One night in late March of 2005, they were one poet short for the iconic Friday Night Poetry Slam at the Nuyorican Poets Café.
I got a couple urgent texts and then a call from the host, so I pivoted my Friday night plans to look out for a friend.
Walking into the Café, Rocky told me a big-time casting director was there scouting for a new movie. I shook my head and chuckled (the kind of mythology that seemed ubiquitous in those days). I didn’t take it seriously for a second.
The final poet in the first round, as I walked on stage, I saw two women get up to leave and I called them out. Had no idea it was Kim Coleman and Eve Streger, who respectfully and awkwardly crouched while I performed the hell out of my poem.
Then, the call for me to come in for a one-line part that would end up getting cut from the film. Kim Coleman seeing a spark in me and asking if I’d be open to “trying something.”
She handed me a four-page scene, and I glanced at my watch, knowing I had a meeting with a client in Harlem and needed to be out of that casting office in SoHo in 10 minutes if I had any shot of not being late.
She told me to take an hour or two with the scene. I focused on it for about five intense minutes and then knocked on the door. I’ve always had a great memory (and so much practice memorizing things quickly under pressure), so I felt calm. She shook her head and reluctantly shot my audition. Then, her eyebrow raised, “You’ve never acted before?”
First call back. Then, the second. Then, the third with Spike where he and I improvised and then he asked me to freestyle a poem on the spot, after which he jumped up and gave me a pound and a firm hug, whispering in my ear: “My man!”
What a wild fucking ride. My first day on set, my literal first day of acting in my life:
20 years ago today “Inside Man” was released. Went on to be the #1 film in the world and still the biggest blockbuster of Spike’s legendary career. And, without a doubt, one of the greatest heist films ever made.
I’ll never find the words to express my gratitude to Spike, Kim, Eve, Brian Grazer, Karen Kehela Sherwood, Jon Kilik, Kim Roth, Daniel M. Rosenberg, Jonathan Filley, and everyone who believed in a kid with no SAG card, no agent, no acting experience, just instincts, swagger, and guts.
It still feels like a dream some days to think back to that summer of 2005 we spent in the Financial District and Brooklyn collaborating on something indelible. Forever connected to the cast and crew for sharing this. So much love to my 40 Acres fam.
