Name: Oscar-Nominated Brian Tyree Henry Talks Returning to TV for ‘Dope Thief
Uploaded: 2025-06-17T17:37:12.000Z
Duration: 27 min 3 s
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Past simple

We went to the wrong house, and now these people are looking for us.

The imperative

Modal verbs - A2

You took our money and dope. Now I have to kill everybody you know.

Brian, welcome to the Awards Tour Podcast, sir.

Oh, it is a pleasure and an honor at the same time.

It's great. So I've obviously seen you both physically, socially. We did a Q&A for your new

Apple TV Plus show, Dope Thief, but we haven't done this whole thing post your Oscar nomination.

You have been on a bit of a tear, sir. Like, let's just be real, you know, movies with Brad Pitt, working with the Barry Jenkins script, Transformers, everything, and now this Apple

TV series, Dope Thief. So let's talk a little bit about that and why you wanted to go back to television, honestly, after a bit of an absence.

It's funny because I was getting my ass handed to me by television for quite some time. I mean, every character that I was playing over the last few years was just really, it took a lot.

It took a lot. And I knew I wanted a departure from television. And, you know, like, I think our relationship just needed a little bit of a break. And I made this decision to kind of just step back. And I didn't want to come back to television unless it was something that was really passionate, something that was really new, something that excited me. Because television takes a lot of work. It just, it really does. You grow with these characters. You become very close with these characters, the ensemble you become close with. It just, it's a lot of work.

And so here comes Peter Craig with this wonderful script to Dope Thief. And not only is the script and the world of this story so incredible, but it was giving me a chance to be a lead, which I had not really been offered before. I'd been pretty much in a supporting lane for quite some time. But to get this part where it was truly a story that was following me,

I was like, OK, cool. Then he's also like, well, really, Scott is also attached to direct the first episode. I was like, what else can you do to sweeten the pot? I'm already kind of like already in this double dutch, but what else? And they wanted me to executive produce. And that to me was just I don't I can't even explain to you. Like, it felt like the clouds parted and the angels were singing. It was like, oh, this is a real chance to be a full on collaborator, which I knew this show would require because Ray is going through so many tumultuous ups and downs dealing with so much loss and with so much grief, dealing with all kinds of craziness.

And then I blinked and I was like, I found myself back in another traumatic. So I was like, OK, if I'm going to come back and do trauma and do all this this way, at least I'm leading it, at least I'm collaborating in an amazing way. So, yeah, I think that that was the biggest pull for me to come back because Ray just I just truly fell in love with him and fell in love with where Peter was taking the story. And, you know, I knew for me the challenges that would come with playing him because I realized I hadn't really played a character like this before, which I knew was going to be a challenge. It terrified out of me. So that's how I also knew that I needed to lean into it because it would require a lot of my own personal stories and my own personal progressions in my life. And it gave me a place to lay a lot of burdens down, which is something that I was really excited to do and to explore. But yeah, Dope Thief just offered me something that I felt that I could offer the viewers as well, like just and that's just another side of what I wanted to showcase. Yeah. And I mean, one of the things that I think is interesting, if you're going to take an EP job, you definitely had a birth by fire. I mean, huge production, lots of moving parts and Ridley Scott. Oh, and we're going to be paused by, you know, the first strike in the better part of two decades, all of that. But the thing I think would be hardest for me to kind of wrap around with is the tonal shifts of this show. Just how, like in the middle of, you know, spoiler alert, one of the most dramatic, like fight sequences of the whole thing. It's the Bad News Bears, basically, like there's a full on comedy bit in the middle of the shootout. And that's the most believable thing in the world, because we've experienced that, of course, these characters are going to mess this up.

That's what I love the most about Peter Craig kind of experience is that you have these characters who are incredibly flawed and also just are not skilled. Like they're like, there's also there's also tragedy, but there's also great humor at the same time. Like they're just so multidimensional and it's and it's so fun to play. Honestly, was that originally from the very first scripts that you got to see? Because this is television. I'm sure you got like a pilot and maybe like four or five episodes. But did they have this whole season arc kind of planned out? Did you know it was going to be like, you know, very lock stock and two smoking barrels meets like minority report in some ways? Yeah. You know, Peter's brain, man, like I'm so fortunate to have been paired with somebody like Peter. He truly is a collaborator that I want to work with for as long as I possibly can. He writes characters that are just so, you know, again, incredibly flawed. But you want to care. You really want to care about them. You find yourself actually admitting that, you know, these bastards are people you really want to know. It's just like and there's such humanity to them. And he gives you as an actor such a playground to play on because, you know, he he releases it and then he, you know, steps back and is like, I want to see what you're going to bring, you know, what sauce are you going to add to it, which is is the kind of collaboration I really love. But at the same time, there's nowhere to hide, really. There's really nowhere to hide. And so within this series, you find these characters always coming in opposition of a lot of things that they believe in and doing what is is necessary than what is right, you know, like and everything changes. Every corner changes somebody's life every time.

Everything changes all the time. And I think that that's what was so exciting about Ray and Manny, that that union, because like here you have these two men who have known each other since they were 15 years old, like underneath the thumb of incarceration, growing up in a system that is telling them that they don't amount to anything and they won't ever be anything.

And then they're released as men into this world. And so, OK, you're free. Go figure it out. And they're just like, what are we supposed to do? OK, you know what? Let's rob tripods. Let's pretend to be D.A. agents. Right. Because what are we really going to get a job at?

What is a nine to five looking like, you know, for this black and brown man who've been, you know.

And so then we decide to come up with this little scheme. And then also, like it just goes so wrong because we're also terrible at it. We're amateurs. We're novices.

We're not. And then you start to see this whole, you know, Dante's Inferno open up because they've chosen this path and it just goes wrong. And they're literally having to make decisions about their lives. Like, is it worth living? Is it worth continuing on? Is it? And that was exciting. And I mean, to read it, to read it page after page is just like, oh, man, like what?

Like what? I feel like when people were watching this show, I think that anxiety is the main.

Very like you get a bear and got nothing on y'all, man. And I'm not trying to bring up another show.

Don't worry. They're in a different category. It's fine. You know what I mean? Like people talk about that show or like something like The Pit and they say that is tense. I'm like, this was like dope beans. And like, again, shootouts, you know, it's crazy.

Just just imagine imagine getting the scripts, you know, and trying to figure out exactly like where you were going week after week. And it's just like, what what is about to happen? My favorite compliment I will say about this show is when people tell me about how they watch it, like so much that they're watching it, but how they have to watch it because they apparently just takes you through all these kind of like and it's usually people like screaming like, right, like, oh, no, that there is there are so many poor decisions that you not want them to be doing throughout the course of this series. I agree with that.

There is not in fact, there's not a single episode where any decision seems good until you figure it like because not to spoil it, but you open you don't realize that y'all are fake agents. And that is literally the only time that y'all look capable is that one opening is just a series of bad events, a series of unfortunate events. But that is so fun to play.

It is so fun to play. And I have to say that it is only made possible by, you know, the players of the show. I mean, being able to do this with Wagner more like I you know, not only did I, you know, find a brother for life and a friend for life and a confidant for life, but man, is he fun to play with? Like you just you literally get to watch. It's so funny because he and I both were being challenged to play completely different sides of characters that, you know, like that people don't know us for or haven't seen us this way. So you hear you have Wagner in this playing this trepidatious, nervous, scared, you know, you know, kind of like he's like religious.

Trying to find his way, man. And every time he's just like, what did you make me do? How are we here? What is going on? And then me just trying to figure out how to hold it all together, like trying to be noble, trying to do the right thing sometimes. And but also like that kinship is so important to the story that connects you. And it was so important for us to show that love between these two, to show this kind of friendship, to show this codependence, to show that stuff and also to bring the levity up, man. We had to be clowns at some point in this, like we had to battle clowns at some point in this show. You had to you had to find that really like that creamy center of like being able to be vulnerable and to be scared, but at the same time trying to fight for your life. But that's also a testimony to Peter's writing. Yeah, no, I was literally just going to bring it to Wagner. And like, it's crazy. I saw him at Cannes. He has a new movie,

The Secret Agent. And I'm just like, you know what I mean? And I'm just like, this dude, it's crazy that he's that and then he's doing like this role. And I think you it's also similar that you just kind of become a chameleon in all the parts you have. And I feel like this role in particular, there's a lot of those chameleon moments. Again, for folks that haven't seen the show, you've already kind of previewed it. You guys are fake D agents, you end up ripping off the wrong person. But the other side of this tale, which I think is interesting, and the thing I came to that the end of it is your character is really a criminal who we discovered through the course of the show is really a good guy. And the other person who kind of bookends that soul story is

Mina. And hers is, this is a supposedly a good guy, a person with a badge, who through the course of the show, we figure out is just a crazy gangster, really. You know what I mean? Talk about- Played brilliantly by Marina Harlan. What we asked of her was no small feat. Because you want to talk about someone who can act without saying a word, but can convey, you know what I mean? What we asked of her, also not to spoil the show, but she loses her voice. So the first half of the series, you're watching this woman trying to regain speech, trying to figure out, and all she wants to do, you can tell she's a hard ass. And so most of the time, you can tell that she wants to just like, but she can't talk. So you're watching Moran do this amazing, amazing work of trying to find her voice throughout this series, while also making sure that she's bringing down the people who caused this to her and took away something very important from her in her life. And Marina Harlan was the only person that I could think of that could pull that off. Like, she is the most masterful. And I just want to take a moment to give a shout out to the women of the series, period, point blank. You know, my mother is played by the like, amazing, amazing, legendary Kate Mulgrew, which, you know, I tasked her with, I was like, yeah, you're going to be my mom. You're my mom. And that's just what it is. And then you get Ving Rhames for your dad, too.

Yeah, Ving Rhames is my dad. And, you know, Nesta Cooper, who plays the wonderful lawyer, Michelle, and also love interest. And you've got Liz Caribel, you know, so everyone, it was one of the best ensembles I'd ever had the luxury of being a part of. But every single character is going through this kind of existential crisis of doing what's right and trying to figure out what's right and how to make the wrongs right. And but at the same time, you know, with Mina, I become like her

Moby Dick, right? Like, I become this white whale that she's trying to find because, like, she feels like if she, you know, can find me and track me down, like, then there's justice where you've got the whole D.A. It's like, it can't be this guy. Like, it's not this guy. And she's like, no, it's definitely this guy. So it's so it was so fun, honestly, to do this show, because we just knew that the layers of each character, episode by episode, were going to be tested. Like, everyone was going to have to go through and endure their own personal tests of trying to do what's right, because then you find out that Rey's whole journey through the whole series is like, where is that lady? Like, there's a lady that wasn't supposed to be there, like, and didn't and you're watching everybody in the series deal with their own, like, hauntings of things and decisions that they've made, which makes them even more human because, you know, it's real easy to think that they're criminals and they could get by and they're shooting this and doing that. No, everyone's moral compass is completely spinning out of control because they want to do what's right. And they want to, you know, ultimately be seen as good people. And I think that that's what's so brilliant about how Peter constructs characters and story.

Yeah, again, I'm not going to give this away because you've already highlighted I was about to go to Kate next because again, as a Trekkie, she will always be my captain as well. But you know what I mean? Like, I don't care what she does. I love that you brought her in this and she's so good at it. Ving is so good into all the women like you mentioned. But I have to just particularly shout out Dustin when and legend also, and specifically wanted to talk to you being like an EP and also someone that works with him. First of all, his character is so good. He's so good in this. I can't even begin to tell folks how good he's in it. You got to watch it all the way to the end to appreciate how good he is in it. But also this dude has been on some of like some crazy sets like he's been in like shows and just been doing stuff for forever. Did you get any stories from him? Because I feel like he would be a wealth of like, back in the 80s.

Are you asking if I specifically asked what it was like to work with Johnny Depp back on 21 down the street? No, I did not. I mean, did I think about it? Yes, I kind of know where the bodies are buried. One is hard because you're looking at this man that has been on television like for, you know, like for 40 years. Yeah. And then you question whether or not he's a vampire because he looks exactly the same. Like this man is in amazing shape. He is the kindest person in the world. And then because he's such a great actor that he takes on this

Philly accent, he takes on this Delco accent. Like now you've got this man. He's just like, like, like he, he was brilliant and he was so game for everything. And, and it was so interesting because the relationship between his character and I, you know, runs deep too, like very deep. Like you can tell that his character was the one that kind of like, you know, trained me and was like, this is how we run the street. Like there, it is also yet another love story. It is also another kind of kinship between these two men that, you know, it's mentor and mentee, but at the same time, like he is what I think family should be and should look like.

So you're watching us both go through that. And Dustin was just such a team player, man. Like he was just such a team player. And as the show was going on, you know, his character just became more and more entrenched in Ray's life. You could see that there were these definite hooks that he had and, and Ray's formation of, of who he was becoming as a man. And, and, and, you know, it turned, I don't want to give it away, but it goes sideways. There's a lot of betrayal. There's a lot of, you know, like a lot of breakups in a way that go on in this show. But he played it so masterfully. Like he truly is, is one of a kind, like Dustin, even, even Q who plays his grandmother, like she's a legend. Like, you know, she, she like, there was nothing greater than being able to put a double barrel shotgun in her hand. And I was like, ah, not too much, not too much of my girl. We don't want to say too much. Oh my gosh. She's such a legend. She's such a, you want to talk about stories. You want to talk about stories like she has all of them. And it was just, it was amazing. It was amazing to play with these masters. It really, really was. I'm not going to say who said it, but the coldest line, in my opinion, there's a ton of cold lines in the series.

Oldest line in the series is yeah, you were a tool, but it doesn't mean I don't love my tools, girl. Peter Craig, the cold line. I do want to talk before we get out of here about some of the other stuff that you've kind of gotten to do. I think you've been in two really incredible movies that were very well received. They did well at the, you know, they did well. Everyone was happy with them. But I think you on the press run for both of these movies was more impactful than anything else I will ever understand and see. Do tell. Do tell. What are these?

You and Aaron Taylor Johnson in Bully Train. I love that.

And you and Chris Hemsworth on Transformers. It was hilarious watching you with these two dudes.

Just, because I feel like you just gave them a different thing that they just don't normally do.

It was the best thing watching it. I would love if you could tell me.

One of my favorite things to do with, you know, like Aaron, I mean, I could go on and on and on about Aaron because not only is he just a skilled, like just tuned in actor, but man, is he the most lovable person in the world. Like, I mean, immediately when we met on Bully Train, we read it and I was like, oh, so we're brothers. Like, for real. Like, like, for real. The joke isn't that you're, you know, you're white, I'm black. No, we, we, we came up together. That's how the story changed. Like David Leitch, like saw us and was like, I was like, no, no, no. We, we, this run, this 10 toes down, right? This is, we down like four flats. Like, this is real.

And our relationship was like that. Like me and Aaron, very much like that. And, and I think it's really cool when I can bring out, I try to bring out the levity of like, cause I, you know, like being stars like that, these beautiful chiseled adored white men, you know, I want people to be able to see the fun cause they're fun.

But then you meet Chris who is just the, I be just like another brother. Like he would literally text me while Dope Peak was going on. Cause he's been watching it and it's just like, you know, they're just great men. They're great dudes. And I'm so glad I get to call them brothers and I would work with them a thousand times over. I like, you know, me and Aaron used to bake bread together. It's like, so it's like you it's, I'm so fortunate. That is something that I really do love about what I do is that I actually become in kinship with these people. Like they really do become family to me and, and it becomes fun because press tours are, it's a lot, but I think that's where you get to see the real, you know, you get to see the fun and you get to see, you know, it doesn't have to be so. And so like the two of them, I mean, I love them.

I talked to them, like, I love them. And they're also just damn good. They're really damn good at what they do. I wish I had their abs, but that's not my gospel. You know what I'm saying? But like at the end of the day, they are absolutely talented and, and beautifully wonderful men.

And so they, they bring that up out of me too. You know, they actually, they elevate me at the same time. So it's, it's cool. It's cool. It's still as weird. I'm just like, what?

What? It's like those, these are my friends. These are my family. And that's, that's what

I really love about what I do is, is the development of family that I get to, to, to, to create and the people I get to adopt and who adopt me. It's the same with Kate. Like I only call her ma. Like I really only, I have her in my phone as ma and she will only let me call her ma.

And it's, it's real. Like she means the world to me. And so she's adopted me and, you know,

I've adopted her. And, and there are also people that I admire at the same time. So, and they've inspired me. And it's so nice to hear that them say that I inspired them at the same time. Cause it's easy to look at them in their career and be like, they already know it. They got it. But like to, to feel that, you know, push and pull of like inspiration and care is wonderful. Like it's, it's, it's such a blessing. One of the things I've heard you talk about is how you really want to keep trying to like defy expectations with your career. And I think you've definitely done that. I've already kind of talked about it. We just sampled the roles we've talked about here. You've done that. And one of the things I know for a fact that you got to do a little bit in this, and I think you want to do more of is be in romance, but there's a performance of yours where you did have a romantic situation that I believe because I've been day one on this movie has been recontextualized in the last few years. And I'm wondering if you have felt the recontextualization of Eternals, because I feel that that movie is going to have one of these and like, and I feel it kind of already where we all just look back and we're like, we really didn't catch this. It was such an honor to play Fastest because there were a few things.

One, to be able to show this kind of love to show this queer love between these two men who also had a family. Also that he's a God, right? So he's eternal. And in order for him to choose love, that means that he also has to choose death. At the same time, you're going to watch your partner die at some point, but also that, that is how he was made. Like, that's who he was. That's how it was. And it was great because the best, the best part, I wasn't so excited about the action of it.

I was like, I can't wait to see him at home. I was like, I can't wait to see. And then I knew

I was going to get a kiss. I was like, Oh my God, this is my first kiss. And I loved it. It just, man, it, it, it really. Do people come up to you now? Like, I feel like it's changed now. Like,

I think, I think, you know, Eternals was a, it was a big experiment, right? Because like, here we are kind of breaking the MCU down, bringing all different kinds of shapes, sizes, colors, where, how you love, where you're from, it didn't matter, you know? And so it was a huge experiment, which, you know, when you make experiments, sometimes they work and sometimes they don't. But it still holds a special place in my heart because I, it was the first time that I felt like I, you know, I wasn't so much excited about the action of it. Yes, I was excited about being a part of MCU. Yes, I was excited about like, what kind of spandex am I going to be in?

What's my color going to be? But to know that I had a husband, you know, I have a husband,

I have a son. Like there's a scene like Chloe Zhao, who I adore, like her vision for this movie was so wonderful. And what she's also still a good friend and just a great visionary. But there's a scene where I'm tucking him into bed. And I was like, oh, because that young actor, Isai, who must be in his teens now, if I see this kid now, I will probably blubber cry in the street because this kid was like my, like, I love this kid so much. And she was like, well, you're going to tuck him into bed. And I was like, but there's no scene for that. And she was like, well, just, you know, do your thing. And I was like, so I'm just, I was like, well, where's my husband? Like,

I was like, this is, this has to be a ritual that we do. And so we were improv-ing and ad-libbing our home life and showing our home. And it was just the best. It was the best. So like, I hope for more things like that. I hope for more characters like that. I hope for more kisses like that. You know, like that excites me that, that feels like it's a reflection of the world we live in, a reflection of the way I want to be loved and a reflection of the way that people want to see love. So it's like, it was, it was great. So if there's another Eternals Resurgence, that's great. Like, you know, it's, it always knocks me back a little bit when people come up and they're like, Eternals? You're from Eternals? Like, I'm like, what? Like, really?

Like, that's the thing. I just like, they keep adding, because once you get past just a few more characters, then you just go back to being Brian again, which is what they all should have just kind of known. So that's what I'm saying. You just got to get a few more icons on your filmography. We're getting there. We're getting there. We're getting there. We already got the

Tony nom, Oscar nom, Emmy nom. Like, we're getting there, kids. Come on.

We're gonna get there. Hey, stick with me.

We will. And congratulations on The Gothams as well.

Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. It's also, it's great. It's a good reason to come back to New York. You know what I mean? The Gothams has always shown me love and to get this honor is crazy. I have not written a speech. I have no clue what I'm going to say because I don't ever win anything. So I don't be, I'm like, no, I ain't got to write anything. But this is really great. I'm truly honored. It's really cool. Love it. All right. Well, thank you so much, sir. And we'll see you next time.