Page 104 - Sharp: The Book For Men SS21

SUIT AND SHIRT (BOTH PRICE UPON REQUEST) BY FENDI.
ON-SET STYLIST: SANCHIA WONG
HAIR: CHARLEEN GABRIEL.
MAKEUP: JADA ARRIOLA (RICHARD’S.)
you love, which is why Diggs now sees himself in a position to not just go through those open doors, but bring along those he loves with him.
Speaking to Diggs, I get a sense of just how surreal it is to become a part of a cultural phenomenon well into adulthood and feel the pressure of having to figure out a next move. “I got out of my depth very quickly,” he explains of the immediate Hamilton aftermath. “I never had an agent or manager or anything like that before,” he says. “The thing about Hamilton is that nobody really knew what to do with that success. I was getting offers to write music and star and produce, and I had no idea what any of it meant.”
Immediately after his last Hamilton performance in 2016, he took a train to D.C. to do a poetry slam with Casal, then immediately flew to Vancouver to shoot 2017’s Wonder along- side Julia Roberts and Owen Wilson for four days. It was his first time on a film set, and he had no idea what he was doing. “All my co-stars were 12-year-olds and I was asking them how to do everything,” he says of the experience. “Jacob Tremblay would be like, ‘That’s where you stand,’” Diggs says, laughing.
Despite his lack of on-set experience, Diggs found himself co-starring in Blindspotting, a film that took nine years to co-write with Casal and 22 days to shoot in 2017. The dramedy focuses on a parolee who witnesses a police shooting three days before his parole is up. Premiering at Sundance, Blindspotting was met with rave reviews, and Diggs and Casal imagined their journey would end there. “We were approached by Lionsgate and they said they loved Blindspotting and wanted to make it a TV show,” Diggs says. The pair’s immediate reaction was “Absolutely not.”
They met with Lionsgate anyway (who wouldn’t) and found themselves coming up with what a television show would look like. “We kept saying, I mean, we’d only do a TV show if it was to be about the Ashley character, and if it was set on this one block in Oakland, and if we got to explore new characters.” Before they knew it, they developed an outline for exactly how it would look.
Most importantly, both Diggs and Casal saw the show as a way to not only represent Oakland, but also showcase and foster local talent — something that’s been important to Diggs since he rose to stardom. Growing up in Oakland, he never felt his city was adequately represented onscreen, that the Bay Area never got the same treatment as other big cities. “The scale of it is so much bigger than what we got to do with the film. We have the same creative team,” Diggs says of the creative process, “but we have this ability to commission more art and music and clothes and talent from the community we’re talking about.”
Though he was relatively new to the spotlight, Diggs seemed to know exactly what to do with his opportunities. Almost everyone from Hamilton was able to capitalize on its success. “It allowed me to go back to my community,” Diggs explains. “It was like, hey, someone just opened the door for us, so I’m gonna hold it open for as long as I can. And it can shut at any minute, so I’m like, ‘Everybody start running, security’s not looking!’”
I tell Diggs not everyone has that mindset, especially when so much of the messaging to Black creators is that success is scarce. “The idea of success is a thing that’s so elusive to me,” he says thoughtfully. “I grew up in awe of a lot of artists in my community — like, the happenstance of me getting this moment; it could have been any of them,” he explains. “It would be so much worse if I didn’t get to do this with people I care about.”
As I’m speaking to Diggs about his success, it’s clear that much of it comes from genuine curiosity, of wanting to learn as much as he can. “The amount of shit I don’t know is staggering, and I love it!” he says. “I’d be pretty bored if I knew what I was doing. I’m still pretty lost.” I ask if he’s scared of making any mistakes. “There’s a lot to learn about this business,” he says, “and there are so many mistakes I have yet to make. I can’t wait to make them all.”
104 BFM / SS21 FEATURES / DAVEED DIGGS HAS ARRIVED