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LOS ANGELES, Feb. 11 (UPI) -- LaKeith Stanfield said he was conflicted over his role in Judas and the Black Messiah because he didn't like who he was portraying. The film tells the story of how the FBI infiltrated the Black Panther Party in 1969. The FBI assigned William O'Neal to join the Illinois chapter of Black Panthers and inform on party leader Fred Hampton for J. Edgar Hoover's COINTELPRO program -- counterintelligence against the Black power movement.
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Stanfield plays O'Neal in the film. He said he had hoped to play Hampton, who is played by Daniel Kaluuya.
"At first, I was really against it," Stanfield said at a Zoom virtual summit. "I can't play this dude. No way. I hate this guy."
The film shows O'Neal giving an interview for the civil rights documentary, Eyes on the Prize. Stanfield studied the real interview. The 29-year-old actor said traces of remorse he saw in O'Neal made him change his mind and take the role.
"I already went into the character thinking I'm going to take that sliver of insecurity and try and magnify that to bring this character to life," Stanfield said. "I also didn't want to risk being too relatable and too emotionally available to offset the fact that he did some really messed up things."
O'Neal's tips led to a police raid on Dec. 4, 1969, in which officers shot and killed a sleeping Hampton. FBI whistleblowers and court cases between 1977 and 1982 confirmed COINTELPRO paid O'Neal for the information.
Stanfield said he intended to portray his own uneasiness in his performance as O'Neal. He said he hopes that suggests that O'Neal hated informing on Hampton, too.
However, Stanfield said one scene of betrayal overcame him. Stanfield said director Shaka King had to talk him down.
"I couldn't stop compulsively crying," Stanfield said. "Shaka's like, 'We don't need that in this moment.' So I had to work it all out and then position myself in the right place, the right frame of mind."
Kaluuya said he learned a lot from his role in the film.
The 31-year-old Oscar nominee said he learned about "the power of loving yourself, loving the people that look like you and loving your own community."
"I felt just honored to spiritually step into this position for this narrative and be a part of continuing the legacy," he said.
The film also includes Hampton's wife, Deborah Johnson, who now goes by the name Mama Akua. Dominique Fishback plays Johnson in the film.
Fishback said she only learned about Hampton in her college's Black Student Union. She said she learned more from the documentary, The Black Power Mixtape.
"I had seen these revolutionary Black women with huge afros," Fishback said. "For the first time I was like, Oh, wow, my hair is beautiful. I don't have to hide it anymore."
Akua and her son, Fred Hampton Jr., invited Fishback and Kaluuya to dinner. Fishback said the dinner lasted seven to eight hours, during which time Kaluuya said Hampton and Akua challenged them to articulate why they wanted to tell the story.
"I remember Mama Akua took me and Dominique to the side and asked us why we make art," Kaluuya said.
Hampton Jr. and Akua showed the actors sites of Black Panther protests, and visited the set. Stanfield said Hampton Jr. was uneasy around him.
"I can't understand how big that must be to see the person, a reimagination of the person that led to your father being killed," Stanfield said. "That must be insane."
The cast members also contributed their own elements to the historical film. Fishback wrote some original poems that Johnson recites to Hampton in the film. The 29-year-old actor said King encouraged her to write poetry in Johnson's voice.
"I would write little poems when they first meet, when they first kiss," Fishback said.
Johnson gave birth to Hampton Jr. after Hampton Sr. was killed. In the film, a pregnant Johnson expresses concern that Hampton Sr.'s activism would endanger his family. Kaluuya said Fishback's poems helped him relate to Hampton's conflict between his movement and his family.
"I felt really moved knowing that it was her personal words," Kaluuya said. "It was a summation of all the thoughts and beliefs and feelings that she had throughout the shoot."
Judas and the Black Messiah opens in theaters and premieres on HBO Max Friday.
