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Page 16 June 22 - 28, 2020 E I R P F I D Z B E U V E M A A D T Y E A W A H P Y F A Z J P E C L K S N Z R A E T C E Q I P L Y U G R P O U E Y F L U J R H A E L Y N P L R A R H O W E P L I T H G O W F Y P N M A S E P Z X T J E E L L A Z R E S S E A M A G P A R T R Y D L I G N S U S F N Y H N E M H I O X L N N R C H A L K D T J L N I A Y R E L N X P S Y E Q G Y R F T S R E D E M P T I O N H E A Z P A V R J Z R W P E Y D Y L U N L H Z O X A R Y S I V E I F C I P W K R U V A H "Perry Mason" on HBO (Words in parentheses not in puzzle) Perry (Mason) Della (Street) Paul (Drake) (Sister) Alice (E.B.) Jonathan (Matthew) Rhys (Juliet) Rylance (Chris) Chalk (Tatiana) Maslany (John) Lithgow (Great) Depression (Los) Angeles Origins (Private) Investigator Redemption word search puzzle Solution is on page 9. view, he sometimes drifted into referring to his charac- ter as himself. Answers have been edited for brevity and clarity. AP: It had been 25 years since you worked with Spike. Did you notice any- thing different about him? Lindo: He first called me when I was in the car. He said some things that really moved me in terms of his respect for me, his regard for me. That was different. I have to say that there were disagreements that we had. I'm not going to tell you exactly what they were, but there were a couple of bumpy moments when we disagreed about a couple things, a couple very, very important things. But, A, we were able to move on and, B, he apologized. That for me was a manifestation of his regard for me creatively, as a creative worker. The overall experience was enhanced by the 20-plus years that had passed since we worked together. We're both 25 years older but still on a similar track, creatively. AP: You and Spike initial- ly disagreed about making Paul a Trump supporter. Lindo: I remember saying to Spike, "Spike, I'm a father and a parent. I don't want my son to see me doing that." But once Spike made it clear to me, "I need this, man. I need this to be a component of the story," then my job was to get my head around it and rational- ize it. It had to do with the depth of the betrayal that Paul has experienced, the loss that Paul has experi- enced. One of the largest betrayals had to do with the betrayal by my country when I got back from the war. My two cousins said to me they were stunned by the reaction, the lack of embrace for them as vets. Cumulatively, these betray- als add up to feeling disen- franchised that could result in this individual coming along in 2016 coming along and saying, "I can make it better." I can see how one could get sucked into drink that particular cup of Kool- Aid. And Paul drank a pitcher of Kool-Aid, man. Not just a cup. AP: You've spoken about being particularly bothered by the depiction of black soldiers in "Platoon." Why do you think African Ameri- can veterans are so rarely seen in film? Lindo: There is a tradition of black soldiers being mar- ginalized at best, expurgat- ed at worst. This film addresses that from the standpoint that we are front and center. We're seeing the Vietnam experience through the lens of these brothers. It's important from a historical point of view to tell these stories. I was born in England and my family is Caribbean. Both in World War I and World War II, Caribbean soldiers fought for the British, with the British, and generally speaking that contribution has been virtually expurgated. Generally, there's this tradition of not focusing on us and our achievements and our con- tributions. AP: The scenes toward the end of the film, with Paul alone in the jungle, are remarkable. Lindo: We shot those scenes toward the end of our time in Thailand, before we went to Vietnam. We were probably six, seven weeks in. That was to my advantage. I was sufficient- ly plugged in to the work and to Paul. I had enough of a foundation underneath me that there was a con- nection I felt inside the work. Expressing what I had to express in those scenes was just really rich for me as an actor. And Spike let me go, man. It wasn't long. It wasn't like I was adding a page of dia- logue. But he let me go. CONTINUED FROM PAGE 2 DAvID LEE | ThE AssOCIATED PREss This image released by Netflix shows Johnny Nguyen, background left, Clarke Peters, and Delroy Lindo, left, in a scene from "Da 5 Bloods," a film directed by spike Lee.

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