Killing Castro with Frankie Faison

0:00You're about to make a trade. Which you do you listen to? Is it get optioning those options? Or let's do a little research. Learn more at FINRA.org slash trade smart. Listen, you've got something really interesting coming out. The movie Killing Castro. They're screening it September 5th and 7th. I'm excited for this one. Very excited. This story, it just, it was a part of history that I didn't know anything about. Castro came over here. He checked into this expensive Fifth Avenue hotel and stuff, but he wasn't comfortable being there. And there's even rumors that they say that he had chickens running up and down the hallway.

0:43And they just I don't know if that's true or not. So he wanted to go down to Harlem where the people were. The hotel was called the Hotel Teresa. The story of killing Castro is about him going down there and he was having meetings with people like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. And it was at the same time, there was a target on his back. The number of assassination attempts on his life are unimaginable.

1:14Frankie Faison, welcome to the show, man. It's a pleasure. Pleasure to be here. Thanks for having me. Oh, absolutely. Wouldn't turn this down for anything. I, I, like I said, when we were record, before we hit record, I've been watching you in movies, you know, all the way dating all the way back to you and your landlord days on coming to America, just chilling in that hot tub, baby. All right. It goes back. it does you just you've been so good for so long and you have some amazing things coming out that we're going to get to but you know real quickly you know tell us tell the audience about your journey into hollywood and kind of what it took for you because there's a lot of people out there that don't chase their dreams and in my show i like to bring even people of your caliber talking about what it took and the hardships and overcoming the adversity to to achieve what you want to achieve in life.

2:08Okay. Well, it all began back in Newport News, Virginia, when I was a little church-going kid, and I was drawn to the church plays, you know, to Christmas pagets and all that kind of stuff. And I was always the guy who was speaking and doing in the little plays from about five years old on. And then into going into middle school and to kindergarten and elementary school, I was always the mischievous, most boisterous class clown guy. But my teachers turned this into something positive because they made me get out in front of the classes and speak, you know, give announcements and all that kind of thing.

2:52Same kind of thing I did in church. So that gave me a comfort about being in front of an audience from a very young age. And then I pursued it into high school. And from high school, I decided to go. I knew from a very young age that I wanted to be a professional actor. I had no idea what that involved. A friend of mine was speaking to me the other day. He said, did you imagine when you were back in high school that one day you'd be in pictures? Do you be, you know, like, you know, people would be showing you on television and film? And I said, no, that thought hadn't crossed my mind because the only thing I knew was theater.

3:28And I was down in Virginia, had no exposure to, you know, the sophistication of New York or L.A. So I went to NYU. I went to Illinois Wesleyan, got my undergraduate degree in theater, then went to NYU, got my graduate degree in theater. And, you know, so I had a it was a long journey to get to my first professional job. I mean, I think I studied and prepared at least 15 years very seriously, the arts, because I wanted to be the best actor in the world, which I came to realization that, no, that's not really the goal that I should be pursuing. I should pursue becoming the best actor that I can be because there's so many brilliant talents out there that there is no best of anything.

4:13I don't think you can be as good as you can be. And so I did that. And from NYU, I was already in New York and I started doing theater, lots of serious theater, Broadway, off Broadway, off, off Broadway. And then that segwayed into me doing commercials, which allowed me to do even more theater and, you know, to keep a roof over my head. And from commercials, I had a very I call myself the triple 200 man. And no, I actually am quadruple 200 man. That means I've done over 200 plays. I've done over 200 commercials. I've done over 200 television episodes. And I've done about 200 films, including all the independent and low budget films.

5:03So I call myself, you know, which is to me, it's an amazing it's an amazing accomplishment. And I did those things because you cannot depend on those young audiences out there listening. Don't ever, you know, pin yourself into a corner and just depend on one thing. You've got to be diverse. You've got to be open. You've got to be able to do other things. And the important thing is to make and earn a living while you're doing your profession. So that's why I did plays. I did theater. I did film. I did, you know, I did everything. And that's why I call myself the quadruple 200 man club. I like that.

5:38I mean, gosh, the episodes for the TV, you almost had at least half of it covered with The Wire. You were in, what, 94 episodes of that? Yeah. Yeah. And then there was an early series called True Colors, probably back. It was back in the 70s, you know, which was which was an amazing series. It was about the interracial couple raising their family and a comedy with Nancy Walker. You may not remember her. She was a bounty lady. You're too young, too. But she was a very, very iconic in her own way. and so that and plus I've done you know soap operas I've done sitcoms I've done dramas I've done I do it all man I love to work I'm a working actor give me some work and I'll go to it you know you mentioned something sorry go ahead sorry Frank I didn't mean to say that was my journey and the journey and in between the journey was you know raising a family three kids three daughters and it was tough sometimes.

6:46Sometimes it was very tough, but I stayed the course. For me, and I don't recommend this for everybody, for me, I said I will either make it or just bust as a career as an actor. I would never do anything else. I wouldn't drive a cab. I wouldn't do a waitress. I wouldn't do a second job. I say my job is this, and I need to be prepared for that. But I can't advise that to everyone to do now, especially with the cost of things, apartments and clothing and food and all that. You got to earn a living. So the important thing is to be content doing something that you're happy doing while you pursue what you really want to do, but never losing sight of what it is your main focus.

7:31So, you know, I agree with that. I mean, it's, you know, I did this while I also worked a corporate position in sales for a lot of years until I could do this solely. And while I was over there making a living and providing benefits and paychecks for the family, I never lost sight of this. I knew what I wanted this to be, but I just kept showing up in every avenue as much as I possibly could in refining the skills consistently. And you said something there that I want to go back to because at the very beginning, you said it was 15 years before you really got your first break or however you want to define it.

8:15And so many people try something for a year or six months or even three years. They're like, well, it's not meant to be. And you're saying you waited 15 years and now you're the quadruple 200 threat, right? It took a long time, but you stayed with it. And we're going to take a quick break to hear from our Powered By sponsor. We're proud to announce a partnership between White Sands Treatment Centers and the Determined Society. With multiple locations across Florida, White Sands provides luxury, top-rated addiction treatment. From medical detox and inpatient care to outpatient support and long-term aftercare.

8:54Their resort-style campuses, expert clinicians, and holistic programs create real, lasting recovery. Together, we're committed to bringing hope, resources, and healing to those who need it most. White Sands Treatment Centers. And I also wanted just to put an asterisk to that, saying that that 15 years includes 15 years of very strenuous, committed training to become an actor. I mean, taking classes, you know, you know, going, getting a master's degree, an undergraduate degree intensive in which I would, you know, eat, sleep, breathe theater morning, noon and night. And it was that to me, I could think of no other way to than to be committed to go out and do the things that I wanted to do and be prepared.

9:51Because there are a lot of there are a lot of people out there who have a lot of talent who can do things who did not get who don't have the pedigree of the training that, you know, that I know that I have. Because when I finished and I left graduate school and went out to compete for jobs, I knew that I had something that I would say 85 percent of the people out there that I was competing against did not have. I mean, it was just kind of it's kind of shocking to go out sometimes and you would be auditioning for a role. And let's say there's there's, you know, some of the iconic figures who were out there during my day, they would be out there.

10:31Like I say, it was Morgan Freeman who once he had made it and they would say you would go into a room and they say, well, we're looking for a Morgan Freeman type. And Morgan Freeman was in the room. So that's really, you know, you say, well, what do you what do you want? But that just showed the competitiveness that you had to have. So you had to find your own, your own lane, a way to identify who you were so people could say, oh, yeah, he's got this special thing that I want. It's a little different from other people. And to be able to transform and do from, you know, to go from, you know, class.

11:08I mean, I was classically trained. I could do the classics, but I could do street as well, you know, country or whatever was, you know, whatever was, whatever was demanded. And I think that that's one of the key that I say to all the young people out there aspiring to become actors. Be prepare yourself, learn your craft, because you're not going to become a doctor by going out there and just cutting somebody open in this. You better go. You better get to medical training. So I take the profession very seriously. So, no, I love to hear that, because, like you said, there's a lot of people out there that have a lot of amazing talents that where they miss is they don't work every day to refine.

11:48that talent. It is a constant refining, a constant growth. And I just love hearing that from you because someone who's done all the things that you've done, you are literally telling everybody right now, follow the process, dive into getting better. And when you can get better and you can be so versatile, then once you know what's special about you and what you can bring, there's rarely, there's rare, there's, you'll, you'll lose at times, but mostly there won't be very many genres or silos that you cannot fall into. Right. And it's important to do, and it's important to know that you're representing yourself in everything that you do.

12:36And so it's like, you know, when I, when I go to, was going to auditions in the earlier days, And even now, I'm not going there necessarily. I'm going to win to get the job. But if I don't get the job, I want to just make sure that the person on the other side of that table who's auditioning me or interviewing me will understand that this guy has unlimited potential. He could do a lot of things. We may not be able to use him for this one thing. But maybe somewhere he may become down the road, he may, you know, he could be used for his talent. And to give a classic example of that is one of the major pieces that I did of the film called Coming to America.

13:22I was not originally cast as the as a landlord in that there was another actor, a good friend of mine who was cast. and he unfortunately had another commitment and couldn't do it. They had remembered my audition that I had done and they had to find a replacement for him and they came back at me and offered me that role and the rest is history because that's become a real important stepping stone for me in my career. So you don't always just go for the job. You go for the representation of your talent, who you are and what you potentially can do. And maybe they may circle back to you and come back at you again later in life.

14:11That's happened to me on many occasions in my life. So that's a good point. I mean, and that film is iconic. It still is. Right. It's a film. It transcends generations. I can't show it to my kids yet. Right. Because they're too little. but you can bet the moment I can I have a 6 year old a 9 year old and an 11 year old an 11 year old can jump in there maybe actually he might could man we might have to do that this weekend it ain't a father son bond until you show him coming to America right there you are I love it man listen you've got something really interesting coming out the movie Killing Castro going to TIFF, the Toronto Film Festival.

15:00Actually, they're screening it September 5th and 7th. Walk us through that. It's an amazing concept of a movie about the 1960s where Malcolm X had invited Fidel Castro to New York City, and there's this big plot to assassinate him on U.S. soil. And I'm excited for this one, very excited. I am too. I mean, it's like we shot it, and then it just sort of disappeared, And then it just jumped up. And, you know, I guess you know how it is when you do an independent film. But the story, it just it was a part of history that I didn't know anything about. I didn't know either. When Castro came over here, first he was he was he was he checked into this expensive, you know, like Fifth Avenue Hotel and stuff.

15:46But he wasn't comfortable being there. And there's even rumors that they say that he had chickens running up and down the hallway. And they just, I don't know if that's true or not. But, you know, anyway, he left and he had to go someplace else. So he wanted to go down to Harlem where the people were. And so he went to this hotel down in Harlem, which still exists. It's still there. You can go by. And it was a hotel that was on the downhouse. out. It needed something to diffuse, to pump some juice into it. So when he came, he wanted to stay there. So the story of killing Castro is about him going down there and he was having meetings with people like Malcolm X and Martin Luther King.

16:40At the same time, there was a target on his back. They say the number of assassination attempts on his life are unimaginable. And this film, Killing Castro, tells that story, revealing about what it was like. And it also reveals a bit of Harlem, the history of this hotel where he stayed. I happen to be the, in the film, I play the owner of the hotel. And my daughter is the one who, you know, said, look, we got to run with this thing with this guy coming here. Use it to our advantage to rebuild the hotel. And it was like, it's a classic, it's a classic, interesting piece. And it's a piece of history that a lot of people are not familiar with.

17:29I was not familiar with it. And I lived in New York for, I don't know, countless amount of times. the hotel was called the Hotel Teresa. And if you're doing, doing reading any history of it, you can see what it's about. It's turned into an apartment building now, but it was, it was a great role to play. And I'm really excited. I haven't seen the film yet myself. Are you going to TIFF or are you not going? I can't because I'm supposed to be starting another project. then that will not allow me to go. But I certainly, you know, I certainly would want to be there. I mean, they told me that I should come, but I can't.

18:16I mean, I don't know how I can arrange it in my schedule. I mean, you can't be in two places at one time, right? It's physically impossible. You can't be in two places at one time. So I got to do that. Yeah, man. I'm hoping the best for it. I hope it gets the kind of attention that I think it deserves. Like I say, I'm speaking from what I know of the experience I had making the film and reading the script and the story. The end product, I hope it stands up, you know, to my expectations. You know, I'm sure it will. You know, I'm sure it will. Right. I'm excited to see it. I'm excited to see what it does.

18:54You know, how did it feel playing a part? And I mean, it's it's it's actual history. Right. So, but to your point, Frankie, I didn't know about this. And then when this was brought to me, I read up on it. I'm like, whoa, this happened? Like, I, this hasn't been talked about, you know, there was rumors of the mafia even being involved, like, you know, all, all bunch of different things. But how did, how did this role differ for you? Cause you've played a lot of dynamic roles and a lot of dynamic films and episodes and theater. How did it play for you to be in a film that was being created off of actual history in Harlem?

19:34Oh, it's amazing. I have a being a theater person coming from theater and doing that. I have a very, a very clear journey in telling stories about history, about life, things that have happened before. And I've done a lot of historical pieces where I've played true characters who were, you know, like the film Till, in which I played Emmett Till's grandfather. I did this film called Summersbee, in which I played the eulogist for the boys who were murdered down in Mississippi. I love doing because I'm not trying to recreate the characters. I'm trying to tell their stories and I'm trying to tell them in a humane way as I possibly can.

20:29And I think that if the writing is good, you can connect to the character. It doesn't take much because I love writers and I love their journey. Their storytelling is so important in facet as far as my work as an actor is concerned. So doing that film, it sort of sucked some of the air out of my body for a moment because I said, here I am playing a true historical character that really experienced this, that had this experience during this time. there's also another film which is actually I don't know how to call it I would say this is the film I did about four years ago this very not widely viewed you probably have never heard of it maybe you have since you may have written something about me but it's a film that if I had never done any other film after this film I would have been content because it gave me all the satisfaction I needed.

21:40Every aspect of, of acting, uh, being a humanitarian, uh, spreading a story that's so important and teaching instrument for people. And the film is called the killing of Kenneth Chamberlain. I haven't seen that one. Please go out and see that. And that is my, you know, That is the one film that is a copulation of all the things that I've done in my life, in my work, and in my life. It's come out in this character. And Broad Strokes is basically about a man who, it's, you know, the Black Lives Matter movement. And it's a man who was murdered in killing of Kenneth Chamberlain. Of course, you know, he gets killed in his apartment when his alarm system went off accidentally.

22:41And the first responders were these renegade police officers who didn't know how. And this ties into something else we're going to talk about later, because he had a bit of mental illness and they did not know how to to deal with him. So rather than deal with him and his illness, they dealt with him as a man who lived in the slum area, in an apartment building. There had been drugs in the place and all that stuff. And it was like a bam, bam, bam. And the rest is history. This is a film that takes place in real time. It's about an hour, 35 minutes. And every moment, you sort of hold your breath and you say, how can this be happening?

23:26How can that happen? So that's, but that's the same kind of, I mean, to me, that's, I love doing that kind of work. It's so, so important. I love doing comedies and things like that to entertain too, but being a theater person, you know, coming from theater. And I'll tell you this story as well. When I first did Coming to America, I was just coming off of doing the Broadway play Fences with the late, great, iconic figure James Earl Jones and Mary Alice, a wonderful actress. And when I got this role to do this, everybody's coming up to me and saying, oh, you're so funny. Are you a comedian? I said, no, no, I'm a classically trained, serious actor.

24:17I sort of scoffed at the fact that people were looking at me as, you know, but I learned over the years to embrace that moment because that film has given so much to so many people over the years. So you can't knock any job or you just go in there and you do your work and do the best that you can and you hope. And that's why I sort of like I think that I have a record of being dependable and doing these kind of characters that people can really smile when they see them and they can say that, you know, he's going to be bringing something to the table. So, well, you look, man, you mentioned kind of, you know, in this film, holding your breath every second, you know, and you also mentioned working with writers.

25:04and they're so skilled of telling stories. I go back to a film that you recently did, Beyond the Rush, with Robert Sayre as the director and writer. Brilliant, brilliant film. He's incredible. I did a piece on them early on. I think it was maybe in March, but, you know, and then we, you know, mentioned, you know. Rinse takes your laundry and hand delivers it to your door, expertly cleaned and folded, So you could take the time once spent folding and sorting and waiting to finally pursue a whole new version of you. Like tea time you. Mmm. Or this tea time you. Or even this tea time you. So did you hear about Dave?

25:46Or even tea time, tea time, tea time you. Mmm. So update on Dave. It's up to you. We'll take the laundry. Rinse. It's time to be great. Oh, mental health. That, that film. because I watched it. It was incredible. I mean, from opening scene to the end, I'm like, I mean, almost the opening scene, I was like, I don't know if I can watch anymore. Like, because it was that earth shattering. It was like, dude, I have kids, right? And so, but I, you know, continue to watch and just the whole genius of that movie and my humble opinion is that, you know, we live in this world and if you were to walk up to me and I'm sitting on the park bench, just like Bill's character was right.

26:35Bill Barrett's character was walking by and someone sitting on the bench is like, Hey, it looks like you're doing great. All the while Bill struggling in his life, this guy struggling in his life, like me and you are talking right now, but we don't know each other's struggles. If we go based on the interview and the conversation, it's all butterflies in our world. And it's not necessarily like that. So I thought that movie was genius. And quite honestly, it pains me to see it's not getting the attention that it deserves, but what a masterpiece, man. Yes. I mean, I came onto that piece. I read, I was presented the script to read, to consider playing the role.

27:12And I read the script and it just, it ticked boxes of things that I like to do and have my work influence. or tell stories. And this is, it deals with mental health and it deals with child abuse. And to me, and it deals with family very much so, and it deals with spiritual beliefs. But those two things alone, the mental health and the family child abuse, is like, because if you have a child, you know what your feelings would be like if anything ever happened to them. and sometimes you don't know because it's a hush-hush thing. A lot of times it's pushed under the rug, it's pushed through the background and you don't know what's going on or something can happen to your child and you may not even know for years and years and years.

28:12But this story is so powerful. And one of the things that recently, because I think about talking to you about this in this interview, one of the things that struck me about this film is that it deals with mental health and it deals with child abuse. How connected are the two? And how forgiving or unforgiving should we be when that connection is brought to the forefront? Because the sins of someone else caused one of the characters in this film to become, to make other people victims the same way he was. And so...

29:03When did making plans get this complicated? It's time to streamline with WhatsApp, the secure messaging app that brings the whole group together. Use polls to settle dinner plans, send event invites and pin messages so no one forgets mom's 60th and never miss a meme or milestone all protected with end-to-end encryption it's time for whatsapp message privately with everyone learn more at whatsapp.com i'm just i mean those things they are so closely woven together um and rob is like he put his life on the line his life this is It's his life story. And it is so courageous when you want to tell a story.

29:49Because anything you write as a writer, you know, it's got to come from something. Usually it has something to do with something about who you are. But he told his story in a way, and he committed to it. And he's been the pioneer for this thing and for this film and for the rights, the mental illness and the harm that they can do. and I take off my hat. You spoke to Rob, so I take off my hat to him. He's just, and he's been such a fighter for this film, for this story to be shown because he thinks it can help other people and I think it can help other people too. Because too many times we're ready to just say, oh, this is just a horrible person.

30:35But everything comes from something, from some part of your life, some aspect of your life, whatever you want to say. And the sooner we have these stories that can deal with it, maybe they can help other people, which is what I hope. And the passion that Rob shows for this film, I take my hat off to him. 100%. Frankie, he's a fighter. He ain't giving up. He's determined. And to this day, me and Robert still communicate. He'll shoot me a text message. He shot me one yesterday, you know, tell me go Tigers, right? So I played baseball at LSU and then in his bar at Judy's, right? He shows me the pennant of LSU.