'News Blast' - Interview with Jonathan Majors
A Conversation About His Latest Film 'Devotion'
It’s always a pleasure to speak with Jonathan Majors. I last talked with him during his promotional tour for the star-studded Netflix Black Western The Harder They Fall, and it was fantastic seeing him again during this past Virginia Film Festival.
A little bit of honesty, actually, I rarely interview actors. I much prefer to talk with directors and crafts people, creatives who are more likely to articulate their process. Majors is the rare exception. A graduate of Yale and a theater trained actor, he loves breaking down the how and the why behind his performance while remaining ever so gregarious. His latest film, Devotion, from director JD Dillard, concerns the life of Korean War hero Jesse L Brown. We talked about the legacy of Brown, affirmative action, his love of Shakespeare and more!
Here is an excerpt from the interview:
“Jonathan Majors has an uncanny comfort when it comes to playing men in uniform.
In his first film role, Scott Cooper’s “Hostiles,” the actor portrayed a 19th-century corporal stationed in New Mexico. In the HBO supernatural horror TV series “Lovecraft Country,” he was a World War II veteran returning home to the monsters of white supremacy. He even portrayed the son of a PTSD-afflicted, Trump-voting veteran in Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods.”
The military is not only in Majors’ name, it’s in his DNA: His father was in the Air Force. His grandfather served in the Navy.
“I did not serve, but it’s just how I was brought up,” Majors said during a recent interview with IndieWire. “Every man in my lineage, for the most part, who had any real influence in rearing me, with the exception of my uncle, were in the military. If you were an Anderson or a Majors, this is how you moved.’”
You can read the full interview, HERE.
