Lakeith Stanfield: ‘I don’t hold anything back’

Imagination, energy and a surrealist streak have made Lakeith Stanfield one of Hollywood's most unusual - and sought-after - stars. Here, he talks about his toughest role yet

To spread the word about his anarchic, brilliantly batshit 2018 comedy Sorry to Bother You, the actor Lakeith Stanfield adopted an anarchic, brilliantly batshit strategy. He went to one of his favourite stores, Iguana Vintage Clothing, in Los Angeles, and cleared out every wig they had. Then he drove around cinemas in Hollywood, bought tickets for the film, stashed them inside the wigs, and hid them outside the cinemas.

Then people engaged in it, on a wild goose hunt," explains Stanfield, his voice deep and languid. There's a lost art in being able to have fun with a film in the release. But it was a film that I thought was fun, right? So I wanted to have fun, and I wanted people to engage in that fun with me. Also I loved the movie so much, I wanted people to see it for free."