Hollywood’s hottest property Donald Glover on the award-winning Atlanta

THE Aussie premiere of award-winning Atlanta is tonight, and its rising star has just secured roles in Star Wars and Spiderman.

• Atlanta the best show on TV gets Australian airdate
• Review of the premiere of comedy drama Atlanta
• Donald Glover cast in The Lion King live action remake
• Donald Glover cast in new Hans Solo movie

DONALD Glover is the hottest star in Hollywood.

The 33-year-old has just been signed to play the young Lando Calrissian in the upcoming Han Solo stand-alone Star Wars film.

In recent days it was also announced that Glover will voice Simba in the live-action remake of The Lion King and he has a major role in the new Spiderman: Homecoming movie.

Glover has also just released a new album Awaken, My Love! under his Childish Gambino rap moniker.

Glover’s biggest acclaim has come with the heavily touted Atlanta which centres on university dropout Earnest Marks’ (Glover) attempt to manage his cousin Alfred “Big Boi” Miles’ (Brian Tyree Henry) rap career. The comedy-drama recently won two Golden Globe awards.

Donald Glover as Earnest Marks in a scene with Brian Tyree Henry’s Alfred Miles in comedy drama Atlanta. Picture: Guy D'Alema / FX

Before Atlanta, Glover was best known to TV audiences for his role as Troy Barnes in cult comedy series Community.

Atlanta feels very different to a traditional American sitcom. It isn’t always laugh-out-loud funny and there is an element of danger to it. Why is that?

The thesis with Atlanta was to show people how it felt to be black. You can’t really write that down. You have to feel it. So the tonal aspect was really important for me. You are allowed to laugh at the characters but you can also feel real stakes so that you care about them. I want people to be scared. That is how it feels to be black. There are awesome things going on but it (life) can be taken away at any moment. This show is about life and life has more questions than answers.

Brian Tyree Henry as Alfred Miles, Keith Standfield as Darius, Donald Glover as Earnest Marks in Atlanta. Picture: Matthias Clamer / FX

You’ve had so much success as Childish Gambino but you don’t play the rapper in Atlanta. Is there a reason for that?

Yes, that would have been weird. I wouldn’t have enjoyed that. It clouds a lot of things. It wouldn’t be fun. If David Bowie had made a show about him being a rock star you could have definitely watched it but sometimes it would be like “is this dude playing (teasing) me … what’s going on”.

Atlanta is a departure from Community and your Childish Gambino persona. How important was it to be able to show another side to your talent?

What was important for me was that this show was personal. That is all you can really ask from a show nowadays — having a specific view on something. I grew up in Atlanta and everybody there has a philosophy. You’ll get an Uber and the driver will tell you things like how you should be vegan. They (residents) have a very active dialogue about how things are, how things were, and how things should be.

Cast members and co-directors of the Han Solo ‘Star Wars’ spin-off — from bottom left, co-director Christopher Miller, Woody Harrelson, Phoebe Waller-Bridge, Alden Ehrenreich, Emilia Clarke, Joonas Suotamo as Chewbacca, co-director Phil Lord and Donald Glover. Picture: Jonathan Olley / Lucasfilm

How do you reflect on your experience on Community? Creator Dan Harmon wanted to get you back for a final season or even the final episode but you didn’t do that. Why?

I had so much fun on Community. It wasn’t like I wanted to run away from that (but) I just like endings. Everything should have death clauses in them. Humans have death clauses. Thank God. One day Trump is going to die. That is guaranteed. That is awesome. It is important that things end. I’m glad things end because it forces things to progress. I get really frustrated with the world because I see a lot of things that could be better but aren’t better because things haven’t died yet.

Donald Glover created and stars in Atlanta, which won a Golden Globe for Best TV Series and Glover as Best Actor in a TV series. Picture: Matthias Clamer / FX

There are a lot of rap stars in Atl anta. Did any approach you about being on the show?

A lot of really cool rappers have approached me but I want to make sure we use them in the right way. It is a dangerous time to be doing that (having guest appearances by real-life music stars). I didn’t want people to catch the vibe of “this will be like Empire”. I wanted to make sure Atlanta was different.

Donald Glover wrote and stars in Atlanta, which has propelled him into Hollywood’s hottest projects. Picture: Guy D'Alema / FX

watch Atlanta, SBS Viceland, tonight, 9.20pm

INSIDE THE 2017 OSCARS PARTIES

Originally published as Hollywood’s hottest property Donald Glover on the award-winning Atlanta