“It’s like my origin story.”
“I never intended to be an actor.
I think I ended up doing it because that’s where I was making the most money.
MONSTER (L-R): A$AP ROCKY as WILLIAM KING (as RAKIM MAYERS), KEVIN HARRISON JR. as STEVE HARMON, JENNIFER EHLE as KATHERINE O’BRIEN.NETFLIX
And I was like, let’s go for it,” he tells EW.
I’m obedient to the process."
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How does it feel now that the movie is finally coming out?
Kelvin Harrison Jr. plays Steve Harmon in ‘Monster’ on Netflix.NETFLIX
KELVIN HARRISON JR.:It’s exciting.
It’s like my origin story.
Have your feelings about the film changed at all?
Have you looked back at it recently and been like, “Oh, this hits differently” now?
I don’t think it hits any differently.
I think that has changed because at the time I was just asking questions.
So in that way, yes, it’s changed.
Has any part of the wait made it better?
Especially given how a lot of people involved have gotten more shine since it premiered at Sundance.
In addition to you, there’s alsoJohn David Washington,Lovie Simone.
I think [this] was one of JD’s first films that he had done.
He was doingBallersand it was like his first movie role, I think.
It’s cool to kind of glow up with everybody like that.
Did you read the book at all before auditioning for the film?
I read it once I got the job.
I got the graphic novel, and I also had the original book and I loved it.
It was such a great story, and he really felt 17.
That was the cool thing about it.
I really identify with Steve.
I identify with his innocence, and his curiosity was really interesting and attractive to me.
So I really used a lot of the book to decide my version of Steve.
Yeah, for sure.
I always went back to the screenplay first.
It was like, “Okay, what movie are we making now?”
Because his script’s in development, he’s drafting it right now.
And with that said, there’s a lot of holes and things he hasn’t figured out yet.
And there’s a lot of his personal take on it.
What I thought going into it was it was really refreshing to see a kid being a kid.
Also, seeing a kid who was not exempt from this oppressive system.
But now I can understand more some of the other characters in the story.
Don’t let them sway you anywhere."
How some of these systems can hurt the whole family more than we think they do.
Hurt our mental health.
I mean, I decided I don’t want to play any more high school characters.
Because the order they came out wasn’t the order I shot them.
I was around the same age.
I didIt Comes At Night, I didMonsterright afterwards.
So they just came out over the last three, four years.
Now five years withMonsterbeing the last one, and I haven’t really revisited.
Kingin the Elvis thing.
is my age, or a little bit older, in the time that we’re portraying them.
There’s been a lot of conversation within the Black community about fatigue concerning “Black trauma movies.”
And we rarely, truly get the full story.
We get to see what that looked like for him.
And this movie is a celebration of that.
Monsteris now streaming on Netflix.
