Forest Whitaker talks about ‘Godfather of Harlem’ l GM

Oscar winner Forrest Whitaker is in the house. You know him from hits like Black Panther and Star Wars Rogue One and The Last King of Scotland. Now he's in The Godfather of Harlem based on the true story of my boss Bumpy Johnson. Welcome to the show. You're so compelling and convincing in all the roles that you take on but what is it like to tap into the spirit of a mobster? I mean where do you get that from? You know I got to meet with a couple of mobsters that were working with Bumpy Johnson Chisholm and Junebug and I got to you know their their sort of download of what it's like to what it was like actually when they were fighting with him and then of course like Mamie wrote a book about our exploits in our lives so you kind of like start to take all this information the research and stuff put it together and then you got to get the animal allow it to be alive inside of you. You were just telling both of us how just intense it is to play this character. I want to show a clip for a moment of a softer side of Bumpy where he's talking to his daughter who's a recovering addict. I'm gonna get some more men to drive you over there. To protect me? Or to make sure I don't go back to using Doogee? Maybe a little of both. Praise Allah I have looked the monster in the eye and I've killed him. You can trust me. It's my fault. I uh got mixed up with the wrong people. You're always mixed up with the wrong people. And that's you with your on-screen daughter but your real-life daughter True she had a role on this show so what's it like for you to watch her follow in your footsteps? It was amazing actually uh she auditioned for the show and uh she got the part and it was for a heroin addicted pregnant woman who was going through withdrawal and I was looking like what this is what this is a little difficult you know would have been difficult for me and uh I was impressed I kind of let her have her space in her room and that's what she wants and she's been doing some great stuff. That's all you need that's all you need from your daughter right there. You never tried to talk her out of getting into showbiz? I did try to I just wanted her to finish college she did she finished at NYU first and now she's like out uh auditioning and doing things like that so she's got to be able go after what she believes and she's passionate about or else it doesn't work so. And I'm curious does she come to you and say hey dad I got I want you to read lines with me? You know I try to read lines with her and she like ignores me I try to like set up the light she doesn't go for it you know what I mean and uh it's been working out for her so. You also shared the screen this season with Whoopi Goldberg talk to us about that. Oh Whoopi is it's great she plays Willa and uh she's like my accountant financial uh advisor throughout the whole show and we have like a really really close relationship almost like uh aunt and uh and son you know it's beautiful she's fun it's a lot of fun doing work with her. And I tell you Godfather of Harlem is a must watch for me I am completely on it somebody's called and asked about the show. Yeah I know Whoopi is like but no you all can subscribe but I tell you Forrest I love this show and you are so incredible on it's one of my favorite shows literally Appointment TV for me but another show back in the day that was Appointment TV for me was Different Strokes and we got something with you it's a little flashback um just because we have it right here let's check it out. Let's get down to business. Oh whatever it is I'm sorry I'll never do it again I swear it was my fault. You didn't do anything. I'm sorry anyway. Precursor precursor to Buffy Johnson. Yeah precursor to Buffy Johnson but what would you tell that young actor today what you know now? I would tell him to continue to believe in what he wants to do to stick with like the kind of roles that he needs to play for his soul and his spirit and it'll work out. And it's worked out for you man amazing. Great advice for us all thank you so much for coming on today season three of Godfather of Harlem is now airing on MGM plus and Hulu the season finale is on Sunday. Well hey there GMA fans Robin Roberts here thanks for checking out our YouTube channel lots of great stuff here so go on click the subscribe button right over right over here to get more of awesome videos and content from GMA every day anytime we thank you for watching and we'll see you in the morning on GMA.