Beloved actor Colman Domingo shares some of his favorite memories from dressing up as a werewolf for Halloween to the secret of "getting through life" and hearing stories from Lou Gossett Jr. on the set of 'The Color Purple.'
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00:00Hi, I'm Colman Domingo, and I'm going to take you through my camera roll.
00:10Okay, anyone that knows me knows that I love to travel, and I stack up a lot of sort of bucket list places that I like to go to.
00:16I always have this tricky problem, which is scheduling, because I'm always busy with work, so I really don't know when I can actually do it.
00:23So I ticked off one of my bucket list items a couple years ago, where suddenly, within 72 hours, we were halfway around the world,
00:32and that place was Easter Island, which I think is pretty cool.
00:38I flew from L.A. to Atlanta, from Atlanta to Santiago, Chile, and then I stayed overnight there in Santiago, Chile,
00:45and then I took another flight for six hours into the middle of the Pacific Ocean, which is where Easter Island is,
00:52because I wanted to go see the Moai, which are those incredible, incredible statues that still have a lot of mystery around it,
01:01like who made them, where they placed them, why they placed them, you name it.
01:05Are they connected to UFOs, or are they connected to, I don't know, other interesting things,
01:12but they're really dope, and they're really huge, man, and look, I look very, very happy.
01:17That's a happy guy.
01:19All right, next up.
01:22This is first day on set of my film Sing Sing.
01:26It's a film about the rehabilitation through the arts program at Sing Sing Prison,
01:30and how using theater to really heal and change lives.
01:35I took this picture because I felt like it was finding a lot of information about my character,
01:39because my character, my scenic designer, Ruta, she made sure all these postcards were from people that my character is connected to,
01:49so she had so much detail with that to make sure that letters that may have been literally sent to the character that I portray,
01:56John Divine G. Whitfield, so I had all that information.
01:59I had on here, you know, scripts that my character Divine G. Whitfield actually wrote.
02:05I mean, these men in these prison systems, you know, they don't have a lot to personalize,
02:09but they would personalize their rooms and detail it, so this is me in my costume with paperwork and pictures and family,
02:18and I believe, you know, this is an actual picture of Divine G., the guy who I play, as a kid.
02:24So I wanted to take in all this information.
02:26You know, we have with his graduation as well, so it's all actually the actual person that I play.
02:32This is a lot of personal things to him, so I wanted to make sure that I captured that, and that was day one.
02:37I always take a great day one photo.
02:39Next up, another day one photo.
02:42I just thought this was a good photo because a lot of decisions went into this.
02:46This is The Color Purple, the movie musical, and this is my character, Mister,
02:51and why I thought, especially for day one, I thought this was an important photo to take was we're reimagining The Color Purple.
02:59There was something that I was thinking about Mister that I didn't want to play him as the villain, per se,
03:05that I think that he's sort of like known as, but I wanted to look at him as a hurt person, hurting people, someone who's broken.
03:13But this is when Mister was younger, and I wanted to show that Mister had dreams and wishes and aspirations like anybody else,
03:20and he also was like a little sexy too.
03:22I think the fit of this, me and the costume designer, Francine, she was like,
03:26I think he's got a little sex appeal and a little swagger.
03:28I'm like, yeah, that complicates it a bit more.
03:31What I love about costume, because I feel like costume does so much, because in this film I age over, I think, 30 years,
03:38and it's just some sleight of hand that costume designers do.
03:42I feel like we shoot out of order, but it's amazing to me.
03:45They're like, yeah, I look older at times, I look heavier at times, I look leaner at times.
03:50It's all about the cut.
03:52With this cut, it was really showing my long legs and high waist and all that stuff, so it gives you some youth.
03:57When we all got in the room together for the first time, the beautiful thing is Blitz, my director, put us in these incredible rehearsals for two weeks.
04:05So we were able to come together, myself and Fantasia and Taraji and Corey Hawkins and her and Halle Bailey and also Lou Gossett Jr.
04:15That was the most, I think, impactful moment.
04:18We literally were sitting around listening to stories from Lou Gossett Jr., who's now no longer with us,
04:24but that was the thing that I remember the most, is we're all sitting around just talking to him,
04:28and I just wanted whatever wisdom, whatever knowledge, whatever, I just wanted to be in his presence,
04:33and I'm really glad that Lou Gossett Jr. was able to do this film as it was his last film.
04:38Next one.
04:40Oh, this is a real favorite photo of mine.
04:43This is from my first trip to Japan, and I went to Tokyo, and then I also went to Kyoto,
04:51and I went during cherry blossom season, which is April.
04:54And I love this photo because I was just standing there under the cherry blossoms.
04:59As you can tell, they're killing it. They're really working it out here.
05:02And this beautiful woman decided to mock my photo, which is kind of cool.
05:10I love that you can see her. She's looking around. She's seeing what I'm up to.
05:15She's got a great sense of humor.
05:17I didn't know this happened until after I saw photos.
05:20Japan is one of my favorite places on this planet, I think, and she can tell you why.
05:25Friendly, warm, people who love a sense of tradition as well, and I think you know how to have a good time, too.
05:34It's a place where I always like to go and just get lost for like 10 days and just go.
05:38That's another place that I'll just really pack up and just go to.
05:41Who do I love to travel with?
05:43My favorite travel buddy is my husband, Raul.
05:46He's a lot of fun, actually.
05:48He loves the fact that I love taking care of the planning, and he goes along for the ride.
05:53Like, I take care of the hotels, you name it. He's good to go, go, go with me.
05:59This is a great photo.
06:01This just shows my sense of humor that I'm willing to do anything for a buck.
06:04I'm totally kidding.
06:05This actually just shows me being a werewolf.
06:08This was for, I believe, an AMC Halloween fest situation.
06:14And they were like, hey, we're having this Halloween fest.
06:16Would you be interested in promoting it?
06:18I was like, absolutely, if I could dress up as a werewolf.
06:23Because I thought, I want to go for it.
06:25If I'm going to do a Halloween fest, what am I going to do?
06:27So we had a makeup artist come over and do all of this.
06:30It was fantastic.
06:32And, you know, I dressed up for a living, but I don't get to play things like a werewolf.
06:36All right, next one.
06:40Ah, here is a photo that I was really proud to show you.
06:44Because no one ever can understand the perspective of an actor.
06:48This is what's looking at me most of the time when I'm trying to do a job.
06:53You know, emoting and learning lines and all that stuff and sharing moment to moment with another actor.
06:59This is what you've got looking at you.
07:01This is my director.
07:03My DP's fellow actor, who seems quite bored, but he's in the scene, but he's off camera.
07:09My director's buried in there, Conant Virgo.
07:12This is all my crew from The Madness.
07:15This is my boom operator.
07:17Two boom operators, apparently.
07:19And I thought it was a great photo of the idea.
07:21Because people can never understand.
07:23I think acting, you're not acting in a bubble.
07:25You have a ton of people watching you all the time.
07:28So this is my perspective.
07:30The Madness is a television show that's coming out in November.
07:34And I play a CNN pundit who gets accused of a crime.
07:39And it's a mystery and it's a thriller.
07:41And I have to go through different sects of society to find out what is going on.
07:45And it goes to some very high levels in the world.
07:48It's a bit of a conspiracy thriller, but I think it's really dope.
07:51I'm looking forward to it.
07:52You know, the most incredible thing about shooting television compared to film is
07:58I feel like the television that I've been a part of is very cinematic.
08:01Fear the Walking Dead, it felt like you were doing an epic film every single week.
08:07Euphoria, very cinematic.
08:09I feel like maybe that's what I'm drawn to.
08:11I've never had the privilege of going in for a three-camera shoot on ABC or something.
08:17I don't know why, but I'm available, but I just haven't done them.
08:20Well, I'm probably not available, but I just haven't done them.
08:24And next up, look at that.
08:27This is just a beautiful moment.
08:29This is in Toronto.
08:31Tanya Lee, this is Spike Lee's wife.
08:35Here's Spike Lee, Clement Virgo, and myself.
08:37Now, this was a beautiful night where I won the TIFF Tribute Award.
08:41This, for me, is a great photo because it really ties in my theater career,
08:46my earlier career, with the career that I have now.
08:49Spike Lee is, I worked with him years ago, I believe in like 2007.
08:55Spike Lee directed me in the documentary version, sort of hybrid, of Passing Strange,
09:01which is a theater project that changed my life.
09:03Clement Virgo is the director of The Madness, which is, you know, very impactful to me right now.
09:08So I just thought the idea of these two directors meeting at this time was really important.
09:13And I was able to introduce them to each other, so that felt nice.
09:16And the finale.
09:18Look at that.
09:20No, nothing's wrong with me.
09:21It looks like something's wrong, but it's not.
09:23Everything's right, and everything's going to be all right,
09:26because there's a thing that I've learned to get, which is an IV drip, which is incredible.
09:32I work a lot, and when I need to replenish and get some vitamins in me,
09:37the quickest and best way is to get an IV drip.
09:40I'm telling you, I swear by them.
09:42I'm just laid up here usually for like an hour getting vitamins put inside of me.
09:45That's it. That's all it is.
09:47I just wanted to show you that because it's something I live by.
09:50It's truly the secret ingredient to getting through award season, getting through work, getting through life, I think.
09:55It's just giving yourself a minute to do something good for yourself.
09:59And the idea of somebody hooking you up.
10:01You feel like you're just like, I'm just getting hooked up right now. That's it.
10:04I'm just going to get hooked up so I can go back into the world,
10:06and I can deal with whatever the world's going to give me, but I know that I'm fortified from the inside.