The latest “Shaft” movie is a family affair. You’ve got the original Shaft, Samuel L. Jackson Shaft, and now, JJ Shaft. The cast has been having some fun in South Florida, and we chatted with the stars on Thursday. Can ya dig it?
Richard Roundtree (as John Shaft Sr.): “Back in the day, we didn’t need guns. All we need was our bare knuckles.”
Jessie T. Usher (as JJ Shaft): (looks as gun arsenal) “Damn, Grandpa!”
Richard Roundtree (as John Shaft Sr.): “Well, you can never be too prepared.”
Thrice as nice! The new “Shaft” movie manages to get three generations of the legendary Shaft family on the big screen.
Jessie T. Usher (as JJ Shaft): “What’s up?”
We sat down with two of those generations — Richard Roundtree and Jessie T. Usher — on Miami Beach, Thursday morning.
Jessie T. Usher: “I kinda just went to the beach and hung out. I swam with my daughter and my friends for a bit. I’ve been eating a bunch of food.”
Richard Roundtree: “Oh, you got in the water?”
Jessie T. Usher: “Oh, yeah, I got in the water, splashing around.”
Richard Roundtree: “Bless your heart. Bless your heart.”
Jessie plays JJ, a cyber security expert whose best friend mysteriously dies.
Jessie T. Usher: “He needs a little bit of help, and it’s the only kind of help he can get from the other generations of Shafts.”
And while Richard may be the elder Shaft, he’s also the original one. He knows who’d win in an epic Shaft battle.
Richard Roundtree: “Don’t get it twisted, now. Understand that I am the man.”
Jessie T. Usher: “I know, that’s what I’m saying. I wouldn’t even try! I wouldn’t even try!”
Kicking butt and taking names is the Shaft family business, but we were wondering what the guys’ business could be in real life.
Jessie T. Usher: “Maybe we could be food critics or something. We could travel the world, right? We could travel the world, try food.”
Richard Roundtree: “There ya go!”
The more they talked it over, the more sold they were on the idea.
Richard Roundtree: “Hey, we should talk about that.Yeah!”
Jessie T. Usher: “We should really make this happen!”
The guys were dressed to impress Wednesday night for the American Black Film Festival’s opening night. We got a word with Samuel L. Jackson on the red carpet, and we almost literally mean a word.
Chris Van Vliet: “Did that Miami humidity get to you?”
Samuel L. Jackson: “No. All right!”
So smooth. Speaking of Sam Jackson, JJ told us about some advice his onscreen pops gave him.
Jessie T. Usher: “You gotta excuse my language, ’cause it’s Samuel L. Jackson advice! We were doing a little shootout type of thing, and he was like, ‘Here, come over here real quick.’ I moved over to this side. He was like, ‘Cool, because you’re blocking my light, mother[expletive]!'” (laughs)
“Shaft” grooves into theaters on Friday.
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