You could say the actor has been a superhero for years.
Now, onWatchmen, she finally gets to play one.
Fall Preview
The most anticipated releases of the season ahead.
Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
You could just get lost in his eyes.
You could feel like you saw all the pain, all the joy, all the everything.
All at the same time.
Shakur chauffeured her around for the rest of the day.
We just became peas in a pod after that, she says.
One Christmas, we drove out to Atlanta to spend the holidays with him.
That was the last time I really got to spend time with him.
God willing, your last time with someone can always be one of joy.
(He never knew that I did.
I can say it now.)
He just about his business.
He saw me and he went She laughs and does the shimmy again.
Unfortunately for black actresses [like Regina], thats certainly been the case.
In King, he saw someone the viewer could trust.
I would never write something for her where she had to be a liar, he says.
It was understanding that she can beat up white supremacists, but she cant beat white supremacy.
She likes the Sisyphean quality of that battle.
Also, she just wanted to play a badass.
Ive wanted to be a superhero sinceThe Incredible Hulk, she says.
I ask him what his mom is like.
I get it from her, so I respect that, he says.
Okay, Ill walk away, King says, idling off to the side.
Irresponsibility is something thats a pet peeve, he says.
Everybodyis irresponsible, she responds, circling back.
But its when people are irresponsible and attempt to pretend like theyre not.
You own up to it.Yeah, I was fucking up,you know?
For an actor, theres nowhere to hide, no distance between yourself and the viewer.
Kings own sense of morality is undergirded by religion.
It holds a kind of pantheistic belief that God isnt a being so much as a universal presence.
God is everywhere, she explains.
Fear and love are both equal energies.
Its an acronym for God is my only source and supply.
King invokes it like a daily chant: GIMOSAS, GIMOSAS, GIMOSAS.
It is to pull up the calm, to help you center all through the day, she says.
As we take our leave, a stranger walks up to her and asks, Regina Hall, right?
something thats already happened once today.
I sense a slight impatience edging her eyes.
No, she replies.
You look so much like her, he presses on.
No, I dont.
I dont look anything like her, she replies steadily.
I look just like Regina King.
Watchmenpremieres October 20 on HBO.
