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[0:00] Robert Bannon: Hey everybody, this is Robert Bannon and before I hit the theme song and introduce the show, I want to tell you about some exciting Roundtable news. The Roundtable has a brand new website. You can go to robertbannon.com, find out all about me, find out all about the show, brand new and now up and running with brand new Roundtable merchandise. Do you know that on Thursday nights, since the show was invented in 2001, we've been having a segment called Shameless Plug? Cause I'm shameless! One of the things that people talk about the most. So we have brand new Shameless Plug Roundtable merchandise. Or you can get a special New Jersey Detroit shirt that we made exclusively for this month at robertbannon.com. Plus, if you buy two items, you get a Shameless Plug tote bag.

Go to robertbannon.com, follow me on Instagram and make sure you're subscribing to us wherever you listen to podcasts or on YouTube. Now let's do a show. Are you ready? It's the Roundtable with me, Robert Bannon.

[1:02] Robert Bannon: Well, everybody, my next guest is somebody who you have seen. I think he's played everybody. He's been, I don't know, a Jamaican bobsledder to a Little Richard to a Temptation to, I don't know, hundreds of credits, movies, television shows. I sat home, I got a sneak peek of a movie called Wild Cards. We love Wes who wrote and directed it. We love Ari Spears. We love everybody in it, but nobody is acting like Leon is able to act. Is he a good lawyer? Is he a bad lawyer? He's going to give you a run for your money in a Wild Card with this new movie. We've been loving him and he's an actor's actor. And on the side, he's just selling out reggae shows. What in the world, Leon? You just don't sleep. You're just on the hustle. He's working. Leon, welcome to the show.

[1:45] Leon: Thank you. Thank you. It's good to have you. Detroit holds a special place in my heart. I consider it Motown. It is. And when I'm in Detroit and I was telling people about you coming here, people, they go crazy over Leon here in the D. They love your work. It's iconic. It lives forever.

[2:04] Leon: Well, thank you. I appreciate that. I really do.

[2:07] Robert Bannon: So for you, when you got sent the script, you get sent probably a lot of scripts. You've done a lot of different genres of movies and television, live shows, singing. What made you jump into Wild Cards?

[2:18] Leon: Well, Wild Cards actually came from a concept of Wes and I. I came down to meet with Wes. We had worked together previously. And I had the idea of doing a movie that all took place in one space, you know, and kind of like being shot like a play. And Wes came up with the Dynamite script and him being, you know, a former lawyer. He had all the background for a courtroom drama. I've always wanted to be a lawyer, you know, a trial lawyer. I just didn't want to go to school and do everything I had to do to become one. So, you know, just like many other things I get to do as an actor, I get to play a lawyer.

[2:57] Robert Bannon: And play one, you do. He plays a real fancy. How do you describe the story? There's a trial and there's a lot of twists and turns that go on.

[3:09] Leon: Yes, it keeps the audience on their feet. It makes you wonder what's going to actually happen. I play an attorney who has not lost a case in 20 years.

[3:25] Leon: Make sure they do. And he's not trying to lose this case. I think throughout the court case, what I loved about the acting is that it's a very intimate set. Like it feels like you say in one place. That camera feels like I'm sitting in the front row of a play. It takes place in that courtroom. There's the judge. There's the lawyers. There's the defendant. There's the victim. And it feels like you're inside the brain of these characters. You're seeing them in real life throughout the course of a day. What was it like on set? How did it feel to work with this cast?

[3:58] Leon: It felt great. You know, we basically had to, you know, like I said, you know, approach it like it was a play. We actually would go through the entire script in one whole day, and then come back the next day and do it again. And, you know, we shoot, you know, close ups and medium shots, and, you know, and just basically, but running the entire movie like it was a courtroom trial, like it was a play. It's shot like that. So when you see Ari Spears in this, he's not gonna make you laugh like he does on a stand up stage. He's quite the actor.

[4:29] Leon: Far from it. Far from it. Far from it. And an amazing job. Amazing job. You know, one thing about acting, especially on film acting, if an actor is right for a role, if he looks the part and everything else, it really lends to them being the perfect person for the role. You know, and what we needed in this role was someone who was like the opposite of me, you know, and I think Ari definitely fits that bill.

[5:00] Robert Bannon: Yes. It's incredible. You have to see at least everybody shout out to the whole team and shout out to Wes. You're on tour, you're showing this movie, you're doing such a fun, unique rollout of this movie that you're going on tour, you're showing the movie, and then you're doing screenings and Q&As of it. What's it been like to be able to see the people and go city to city and see the reaction?

[5:18] Leon: It's amazing. It's amazing how people really react to the movie. It's amazing how many people sit there and have so many questions after the movie and, you know, what they thought and, you know, and actually, you know, the legal system and how it's, you know, it works in our favor or it doesn't work in our favor and how corrupt it could be and, you know, from maybe, you know, from the lawyers to the judges to who's assigned a case.

[5:46] Robert Bannon: Just wait. You're going to like Leon in the beginning and by the end he's going to take you on a, I don't know if I liked you as much at the end, Leon. I'm not trying to give anything away, but you definitely sold me. You definitely sold me throughout this whole thing until the end. Check it out. It is a great movie. When you look back, it says you've been in this business, it's like 40 years. So when you go back and you go back to like all the right moves or you go back to the Flamingo Kid, those early days, what's it like for you to think back to 40 years of consistently working a part of pop culture, a part of movie and television history? I mean, these movies, the work you've done will live forever.

[6:27] Leon: Yeah. You know, I think that one of the things I've always wanted to accomplish in this business is to do memorable work, to do work that lasts past my time. And so I've been lucky enough to do some films that have gone on for decades and decades in people's hearts, and they've introduced them to their kids. And it's just, it's amazing. You never know that that's what's going to happen when you're on set and just doing your role and doing the best you can. And so I feel very blessed that, you know, that maybe I'm accomplishing that.

[6:58] Robert Bannon: You sure are. I mean, it keeps going. Like when you read the lineup of it, it keeps going like cliffhanger and above the rim, and of course, waiting to exhale. And of course, a lot of people I know must see when they talk about the five heartbeat, a movie that doesn't seem to go away, it lives on forever. And then, you know, the playing real people, is it harder to play a real person versus a made up character? Some of the iconic people you've gotten to play, because you have to resemble them and act like them in a certain way? Or is an original character harder?

[7:27] Leon: I think it's definitely harder to play a real person, because you have to realize that that person has friends, family members that have walked, you know, he's walked and talked on this earth. And so you have a certain responsibility to at least capture their essence, and not just create a character. And so, yeah, I always think it's harder to play someone who actually exists. And, but also, you know, when you play someone who actually exists, you do have somewhat of a blueprint to go from.

[8:06] Robert Bannon: Absolutely. Well, if the Temptations movie is on, miniseries is on, everybody, you need, you don't want, that's tour de force. That is acting 101. That's something it's, we'll talk about live forever. Am I lost? Am I like the only person who doesn't realize? And look, I got a husband. So I've known Madonna music since I was a little boy in New Jersey, just living my little best life. That's you. That's you in the, you're the, you and her made controversial history, music video history. That's you in like a prayer.

[8:39] Leon: Yeah, I'm surprised you didn't know that. Why did you be a real Madonna fan and not know that? How did I not know that?

[8:47] Robert Bannon: A fail. Don't tell her, Leon. If you see her, don't know. What's it like to live in something that becomes that big of a deal? That was like, it stopped, that was water cooler changing pop culture moment. The good, the bad, the controversy, that, was that at the beginning? That's towards, that's early in the career.

[9:04] Leon: Yeah, that was my first taste of probably worldwide fame. You know, it was the first time, you know, I had, they had to get me an interpreter to do all the interviews from all around the world, you know. Yeah, it was really, it was really, it was a funny time. You know, actually it was one of my first roles. I did, I also did a mini series that aired within 10 days of that, was Oprah Winfrey's big mini series, Women at Brewster Place. And I was the boyfriend of Robin Givens. And that was the time with the whole Tyson thing. So it was Robin Givens, and then it was Madonna within a 10 day period. And they would call me Leon the Lady Tamer.

[9:46] Robert Bannon: See, that's it. So you still are. I was talking to a co-worker today and telling her, and she didn't believe you were coming on this show. Cause she's like, you know, Leon is like my crescent my whole life. I said, you joined the club. Leon, that's it. Join the club, everybody else. That's, that's the truth. What is it like now with your live music? Let's talk for a moment. You just did a bunch of shows. You did a big show in New York City. They sell out these shows all over Leon and the people. When did that become a thing? And when, and how does it feel to be on stage singing your music?

[10:22] Leon: Yeah, I mean, I've had my band for like 15 years now, at least. And we're about to release our third album, you know, beginning of next year. And yeah, we play a blend between reggae and soul music. And yeah, people love it. You know, there's nothing like playing original music and hearing them singing your song back to you. And it's the first time they've ever heard it. And so it's an incredible high. I mean, it's a high that I cannot get anywhere else.

[10:50] Robert Bannon: Well, you could follow it and you could see the tour dates and there's music, the album's coming out. I'm sure there's going to be more live shows you're going to announce for next year when you're not booked and on set.

[10:58] Leon: Yes, I plan on touring next year. So yeah, hopefully Detroit will be one of the stops.

[11:04] Robert Bannon: Come on. We're ready. I have no rhythm, Leon, but I'll come and I'll have a drink.

[11:08] Leon: Okay. I'ma hold you to it.

[11:13] Robert Bannon: Okay. I'll see you here. I'll see you here. So when you get pitched a job, you're on set, you're working right now. We've stolen him from his lunch break. He's literally with us on set. What is the thing that makes you say yes? You have a career of all these credits. You've done all this incredible work. Is it still exciting? Is it still the character? Is it still the project? What makes you say yes to a project?

[11:34] Leon: The story. Most important is the story. I'm a storyteller at the end of the day, and it's the part. And then I look at the part that I play in the story to make sure that it's important to the story. And that's it.

[11:46] Robert Bannon: That's why you're a better actor than me because I would have said money. Is somebody paid? No, I'm going to show up. That doesn't hurt either.

[11:56] Leon: I would love to talk to you longer, but they're calling me to go back.

[12:00] Robert Bannon: He's got to go. All right. Well, here's Leon, everybody. I'm going to see him this week. You're going to watch him in the show and thank you for being here. And so appreciate you and I look forward to seeing you in Detroit.

[12:11] Leon: Fantastic. Thank you so much.

[12:12] Robert Bannon: Got wild cards, everybody. Thank you for being here.