LaKeith Stanfield Answers the Web's Most Searched Questions

I'm LaKeith Stanfield.

This is the Wired Autocomplete Interview.

[upbeat music]

What are the people wanting to know? Huh?

[upbeat music]

All right, where is LaKeith Stanfield from?

I am from San Bernardino, California.

What happened to LaKeith Stanfield in Get Out?

I played Andre and I played Logan.

What happened to Andre is he got his body possessed

by Logan.

Working with Jordan was amazing.

I mean, he's just super smart.

He had just like this really big vision that was cool.

At the time, we hadn't heard or seen of anything like that,

so I think we were just all really excited

to try and make something new, make something special.

It was good to know that the world resonated

with the content that we were making in that.

People were genuinely interested and frightened

by the movie.

It's good if you were frightened by Get Out.

If you're not frightened?

Yeah. How did LaKeith Stanfield get famous?

I think I started first recognizing that people understood

who I was on a sort of larger sense

when I played Snoop in Straight Outta Compton.

Get Out really also was one in Atlanta,

where I realized people started just recognizing me from it.

So there was this time where I was in the museum

and I was surveying some things in the museum

and I turned my head around

and there's this person standing right in front of me,

surveying me.

But they kind of had like a deadpan face look.

And I was like, Hi, how are you?

And they were like. I was like, Okay.

And they were like, I'll let you go.

And then they walked off.

I was thankful for being released.

LaKeith Stanfield anime.

I did a movie called Death Note,

where I played a detective named L,

a character in this anime.

And that was really fun.

And it was an opportunity to play an interesting character

and I had a lot of fun doing it.

Also, I really like Dragon Ball Z.

LaKeith Stanfield.

Oh! There's two.

As Snoop, I played Snoop.

They had me in some like platform shoes

'cause I wasn't quite as tall as Snoop.

So they had Chucks,

but they were like high heel kinda Chucks.

Hard to walk in those things.

I got the role in the morning at like 5:00 AM.

They called me and I had to be on set at like 10.

So I had five hours of prep time.

I just watched all the videos I could watch with Snoop

and just try to like really get his mannerisms

and it was important for me to get his voice down.

And so I just kept listening to his interviews.

I met Snoop after the movie on the red carpet

and someone had recognized me

and wanted to bring me over to Snoop

and we got through these layers of security

and there was just like this wall of weed smoke.

And then when the smoke cleared, there was Snoop.

And I was looking at his torso because he's actually tall.

And then I looked up, and there he was.

LaKeith Stanfield college.

I went to Victor Valley College in Victorville.

I was kind of finally like leaving the nest a little bit,

discovering more that I wanted to pursue acting.

And so I was in a drama program there.

Eventually, I just decided

I wanted to try my hand at pursuing acting.

So I dropped out and just went like straight to living

in my car to auditioning and stuff like that.

LaKeith Stanfield Cats audition.

This audition was really fun.

I got to dress up, I put on like all these tights,

and I put on a wig.

I did my own hair, my own makeup.

I drove past this wig shop

and I saw something in the display and I was like,

This would be perfect.

So I made a little like Mohawk out of it, like a Afrohawk.

Then I started shaking them hips.

And I actually got a callback.

But as you can see, I didn't make the cut.

Does LaKeith Stanfield have a face tattoo?

I do have a face tattoo. I have two, actually. Come here.

There's one right here, which is an anchor.

Represents being grounded.

And then there is another one up here that is magnolia,

which is one of my favorite flowers.

I have a lot of tattoos.

I have tattoos all over my arms, on my knuckles,

on my chest, on my leg.

I guess I really just like writing on myself.

I got my first tattoo when I was 17.

My first tattoo was my mother's name so she wouldn't be mad.

She still was mad.

Does LaKeith Stanfield make music?

Yes, I do. Thank you for asking.

I'm gonna be releasing some soon.

My music name is my name backwards,

which I guess I best pronounce it.

[speaking gibberish]

I love making music.

I've been making music since even before I started acting.

Just kind of like in the driveway of my mom's house,

beating on pots and pans

and coming up with these melodies and ideas

and so more to come on music.

Keep your eyes peeled.

LaKeith Stanfield new movie. [LaKeith gasping]

The Book of Clarence. Yes! January 12th.

Coming to a theater near you. See it in theaters.

Honestly, truthfully.

It's one of those ones you wanna see on the big screen.

There's action, there's dancing, there's love,

there's romance, there's fighting.

And the best part is it all takes place

in Jerusalem in 29 AD.

LaKeith Stanfield, Knives Out.

Yeah, Knives Out was fun. We shot that in Boston.

It was really cold. I played a detective.

I was being inspired by all the different actors and people

that I got to sit next to.

That was really cool.

And then we went to Chris Evans' house

and rode on an ATV and it was quite fun.

LaKeith Stanfield, personality.

Let me know when you find it. I like to have fun. I'm silly.

I also am like deeply kind of,

I take everything seriously.

So I just try to treat people well.

LaKeith Stanfield fashion. It's all about the look.

My whole thing is just having fun, comfortability.

Because I like to do different things.

I like to dress up. This is a scarf.

But it's like a quilt scarf, and I think that's pretty cool.

It's like, it's a quarf, or a scuilt.

LaKeith Stanfield Teddy Perkins.

I was on Atlanta,

and I was preparing to shoot the day before.

And I saw on the call sheet,

there was this guy named Teddy Perkins.

It was Teddy Perkins being played by Teddy Perkins.

So I was like, Who is the actor?

And production was like, Teddy Perkins.

And I googled Teddy Perkins and I was like, Who is this?

And nothing came up and I was very confused.

I was like, He's an actor. How long has he been acting?

The next day I show up on set,

there's no one in the makeup trailer, except me.

So I'm like, Okay.

I go to set and there's this guy, standing, his back to me.

He has like long hair.

He turns around in this like strange way,

and this is Teddy Perkins.

And I'm confused 'cause I still don't know who this is.

And I'm like, Hi, how are you?

He's like, Hi, how are you?

And then I looked at his feet

and his feet were standing in a similar fashion

that I know Donald generally stands in.

So I thought that that was weird.

But I didn't really think much of it.

I mean his eyes were blue, he didn't look like him up close.

I was like.

And then one of the crew members finally told me,

That's Donald.

And I was at the same time, in awe,

and shocked as I was disappointed,

because then the illusion was gone.

And I thought, How good would that illusion have been

to just not know who this person is?

And the whole cast and crew had conspired

for me not to know.

And it was successful up until that point.

And I still have not

and will not release that person's name.

LaKeith Stanfield. Sorry to Bother You.

We shot that in Oakland. We had very little money.

I was changing in a van, eating in that same van.

But I loved the fact that we were working so hard

towards something that we all believed in.

And it made every moment worth it.

And I wouldn't take back a second of

what I experienced making that movie.

The voice aspect of the movie was really interesting

because basically we would be saying a line

and then it would just.

Turn into that. Just like moving your lips.

And then they went back in and ADR

and added the voice later.

But I trusted Boots and I knew we were making something fun,

hopefully that people would enjoy.

So yeah, it was super fun.

LaKeith Stanfield, Uncut Gems.

Shout out to Adam Sandler, who's amazing.

Just a brilliant, beautiful person.

With the Safdies,

I had liberty to kind of perform without boundaries.

They had several cameras set up

and basically just gave us a scenario and was like,

Play the scenario.

And somehow they were able to edit that

and I don't know how they were able to edit that footage,

especially with the audio.

Perhaps that lended to the chaotic feel.

LaKeith Stanfield voice acting.

And I've done it a few times, as BoJack Horseman.

I did a show called Yasuke.

It's quite different from acting on screen.

And so it's a muscle that I realized

like I really need to develop

and just continue to work at it and get better.

Shout out voice acting. Hello.

LaKeith Stanfield Sza video.

Yeah, had a lot of fun doing a video with Sza.

She's an amazing artist, great collaborator.

And I love her music.

And so I knew of Sza's music,

and we had talked a little bit about like spirituality

and going to like spiritual retreats

and like meditation and things like that.

She's a real spiritual person.

One time she just asked me to be in a video

and I was like, Yeah.

So when she calls, I'm around.

Sorry.

Just really interested in what people are interested in.

So that was fun.