WEBVTT

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- Hi, this is Angela from The Root

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and we're excited to talk to
Kelly Rowland and Marsei Martin

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about their new film, Fantasy Football,

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which is out on November 25th.

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Hi guys.

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- Hello.
- Hello.

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- [Angela] Thank you
so much for joining us.

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- Thank you for having us.

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- So you guys have a new film
coming out, Fantasy Football,

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on November 25th.

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Can you tell us a little bit
about what it's all about?

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- So I play a girl named Callie,

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and of course,

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her and her family have
always constantly moved around

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ever since she was little,

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because of her football player dad.

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And yeah, long story short,
something crazy happens

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with the game Madden that she has,

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and next thing you know,

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it's a whole whirlwind
for the whole family

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and she gets to control her
dad on the football field

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to kind of just upstart his career again.

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- So one of the things that I really loved

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was the father-daughter
relationship in the film.

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And that's something
that you don't often see,

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particularly in black films.

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So I know Marsei, you were one
of the producers on the film.

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Was that something that was intentional,

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that you really wanted to focus in

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on that father-daughter relationship?

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- What really drew me in

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was the fact that they did have

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a father-son project in the beginning,

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but they wanted to create
a father-daughter dynamic,

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because of how original
the overall project was,

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but also the heart to it

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that just a normal
father-daughter could have.

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And just imagine it in these
types of circumstances.

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- I also loved,

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I watched it with my 12 year old daughter,

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and we're constantly-

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her dad and I are trying to get her

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to be interested in STEM and robotics

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and things like that.

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So I really loved that your
character particularly,

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made it cool to be into STEM and robotics.

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Is that something that you
can connect with personally?

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- Oh, for sure.

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I'm not tech savvy.

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(Kelly and Angela laughing)

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Not at all.

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You know, that's why I act.

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But you know, I think,

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I think being able to tell those stories

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in a very unique way

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and make sure that everybody
kind of resonates with it

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somehow, some way.

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I mean, somebody-

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there's like, a whole career

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based on robotics and technology

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and the beauty behind that.

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So I think it was really important to,

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of course show the football aspect of it,

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but also just being a regular teenager,

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wanting to do these things

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that are, you know, very inspirational.

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- And Kelly, I loved your
character so much, being a mom.

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You very much held it down with the family

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and you had no problem
telling your husband,

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who was a big time football player,

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call him out when he was wrong.

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So were you able to

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draw on your own personal
experience as a mom

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with this role?

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- Absolutely. I mean,

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I think like Marsei said,

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one of the things that really
drew me into the script

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was this father-daughter dynamic.

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You know what I mean?

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The fact that I'm actually
playing referee between the two.

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So it was awesome.

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And of course,

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I mean, mom life always
bleeds into everything.

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- Absolutely.
- It's great.

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- We all came to love you, you know

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with your voice as a
part of Destiny's Child

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and then your solo career.

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But you've been also doing
some really great things

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in terms of acting.

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So where do you feel most comfortable?

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Singing or acting?

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(bouncy music)

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- I mean, I grew up singing

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Acting is very new, but I love it.

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I've always watched movies,
studied them, loved them

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watched them over and over and over again

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just to know and recite the lines back.

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And it's just a new place to flex

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and track to spread your wings creatively.

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I think it's just another way to like,

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yeah.

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Feel some of that out.

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And it's really cool
'cause it's so many ideas

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and so many stories to tell,

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specifically stories of
black women, black girls

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and black families and
relationships and dynamics.

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There's so many things to explore.

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It's like, why not?

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(bouncy music fades out)