'Emperor Of Ocean Park': A New Crime Thriller Series About An Affluent Black Family

The release of MGM+’s highly anticipated Emperor of Ocean Park has fans' seated every week.

The series, starring Forest Whitaker and Grantham Coleman, is a suspenseful crime thriller about the mysterious death of Judge Oliver Garland and his children’s attempt to uncover all of their late father’s secrets. Based on the book of the same title, Sherman Payne created the show and episodes were directed by Damian Marcano.

Before the show's release, we had the chance to interview Payne, Marcano and Coleman about the characters, working with legendary actor Forest Whitaker, and Black representation and legacy.

Grantham, Tell me about your character in the show and what connected you to him.

I play Talcott Garland, and he is the dutiful son, the great young professor, the abiding husband, and the younger brother of a great prominent Black family in the upper middle class. Then that all changes, and he learns a lot about himself, his family, and his dear old dad who passed away. Through his father's passing, he learns a lot about these scandals and maybe traumatizing things that have happened in the family.

How I was raised, the way to honor your parents is to be the child that listens, the child that learns from his siblings, the one that doesn't make mistakes, and the one that does what he is supposed to do. I kind of identify with that. I was getting straight As in school, trying not to make any noise, keeping my head down, and working twice as hard. Following all the Black teachings that I grew up with, we were kind of trying to grow up in such a way where society wouldn't deem us a problem. So that's where I kind of met Talcott, as someone who followed this path. He does this with his family, his father, and even his job. He thinks that if he stays on this path and follows all these rules, his life will be successful and happy. There's definitely a life where I could have been him, but thankfully, I like to make a little noise every now and then.

Sherman, what was the difference between writing for Shameless and Emperor of Ocean Park?

With Shameless, we really tried to make the show as edgy as possible. We were all sharing ridiculous stories from our lives to put into the characters of the Gallagher family. So it was a lot more ridiculous, over-the-top storytelling. In Emperor of Ocean Park, we had a complex mystery to plot out. We were a little more buttoned down in terms of making sure that we had all the elements to this very complicated story. We also listened to a lot of hip-hop in our writing room and referenced a lot of rap music, so we had fun too, but in a slightly different way.

Damian, from a directing perspective, were there any particular themes you wanted to portray?

My process is different from that. I attack the pages and find the truth. And the truth isn't this deep, sinister thing like, "Let's see what we're really saying here." Meaning the truth that even upon casting, when we see the Garland family, I wanted the Black audience to actually feel like they were watching a real family. I hope that we always cast actors that have what I call "lightning in the bottle," because I try to capture that lightning. So I wanted to attack those simple things so that it wouldn't get in the way of the brilliant story that this guy had written.

Grantham, what role does legacy play in defining your character?

Legacy was the only thing we had as Black men. A name was all we were able to pass down because we didn't necessarily have generational wealth to leave to our families. Legacy, especially in our community, is very important. As far as for my character, his father’s legacy is one of "do as I say, not as I do," but we as children often don't know everything our parents did to get us to where we are and how they want us to be better and succeed.

What was it like getting to act alongside a legend in Forest Whitaker?

Acting is an art where everyone has their own style. It's as different as humans are different, so getting the chance to get in the kitchen and cook with someone like Forest and realize that's how he does it. I might have to do it that way too, or I don't have to do anything because you're doing it all. I was a better actor because I was working with him.

Sherman, when adapting the book into a show, how close did you stay to the source material?

If you have read the book, you will see that our mystery unfolds a lot the same way that the book does. Of course, when you adapt something, you have to make changes. And you have to make cuts. I mean, this is a really substantial book; it's several hundred pages. We couldn't put all of that great stuff on screen, so we had to make some choices on where to streamline. But we also had to make some choices on what to add in order to make it work for TV. So I think you'll get the essence of the book; you'll recognize these characters, you'll recognize the vibe behind them, but you'll also see some new stuff on screen that will hopefully be equally as compelling.

Why was having the representation of an affluent Black family so important?

Damian: I was talking to David Oyelowo about this two days ago. We were expressing the fact that we are Black men from places where we are the majority. I'm still taking this crash course on learning to be a minority if you understand. Where I'm from, there are many families like the Garland family, and I wanted to capture that in the same honest way that I tried to really keep the show so that it doesn't feel overly done. Mariah doesn't have rhinestone heels or anything like that. There is a very modest way that the haves live their life, and where I'm from, the haves are not the typical way that is represented here.

Sherman: Can I jump in and give Damian his props? Because I think also with everything that he just said, he did a great job of capturing what felt very real and authentic to me. To his point about this not being a Love and Hip Hop version of affluence, no shade. These feel like real lived-in places. These are Black people who've had money for a minute, and it's not so extravagant that you can't necessarily relate to it and you've never seen it in your life. But it's also something that most of us don't experience day to day, and Damian did such a great job of capturing that and making it feel authentic throughout the series as there are other directors to follow in his lead.

Coleman: I have a lot of friends who grew up in a wealthy environment, and I always feel like they go one of two ways: you either grow up so accustomed to it and comfortable that for you, it's not flashy to have it or wear it, or they're the people that kind of downplay it. I feel my character, Talcott, might be more of the latter. He just wants to blend in and not cause a stir. He can afford to drive the flashy car, but he's like, "No, I'm gonna drive a Honda because it's reliable and it gets me where I need to go, and nobody needs to know that."

Coleman, how did you prepare for this role?

I had the book to read, and I had Sherman, our showrunner and writer, to pick his mind. For me, looking into Talcott's character, as I was saying, I saw someone that very easily could have been me. I think how he would think. So my way in was just reading the book and talking to the showrunners and writers and figuring out who we wanted to be the lens for this world because you kind of watch the story unfold through Talcott’s character. So I thought it was really important to be able to make him as truthful as possible.

Lastly, Coleman, why was this story important to tell?

We don't see enough representation of Black families like this, and we need our community and culture. I don't think there can be enough shows about Black people in all various positions, all various political beliefs, all various faith beliefs. So to be able to be a part of one, and especially one that has such a pedigree from a book stance, and then to be working with Warner Brothers, MGM+, John Wallace Productions, and to get Forest Whitaker to helm it, for them to get behind a story like this, it can't help but be important. This story itself is great, but the people that we have to make it, I think it's what makes it even greater.

The next episode is set to release on August 11 and we can’t wait to see what unfolds.