carried. And what I gave to
you and not to Will, it ain't fleshy or dramatic
enough to be remembered or even given credit for not
(34:51):
trying to outshine you often I quit it kind of
I am not your enemy, but you just kind of
fixed in your mind that that's what I am. You
know what's clear. What's clear that before, before this fancy house,
I was the one who helped you find your voice
as an artist. When you needed materials, I bought them
(35:11):
for you. I have to move to own Lake, and
I paid your bills at the second you didn't need me.
You just you erase me, You erase me from your
You want my son to do the same thing. How
is it navigating that Wolf even vibe? Boy? I think
I watched that episode and I was like, Wolf, I
know that part. It's gonna get even deeper in some
(35:33):
of these episodes with my sister. It's gonna get it
gets really real to the part where I'm like this,
people are gonna be like, did they look at my
own family? It gets very real. I don't know if
I if I say I wanna the navigation part. It's
more like, I love this show so much because you
(35:53):
could almost write a book to tandement about you know,
how to you know, some practical ideas on how to
navigate family in general. And I think when it comes
to will you know what she and Phil are doing
is very rare there's not a lot of people who
would open their house up does someone. A lot of
(36:16):
us would be like, you know what, he didn't think
he needs to be in jail. So I think I think,
whether she knows it or not, a little bit of
her even bringing this young man into their house might
have to do with that. She has survivors remorse and
her own right getting out of Philadelphia becoming an artist.
(36:37):
You know, I think many of us who become artist
and you become successful, you can have survivor's remorse because
you see everybody else just doing that nine to five
thing and people complaining about their life and their job,
and you don't get to complain in that sort of way.
Even though she's sort of left and become more of
this housewife, she's still it's still put it on like
a pretty comfy track. So I think she said him
(37:01):
as like an opportunity to try to help elevate the
part of her family that she left behind. No matter what,
like this time, we're gonna do the right thing this
time and bring everybody with me, and it's everybody's gonna
be him. And I also think having a young man,
people just don't give young boys the same opportunity to
(37:25):
mess up in the way girls get to mess up.
Girls mess up in messy ways, but boys, you know,
a young black man messes up and automatically looks dangerous
and violent and and obviously he wasn't a very dangerous
violent moment, but that is not who his character is
in life. And so I just love that she's like,
(37:46):
now we're gonna bring him in. I don't care what
you think he did do. Who he is is so
much more. And you know, as a woman, and even
as myself, I'm quite clairvoyant, and I can see the
best inside people have given the right opportunities. And I
think that's her, and I think she also sees the
big picture of how it could affect her own family,
of like, listen, this is exactly you know, it's I love.
(38:08):
There's an interview I heard Will Smith say, and it
hit me so hard, and then I heard Seinfeld say
the same thing, of it's nothing like when you grew
up without, but then your kids get to have everything
and you forget that they didn't grow up where you
grew up. Will and Jada both are like women, So
y'all to grow up and fill in Baltimore, friend right now. Yeah,
(38:30):
it's learning how to balance things and um, when you
enter into a partnership, a relationship of marriage like that
is there's a give and take, a balancing of of
roles and responsibilities, and then you add childcare into the
mix and you have to learn to adjust all over again.
And we get to see a lot of that with
an Viev. She's a mother, she's a wife, but she's
(38:50):
also an artist. You know, she grew up in in
West Philly, very much from Will's Neck of the woods,
and now she's in this mansion in bel Air, so
she's kind of learning how to bring around this balancing
act to UM, I know that you can relate to it,
But how do you think she balances her individual self
as opposed to being a member of this esteemed banks
(39:13):
family and the position that she finds herself in now.
I don't think she's done a great job of balancing it.
I think she got got swept up in the bank's identity.
That's definitely my impression so far. It's it's it's a complicated,
uh answer. You know, you know, there's always one person
(39:34):
in the relationship who's a dreamer, and I actually think, uh,
Philip out dreamed her for a moment. I think he
you know, I have my own idea of how these
people met, and I've told the producers this, and so
I don't know if that's true or not, so I
won't share it here to mess everybody's brain. But I
(39:57):
you know, there's a thing that happens when you meet
the per something that you fall in love with, and
you fall in love with an idea, and then you
fall in love with this dream. And I think the
dream he set up for her was the one that
they live in now. He was like, I am gonna
be like I'm gonna be like the best lord. You
know where I'm from, and I'm gonna be a loryer
and I'm gonna get everything back from my people that
(40:18):
they took. You know. I feel like he was like
that militant, political minded dude uh in a world where
she was surrounded by every artist people who are very
philosophical and who think deeply but don't think tangibly in
the world and how it affects everyone. And I think
she probably fell in love with all of that, and
(40:40):
so she followed him. And also his world is anything
outside of the art world. It, it can feel like
it's much easier to chart a course to success. And
so I think to be this visual artist, like look
even still, I'm like, it's uh, it's a very it's
(41:01):
an acrobatic trick to be an artist of any kind,
especially a visual artist, especially fifteen years ago. And how
do you convince your husband like, let me keep doing this? Na, Na,
I'm gonna follow your dream. No, your dream sounds practical,
and so she let's go on that. So I think
she she let go of herself. And the thing that
(41:21):
men don't get. I think, I say men and women,
But we kept talking about me right now is if
you allow me to let go a part of my dream,
you're telling me to let go a part of my passion.
So that means a piece of my passion has to
(41:42):
go dormant. I guarantee you other things are gonna go
dormant in me as well. And so that's why you know,
the writers let me throw on this line about look,
I changed my hair for you, and I said, we
gotta say that because we're saying all these I'm like,
people need to know, like she is fitting her self
into his life. Um, this is one of the first
(42:03):
times that I think this has really been portrayed like
this because everyone thinks that everything that glitters is gold,
Like no one understands the the issues and the resentment
and the things. You know, even down to the family
dynamic that you know, Will comes from a two person family.
(42:24):
You know, it's his mom and Will. But is he
comes out to bel Air and it's a two parent
household and you know it's a bunch of kids and
cousins and relatives, you know, and he's trying to figure out,
you know, how to navigate that. He's investigating his dad now.
(42:45):
So to watch Carlton have his mom and dad from
day one, you know, he's really trying to process that.
But how does that family dynamic linked to your character? Like,
you know, what does that level of family mean to you?
You know, I phil a life for Will being an
only child to walk into a house full of so
many kids. Uh but you know, again, I only have
(43:07):
one kid over here. But for what I care for.
My research is you can only take care of one
kid at a time. Uh, So the other kids have
to sit back and treat their own wounds while you tread,
while you take care and focus on one kid's wound.
There's a good and a negative in that. And the
good is the best good is, and the most hopeful
(43:30):
good is that the other kids will learn what it
means to have perseverance and leadership, how to actually take
care of yourself. But the other part could be you
might end up teaching them what abandonment is and U
and what it means to U disappear. And so right now,
she's taking care of the most important child, which is
(43:52):
the one who is thrown in jail, exposed to high
level violence. She's trying to take care of that kid
and hoping that her other kids are so good that
they'll stay on track. But the juggling act is never
that simple. Um And and I feel, you know, there's
a lot of things you're gonna see with Ali, with
(44:15):
Carlton's character, And I like to believe that people will
watch this and have compassion for people who have more
than one kid and understand that money does not keep
your kid out of trouble. You know, they still have
got to learn. And I feel like I kind of
(44:35):
feel like and we'll see how long this moment lasts
in the culture, which is covid Us being in COVID
in some ways made us realize like we're all on
the same playing ground, Like we're all dealing with the
same thing. It doesn't matter how much money you have, people,
it's an inside job. It's not a bank account job
we're talking about here, and so you sort of start
(44:56):
to see that in this show. But it's very hard
for her, and I think from the very first episode
you never see Vivian totally relaxed. And that is what
it is to be a parent. But I think that's
really what it is to be a mother because dad's
will have these moments where you're like, do you you
You ain't got other things happening right now. And for her,
(45:20):
I really wanted to create a woman who constantly looked
like she was trying to do the math of all
the different people in her life, and it's it's a
hard arithmetic. She never gets out arithmetic right. So I
always wanted you to feel that in her. Oh Man,
I think I actually have even more respect for Cassandra
Freeman than I did before we go before we went
(45:43):
into this, which is wild to even say. I want
to thank Jabari Banks and Cassandra Freeman both for being
on the show. Next week, we'll be talking about the
themes of identity and labels, especially lgbt Q A plus
I Didn't Need Labels and coming into your own with
a Kira Afar who plays Ashley and coach show runner
Rashid Nussen, and check out the next episode of bel
(46:05):
Air streaming on Peacock next Thursday, and come back to
the podcast every Friday to hear more bell Air. The
official podcast is produced by iHeart Podcast Network and Peacock.
This show is hosted by Me dj Jazzy Jeff and
by Me Chris A. West, Supervising producer Mike Coscarelli, producer
and mastering engineer by Heed Fraser. Executive producers from I
(46:29):
Heeart are nicky Etre, Hona Stump, and Miles Gray. Executive
producers from Peacock are Lindsay Vogelman and Amber Ferguson. And
special thanks to Will Pearson from I Heeart and Michael
Scoggin from Peacock
Host
DJ Jazzy Jeff
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!