VIDEO EXCLUSIVE: Mekai Curtis Reveals What 50 Cent Told Him About His ‘Power’ Character
by Mekai Curtis revealed what he learned from Curtis “50 Cent” Jackson while playing Kanan in Power Book III: Raising Kanan in his new uInterview.
The 20-year-old actor plays the younger version of 50 Cent’s Power character Kanan Stark. The character is loosely based on the legendary rapper’s experience growing up in Jamaica, Queens.
“50 actually hasn’t told me anything about the role, I think he’s kind of leaving those discoveries to me,” Curtis told uInterview Founder Erik Meers. “I will say he’s pulled me aside you know during scenes we’ve shot and if it was something that resembled maybe something he did you know earlier in his life he definitely you know told that story and told me what he was feeling like, which you know just informs my decisions and my choices in that actual scene and in that moment for the rest of the episode.”
“Any time other than that it’s just you know jokes and laughs,” he said, “and you know one time he pulled up and we just drove around the city and he told what he was thinking, what his master plan was for the next year, and you know he told me how excited he was for the show and stuff like that.”
“But, you know, another thing about 50 is he always has game and is spitting wisdom, you just have to be willing to listen,” Curtis said.
The actor said that he works to make his version of Kanan different from the Kanan in Power, while still incorporating small details from 50 Cent’s portrayal of the character.
“[Fans] have an idea of who Kanan already is, but that is after years of trauma and experience, and that’s what, you know, is the opposite end of the spectrum on Raising Kanan,” he said. “We’re essentially stepping in with a brand new character. And that’s why, you know, it was also so important for me to keep subtle nods of the original Kanan because with, you know, the 15-year-old version you’re gonna see a way more vulnerable, a way more emotional, a way more, you know, just open person cause he’s a child. The world is new and fresh to him.”
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