From KCRW Santa Monica and KCRW.com, it's The Treatment.

It's the Treatment.

I'm Elvis Mitchell.

I've seen my guest, Andre Holland, on stage, on the big screen, on the small screen,

and each performance he finds a way to bring a facet of a character through that had anticipated.

We're talking just before we started for the new Apple TV Plus series, The Big Cigar, based on real live events.

He's playing Huey P. Newton. And Andre, first of all, thanks for being here.

Thanks for having me, man.

And you pitch your voice up.

Because there's a weight that your voice has that you pitch your voice up and you talk faster.

So you're inhabiting Huey that, aren't you?

Yeah, I was trying to, man. I mean, that's one of the things,

I think one of the first things about him that people that you recognize when you listen to

recordings or see videos is that he did have a very particular cadence and like placement,

vocal placement. And so I wanted to try and get the essence of that without it feeling like

a caricature or like mimicry. You know what I mean? Because I think it can also be, I felt like it could also be distracting to go too far.

So I wanted to give it just enough, you know, to give the viewer a sense of like how he sounded

and how he used language, which I think was also connected to his like upbringing, you know,

as like a shy kid who like learned to read really, really late in life, which I wasn't aware of.

And I think that emotionally, you know, the actor of me connects that emotional experience to like the physical expression of his voice.

So, yeah, that was important for me as a way in.

But also the pressure on him to say something when everybody was listening to him, and we feel that vocal.

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