It is hard to imagine that Yahya Abdul-Mateen II once pursued a career in architecture and urban planning. “I never knew that acting could be a real career path,” says the now Emmy and Tony Award-winning actor. But the call of the stage was so strong that Abdul-Mateen II made a complete career change in his late 20s. “Acting started off as a way to feed the part of me that wanted to be an extrovert,” says the Wonder Man star, for whom, these days, foundation building means something completely different. “I explore people and what makes us tick,” he says. “Acting is an investigative art for me.”
DEADLINE: Joining Wonder Man as Simon Williams and revisiting your early years as an actor — what was that like for you? Were there any striking similarities?
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YAHYA ABDUL-MATEEN II: That version of me was completely different from Simon, because I didn’t know anything. I was just young and bright-eyed, looking for a place to act. I would have done it in a garage. And then I found an opportunity to do it in a small theater. I maybe had four lines, but I was traveling about 15 miles to rehearse and say my four lines. The origins of [my story] were very different.
Where I do remember being in Simon’s shoes? Maybe about a year before I graduated school, I was in the rehearsal space for a scene and I thought, “Man, no one knows I’m here. I have all of this to offer and no one knows that I’m here.” And 10 years later, I’m sharing Simon Williams with the world — and he’s sitting in his car, and he’s like, “Man, I have so much to offer and no one knows that I’m here.” You know what I mean? So, it was actually a bit of a full circle moment to portray Simon Williams. But early on, oh man, I was just happy to be there.
DEADLINE: Presumably, no actor says no when Marvel comes calling. But how familiar were you with the source material?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: I wasn’t familiar with the source material at all. This was really about Destin [Daniel Cretton]. I was a big fan of Short Term 12 and Just Mercy. We had also had a general meeting maybe nine months before I got the phone call for this, when I was looking for directors to go and play with. And when I got the call for Wonder Man, he said that he wanted to do it in a similar style to his indie things. I knew that tonally, and in terms of style, it would be different [from other Marvel projects]. I also knew that I really, really liked working with Destin.
And then, you’re right, everyone wants to work with Marvel, but I told my team, “I want to talk to Kevin [Feige].” They said, “No, you don’t have to talk to Kevin.” I said, “I’m not budging until I talk to Kevin.” And we got Kevin on the phone and I asked him — well, I let him know, “Hey, I really, really like what you guys are doing, and I want to come and play, but I know I only get one Marvel buck to spend. So, I want to spend it well.” And he said two things. He said, “It’ll be a buck well spent.” And, in that meeting, I said, “I want to let people know that I’m funny.” And he saw that I was saying, “No one knows that I have a funny bone,” and he was like, “Yes, that’s exactly what I see, and I want people to know that, too.” It was cool that we were all thinking the same things.
DEADLINE: How much do you get to read at that stage? Do you get scripts? Broad concepts? What are you saying yes to?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: I had maybe two scripts. I definitely had one. I knew the length of the scripts. I knew what kind of quirky cat Simon was, and everything that you saw in Episode 1 and Episode 2. I mean, some things did change to be catered more specifically to me, but it was always tight. But yeah, I got to read the first two and they were funny. I said, “Oh, this is different.” But it did also take great casting and a great vision in order to make it be what it was. It was really a great formula of inviting just the right players.
In my spare time, I watch YouTube videos of people watching the episodes, and it’s so much fun. People see so much of themselves in Simon, from all walks of life. Actors, writers, directors, certainly, but podcasters, the doorman at the building where I work — everyone relates to having a dream.
DEADLINE: When you say you had one Marvel buck to spend, how did you know that you were betting on the right thing?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: The scripts were good, but scripts are always in development. To me, the constant was the creators — Destin and Andrew Guest. They made themselves available to hop on the phone when I said, “Hey, this section here, what’s going on here?” They said, “This is what’s going on, but what do you think is going on?” I remember everything that we talked about was in terms of what we think is happening — not what we know is happening. That let me know that it was going to be a collaborative effort. And that, as the number one on the call sheet, my voice and my opinions would be reflected in the script and the story. I said yes to the joint venture with this team.
DEADLINE: People who are analyzing this show are saying Wonder Man is a metaphor for anxiety. How did you ground the supernatural element? What do you think the show is about?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: This is the first show where I’ve watched people watch it. In my spare time, I watch YouTube videos of people watching the episodes, and it’s so much fun. People see so much of themselves in Simon, from all walks of life. Actors, writers, directors, certainly, but podcasters, the doorman at the building where I work — everyone relates to having a dream and believing, “I have a light and I want my light to shine.” We’re all looking for a place, in some way, I hope, to shine that light — for that light to be appreciated.
The light is the superpower, right? I think that’s what people really related to, and that’s what I related to. In that way, he was incredibly, incredibly human. Being human is super. Being human is so cool, especially in this world, where we are told to be perfect, and that we have to be millionaires and everyone has to be famous. Just to simply be human is something that unifies us all. And it’s interesting how taking a superhero and making him incredibly human is the thing that makes him special.
DEADLINE: What’s it like for you to see it resonate? Because Watchmen was incredible, but it played to a much smaller audience. You’re literally watching people take to this character.
ABDUL-MATEEN II: I never like to make things for everybody. I make things for myself, right? But boy, it does feel like everybody’s getting this one. And I think that goes back to the essence of, there’s something pure about just watching a person try to pursue their dream. I hope we all have little secret dreams. And Simon has a little dream that he is bold enough to actually go after. When it resonates with people, it lets me know that everybody in some way is doing the same thing. It’s nice to be a part of that.
But you know what I see when I’m watching those YouTube videos that none of the reactors know that I’m watching? That people are smiling, people are crying, they’re surprised. They see themselves and I can see that it’s also lighting fire under people. A lot of people want to give up right now or are at the point where they’re fighting against the voice that’s telling them to give up. And I feel like this show is putting the wind back in their sails.
DEADLINE: It’s also such a delightful depiction of male friendship. What is it like to portray male friendship with Sir Ben Kingsley?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: It’s so innocent. You know what I mean? It’s so innocent. I’m 10 years into this journey and most days I feel like a pro. It’s my job to be prepared in that way. And then I get up and I go to work with Sir Ben, who’s been in this business as long as I’ve been alive — longer — and it just reminds me that I’m still Simon Williams. I’m still right here at the beginning, with so much to learn. It was a masterclass, every single day, on set, but there was so much humility in that relationship. There was no ego involved. And it was really refreshing to make a show about acting, to make the experience just about these two characters.
DEADLINE: I have to ask you about the show’s Pretty Woman scene, because that cracked me up. What was it like to portray Julia Roberts’ iconic character?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: [Laughs] I was trying my best to make it my own. It was like, “What would Simon do?” Because Simon’s already got this prepared. “I know the lines.” I had to imagine that Simon saw it, and said, “That’s a great monologue. I’m going to use that someday.” He’s already done the work to make it his own. And then I had to go and watch it again and make it my own. That was the best type of ridiculousness that I’ve been involved in. And I got to smash the plates and the cups. We do such silly things in the name of art, but it felt great.
DEADLINE: You now have your own production company, you have an Emmy, you have a Tony. How do you feel about the future? What’s the reality of getting things in motion right now?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: That’s a great question. I’m recalibrating. It’s been a decade in the business and I’ve been really blessed. I’ve been really fortunate, but I still got dreams. I’m ambitious and I have got my eye toward the future. And I want to continue being a part of projects, and producing projects through my company, that people relate to. With Wonder Man, there’s so much heart and earnestness in this show, but it’s all so funny at the same time. I want to talk about love, I want to talk about heartbreak, I want to talk about adventure and failure, and I want to do it so that we also have humor and levity in all of the things that I do. There’s so much to explore in humanity, and if I do it truthfully, then we’ll have a lot of fun along the way. I think that’s really what I want to do in the next decade, while also, through the company, providing opportunities for other artists to come and play, express themselves and tell their stories as well.
DEADLINE: You also did Man on Fire. Was that shot before Wonder Man?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: It was shot after. Part of saying “yes” to Man on Fire was really to do something tonally different than Simon Williams, knowing that they could potentially be in the world at the same time. It was fun to think about, “Well, what if Simon Williams ever met Creasy? What would that dance be like?”
DEADLINE: Did you take inspiration from Denzel Washington in the original film or did you try to stay away?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: I was inspired by his soulful performance, but I tried to stack the deck in my favor. It was really about learning what I could do, and then finding out what really was interesting to me about that character. Because I wouldn’t be able to do a duplicate impersonation of Denzel’s performance. That’s a losing formula, you know what I mean? I wanted to stick to what would allow me to win in my own eyes. And that was finding something personal to obsess about in this character that I would wake up excited to share.
DEADLINE: Scent of Burning Flowers and Emergency Contact, are those still moving along?
ABDUL-MATEEN II: I’m not quite sure. I’ve got a lot of irons in the pot that are hot. Some of them are cooler than others right now and those two are probably some of the cooler irons in the pot right now.