We felt that there was an audience not only for the love of blacks, but for love in general. But that was not the film we wanted to make. It was also the reason why some people gave up making the film because they felt it should be rooted in the civil rights movement. So, for us, the thought was: why not show it? Why not enlighten the love we had for each other during this period of time? It robs us of our humanity and just an entire aspect of our lives that really helped us to overcome those difficult times. We had this as part of our black culture and not celebrating it is a crime. My father-in-law says that we used to go to the “ball”, we didn’t call it a club. We were having a family, getting married, going to the ball. We know about marches and protests and water hoses and dogs and fights. We were so defined by that period as black people. It was important for us to make these elements with nuances and not in your face. Can you explain the intention behind this? We see some of these elements manifest, but that was not the focus. But with these two black characters and an almost entirely black cast, the backdrop is not politics, it is jazz. The film takes place during the civil rights movement in America. I say “was” because I haven’t played in a while, so I missed it a lot. And I found out I was very good at playing the saxophone.
HIS SECOND NNAMDI MADE PREPARATION BYWORD MOVIE
I have a saxophone coach who was also in the movie and we played for just over a year. I love the process more than anything, sometimes even more than the actual moment. I didn’t need to, but I chose it because I love preparation. You found your way back to an instrument.ĭid you have to learn to play the tenor saxophone for “Sylvie’s Love”? The same preparation I need for a football game or a football season, I brought this to play. But the first thing I think is the preparation. I advise people all the time, get your kids into sports because sports have shaped my life – from discipline and patience and hard work and falling and needing to get up and not complain. I just wanted to start creating the projects so that people could say, oh, OK, he knows what he’s doing.ĭo you often take lessons and experiences from your football career and apply them to your acting career? I wasn’t just coming from Yale or Juilliard. Is it an identity crisis, like, do I have more to expect in life? All the traumatic things you say to yourself.īesides, I knew I wasn’t 20.
You go through that period of inner searching when you finish doing something you did in the last 20 or so years of your life. While I was still in the NFL, but I didn’t make the decision until probably a year later. Were you still an NFL player when you were bitten by that bug, or was it after your career?
I didn’t know that I would necessarily produce, but I knew that I wanted to act. Because the love you have for him is what will sustain and lead you. When I finished playing, the advice I received from former players was: find something to do that you are absolutely in love with. I was obsessed with movies and television while growing up. You went from a successful career in the NFL to an acting career. These are edited excerpts from the conversation. He recently spoke via video about making the transition from football to acting, preparing for “Sylvie’s Love” (directed by Eugene Ashe) and the unexpected experience of appearing on Broadway. “You can’t help what you fell in love with, and I fell in love with acting.” It is “stunning that I would like to move from a career where you are under a microscope in an extreme way to another career where the microscope can be even bigger,” said Asomugha. But before acting and producing, Asomugha was considered one of the best cornerbacks in the National Football League, playing 11 seasons for the Oakland Raiders and other teams before retiring in 2013.
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