Sometimes a good performance comes in a, well, not so great package. Such is the story of Don’t Let Go, a hacky police procedural with loose sci-fi trappings. Leave it to David Oyelowo of Selma and Rise of the Planet of the Apes acclaim to leave a positive stain on an otherwise floundering film, his dedicated performance the only interesting thing of note. I spoke with the Nigerian-British-American actor about his career, which phone call he would place to the past to prevent some future tragedy, finding the emotionality of time travel, his favorite time travel movies, a long-awaited directorial debut and what’s next for the rising star.

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What initially drew you to the script? Was there a particular scene or moment that really sold you on this project? 

DO: I would say it was the emotional theme of “What would you be prepared to do to save someone you love?” That’s what really drew me in. I’m a father myself and I really connected with that notion that I would do anything to protect them. In the film, my character and his niece are very close and she’s murdered and somehow it seems time has split and I get a phone call from her a week before so I can kind of reach through time to save her. That’s a very visceral way in to this idea of doing whatever you can for someone you love. 

 If you could go call a historical figure from the past to warn them about future events, who would it be and why? 

DO: Something I will say is having to entertain that a bit with the film itself, messing with the past can have very real ramificiations for the future, as it were. Just having watched that great show Chernobyl on HBO, I think a well-placed phone call would be something that would save a lot of pain and a lot of lives. That’s a phone call I would love to make.

There’s this idea that if you mess with the past it changes the future. How does the approach in this movie work for you as a performer?

DO: The screenplay doesn’t spend much time trying to explain time travel or getting into the minutia of the rules of time travel but that I think can be ultimately of diminishing return because at the end of the day, that should be rooted and tied into the emotional part of the story rather than just the intellectual part of the story. Because we’re not bogged down with establishing the rules, we just feel the emergency of my character doing whatever he can.

‘Don’t Let Go’ deals in the fantastical, the paranormal, the unexplainable – what are some of your favorite films that play with that which cannot be easily explained? 

DO: Unlike playing a historical figure or true events, this is an illogical conceit but the logic is rooted in human emotion, as it were. I love people and I’m very much into the idea of what would I do if I could change things and I could go back in time and I could say things that I wasn’t able to say. How would I react if there could be that flexibility. I think that’s what’s in my mind. Having said that, films I really love that deal with time travel: Edge of Tomorrow is a phenomenal film that looks at that. Obviously Back to the Future, but more recent times, Edge of Tomorrow is a brilliant use of that conceit.

You received a lot of acclaim for your performance as MLK, is there another historical figure that you would love to play? 

DO: The only other historical figure who represents that for me is Sugar Ray Robinson, who I would really really love to play in a film. And we’re actually developing one as we speak. I think not unlike MLK, he’s a very complicated person and more complicated than the public persona that people know. I think people know Sugar Ray as a boxer but he had a challenging home life and very real demons that he was battling, and he went up against the mob, so that’s a story that I would love to see told and I would love to be part of telling it.

How do you want to define the next stage of your career? 

DO: There are actors that I see when I look at their bodies of work and the commonality is that they are always keeping the audience guessing. They’re not tied down to genre or a particular kind of role so for me, I’m always looking to change things up. I’m probably known more for my dramatic work than genre or action but what I love most is just to work and to be here and have the opportunity to keep challenging myself and my audience. That’s where I think longevity lies: doing things that scare you and keeping the audience guessing. 

So what would be something that scared you?

DO: Partly because of the emotional headspace that you’re going to have to occupy. For me personally, when I take on a role, you’re often in the world of your imagination but when it comes to something as visceral and personal as the kind of grief and shock one would have if your family or loved ones in general are murdered, you have to imagine what that would be like for you as a person and I don’t think anyone is in a hurry to entertain that idea truthfully. So that scares me. 

Since it appears that every major actor at some point is being forced to choose a superhero side, would you rather make a project with Marvel or DC and what would make you want to jump onboard?

DO: For me, it’s always about the character. I enjoy watching superhero movies and comedies and all kinds of genre, the separating factor is: is it good? Is it compelling? Who’s written it? Who is directing it?  Who else is it in? Those are all hints as to whether it will be good or not. I’m less interested in the perception of what I should or shouldn’t do but who is directing it and what’s the script like and how scared does the character make me. Those tend to be the determining factors for me. I will admit to being a little bit allergic to those films earlier on but they are consistently well-made, some of them anyway. If I did wind up in one, I can say it would be  a good one.

What’s next? 

DO: I just directed a film called The Waterman, which I’m in post-production of right now. It’s my directorial debut and so that was a wonderful challenge and I’m hoping that will emerge sometime next year so I’m really excited about sharing that with the world. 

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