-I want to get to know you
a little bit better now.
I'm going to ask you
some questions.
You were about to go to film
school here in NYU, right?
-Yes, I was. I deferred once,
and then I deferred again,
and then I was like,
"I'm not coming, I'm so sorry."
[ Laughter ]
-It was like, "I'm not going
to film school. I am film."
[ Laughter ]
-Well, I was getting
all these amazing opportunities.
I got the opportunity to do
"The Hate U Give,"
and I was like, "Well, why would
I pay to go to film school
when I could get paid
to go to film school?"
-Yeah. Yeah, you could
learn on set.
-Yeah.
-Learn from the best.
So it was the gap year that
turned into a --
-A gap life.
-A gap life, yeah.
Well, the gap life
seemed to work out.
Because happy to
show this debut.
You're on the cover
of "Time" magazine.
Just announced.
[ Cheers and applause ]
Just announced!
That just got announced
right today.
I'm so happy for you.
-That's me.
-That's neat, pal.
-Thank you.
-That's legendary.
"Time" magazine.
-I know. It's such an honor.
I can't even believe it.
It's literally nuts
to think about.
-I mean this is --
Well, you're very politically
active, as well as your acting.
Tell the story if you don't mind
about how you went to
a Me Too meeting at an agency.
-Oh, yes, yes. Okay. Yeah.
So, um, I --
-It's funny.
-Thank you for setting me up.
I really have to deliver now.
-Oh, no, no.
I already know the story,
so, yeah, please --
-So I have been going to these
Time's Up meetings and stuff,
and it's been so amazing
'cause I get to be around
all these people
that I really look up to.
Like, I went to this
Women of Color meeting
where Tracy Ellis Ross
was there.
Shonda Rhimes was there,
Rashida Jones.
Just like the most seminal
women of color of Hollywood.
I feel so deferential to.
And I wanted to feel like really
kind of, like, dapper to go.
So I put on these boots
that had, like,
a little bit of a heel,
and I have this problem,
and like, I'm good, like,
don't worry about me.
But I have like an old man
disease where, like, if I --
It's not a disease.
It's like hereditary.
If I kind of, like,
move a certain way,
like, my knee caps will slide
out of place.
[ Audience murmurs ]
-Oh, no. No. No. No.
Really?
And it does -- does it hurt you?
-It hurts a little bit,
but I'm, like, pretty used to it
at this point. You know?
It's been happening for a while.
-Yeah.
-Like I got it --
My Uncle has it, too.
So I went to one of these
meetings, and I showed up.
-You got your boots.
-And I had my little boots on,
and I got in there, and, like,
went to sit down in my seat,
and I could feel it.
And it was like --
Then the knee cap started
sliding,
and I just watched it
slide out of place,
and I fell into the ground,
and I was like --
Waaaaaah!
[ Laughter ]
And I looked up and just, like,
Shonda Rhimes, Tracy Ellis Ross.
They were all, like,
staring at me.
-Oh, my God.
-"Are you okay?"
-And like I'm used to this.
So I was just like -- Wabap!
[ Laughter ]
Kinda just, like,
knocked it back in.
-Dude, I just love that.
-Back into place.
-You just smacked it back in,
and was like -- -
"Okay, let's start
the meeting quickly
and get this over with."
-And I was like,
"All right, let's go.
Like, back to the patriarchy."
[ Laughter ]
-How old were when you did
"Hunger Games"?
-I was 12 years old.
-12 years old,
and was Jennifer Lawrence --
Did she take you under her wing?
-She did.
She was super sweet to me.
-What did you learn
from Jennifer Lawrence?
-She taught me
how to pee in the woods.
[ Laughter ]
-Yeah. Wow.
That's fantastic, yeah.
-She's from Kentucky.
-I gotta write that down.
I got to call her for that.
Yeah, that's something
you want to learn.
-Yeah. That's something you ---
probably helpful in life.
I definitely used it
a few times since then.
-Do you guys stay in touch?
-You know,
I haven't really seen her
that much.
I mean, she's so busy.
She's Jennifer Lawrence.
-Obviously, yeah.
-But I saw her
at this brunch recently.
And I went up to her,
and so she looked at me,
and she was like --
she didn't recognize me
for a second,
and then she was like,
"Oh, my God, you have boobs!"
[ Laughter ]
I was like -- I was like,
"A few things have happened."
-Yeah, I was 12 years old.
-I was like, "Wow, I do?"
-Wow, yeah, exactly.
-I blocked out puberty.
I don't remember a thing.
-Let's talk about your movie,
"The Hate U Give."
Congratulations. Critics --
There's a lot of buzz on this.
-Thank you.
-And well deserved.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Thank you so much.
-Amandla, it's based off
of a poem, right, from Tupac?
-Yeah.
So it's based off the premise,
"THUG LIFE" which is
"The hate you give
little infants eff --
you can't say the F-word on TV.
-No.
-Eff everybody.
So it's basically the premise
that whatever you do to kids,
the systems and structures
that you put them into,
that persecute them as children
comes back to bite everyone
in the butt when we all grow up.
-What is the film about?
-So the film is about this girl
named Starr Carter
who is code switching
between these
two different environments.
-Code switching?
-Code switching.
-What is code switching?
-Code switching is like --
Like the first time that
I experienced code switching
or witnessed it when I was a kid
is when my mom would be like,
[ Sternly ] "Child,
if you do not rinse
your damn dishes, I swear."
And then, like, the phone
would ring. She'd be like,
[ Sweetly ]
"Hello, this is Karen.
[ Laughter ]
Hi."
-That's two different people.
Yeah.
-Yeah, like a lot of people...
-Code switching.
-...experience code switching,
but then if you're black
and you forget to code switch,
like the result could be
that you get shot by a cop.
So that's what this film
is about.
-Oof. And it's you and Common,
who we love.
He was on the show
for this film.
We love Common so much.
-Yeah, he's so cool, man.
-What a great guy, but also,
what did you say?
I even forget, like,
that he's a great rapper,
because he's just
such a nice guy.
-I know.
-"How you doing, Jimmy?
How are you, man?"
-Just so chill.
-He tears it up on the stage.
I go, "Oh, my God,
you're amazing.
Dude, you're Common.
-Yeah, yes.
-You're Common.
-You're Common.
-But you're un-common.
-Yes! Wow!
[ Laughter ]
-That wasn't funny.
-It was. That was cute.
I like it.
-Thanks.
-We have a clip.
Here is Amandla Stenberg
and Common in "The Hate U Give."
Check this out.
-So if I think I see a gun,
I don't hesitate.
I shoot.
-Because you think
you see a gun?
You don't say something first?
Like, "Put your hands up"?
-It depends. Is it night?
Can I see?
Am I on duty alone?
-What if you were in
a white neighborhood
and it was a white man wearing
a suit and driving a Mercedes?
He could be a drug dealer,
right?
-He could.
-So if you saw him
reach into the window
and you thought
that you saw a gun,
would you shoot him,
or would you say,
"Put your hands up"?
♪♪♪♪
-Our thanks to Amandla Stenberg!
[ Cheers and applause ]
