This week’s Take Ten guest is Colman Domingo. With two Emmy nominations on deck — for his role of Danny in Netflix comedy series The Four Seasons, and Ali in the final season of Euphoria — Domingo sat down with Deadline to discuss the delights of enjoying witty banter while wearing “cute sweaters” in upstate New York and embodying an old soul opposite Zendaya.
We also got into his inimitable sense of style — and his favorite outfit ever. Plus, the two-time Oscar nominee even treated us to a little singing, which is no small thing coming from the Tony nominee and co-writer, director and star of the upcoming Nat King Cole biopic Unforgettable.
Colman Domingo as Danny in ‘The Four Seasons’
Netflix
One of the themes of The Four Seasons is the importance of maintaining enduring friendships, and Domingo revealed the story of his longterm friendship with Stacy Thomas, with whom he co-hosts the podcast Bottomless Brunch at Colman’s. “Stacy and I have known each other since I was about 15, 16,” he said. “One of the last episodes of Four Seasons, she called me and she says, ‘Oh my god, is that us? Is that based on us?’ Because we’ve had situations like the one that Tina [Fey] and I have [in the show] about being afraid of being apart and what is it going to do to our friendship? Because that platonic relationship is so meaningful. We are each other’s partners in many ways, yet we have our own relationships. Stacy has been my sister and I’m godfather of her son. And our relationship has been that close where sometimes we act like a married couple… We’re ride or dies to the end of time.”
“I went to Bruce Willis in Moonlighting. I was like, fast-talking, wise-cracking. Always a little bit ahead of the game.”
He also expounded on his Euphoria experience, in particular the scenes he shared with Zendaya. “Those scenes with Zendaya are probably some of my favorite scenes I’ve ever done on television. It’s written by Sam Levinson and when he gave us that sit-down episode between Season 1 and Season 2, just in the diner, two addicts talking, they had nothing to lose. And we have the rollercoaster and myriad of emotions. We play comedy, we play drama. It’s beautiful. And Zendaya, she just delivers. She’s just very open with me. We’re both very open. We don’t talk about the scene a lot. We don’t talk about the work a lot. We both show up with our own research and work and material, and then we just vibe off each other and we let it be what it is. I think that’s the best that it can be at times.”
Colman Domingo and Zendaya as Ali and Rue in ‘Euphoria’.
HBO Max
Coming up, Domingo is playing an attorney in the thriller An Innocent Girl with Carrie Washington and James Marsden. Domingo’s inspiration? “I went to Bruce Willis in Moonlighting,” he says. “I was like, fast-talking, wise-cracking. Always a little bit ahead of the game.”
Of course, Domingo can also currently be seen in the film Michael in which he plays Michael Jackson’s father Joe. The film recently passed a billion dollars at the global box office. “I had such good time with the Michael film,” says Domingo, “especially working with Jaafar Jackson, but also Juliano [Vladi], the young Michael. There’s something about working with these actors who hadn’t been on a set often, but have this god-given talent and they were in service to Michael’s legacy in every single way. That was extraordinary to see. They really became aspects of Michael that I think were so beautiful. In my role as Joe Jackson, I have my own arc in it, but I feel like I was witnessing something special, something that doesn’t happen often.”
To watch the full interview, including Domingo’s favorite memories from making Disclosure Day, plans to write a film about Princess Tiana from The Princess and the Frog, and his beautiful singing voice, click on the video above.
