Sean Patrick Thomas has been a staple in the film industry over the past few decades and he won’t be letting up anytime soon!
Coming on the heels of his appearance as Monteith in the new film adaptation of Shakespeare’s Macbeth, Thomas remains committed to roles that not only allow him to return to some of his theater roots, but reiterate his love for the profession.
“It’s what I love [the] most, it’s the first thing that kind of drew me into doing theater on an ongoing basis,” said in a recent interview with Shadow and Act, reflecting on his return to his theater roots, specifically the work of Shakespeare. “I just fell in love with the language, I fell in love with trying to decipher it, I fell in love with the characters and the stories that are so grand… and majestic. And so, for me, it’s like coming home, and it’s what I love to do most.”
The Tragedy Of Macbeth stars Denzel Washington, who Thomas was fortunate enough to work with in his first film debut back in 1996 and again in the 2008 film adaptation of Langston Hughes’ A Raisin In The Sun.
Now, in an even more full-circle moment, Thomas plays a part in the revolutionary, diverse cast, making history in the latest adaptation of a work of Shakespeare.
“It was an honor, mainly because what we see in this film with Macbeth, with Denzel Washington as the lead is something that I was accustomed to seeing,” Thomas shared.
“When I first got started in my career doing theater in New York, and doing theater in regional theater, I did a production of The Tempest way back [in the day],in the sticks of Virginia, our lead in that play was a Black man,” he explained. “And so to me, that’s nothing that should be noteworthy or something that is unusual. But the fact is that on screen, we almost never see it.”
Not only was the cast of The Tragedy of Macbeth the most diverse film in terms of Shakespeare adaptations, but Thomas believes that it serves as a huge reminder that “Shakespeare does not belong to white people.”
“It belongs to all of us, and we all have our different flavor and spin that we bring to the game and part of it on such a big scale,” Thomas continued.
And with reunions in tow, Denzel Washington isn’t the only Washington that Thomas is reconnecting with. In fact, he and Kerry Washington, his former on-screen sister from Save The Last Dance, reunited on set for a new series titled Reasonable Doubt from Disney’s Onyx Collective. The series will air on Hulu.
“I’m very excited to be working with Kerry and to be back on set with her again, it’s such a sweet feeling,” he expressed. “She’s accomplished so much and she’s a fantastic director. We’re doing a show called ‘Reasonable Doubt’ [where] I play a client that she’s representing who’s been accused of a pretty high-profile murder so I get the chance to maybe be a bad guy, maybe not [laughs].”
The Tragedy of Macbeth is now streaming on Apple TV+.
Check out our full interview with Thomas below in which we talk about much more and you can also stream the conversation on the Blavity TV app.
