With the release of Juror #2 on Max, Dorkaholics was invited to speak with Cedric Yarbrough, who plays Marcus King, a juror in the film directed by Clint Eastwood.
Hey Cedric, my name is Neil, I’m with Dorkaholics, where we believe that there’s a dork in everyone, and our job is to bring that dork out into the world.
Cedric Yarbrough: Okay, we’ll see if you can do that. I don’t know. I don’t know if I believe in everything you’re saying right there, but we’ll see. We’ll see.
Okay. I don’t know if this is you or your character from Juror #2.
Cedric Yarbrough: A little bit of both. A little bit of both.
I know you were a theater kid growing up. Was there anything else that made you a dork growing up?
Cedric Yarbrough: I mean, I’m a big nerd into sports. I guess a big dork about basketball, a big dork about football. I used to draw nonstop. I was big, big, big into art and making my own drawing. Big dork about music. Yeah, singing. I’m from Minneapolis. So Prince was a big, big deal. Prince and the time and that sound. Janet Jackson was doing music being produced there, so music was a big, big thing for me. So yeah, I guess you’re right. You are pulling out the dork out of me, man.That was so fast.
I did it. All right. Interview over. I’m just kidding.
Cedric Yarbrough: You won. You won.
So I heard that in researching jury duty from your friends and family, you had never done jury duty. Is that still the case?
Cedric Yarbrough: I’ve never done jury duty. I had a couple of lunches with some friends to let me know a little bit about what it was to be a jury member. I also interviewed this wonderful woman who runs a boys and girls club, since my character runs a boys and girls club, and so she was able to give me a little bit of the ins and outs. And there’s a wonderful one here in Los Angeles, in Hollywood. And I visited there, so I wanted to learn as much as I possibly could so I could just kind of breathe the character and not think too much about it, just be in it. and then, you know, being able to shoot the film and have the amazing Toni Collette and Chris Messina actually present the case in front of you as a jury member and you’re just watching them present it. It was really fascinating. It was really cool because they are such gifted actors. You really are in a jury box, trying to be convinced of this case. And that was just fun. Just watching them go at it was really, really cool.
And it’s such a heavy case that the film is about. I’m wondering if there were any stories that you heard from friends or the woman from the boys and girls club that carried maybe close to as much gravity or weight to it. And you don’t have to reveal anything in case there’s something like some NDA or like, ‘Oh, we’re not allowed to talk about things.’
Cedric Yarbrough: Nothing that kind of bled over into what the story was. But from the film, from real life, I did get to have great conversations with Mr. Clint Eastwood though. That was really cool. Just, he’s got so many stories, so just a plethora of knowledge anyway, but you know, this is a guy who’s an institution at this point, he is filmmaking, from both standpoints of being an actor and a filmmaker, a director and the lives he’s been touched by or touched. I know he’s an amazing musician in his own right. He loves jazz, loves music, and I was telling him that I started getting into playing. We were talking about music earlier, but I got a piano right before the pandemic and started learning how to play music and he revealed to me that he and Sammy Davis Jr were really good friends and they used to talk about music all the time. And Sammy, before he passed away, got a gift from Gary Cooper. I won’t tell you what the gift was, but he got a gift from Gary Cooper and passed it on to Sammy and then Sammy passed it on to Clint. And it just made me think of old Hollywood and how cool the stories that he has from friends that he’s made along the way here and for him to pass that story onto me was just a really cool gift.
I mean, speaking of Clint Eastwood, I think you’ve mentioned that Clint is like the type of director who trusts the people that he works with, as well as the talented people that are casted in his work. What do you, what did you bring to your character that, or the story that wasn’t necessarily in the pages of the script because you felt that trust to be able to do so?
Cedric Yarbrough: Well, I had done my research, as I said before, about the Boys and Girls Club, about being on jury duty. And because this film wasn’t offered to me, I had to audition and book it. So, there was a level of feeling that I earned this role. He saw the audition and wanted me to be a part of it. And so that, that process gives you the, the trust, the encouragement, the will to say, okay, I belong here. This stuff is a little intimidating, you know, it’s Clint Eastwood and a lot of people don’t know me from my dramatic work, but I know that I put in the work for it, and because like you said before, he does trust his actors. And so I felt like I could bring my own point of view and coupled with the research that I had done about someone that might be in this kind of position to the work. I’ve been offered roles before and I’ve done things where they’ve asked me to come in and, and do a role and not audition and that’s great. That’s fun to be offered a job, but to earn a job, particularly something of this caliber, makes it easier also on me that I don’t have to prove myself on the job. I’ve already gotten the job. You already know kind of where I come from. And with that, you feel more confident in the work.
And what originally drew you to this, to the film in this role?
Cedric Yarbrough: Money, money, Neil, I needed a job, man. This house doesn’t pay for itself. I had to work, bro. That and being able to work with with Mr. Eastwood was really a… I was going to say a dream come true, but that’s not a dream I’d ever even thought in my wildest dreams that I’d be able to work with him. And plus I really love the script. There are a lot of times these scripts that you get aren’t as well written, frankly. A lot of times it’s not character driven. A lot of times it’s about how fast you’re flying through the air or who’s going to harness you on whatever so you can flip around. And I’m a character actor. I come from the theater. I love the written word and I love being able to bring scripts to life. And this subject matter is evergreen about morality. And it allows people like Kiefer Sutherland, like J.K. Simmons, like the amazing Zoe Deutch and our amazing cast to really sink their teeth into material and really show our chops. And that was also one of the main reasons I really wanted to be a part of this.
The film does such a good job of portraying the complicated system that is our legal system and the different types of attitudes, as well as varying degrees of morality. And I don’t feel comfortable saying that either, because it’s like, I think every juror was moral in their own right, but some were just very steadfast, like your character per se, just saying like, I know he’s guilty. Like you can’t convince me otherwise. And it’s like, Okay, well, he was guilty of possibly selling drugs. We don’t know his background with that, but like, he should be locked up, even though he’s been in and out of the system already. And the way you’re kind of butting heads with Nicholas Holt’s character throughout the film. Like, I remember your last scene where you’re, you’re like, ‘I see you, man. I don’t understand what your game is, but I see you.’
Cedric Yarbrough: You bring up some amazing points there. First and foremost, the morality part and the jury part of it where we are working in a flawed system and people are not perfect. They come with their own biases, their own prejudices. And so you’re asking folks that have certain points of view to come and judge someone else. And so those things can happen. People can have certain ideals and bring them to a jury. This particular character of mine has a point of view because he’s been through a system of gang violence and losing a brother because of it.
And so he has a certain point of view. I’ve heard some criticisms about the minority characters in this movie [being] angry and upset, and they will say that. But also in the same breath, [they will] talk about the movie, 12 Angry Men, but have no problem with that movie that actually has the word angry in it, because these guys were white, but they were 12 angry men. People come in with their own biases and black people can be angry. So, I enjoyed being one of the antagonists in this film. I think a lot of the characters are self-serving and my character definitely was, he had a point of view. But that’s the part of being an actor and not judging what that character is. It’s just bringing in what that point of view is. Certain people do see this character, Nicholas Hoult’s character. In one of the final scenes, his baby is born and he’s looking down at the child and, you’re hoping the child sees you in a certain light in a new, fresh way. And you want to be a good father. A lot of the sacrifices and a lot of what has been happening is because he wants to be a father. He wants to be there for that child and for that child to see him in this way. And then a door is knocked by Toni Collette’s character and she comes in and she also sees him in another way. And that type of filmmaking, for me, is what it’s all about. I love that stuff. That’s not really spoken, but if you’re paying attention, you see that as well. So it was all in the eyes towards the end of the film. I got some big ones myself. So that bridge scene, it’s all about the eyes right there. And we shot that on the second day of shooting, or at least the second day that I was there, in 107 degree heat. Clint Eastwood is right there, the sun is shining in my face, and it’s time to perform. It’s time to rock and roll and it was really such a cool experience.
I had heard that the final scene with Toni and Nicholas had multiple takes that were vastly different just to capture different ways that the ending could end ambiguously. I heard in one way she’s not alone at the front door, I’m trying to avoid spoilers here, but I wonder if there were any other scenes with you in it that were left on the cutting room floor just because it felt like we see your character talk to Nicholas and then boom there’s a ruling and it’s like as the audience I think we can fill in kind of what happened in order to sway the jury one way or the other but at the same time it’s like wait I felt like that would have been interesting or crucial to have seen develop. Not just Nicholas talks to you and then boom, we’re in the courtroom.
Cedric Yarbrough: That’s how it was written in the script. And I think people have heard that it was shot in certain ways. And then they figured out what it was with the editing. But that is not to say that they didn’t know what the ending was. Sometimes filmmakers will shoot a certain way. Because they already have it in the script, but then they will shoot another way just to give themselves options. And also sometimes test audiences want to see another way. Sometimes studios want to see another way, but that is not to say that Clint was unclear on how he wanted this film to end. And I’ve seen that criticism as well, that they’ve heard it was shot certain ways, so he didn’t really know how it was supposed to end. No, that’s not the case. Yes, there were certain scenes that I had shot that they ended up editing out, but ultimately it did follow what the script was and what the clear vision of what the through line of what this film is. Sometimes films don’t figure it out until the editing and figure out, ‘oh, this is what this movie is.’ This is what this is or a certain take will make a point of view that was completely different [from] what the filmmaker or the writer intended. But I think mostly in this case, it was pretty mapped out.
And, how did you feel about the ambiguous ending? Was there a certain way that you hoped it would end for Nicholas’s character?
Cedric Yarbrough: Personally, I enjoy the ending because it brings it back into the viewer’s hands of what you would do, what could be done, what should be done. I think this is what Mr. Eastwood wants you to ask yourself. I think he wants you to have these conversations about justice, about what truth really is. I personally have my own points of view of what I think could possibly happen. But I do know those two are forever linked. Now, Nicholas Hoult and Toni Collette’s characters have a certain secret that bonds them forever together. What happens after that, we don’t know, but those two know. And we now know what they know. And I just enjoy that kind of filmmaking that just makes you not just entertained, but enlightened and makes you think.
You basically already answered it, but I just want to ask this question just to make sure we leave no stone unturned. What is it that you hope or want audiences to feel or think about? It feels like you’re saying this film is supposed to put a mirror up for audiences to kind of evaluate for themselves, like what is justice? What is morality?
Cedric Yarbrough: I hope that people have these conversations about the justice system. A lot of us have been affected by it. A lot of us have either friends, family, or ourselves that have been affected by it. Either did some jail time, looking at jail time, or a friend or family has been around, has been through and in and out of the justice system. And that kind of stuff is scary. How many people that shouldn’t be in jail are in jail? Or how many people that should be in jail aren’t? So, the movie is definitely heightened, because it is a film, but there’s a lot of truth in this film. I’ve also seen that kind of criticism that this is such a far-fetched premise. But I think because it is a film, it does teeter on some things that are a little bigger, but, I think the core of it remains the same, and it is true. I think a lot of us can see ourselves in Nicholas Hoult’s character, and not just Nicholas Hoult, but it’s also a morality play for Toni Collette’s character as well, about her doing the right thing, whatever the right thing is for her. So I just hope people enjoy this kind of movie. I hope people want to see more of this kind of filmmaking and watch actors actually not have to be in tights all the time, and actually do some fun character work.
I’m just curious, because you got to work with Nicholas Hoult and the Superman trailer just dropped this week. Did you get a chance to see it yet?
Cedric Yarbrough: I just saw the trailer. Nick had just booked it when we were shooting some of the jury sequences. And we were all so happy for him. He’s such a cool dude. He’s a good guy. I really like working with him and I also like who he is as a person. And I know he was working really hard. I think he was coming off of either The Order or Nosferatu. And then he had like a week or a weekend and then he was doing Juror #2, and then he had a couple of weeks off and then he was off to do Superman. So this guy is super busy, a superstar. Super ridiculous and super fun. And I’m just happy for him because he’s a good guy, and an incredible actor. I can’t wait to see all of these films, but working with them was such a joy. I could see a lot of the character development within him while we were working and figuring out stuff. Working with a guy like that brings out great stuff in me as well. You’re like, okay, this guy can hit it back. Let’s do this. Let’s go. And, I think you can see that we liked working with each other on screen.
I didn’t know that he came off of Nosferatu, went to Juror #2, and then went off for Superman. There’s that scene where one of the characters says to him, you look tired. And he’s like, I have a newborn baby. And they’re like, no, it’s not that. I’m like, wait, is this about the character or about Nicholas right now?
Cedric Yarbrough: Yeah, that’s Toni Collette’s character saying that. It is pretty crazy that you have to kind of switch gears and get into a different mindset. And because Nick isn’t from this country, he had to put on that accent as well. And you have to try to figure out your brain a little bit, and make sure you’re still in it. You’re still doing this character, not another character. And it’s a lot of putting different sides of your brain and putting one on hold and also thinking of the future project. Okay. I got Lex Luthor in mind, but let me just do that when I have a chance, I’ll shave my head and be Lex another time. So, I’m happy for him.
Did you know prior to meeting him that he’s originally from Europe because I met him this week and I was like, wait, he’s not American. This has been a whole voice that I have in my head as like Beast and all these other roles. Now I’m like, wait he’s been doing an accent the whole time.
Cedric Yarbrough: Yeah, he’s very English when he speaks. So, I got this part of him a lot. It’s like, ‘Hello, what’s going on? Are you going to eat that?’ No, he never asked me, but he was always Nick and then he gets into character and then he can turn on that American accent. I know he’s rather studied so he’s able to switch, flip back and forth.
You’re not just known for your dramatic or comedic roles, but you also have a background as a voice actor.
Cedric Yarbrough: Yes, I’m really happy about that. These voiceover jobs sometimes are kind of grandfathered in the voiceover community. A lot of people can do a lot of voices. And so sometimes you’re not able to get in there. And I’ve luckily been able to get in. I was able to do this year’s Batman: Caped Crusader. And I was really excited about doing that. And we’re in the lab doing season two of that right now. So, with voiceover jobs, it’s so great because I don’t have to be this. In voiceover, I can play Rupert Thorne and be an old white man who’s eaten lots of steaks and chewed a lot of cigars, that kind of thing and that’s fun for me.
I heard that James Gunn, in creating his DC universe under DC studios, said that he would want the people doing the voices for the animation series to also be actors and actresses in the live action. If they’re playing the same characters, do you have any interest in taking that on in the DC universe, playing a character in animation that you would also have the opportunity to play in live action?
Cedric Yarbrough: I guess it would all depend on the project and, and if I feel right for it and if all the people involved were cool with it. But sometimes that works, sometimes that doesn’t. I’ve never met James Gunn, but I have so many friends that have worked with him. I’m James Gunn-adjacent, that’s what I think I am. But hopefully maybe one of these days, I’ll be able to get one of these universes on camera. Maybe one of these days people will look at me and be like, you know what, let’s put Cedric in some tights, man. Let’s see if he can beat some people up. That’d be cool.
Thank you so much for your time today, Cedric. It’s been a pleasure speaking with you about Juror #2, now out on Max.
Cedric Yarbrough: Finally, finally, we’ve had a couple of premieres and now we have the final December 20th premiere. It is here and I hope people enjoy it during the holidays.
