An Interview with Isaac Keys and Kris Lofton from ‘Power Book IV: Force’

Isaac Keys and Kris Lofton are a pair of incredibly talented actors that have appeared in multiple television shows and films. Isaac for instance was as series regular on Get Shorty and has popped up on shows such as Criminal Minds and Supergirl as well, and even stepped into the world of dinosaurs in Jurassic World. As for Kris, he spent three seasons on Ballers and spent time on Shameless and Snowfall, in addition to having a role in the Sundance feature, A Boy. A Girl. A Dream. and now he and Isaac are playing the Sampson brothers, Diamond (Isaac) and Jenard (Kris) in Power Book IV: Force, and we here at Nerds That Geek were able to speak with both of them regarding their characters and all things Power.
 
John Betancourt: What is it that attracted the both of you, to your respective characters?
 
Kris Lofton: What attracted me to Jenard was… he was just very layered. I love the fact that Jennard was not too far on either side of the spectrum. I love the fact I get to play a complex character. I don't like to say, bad guys, you know, people say that they can, they can box you in and typecast you as a bad guy. No, I call them complex characters. And I feel it takes a lot more emotion and, skill to be able to dig deeper for a complex character with layers than it does to be the guy that just smiles and he's happy all the time. You know, so that's what excited me about Jenard the most. To be able to just remove those layers, to give you comedic timing, but to give you fear, and to give you aggression, and to give you love and empathy, I just want people to empathize with the villain.
 
Isaac Keys: With me, as Kris said, you know, the characters are cut from the same cloth, but yet they still throughout their growth, they kind of you know, develop their own different characteristics and how they handle certain things, and their personality traits. With this character of Diamond, I didn't feel it was too far from who I am. But it also allowed me to be able to get to some of the dark and gritty side of me at some point to be able to relate to, you know what I mean? Like the human aspect of him being the struggle, the internal struggle that we are all kind of faced with. Who are we becoming? Who are we now, who are we before? And who do we want to be? And how do we take the steps to be that person? And I think that was really attracted to me, attracted me to Diamond, I think it was important to be able to try to hopefully convey that to people.
 
John Betancourt: That’s interesting, in keeping with those flaws and those complexities, what did you each do to get into the mindset of playing your flawed and complex characters?
 
Isaac Keys: Um, I think it was just… I understand growth, and I understand having to make a transition, coming from football, I learned by trying to make the transition into acting, it was a transition where I had to make sacrifices with no guarantees. So, it was like, you know, I didn't know, I was making decisions and hard decisions upon, but not knowing what the outcome may be. And I think that's where Diamond kind of lies in. He's making some decisions for his growth and evolution, but he doesn't know where that's gonna lead him. In this life of Power, and the streets of Chicago and coming from the south side, any decision that Diamond makes could end him. Take him right to the grave, you know what I mean, they can put him in a graveyard. He can die that quick, you know, because that's just how quickly decisions are made. So, I think with that, it's just, it was just important to be able to really try to tap into that.
 
Kris Lofton: For me to prepare for Jenard, I, uh, I think I did more homework than I ever have in my life for any role ever. And I think it was because I knew what this what this job meant to me because of the whole Power Universe and how much this truly meant, I felt like I would do myself a disservice. And I'd be doing a disservice to the Universe and to all the people who supported me, up until this point, if I didn't give it 10 times more than I've ever gave on any of the other roles I've been a part of. So, I did what I call… I respected the position. I did the work, I did the homework, and I created the backstory so I could feel real emotions of resentment toward my brother. Like I pulled the school that I thought I would have been accepted to, what my major was, what my first girlfriend's name was that he took me away from or this and that I just, I really created that and I wrote it all out I still have it all in my notepad I wrote out a whole backstory about the conversation we had with each other before he went to prison.
 
So now those moments on screen to me, it felt real, because I'm thinking like this is what you took from me and now it feels real, so I did that. Along with… I did a lot of a YouTube video watching, I watched a lot of table reads, like, I don't know why… table reads were thing for me. But I watched table reads of Breaking Bad. Like a lot of them. Because I knew that being series regular was a different level of commitment and responsibility. And I just wanted to be ready for the big responsibility of it all and not just the acting side, the responsibility of it all, the table read aspect and element of it. I wanted to have that down. And then I remember our first table read I was asked to lead our table read and I was like wow, I subconsciously prepared myself for this before I got the role because I was watching hours of table read footage on Breaking Bad and I led the table read. So, I feel like I did more homework than ever for this.
 
John Betancourt: So, to shift gears a bit, what does it mean to both of you to be a part of the pop-culture phenomenon that is the Power Universe?
 
Kris Lofton: It means everything to me. I was a diehard Power fan. Like real, real diehard fan, I can quote the lines. I know things about --- I think I've talked to Joseph, our fearless leader Joseph Sikora. I've talked to him, and I think I've reminded him of things that he had forgotten, like, I'm that much of a fan. So, this means everything to me. And it still doesn't feel real. Sometimes I have people pinch me just to make sure I'm not sleep or dreaming or anything like that. So, it means a lot. And it's an honor to be here. And I'm just extremely thankful to STARZ and Courtney A. Kemp and 50 Cent, Mark Canton, everybody for making this a possibility in the universe that they created. I'm happy to be a part of it.
 
Isaac Keys: I mean, the fact that we are tie in universe right along with Power is extraordinary in its own right and 50 Cent, Courtney A. Kemp, everybody, we keep, you know, we have to give homage to them and thanks for everything. But not just for, giving us these roles, but everything they created. Like this has become, you know, a household type of environment of TV watching now. And you know, and I've been a part of that, because I was there when it first started. I was running home trying to watch it or having talks about it with friends later on. And, you know, like, we had to DVR, you had to DVR if you couldn't get there in time, you know, so, you know, it was important and so was having watch parties.
 
So, to be a part of it, like I'm still trying to embrace… like, there’s a scene with me and Joseph, it was me and Tommy. And it's like, he just gives me this, this eyebrow. He gives me the Tommy eyebrow. And it was like, I almost lost it! I had to keep it together. Because I was like, I felt like I was watching it on TV. But now I had to come to grips with it and it was like a coming to, you know, a coming to earth moment and I was like; “No, I'm in this. And now I have to make sure I bring the value and raise the bar to make sure this character belongs here.” So, it was just, you know, it's things like that man, that you kind of really just, you kind of grasp upon.
 
John Betancourt: What are you both looking forward to fans experiencing in Force? Without spoiling anything, of course.
 
Isaac Keys: I think my I'm really looking forward to the fans being able to see Tommy Egan again. And seeing his, his transition, his transformation. I'm really excited about that, like, because I feel like people have been longing for this. They've been longing for that. And I think along with that, you know how he comes in, there's gonna be new things that he brings to the table, you know what I mean? That it's going to excel, but also just the other storylines with this amazing cast, like, we got the Flynn family then you have, you know, the Sampson brothers between myself and you know, Jenard, and it's like, and so many amazing characters, and then all the people that we brought in that are actually from Chicago, you know, including Kris. But other characters, like, you're going to be opened up to a world of characters that I think is gonna blow the fans minds, on just how they have to act and what's going on with them in life.
 
Kris Lofton: And to piggyback off what Isaac said, I'm most excited for the fans and myself, because I'm still a fan and to see Tommy again, like you said, bro, that that's what it's about. He's the fan favorite. We want to see Tommy and I think… Power Book IV: Force, has the possibility to be one of the greats! Because of the fact that Tommy is such a fan favorite. And we get to finally see him outside of his element. He's not in New York, he doesn't have any friends anymore. He doesn't have any family. He's just alone. He's just the man on the road with himself. You know? And I think that's a that's a crazy place for us to meet Tommy and, to see where he goes from there…. it's going to be amazing. And like Isaac said, as well, the new characters that we introduce in this world, I think the fans are gonna love them. And I hope that we can just match up with the rest of the characters in his universe, man, if we can stand toe to toe with them or even half of what this universe is created. That'd be great.
 
This interview was lightly edited and condensed for clarity.

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