By: Candice Williams
From the music studio to on-screen, it’s safe to say that Wu-Tang member Method Man has continued to make major “power” moves at every stage of his career.
Ahead of the second season return of “Power Book II: Ghost” on Sunday, where Method will return as attorney Davis Maclean, the rapper-turned-actor says he “owes” a substantial part of his success to his new “Power Book II” co-star — and long time friend — Redman.
“Redman is a consummate professional like myself. If anything, I owe him a lot because he actually showed me how to perform correctly on stage — whether people remember or not,” Method Man says. “He had been in the game two years prior than what I had been. So, when you put us on screen, that resonates. We have chemistry.”
Method Man & Redman, who’ve been collaborating musically since 1994 and later released their first project as a duo, the 1999 album, Blackout!, have also regularly collaborated on screen.
They both starred in the 2001’s stoner comedy “How High” and 2004’s short-lived FOX sitcom “Method & Red,” which lasted only nine episodes after creative differences with the network.
Method Man says he’s confident that “Power Book II” fans “are going to enjoy the dynamic” between his character Davis and Redman’s Theo Rollins, who is Maclean’s incarcerated older brother.
Although Method Man is staying quiet on plot details and the exact “dynamic” between the two brothers, the actor does reveal that it all has to do with why Davis decided to partner with his courtroom nemesis, disgraced U.S. Attorney Cooper Saxe.
“Without giving away too much away… let’s just say there’s a few different reasons why Davis hired Saxe,” Method Man teases. “And it’s not just because he was a U.S. Federal Attorney… But some of them are directly correlated to my brother, Theo. “
Aside from reuniting with his Wu-Tang brother in a new project, Method Man says he’s equally excited to be back on screen with his fellow artist-turned-critically-acclaimed actor, Mary J. Blige. Method says he feels a full circle moment with his fellow Grammy-Award winner.
“It’s no feeling like this in the world to be doing something for so long and to still reap the benefits of your work. I mean, I won a Grammy in 95 with Mary J. Blige for music,” he says, referring to their 1996 Grammy for their hit song “I’ll Be There for You/You’re All I Need to Get By.” “And then I won an NAACP Award with Mary J. Blige for acting. It gets no better than that.”
Mary agrees, noting that to be respected now as an actor is simply “amazing.”
“And it’s a blessing,” she says. “All pure blessings. It’s all God. It’s all, ‘How did this happen?’ Because it didn’t have to be this way.”
Mary continues, “And it’s a lot of hard work. And it’s a lot of being grateful, being grateful more than anything.”
The second season of “Power Book II: Ghost,” also starring Michael Rainey Jr. and Woody McClain, premieres Sunday, November 21st at 8 p.m. ET on Starz.
