With Ballers coming to an end after Season 5, London Brown stopped by Global News to discuss the growth of his character, Reggie.
Reggie is Vernon Littlefield’s childhood friend who handles the NFL player’s money and often bumps heads with Spencer Strasmore (played by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), a retired NFL player turned financial manager.
Global News sat down with Brown in Toronto to talk about the final season of Ballers, the short film he stars in, titled Asia A, and more.
READ MORE: ‘Ballers,’ starring Dwayne ‘The Rock’ Johnson, to end with Season 5
Global News: You play Reggie on Ballers, and your character started off a bit reckless in the first season. Can you talk a bit about his growth throughout the series?
London Brown: I think that in Season 5, people can appreciate the growth. He has the attitude of Season 1 but, in Season 5, he’s not just being annoying to be annoying, he’s a little more righteous. He’s working the numbers, he’s writing cheques, he’s putting his foot down. He has real stakes as far as his friend, Vernon. And I think people can definitely appreciate that kind of growth of Reggie. I enjoyed it, personally.
He’s finally not just fighting with Spencer.
Right! It’s different. He has real points and is really about saying some real stuff so I think people will dig it.
How does it feel now that the final season is airing on HBO?
It’s interesting because the numbers have always been really great with the show. For me, I just appreciate being able to work with the show for this long and it’s a great step, and for all the fans watching the show, I definitely appreciate them. But I never thought that doing Ballers was the time to relax. I’ve always been working outside of Ballers and I’m always focused on the next project.
Do you think it’s the right time for Ballers to end? Do you think the whole story was told?
I think there should be at least two or three more seasons. Even with just Reggie, I feel like people finally are understanding him.
Let’s get him a spinoff!
Let’s make sure that’s recorded! (laughing) I feel like after five seasons people are understanding why he is the way he is. I feel like there could be two more seasons of some sort of storyline to be told. But who knows, maybe a spinoff would be great.
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How was working with Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson?
Dwayne is a very humble, beneficent guy and I think — at least, all my deals with him personally one on one — he’s always been very kind and very present, which is important because I like to connect with people. I never felt like I’ve been brushed off or anything like that. He always wants to hear you speak. I think that as a cast, it affected the energy on set because he was cool. He had no ego so no one on set had an ego, and that works really well. Sometimes you work on projects or you hear about projects where the actors don’t get along, it gets weird and comes up on screen. But for our shows, everyone got along, and I think that has a lot to do with Dwayne’s vibe.
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What can we expect this season?
We have cool cameos this season, including NFL star athlete Odell Beckham Jr., Migos and former Los Angeles Laker Rick Fox. The music is good, too. People can just appreciate even hearing a song they hadn’t heard before, and there’s some deaths in this season, or at least one. I don’t want to give too much away, but people will want to tune in for that for sure.
You won an award for the short film that you star in, Asia A, and I watched the trailer and had to look away when the pin was on your knee!
Oh man, it was a real pin. I did a short independent film called Asia A, and it’s been doing well in film festivals. I play a paralyzed athlete, and it’s about coming to that new reality with this accident that’s happened and it’s totally different from anything else I’ve done. It’s really dramatic, and I think people will it will enjoy it because it is a dramatic piece.
It’s in a bunch of film festivals this year, too.
I’m glad it’s making its way around. The last one I went to was in Boston at the Martha’s Vineyard Film Festival, and the feedback was really, really good. It’s also on Amazon right now and it’s been doing really well.
You did a standup comedy tour with Brandon Lewis in 2018. Do you think you’d ever appear on All Def’s Roast Me, which he hosts?
I love Roast Me! I don’t know, I have to figure it out because I enjoy it so much. Once, I found myself late-night watching it for a couple hours because it’s just joke after joke after joke. It’s always just good energy. I like to go to sleep to some sort of comedy to clear my mind, and that’s one way to do it. That’s so dope. I can’t wait to tell him that you guys watch that in Canada.
What’s your least favourite fashion trend right now?
Skinny jeans, for me, because the thing about skinny jeans is that the people who decide to wear them, you can’t just follow the trend. They may not apply to you. They don’t always look right on some guys. Dressing really is an internal thing, it’s not about the actual outside because they way we feel inside, we can feel on the outside from the way we wear our clothes. If you’re wearing clothes, and you don’t really feel the confidence in wearing them, it’s going to be reflected.
What’s next for you in 2019?
Just working the road doing standup. And, of course, the comedy grind of auditioning is always nonstop so there’s always something cooking.
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(This interview has been edited and condensed.)
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