Exclusive Interview: Pop Culturalist Chats with Feel the Beat’s Brandon Kyle Goodman

Actor-writer Brandon Kyle Goodman has emerged as an advocate for change, both in the industry and in the world. As a queer, Black creative, Brandon is fighting for diverse representation where it matters most so that marginalized communities can see their stories told authentically and accurately. We recently spoke with Brandon about how he discovered his voice, his new film Feel the Beat, and how he and the writing team at Big Mouth are pushing inclusivity in upcoming seasons.

Career

PC: How did you discover your passion for the arts?
Brandon: My mother is an actress. My grandmother was a minister. I grew up going to my mother’s one-woman shows and going to church where my grandmother would give sermons every week. I used to help my mother pack her wigs and costumes for her shows. I grew up in it. I thought I wanted to be a teacher, but at fourteen, I decided I wanted to be an actor. My mom put me in classes and the rest is history.

PC: Who or what’s had the biggest influence either personally or professionally?
Brandon: Definitely my grandmother and my mother. I would say Jaleel White, Will Smith, and Will and Grace have also had massive impacts on my life.

PC: In addition to acting, you’re also a writer. How has your work behind the scenes made you a stronger actor and vice versa?
Brandon: There’s a different intimacy that you have with the words. I know as an actor before getting into writing what my take on it is from my experience, but there’s a different intimacy. If somebody writes something, especially as a Black queer man, most of the time, when I’m playing a Black queer character, it’s usually written by a White person. There’s a level of “this doesn’t sound like me.” So now I feel like I have the tool that I can pinpoint why it doesn’t sound like me. I can be a little more constructive. Hopefully, the director and writers are open to it. I can be more constructive about why this thing doesn’t feel quite like what they’re trying to capture, in my experience. That’s how it’s helped. It’s given me more tools to tell my stories behind the scenes and on camera in a more accurately authentic, organic way.

Feel the Beat

PC: You have a new film out now. Tell us about Feel the Beat, your character, and what drew you to this project.
Brandon: Feel the Beat stars Sofia Carson. She’s a Broadway dancer who messes up her opportunity with one of the choreographers and has to go back to her small town. She hopes by putting kids in a dance school competition that she might get her ticket back to Broadway. One of the big choreographers is going to be a judge in the competition.

I play Deco, her neighbor who ends up becoming her best friend. He’s Black and queer, but it’s never discussed, which is what I loved. I loved the idea of a Black, queer character in a family film because there’s always been such contention with queer characters in family films. That drew me to it. His Blackness and queerness is never brought up. It’s not part of his storyline. He’s just there to be a good friend to Sofia’s character, April, and tries to help the kids. That was important to me.

It’s a small but memorable part—not just his flamboyant costumes, fabulous outfits, and hair color, but just this Black, queer person who is supporting kids. In this small town, no one bats any eye. My favorite scene is the very first scene. He shows up in a leather kilt and these high Gucci boots. Everyone’s like, “I love it.” It’s such a small moment, but also I think it’s such an important sign of acceptance of oneself and acceptance from others.

PC: The movie premiered in June and has become one of Netflix’s most-watched films. What do you think is resonating most with audiences?
Brandon: There are a couple of things. The first is that the film does a fantastic job of creating an inclusive cast and making sure it didn’t feel like it’s just a bunch of White people running around. I think the other piece of it too is that it premiered in the middle of this racial justice global reckoning. There’s also an escapism.

There’s an idealism to our world in Feel the Beat that we are all hopefully striving towards in terms of inclusiveness. There was something nice about having an hour and a half away from the heaviness of everything going on, especially for kids. There’s so much anxiety inside of our kids with the pandemic and this movement. I think parents are appreciative of being able to offer them a fun movie night. At least, that’s what people have been saying to me.

PC: You’ve said in previous interviews that Deco is a character that means a lot to you. When you look at this experience, what’s been the biggest takeaway?
Brandon: The biggest takeaway was being able to fully and competently step into myself without fear of how others would perceive me. The movie itself is idealized in so many ways. Deco is this Black, queer person who isn’t living for anybody else but him. He doesn’t care what you think about him, what you say about him, how you think he should dress, what you think he should wear. He’s embracing this life in its fullness, as opposed to trying to follow the rules of what gender norms and social constructs are. I take that away.

PC: You’ve been very vocal about the need for greater representation in Hollywood. Why do you think progress has been so slow?
Brandon: This is such a depressing answer, but progress is slow because on some level people understand their privilege and they understand they have to sacrifice something in order for all of us to gain. People have been more interested in looking like they’re doing the change because that’s what brings money in: “We made a Black movie. Look!” So they make their money off of it, but we’re saying, “No, we need systemic change.” You don’t just put out Crazy Rich Asians or Black Panther and think you’ve done your job. That requires some people to possibly step down. That means you’re going to have to lose something to make room for someone like you or me. But for that person, it’s like, “I don’t want to be a millionaire. I want to stay a billionaire.”

I don’t have any feeling towards you losing a couple of million because you stepped down. It’s what you should do. You might lose a bit in your finances and power, but we gain inclusion. What a world it would be to walk into a boardroom of a major network and look around and see queer people, see Black people, see Asian people, see Indigenous people. What is that network capable of with that many voices at the table that have power. I’m excited about that world. That world is so necessary, but it’s scary to lose sh-t.

PC: You also joined the writers’ room of Big Mouth in Season 4 and 5. How will this show push inclusion in its upcoming season?
Brandon: In Season 4, one of my favorite things is that Missy, who’s our character who’s biracial, she has a storyline that has her identify her Blackness, or wrestle and reckon with her Blackness, which I think is so important because when I joined the show one of the things that I was realizing was that my race was part of my puberty. So you can’t not tell that story.

Then one of the episodes that I cowrite with Mitra Jouhari, and Matthew, who is our gay-identifying character, is wrestling with not coming out but just with sexual experience and his relationship to being sexual as a gay boy. I love that because all these stories do not need to necessarily be about coming out or the struggle of being gay. There are nuances inside of our existence. I continue to say I’m Black. I’m gay, but I love the Housewives, I have a dog, I have other things going on in my life. We’re going to keep pushing out more of these stories in Season 5.

PC: You also emerged as a really powerful advocate in the Black Lives Matter movement, using your platform to spark change and discussion. How did you discover your own voice as an advocate?
Brandon: In a recent Vanity Fair article, Viola Davis said, “My entire life has been a protest.” I feel that for myself. I discovered that my life was being ruled by White supremacy when I was twenty years old. I told my therapist that I thought that even if I was considered the most attractive Black person in the world, I would never be as attractive as a White person. My therapist was White and she looked at me crazy. That’s when I was like, “Oh, I have a problem. What the fu-k is this?”

So the last thirteen years has been me doing my personal work to understand White supremacy, to understand colonization, to understand the impact that it’s had on me on a personal level, why have I gravitated towards White movies or shows. What about my conditioning and socialization has allowed me to ignore, forget, and discount my beauty, my excellence in my existence, my wonderful, full existence as a Black person. Doing that for the past thirteen years has allowed me to be an advocate in this moment as the whole world has this awakening. Because I have such a personal experience with it and have been consciously, actively unpacking and retraining and unlearning for myself, I feel I could do that for and with others right now.

Pop Culturalist Speed Round

PC: Guilty pleasure TV show?
Brandon: It’s The Real Housewives of Atlanta, Beverly Hills, of Potomac, of New York. Yes, I can write a dissertation about why those shows are problematic and I’m to sit here and be like, “I fu-king love it.”

PC: Guilty pleasure movie?
Brandon: Sister Act 2 is always like my go-to. I know everyone says Sister Act 1 has a full story, but Sister Act 2 is everything.

PC: Favorite book?
Brandon: Right now, I’m reading The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison. It’s rocking my world. I’m feeling so seen, so shook, so moved in a way that I haven’t experienced with literature. I’m sure it’s a combination of what’s going on right now.

PC: Favorite play or musical?
Brandon: My favorite musical is The Color Purple. When it first came out on Broadway, I saw it four times. Then I moved to LA, and I flew back to New York to do a job and I was like, “I’m going to see The Color Purple with Cynthia Erivo.” But she was sick! I was devastated. She was sick after running a marathon and called out. It was still brilliant.

My favorite play is my mother’s play. It’s called To the Top, Top, Top, which was her one-woman show. She’s brilliant.

PC: A band or artist that fans would be surprised to learn is on your playlist?
Brandon: Oh, surprised, because I was going to say Destiny’s Child. But no one would be surprised by that. Maybe Dua Lipa? Or Kevin McHale? I have his EP and I’m obsessed with it.

PC: Who would play you in the story of your life?
Brandon: Fu-k, that’s a good question. It’s actually bringing up that there aren’t a lot of Black, queer actors that we know of. I definitely don’t want some straight boy playing me. [laughs] We can’t have that. I feel like somebody fabulous who we haven’t met yet, but I know that they’re out there. I’m so excited to know them, and I hope this moment in this movement and in liberation of Black people, queer people, Black queer people, that those voices will emerge to the forefront so the next time you ask me that I have an answer.

To keep up with Brandon, follow him on Twitter and Instagram. Watch Feel the Beat on Netflix today.

Photo Credit: Leslie Alejandro