84 TIME March 1/March 8, 2021
John DavidWashington36 • A STAR IS BORNBY SPIKE LEEThere is a Proverb: The apple
doesn’t fall far from the tree. In
this case, the Trees are Denzel and
Pauletta Washington, and the Fruit
is John David Washington, my young
Lion, who fi rst appeared on the
Silver Screen at the ripe old age of 7
in Malcolm X.
You might say his career started
there, but it was never that simple—
not as the SON of the WORLD
FAMOUS Denzel. Sons like that
have a rough way to go. It can be a
Gift, a Burden or Both. Young J.D.
found his own path, starting as a
Running Back for the Morehouse
football team. I’m proud to call
him my MOREHOUSE BROTHER, a
fellow alum of a great historically
Black college. But despite his time
on the fi eld, my guess is that J.D.
wanted to be an Actor from the
Get-Go. When I began development
on BlacKkKlansman, I knew right
away that J.D. was “da MAN WIT
da PLAN” to portray the real-life
Ron Stallworth. I had peeped his
SKILLZ in HBO’s series Ballers and
I liked what I saw. And as they say,
“Da Rest Iz History.” J.D. killed it as
Stallworth. When Christopher Nolan,
my cinema brother, saw the fi lm at
Cannes, I think I saw tears in his
eyes. Then—BOOMSHOCKALOCKA!
J.D. was cast as the lead in Nolan’s
Tenet. When J.D. appears in his
New Netfl ix fi lm Malcolm & Marie
in February, people will be Hooting
and Hollering for our new matinee
idol, our new Dark Gable. The Apple
doesn’t fall far from the tree. Like
Father, like Son. Amen.Lee is an Academy Award–winning
writer, fi lm director and producerLUKE
COMBS
30 • A voice that
resonates
BY GARTH BROOKS
In this age of self-promotion,
Luke Combs is letting everybody
else do the talking for him. That’s
big in country music, which is
all about sincerity and humility.
And— despite his achievements,
including winning Best Album
at the 2020 Country Music
Awards—Luke has both of
those in spades. He realizes that
being a star is not up to him:
the people will confi rm it.
Everything Luke tries—
from Brooks & Dunn to classic
country, neoclassic country and
today’s country—he sounds
very much at home. He’s a
singer who you can tell is really
comfortable.
If I could pull him over and
tell him one thing, it would be
to just keep doing what he’s
doing. Just follow that music.
What resonates with him will
resonate with the audience,
with me, with everybody who’s
listening.Brooks is a Grammy Award–
winning musical artist100 next