Video:Omari Hardwick Interview - The A-Team

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Transcript:Omari Hardwick Interview - The A-Team

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the LA premiere of 20th Century Fox's The A-Team.

Omari Hardwick - 'Chopshop Jay' in The A-Team

Tell me about working on this.

Omari Hardwick: "It was great. I just was a pea thrown in the pod, and Joe Carnahan really hooked me up. I really make a cameo and I'm honored to be a part of it. I actually, quietly as its kept, I don't know if I told Rampage [Jackson] this but I actually auditioned for B.A. Baracus and Joe was thinking, and the studio was thinking about maybe going against type, you know against the Mr. T type which didn't make sense to me but they were going to do it anyway. And so they got smart and decided that I would not fit the bill well, but they threw me a cameo - and so hopefully I just do my part."

Is it an action-filled cameo?

Omari Hardwick: "Yeah, well, no, there's some soul to it. I play the childhood best friend of B.A. Baracus, so there's some soul to it."

You know all his dirty secrets.

Omari Hardwick: "I do. I know all his dirty secrets. Not Rampage's yet..."

Did you guys make up a backstory?

Omari Hardwick: "We did. We worked on some stuff. He was very open and asked me to direct him. I looked at Joe Carnahan like, I'm not about to do that,' but it was great. And Bradley and I got very close - Bradley Cooper - and learned that we have an extreme mutual friend that he actually went to college with that I went to high school with."


 That's weird.

Omari Hardwick: "That's crazy. I was a running back in high school football. My fellow running back was one of his college classmates. Unbelievable."

It's a small world.

Omari Hardwick: "He went to Georgetown University; I ended up playing ball at Georgia. But Bradley and I spent hours talking about that so that was great."

How is Rampage as an actor?

Omari Hardwick: "You know, he's really good. He listened. He listened very well which is everything for what you do and for what I do. I thought he did a very good job with listening and just being very present. I thought he did a good job."

And you're rushing off to a set now?

Omari Hardwick: "I work on Dark Blue, the undercover cop show on TNT. They let me come and peruse the carpet and talk to you, Rebecca, and then I've got to get back to Warner Bros Studio."

Is it just action, action, action all the time for you?

Omari Hardwick: "I've been very blessed. You know I did Kick-Ass which came out a little bit earlier."

I love Kick-Ass.

Omari Hardwick: "Yeah, I was in that. Thank you so much for that."

There's going to be a Kick-Ass 2, right?

Omari Hardwick: "Yeah, so hopefully you'll see me again."

You survived the original.

Omari Hardwick: "I adopt her. I take her in, yeah."

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