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One of the craziest films you’re going to see this year (and maybe this decade) is writer/director Boots Riley’s debut movie, Sorry to Bother You. Unlike most films that are pretty easy to explain, the less you know about Sorry to Bother You the better, because it’s a film with a few unexpected twists and turns. However, the non-spoiler summary would be it takes place in an alternate present day version of Oakland and follows a telemarketer named Cassius Green (Lakeith Stanfield) who begins rising up the ranks at his office when he’s taught how to use his “white voice”—which is just David Cross dubbing all the lines. The film tackles issues of community, greed, assimilation, unionization, corporatism, racism, misogyny, feminism, gentrification, and much, much more. The film is highly satirical and takes place in a heightened reality that, as it gets crazier and crazier, somehow continues to feel realistic. Sorry to Bother You also stars Tessa Thompson, Armie Hammer (the less you know about his character the better), Terry Crews, Steven Yeun, Omari Hardwick, Jermaine Fowler, and Danny Glover.

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Trust me; you definitely want to check it out when the film opens in limited release this weekend. For more on the film you can read Matt Goldberg’s review.

At the New York press day for the film, I got to sit down with Armie Hammer. During the wide-ranging conversation he talked about how he got involved in the project (his agent told him it was the craziest script he’s even read), how he’s never played a character like the one in Sorry to Bother You, how when researching the role he learned there are a lot of psychopaths that are CEOs because they have to value success over human life, what it’s like to ride around Oakland with Boots Riley, and a lot more.

Check out what he had to say in the player above and below is exactly what we talked about followed by a few images.

Armie Hammer:

  • How he’s on Broadway in Straight White Men.
  • How Sorry to Bother You is unlike anything you’ll see this year. Does the film resemble what Boots told him when he met with him?
  • How his agent told him it was the craziest script he’s even read.
  • How he’s never played a character like the one in Sorry to Bother You.
  • When researching the role, he learned there are a lot of psychopaths that are CEOs because they have to value success over human life.
  • How a lot of films are dealing with Oakland right now.
sorry-to-bother-you-lakeith-stanfield-armie-hammer
Image via Annapurna Pictures
sorry-to-bother-you-jermaine-fowler
Image via Annapurna Pictures
lakeith-stanfield-the-photograph
Image via Annapurna Pictures
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Photo by Peter Prato/Annapurna Pictures
sorry-to-bother-you-omari-hardwick
Photo by Peter Prato/Annapurna Pictures