Landon Buford
Last week, Michael Rainey Jr sat down with cassiuslife.com, to discuss a variety of topics including if has picked up any tips and techniques from some of his co-stars from the Power Universe.
“Oh yeah, definitely, 100%. Being on set for such a long time, eight or nine years with so many greats as Omari Hardwick, Joseph Sikora, 50 Cent, damn near everybody on the Power show. Larenz Tate, Shane Johnson, I learned a lot from everybody,” said Rainey Jr.
“Even if it wasn’t spoken, even if they didn’t tell me, like, “No, this is what you got to do,” I just kind of observed everything on set, and I just saw what they do and saw how they operate. And especially with Omari, he was number one on Power, so we would always be following his lead, and I would always see how he would operate. So I would just try to observe and pick up everything, just absorb everything. Be a sponge, and just learn as I’m working with these greats, taking advantage of the opportunity that’s given to me.”
He added, “So, obviously not just taking advantage of being on a platform and stuff like that, but taking advantage of being around such greats, being able to pick up things and work with them and pick their brains and stuff like that, so definitely.”
Everyone knows how talented Hardwick is and the fact that he is still the face of the Power Universe even after his departure. He recently shared in an interview with Jon Bernthal that once he knew he was gifted, that’s when everything changed.
“I believe the day that I came off like I knew how gifted I was everything changed [and] not always for the better.
No longer was I in control of the faculty of that which they put me in control of when they asked me to play quarterback. So if you ask me to play quarterback, then you have to allow me to sometimes call the plays,” said Hardwick.
“If you ask me to play quarterback, not producer just quarterback, I don’t think I was a producer. I tried to get that credit I wasn’t allowed it. Even that blew the mind of many of me’s. On a show not far over, you have people playing Olivia Pope, who are dear friends of mine on Scandal, Kerry Washington’s, to be specific—blown away that I was never offered an opportunity to direct. I realized, Bernthal that our industry includes so many people, if not the majority, you’re going to smile. They are insecure.”
Power Book II: Ghost season three premieres next month.
