It’s been, to say the least, a big couple of years for Brian Tyree Henry and Sterling K. Brown. Henry, perhaps best known as Alfred "Paper Boi" Miles in the flawless Donald Glover show Atlanta, is suddenly everywhere. He’ll be seen later this year in Widows, a stylish prestige thriller from director Steve McQueen and Gillian Flynn (author of Gone Girl), and he’ll be heard in the upcoming one-shot animated comic book movie Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse. Then there’s Brown, coming off an insane awards season in which he won the Emmy for Best Lead Actor in a Drama Series for his work on the NBC ratings juggernaut This is Us, along with a metric ton of other awards. He was also in Black Panther and hosted SNL, so, y’know, not bad.
Today, the two are speaking with GQ about Hotel Artemis, Drew Pearce’s directorial debut about a secret hospital for criminals in a near-future L.A. The “Hotel” Artemis is run by a no-nonsense nurse (Jodie Foster in, no joke, arguably one of her best roles), while Henry and Brown play Waikiki and Honolulu (patients at Artemis are named by the rooms they’re placed in), brothers holed up in the hotel while riots over a water shortage rage outside. If that’s not enough, they’re joined by other ruthless killers in Nice (Sofia Boutella), Acapulco (Charlie Day), and the Nurse’s right-hand man, Everest (Dave Bautista), who just wants to uphold the Hotel Artemis code of conduct, which includes not having weapons, and not killing other guests while on the premises. What could go wrong?
This being a phone interview, and the two good friends being who they are, things occasionally descend into abject chaos. They laughed, they talked over one another, they lost their trains of thought. It was all good fun. When possible, GQ attempted to steer the conversation towards their new fun summer movie, what it’s like for an actor to be bedridden for an entire movie, and, of course, superheros.
GQ: So, who am I speaking to right now?
Brian Tyree Henry: You tell us. Which one do you think is who?
Okay, I think I just heard... Sterling.
Sterling K. Brown: No, that was Brian. Incorrect! You're gonna get crucified for this man.
Let's get into it. I saw Hotel Artemis on Friday. You don't see many R-rated original summer movies. How was this pitched to you initially?
Sterling: Let's see, the initial pitch was you have an original story that is character driven. It's an action, it's noir but it's all built upon relationships and you have these different criminal elements come together that are forced to deal with each other in one single solitary space. Now, who's gonna make it out? Who's gonna survive this whole scenario, who's gonna prosper?
The film is set in L.A. ten years from now, and you actually filmed in L.A., right?
Sterling: Yeah, we were on set, it was pretty comfortable. We did have one scene where we did actually shoot in an old building downtown—it's near the end of the film where Jodi and I are looking to get out of the front door and we have this fight sequence with Zach Quinto. Well, when they built this old building they didn't have air conditioning back then. And it was one of the hottest summers on a closed set and it was about 92 degrees inside. And Zach and I are doing this fight sequence over and over. I think I probably had to change my three-piece suit a good six or seven times. They would use a blow dryer to make it look as if I hadn't sweat through the whole thing. So yeah, if we had had to shoot the whole movie in those circumstances, you wouldn't hear the cheery voice Sterling K. Brown that you're listening to now.
You didn't lobby for them to let you take your jacket off, at least?
Sterling: I'm all about selfless nudity, but it just wouldn't have fit in this picture.
Now, Brian, without spoiling anything, you spend a lot of time in this movie wounded, lying down. I assume that meant many hours of filming where you're just... doing nothing.
Brian: It was awesome dude. If you ever, as an actor, get an opportunity to play dead: Do. It. It's so great. I was attracted to this movie because I love sci-fi, I love horror, and once I saw that I was injured and I got to lie down and have blood on me I was like, "Do it! Do it!"
Did it get tedious? I mean, how long were you in that chair on certain days?
Brian: No. It was great. I fell asleep sometimes. I wish I could give a, like, quintessential actor's answer of like, "Oh I went deep." I didn't. I was just asleep.
You guys play brothers in the film. How far into your backstory did you go? What's this relationship like?
Brian: I'm the rapscallion, you know what I mean? I was the hard-headed one. I was the one that doesn't always do things by the book. I also have an addiction problem, and I look to my brother to take care of me. It was fun to play with that, being the fuck-up. It was such a juxtaposition to Alfred and Earn [he plays Donald Glover's cousin in Atlanta], you know what I mean? Whereas I'm the one that's constantly taking care of people. I'm the one that's always making sure that everyone is fed and making sure that everyone is doing what they have to by any means necessary. It was really nice to flip it and be the guy that had to be taken care of by his family.
Sterling: We talked about the backstory, but Brian and I have an 11-year friendship that we also leant on with regards to bringing these characters to life because, not to say that it's exactly the same thing, but our relationship in life is similar.
Brian: Very similar.
How did you guys both meet?
Sterling: We met at something called the Sundance Theater Lab in the summer of 2007. We were working on a play together by Tarell Alvin McCraney, who wrote Moonlight. We go back to the theater.
Brian: [adopting a British affectation] To the theater stage, to the three planks—
Sterling: [now also British] Treading the boards, if you will, mate.
Brian, you had a role on This Is Us recently. Sterling, have you considered calling in a favor and showing up in Atlanta?
Sterling: If ever Brian and Donald and the rest of the Atlanta squad would have me, I would be there with bells on. The show is ridiculous. I would love to fit into that landscape in some shape, form, or fashion.
It's been a big year for you both: Sterling you were in Black Panther, you're about to be in The Predator, you were hosting SNL. How have things changed for you in the past year, two years?
Sterling: Yeah, dude. Like, for a second I thought about trying to play coy but then you said all that, and I was like, No, I guess it's really too much to be modest. [laughs] Lay it on, man! It was a good year, man. The awards season was very, very kind to me and history was made and what not. Being able to host SNL was ridiculous. Down to right now, with Brian. We got our movie coming out, but we get to be brothers. It brings a smile to my face as I think about it. So I have no complaints with regards to how the year has gone. If anything, it's just making sure that I maintain a sense of balance with it all, that my wife and my kids get the time that they deserve and feel as valued as this career of mine. Then of course we'll have all the Artemis sequels.
And, lest we forget, you were in the best episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine this season.
Sterling: And it came back, thank God.
Brian: Yo man, you did your research! You get a man hug when I see you, bro.
Brian, I'm curious, you spoke a little bit about your character and how he's an addict, and that's a refrain that comes into play quite a bit during the movie. I was wondering if you did any research, how much you thought about that before filming.
Brian: Yeah I did black tar heroin to figure out—[laughs] No, here's the thing is that the addict mentality was the thing that I wanted to focus on because there was this need and this desire to find his next hit, but also hide it. It's so much about what the people say and don't say around you, you know what I mean? Like when I decide to take the tranquilizers and things like that, that suddenly reads differently when you find out about my character, right?
And it's tough for Waikiki, who's already kind of losing control. Sometimes the love for your family is not enough to pull somebody out of that. The love for that person is not enough to pull them out of that addiction, and so it was really cool to watch how, at the end of the day, my brother sticks with me from the begin to the very, very, very end.
Sterling: I don't think there's any question that, regardless of his addiction, this is still my brother and I love him.
Brian, you've got the animated Spider-Man movie coming up, but are you eyeing getting into a live-action superhero movie like Sterling?
Brian: I would love to. I'm looking for any reason for somebody to go and make me train. I'm not going and working out on my own, so if somebody wants to give me the Marvel treatment and go, "Hey man, look, We want you to go get jacked for four months so you can be... Spy Lord." Fuck. Yes. When you run this interview, make sure you put this in all bold caps so the Comic Con and the people at Marvel can see that I'm serious, okay?
It's great a movie like Hotel Artemis even exists. It's very violent, it's depressing, and the cast is fucking incredible. Why do you think studios are suddenly more willing to put out these big-swing movies that might draw smaller summer audiences?
Sterling: I think it goes back to even ... I think one of Rush Hour's were rated R right?
Brian: Nah, PG-13.
Sterling: Well, every time I look over at the Artemis poster, I'm like, my twelve-year-old self would be like, "Yeah, this is it." Maybe we need these lighter R-rated movies, you know? We want the violence but we also want to laugh a little bit.
Brian: I'm a blood person. For me the more blood the better, you know what I mean? I don't know why I'm that way, but it's so fun to watch. And then, this movie is deep. The movie is still about a water shortage, the movie is still about classism, it's still about family. We're being dared to go in and laugh at this dystopian future that we may be headed towards. And I feel like anybody of any age should be able to see the movie. Not toddlers of course, but whoever might be affected by this movie, I'm all for it.
How was the preparation in terms of the fight scenes and the physicality? Brian, I'm assuming your load was a little lighter.
Brian: It was easy for me man. I get shot and then I get carried around. It was like: sweat and have some drool and show some pain and we're good to go. Sterling had the heavy lifting, literally and figuratively.
Sterling: I had the time of my life as well. I like to use my body. I like to look cool. I live for this stuff.
You have a couple of intense fight scenes with Sofia Boutella, who was a dancer, who's been in action movies for years now. You had to bring your A-Game. Was that intimidating?
Sterling: What it is is you don't try to duplicate what somebody else is good at. Like this is the thought that I had when I hosted SNL. Like I can't be Will Ferrell right? But you can bring the funny that Sterling K. Brown has, right? So take Sofia Boutella. I don't have years and years of dance background, but I can still kick ass the way that Sterling K. Brown kicks ass.
Brian, what's your fighting style?
Brian: Very back alley. I'm a petty ass fighter. I don't care. I'll pick up anything. I'll hit you with a Red Bull can. I don't give a shit. I'm dirty. I'm a dirty fighter.