For Brian Tyree Henry playing the role of a messy but well-meaning ex-convict was oddly cathartic. The Apple TV+ crime drama Dope Thief follows Ray (Henry), a man forced to make tough decisions alongside his best friend Manny (Wagner Moura) after leaving prison. While posing as DEA agents to steal drugs and cash, the pair trigger a drug war after robbing a major East Coast narcotics operation. Even surrounded by danger, Ray retains his heart and humor. For Henry, it’s this endearing quality that pulled him in. Here, the actor-producer talks about how channeling vulnerability, love and loss for this role aided his mental health journey.
DEADLINE: What were some real-life inspirations that went into Ray?
BRIAN TYREE HENRY: It was loss. I realized I looked up and hadn’t had a place to lay that down yet. So much was being asked of me at a time when I was dealing with such great loss [Henry lost his father, Marion Henry Jr. while filming] and it was easy to put my head down and work and be these characters. Dope Thief gave me a place to expose it without having to say too much. It gave me a place to unburden myself of it because grief is an ongoing thing. You won’t wake up one day and be like, “I’m over grief.” And if you’re fortunate enough, oddly enough, you’ll keep counting losses. Isn’t that the craziest thing? If you’re fortunate enough to keep living, unfortunately, you’ll lose people. And what’s the most unfortunate thing is that we are rarely given the tools to go through it. And that’s where you’re meeting Ray.
Ray’s whole life has been loss, from when he was a baby to then losing his freedom because he lost the love of his life in a car accident. Then he lost his father, and then in getting out of prison, he still doesn’t have freedom, because he’s being told he can’t get a job or do anything. He had to come up with something. Loss was something that I wanted to expose for myself and for anyone else who was going through it. Then I ended up experiencing a loss while filming the show anyway. Then it was about being able to use the tools that I acquired in my recovery and trying to deal with my loss and grief and extend them to Ray. I knew exactly where he was at. And I was hoping that maybe by me stepping into that part, it would help me and help him understand what he was going through as a character.
The humor helped too. The show has a lot of humor. It’s the best connector and transcends language. It transcends any prejudice you may have, too. So, when you peel back and recognize how close loss and humor are to each other, it’s just something I wanted to explore, too.
The show has a lot of humor. It’s the best connector and transcends language. It transcends any prejudice you may have, too. So, when you peel back and recognize how close loss and humor are to each other, it’s just something I wanted to explore, too.
Brian Tyree Henry
DEADLINE: You served as an EP on this series. How did you work with showrunner Peter Craig and different directors — including Ridley Scott, who directed the first episode — to get everyone’s vision of the show across?
HENRY: Because TV is strange in that you have this overarching story of a character, but because it is episodic, that usually means you’ll have a different director for each episode. So, what you have to do as the actor is know your character through and through. Because if a director’s coming in and out, basically taking the baton from someone else’s vision to try and build the same world and make the throughline feel connected, you have to stand on your own and know your character in and out, truly. That way, you can show the director where you’re going and have this dialogue about how they envision it going. All the directors for this show were incredible in understanding Ray’s journey. But I’m the one who’s living with Ray every single day.
I remember Marcela [Said] doing Episode 4, and there was that crazy scene of Manny and Ray in the back of the truck with the grenade, and you can read that script all day long, and be like, ‘Alright, this is what’s happening’. But what really is going on underneath is that these two best friends have gone through so much that one of these friends has decided to end it all. And in a way of saving the other friend, they think the best way is to blow themselves up with a grenade. Not only that, but Peter had now written this scene in the back of a pickup truck, and so I remember me and Wagner looking at each other. We got to this point where we were thinking, ‘Wait, I’ve never held a grenade? I don’t even know how many seconds you have before it goes off.’ While we’re having a crisis, Marcela just lays out the scene for us and tells us to just go, and we hoped for the best. But that’s the kind of storytelling I want to do, because it was just me and Wagner, and on top of how much I love him, you have to remember the love and connection that Ray and Manny have for each other before Episode 1. Acting is such a living, breathing thing. And as an EP, being able to sit down and see what it takes to make that explosion happen, like all the makeup to put that gash on Manny’s head or the dirt that went under our fingernails. It’s all that stuff that informs and it elevates everything.
DEADLINE: Kate Mulgrew and Ving Rhames play your parents. What bonds did you form on set with them?
HENRY: It’s a dream come true, right? I remember when it came to casting and having a say about that. At first, I was like, “Ya’ll want my mom to be white? Did I miss something?” Then, when it was Kate Mulgrew, I was like, “Say less.” It was interesting because you hope chemistry is going to be in a place that feels lived-in, but they’re both such amazing consummate professionals and legends that you don’t have to do any work. I don’t have enough to say about Kate. She’s a legend. They don’t make broads like that anymore. She cared for me in ways I cannot express to you. When you look at the show and see me putting my head on her and holding her, that’s real. We talk to each other to this day, and I only call her ma, and she calls me son.
Then adding Ving, that’s a man, you know what I mean? He can do so much by doing so little. It probably wasn’t easy to step into the shoes of being this absent piece-of-sh*t father. I remember our first day on set was in Episode 2, and it’s me visiting him in jail and we’re having that talk. I’ve been wanting to meet Ving my whole life, and I was like, damn, this is the way we’re going to start? This is a tough scene, but I was like, I can’t hold back. He’s so good in the series because you’re seeing him brought to such a low place, he’s weak, he’s dying. He’s not the strong man he used to be. But my favorite part of that scene is the reflections in the glass. [Director] Jonathan [van Tulleken] would do this thing when I’m talking to Ving, where you can see him on one side of the glass, but not my face. Then, on the opposite side, you’d see my face, but not his face.
Kate and Ving elevated this entire thing. Their relationship and love for each other was remarkable to watch and witness.
DEADLINE: You and Wagner Moura exude brotherly love. How were you able to build that?
HENRY: We started with fear. We hired him on a Friday, and he was in front of the camera on Monday. My goal was to talk him out of it. Because I admire him so much and I knew what we were asking of him as a professional actor, this felt very kamikaze. It wasn’t giving him a lot of time to prepare. So, I talked to him and told him that I loved and respected him, and that I was a huge fan of his work, but that I absolutely understand if he wanted to say no. And he told me that he knew he would do it as soon as he spoke to me. Our first scene together was where we’re about to rob this trap house, and he pulled me into this makeshift green room, and locked the door, and we stared forehead to forehead, holding each other’s forearms. He was like, “My name is Wagner, I’m really scared, and I am from Brazil,” because he hadn’t had a chance to do any of this. And I introduced myself and said, “I’m scared too. Any moment that you need me, you tell me. I won’t leave your side. I’m going to be right here with you, no matter what.”
We realized in that moment that there was Manny. That vulnerability, that sense of care, that frustration, those things were needed. And the biggest thing that I knew that was needed was proximity. So, after that, the intimacy building was easy. If you look at the series, you’ll notice that Ray and Manny are never far in proximity from each other. They are never far apart. They have no problem leaning on each other. They have no problem touching. They have no problem grabbing each other’s faces. I figured that proximity wouldn’t be a problem for two men who had been friends since they were teenagers and had to be confined in a small space in prison. We knew that the connection and intimacy had to be there, because technically, this is a love story. In my mind, me and Wagner are always like, this is a love story because who am I without you? And who are you without me?
I have never met anybody like Wagner before. I think he was placed in my life exactly when he was supposed to be. I owe him so much gratitude for being there and elevating this story, for what he did. Anytime I hear about him, my shoulders go up. My relationship with him, I want to ring through the test of time because it’s so easy to see a Black and brown man in a show involving violence and drugs and automatically be like, “We’ve seen this before.” But I don’t think you’ve seen love like this before.
[This interview has been edited for length and clarity.]
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