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Thank you.

We’re tighter on this.

That was pretty wide.

Yeah, it was covered.

What do you want you to do one more time?

Yeah.

Today I get to talk to Antoine Fuqua, a video director for music, film filmmaker.

Grew up in Homewood.

Born in the Hill District.

From Pittsburgh.

I look at this picture and I see to me the similarities.

Because you talk about creating a championship team and award winning movies.

He did.

It's about all the people involved.

All the things you have to bring together.

The things you have to blend.

The things you have to build, but also be able to step away and embrace the process, allow people to be themselves.

They bring out the very best of who they are.

I was a director.

He was a director for Antoine Fuqua.

It started the Hill District.

Bill Cowher started Crafton.

We all came from that same place.

We all drank that same water.

We're all on the banks of a confluence of three rivers.

I can't wait to talk to this man today.

I am with Antoine Fuqua.

And before we start talking about his amazing journey and how I think a lot of similarities that we both have shared in terms of leadership and the paths we took.

We're gonna find out kind of Yinzer you are.

So here we go.

Ready?

Favorite Pittsburgh food?

Oh, man.

Pierogies is good.

You know.

I mean, that's great, right?

I mean, the pit, was the Pitaro brothers.

No, it was the Primanti Brothers depending Mario brothers.

But you know I can't eat that any more.

How about isley chipped ham?

Yeah, I've.

Yeah, I've had it.

I've had it.

Now hold on.

I got a friend whose mom used to make Italian sausages.

Oh, yeah.

And even to this day, very.

Her name is Kim.

She owns a place here called, Carmine's.

That's where I go get my Pittsburgh.

Her mom used to ship it out.

Right.

Fresh Italian sausage.

It's her own recipe.

That's some of my favorite food.

You know what?

My mother used to make the best pork chops, though.

Oh.

Who does?

My mom and my grandma.

So for me, a pork chop.

That's Pittsburgh, pork chop.

I got pork chops and some potatoes.

Home fries.

Come on, coach, I'm coming to your house next time for Thanksgiving.

Okay.

Here, favorite Pittsburgh venue.

Oh, well.

Used to be Three Rivers, but now it's, you know, it's, what does it called Acrisure.

I still call it Three Rivers.

How about Kennywood?

Yeah.

Kennywood?

Of course.

How about this?

How about the civic arena?

Love civic arena.

I should look down on it from the hill district where I live, where I grew up.

Do you know that the civic arena.

I used to sneak in there to watch Duquesne basketball on Sunday afternoons.

Oh, is that right?

I used to go there.

I used to go there, and my friends and I would take the bus down from Crafton, and we would go to different gates and we'd run in.

We'd say, mom, you forgot us.

And they wouldn't and they would chase us, and we'd all try to get in.

But as you got caught, you got kicked out.

So most of the time we made it.

But every now and then we'd lose a guy along the way.

So a man down, man down.

Here we go.

First word or phrase.

It comes to mind when you think Pittsburgh.

Yinz.

Yeah.

Yinz, How about jag off.

Jag off me.

My coaches always say that.

Don't be a jag off.

Yeah, yeah, it is, it is.

The way it said, though, is the way you say it.

Yeah So, let's talk about you, Antoine.

Like you grew.

You know, you were born in the Hill district, grew up in Homewood.

You know, your dad worked at H.J.

Heinz.

Your mom?

Your mom was a worker.

Tell me about growing up there in that in that time?

Yeah.

You know, it was tough.

Obviously, it was a tough time.

You know, Pittsburgh's a tough place.

Yeah, but it was beautiful.

You know, my memories of Pittsburgh are beautiful, beautiful people, you know, they they, even to this day, they don't care who you are, what you have.

Right?

It was just about, who you are as a person.

What you stood for.

I was born in the hill district, and then I moved from the Hill district to Homewood.

Right.

And, you know, I. And for me, it was like, you know, didn't have much.

Right?

It was it was I would live with my grandmother's screen door, had holes in it, you know, and the screen door open and close and bang around, you know, and I would run in and out of the house, but in my memory, I wouldn't pass it up for anything, man.

Yeah.

It was the most beautiful thing.

You know, my my friends, my core group of friends.

I mean, we played football together.

We played basketball at the YMCA together, and, you know, boys clubs.

We played baseball in AMP parking lot, you know, on the concrete.

You know, we watched NFL football on Sunday get inspired, go out there and knock each other's teeth out.

You know, it was beautiful, man.

Hey.

So yeah.

So let me ask you, this was because it was like I read about Antoine Fuqua and he's got a couple cousins.

Did you know Frenchy and.

Oh, yeah.

And so, so yeah.

So let me ask you about Frenchie.

Did you did you ever have any inclination to where in the platform shoes that had to fish in the goldfish?

Yeah.

No, no, no.

Hey, coach, that's not me.

But, hey, I heard that was a bet.

I heard they had a bet.

Is that true?

Is that what is that?

No, but.

No, he had he actually had the goldfish.

They actually he had different.

It was actually different colored fish depending upon the suit that he was wearing.

Because, you know, he was a fashion.

He was a fashion statement now, right?

Yeah, I know, and he had the cape, the hat and and you know that the an immaculate reception, immaculate reception, that was that.

Frank O'Hara's cought.

Right.

Jerry Bradshaw was throwing that ball to Frenchy Fuqua.

I know.

And Jack Tatum just struck him so hard I felt that I felt that hit.

It was like, oh my God.

But, you know, till this day I said, no.

Did it hit you or not?

Could you could tell me, because I'll never tell him.

And for him, having Franco never told.

They won't tell you.

They never they won't tell the story.

They won't tell me.

I said, I'm family.

I'm family man.

Yeah, you won't tell me.

So tell me about Harvey.

The music.

Harvey.

Yeah.

Harvey Fuqua.

Yeah.

The Moonglows, the blow harmony at Detroit.

Yeah.

Harvey was.

Harvey was special, man.

You know, with Motown, he discovered Marvin Gaye.

Yeah, yeah.

You know, it is a great story with Marvin Gaye, with Harvey.

Harvey had the Moonglows and they were doing his sets.

You know, I did like, different, venues.

And this kid just always comes in, Mr.

Fuqua, you know, let me perform.

And I got to be.

And I say, who is this guy?

Everywhere they go, he would follow him.

So one day he said, I'm a I'm a I'm going to teach him a lesson.

So he told his band, he said, you know what, let's let him go out there and do it.

And he went out there one day and that was the end of the Moonglows, the Moonglows is over And then he took Harvey.

I mean, he took Marvin to Berry Gordy and that was it.

Yeah.

And then and then and and then, he wound up marrying Berry sister.

Gwen and Marvin married the other sister.

So we all family aged 15.

You get your and you get shot on your way.

Try to go to the store with your mom and all that kind of just changed a little bit of your perception of life and your.

And your way of life.

Well, you know what?

That's a good story.

Because what happened was my mom sent me to a store to get some macaroni and cheese.

It was pouring down rain.

And man, this is my buddy Clifford that I was with Clifford.

Great.

I never forget it.

And I was talking back.

I was like, I don’t want to go to the store.

Mom's raining outside.

And my grandmother said, you know, God doesn't like ugly.

Don't talk back.

Just put a coat on and go to the store.

Put my little plastic.

It was a pleather coat.

My little hat ran out the store.

We ran through an alleyway and a guy was being robbed.

A place called Pan Painters.

It was a, mechanic, shop, and he was just lighting up the alleyway and the bullets were hitting the telephone poles.

Man, something inside me just said, run, and I just started weaving in and out of the poles, you know, and ducking.

And I get into the store and, the my buddy Clifford looked at me like he saw a ghost.

And he'd just start backing away.

And I said, Scott, what's wrong?

And then the security guard came over and said, sit down, son.

I said, I didn’t steal anything.

You know?

My first instinct was like, I thought I was in trouble for something.

And then he goes, no, no, you're bleeding.

Wow.

And and I was sort of like, but the thing about that moment that I tell that story is because Bill, I didn't think about me, right.

I thought about my mom, my grandmother, my cousins, people that loved me.

Yeah, it wasn't about me.

And that was enlightening for me because I realized life was not about me.

It's not about you.

It's about the people around you, the people that love you.

Yeah, right.

The care for you.

And when you put yourself in situations that aren't good for you, you're hurting them.

Yeah, it's not just about you.

So that that moment was big for me.

Yeah.

And I you know what, Antoine?

I see that it's just on this gonna I'm going to get done is I'm going to pivot to from this position, just talk about you, your leadership.

That's that's what leaders do.

You know, I sit there and talk about bringing people together, letting people do their thing.

You know, I sit there, I pull this out and I want to show this to you because I said, this reminds me of, like, your work with Denzel.

Oh, yeah.

You know, and Denzel to me was like this guy Troy Polamalu.

Troy Polamalu.

Yeah.

Because you know what?

You let Denzel at times when you sat there and what he did and he was Alonzo in Training Day, he was Robert McCall and equalizer.

And I just feel like you brought him to a point and put him in a position that you're him and you be you, right?

And he took it to another thing.

So you you brought together and I said this, this talks about it's like a great picture, right?

Yes.

That's you and me up here has set a time, but well then everybody do their thing.

Whether it's Jerome, caring people, this guy doing what he probably shouldn't be doing.

But it works right now.

This guy's a character.

They all have roles, right?

You have your you have your actors.

You have your directors, the crew.

That's your thing.

I had coaches, I had players, and you sit there as a leader and at scale because you still go back to the same things you just said.

And that's what made me pivot to this.

It's not about you.

It's about what can we do to to paint something you blended together.

You build it, and then you embrace the process and let it become what it's going to become is that is that is that you as a movie director?

That's exactly a coach.

And I learned that from playing sports brick by brick.

Right.

Each individual has special skills and you have to gain trust and enough trust to allow them to give them the space to do what they do, and then also have an eye to be able to go in and correct when you see something or at least, you know, give them some direction to, to bring them back to the North Star, wherever that is.

Right.

You know, but also your crew bringing the best out of each person and inspiring them every day.

No matter how you feel about something, bringing them back to that place.

This is the North Star.

We want a championship.

We want an Academy Award.

We want the audience to enjoy this.

So you have to remove yourself, right?

And your personal feelings and just make it about the thing that you're working on.

But you go to school, you go West Virginia State, you go to West Virginia.

And I just think this is really cool.

Like, you sit there and you're playing basketball, but a professor at West Virginia tells you to take an art class.

Yeah.

I mean, tell me about that.

And then this guy Caravaggio, an Italian painter, and in to tell me if this is my my take from you is like you saw.

Okay, a painter.

He's not an elitist.

He had issues growing up, too.

Yeah.

I can do this, right, I can, yeah.

Oh, 100% correct.

That's exactly what it was.

I mean, it's professor.

I was, you know, creating a schematic diagram in an engineering class, and he just kind of peeked over the shoulder and gave me some advice about something.

And for whatever reason, it's like divine order.

He he said, you know, you should take some art classes or something like that.

You know what I mean?

You got and I, I don't really know what that meant.

And I needed to take a class to keep the grades up, to keep playing ball.

Right.

Scholarship.

So I remember that summer taking a Baroque art class, you know, I don't know what I'm doing, you know, drawing from the streets of Pittsburgh, like, being an artist is not something you kind of think about doing, right?

That's just not the thing, right?

You play sports, you know?

So then I take this class and I've seen these different painters and things.

And then we had a, they were discussing, the Caravaggio, the Renaissance period.

And I started paying attention to him because he was a troubled artist.

He was on the streets.

He hung out what we call the bars.

Yeah, or the pubs sometimes.

All right.

And then he hung out with three people, and he reminded me of people I knew just, you know, really talented.

But always in trouble.

Yeah.

Rebels, you know, and it reminded me a little bit of myself in some areas.

Yeah.

And I just thought, oh, well, you know, his paintings are worth $100 million, but that wasn't who the man was.

Yeah, right.

You know, and, and I thought, this is something that I can dive into, but it was because of him and because, of course, sorrow, like I look at those, I say trained to an equalizer because I look at Denzel and I just thought what you did with those two movies really just I don't know.

To me, it's about more morality.

The gray line between right and wrong.

Right?

Yes, sir.

You know, and it's just like.

And sometimes it's like, you know, if you're living within it, you're trying to bring right when something's wrong, it may be viewed as being wrong.

But in the time it's right, I mean, in the time is right.

That's right.

You know.

But here's the thing, coach, is that and you're right on the money was, my mother and my grandmother.

Used to always talk about, when you go out in the city streets, like the decisions you make, right?

Right.

Can be devastating.

And when I got older, I realized, how do you get home with your morals intact?

Every time you walk out on the streets?

Every time you haven't.

Even when you have ambition, how do you keep your morals intact?

Because people can give you what you want, but at what cost, right?

Right.

You start selling your soul.

And part of me being from Pittsburgh, the thing that I remember the most was people kept you humble.

They keep you humble, right?

You keep your morals intact no matter what.

You stay strong.

And when I got training day, Denzel and I talked a lot about that.

But if you remember the beginning, Ethan Hawke says, he wakes up and he says, to his wife.

You know, you should see those guys houses.

You know, the detective houses.

Maybe I'll get one one day.

And, you know, I grew up believing I believe in God.

And and the idea was that the devil hears that he hears ambition.

And then his phone rings.

Yeah.

And there's Alonzo.

And Alonzo was on the phone basically to say, I'm going to give you everything you want, but you got to do it my way, right?

And so the question was always, Can Ethan's character, Jake, get home with his morals intact?

Yeah, right.

That was the whole thing.

And so me and Denzel wrote at the top of the script, the wages of sin is death, Antoine.

It makes you think about your own morals.

It makes you think about what's important.

What are you willing to sacrifice?

What are you willing to stand by and maybe give up?

And, you know, sometimes I sit there and said, you know, it's it's, you control your choice, but once you make the choice that controls you.

So thinking about the consequences that you have and doing things like that is I've always remembered those type of things like, hey, I go back to Pittsburgh.

You talk about the territorial parts, you know, brought, you know, bounded together by bridges.

Okay.

But every one of there, there was a, there was a pride that you had that came from Homewood.

They came from Taylor Allderdice, the people from Taylor Allderdice, I mean, Wiz Khalifa.

Yeah.

I'm gonna talk about Curtis Martin.

Curtis Martin.

How about Myron Cope?

Yeah.

Myron.

Exactly.

Got off on the dice.

Billy Porter, Yeah Billy Porter.

I mean, I mean, it may have been the most diverse high school graduations.

I don't.

That's unbelievable.

Out of Pittsburgh from Taylor.

Yeah.

And it's and it's crazy because I was I lived down the street from Homewood, the Homewood High School, my brother and my sister is with the Homewood.

I thought I was going to go to Homewood and play ball with my friends.

I was hyped about it when I was going to high school, I got a letter from the government saying, no, you were selected to go to Taylor Allderdice, which is like two busses away from where you live.

And it was all Jewish people.

And I was like, what, how did this happen?

Right.

So, I want to go back to Homewood.

I want to go back to homework.

And then, because, you know, but then I started driving to, to, Squirrel Hills every day and I see those big, beautiful houses.

I was like, hey, this ain't bad.

You know, you know what?

You what you said.

I want to have one of them to one day.

That's exactly what I said.

And it inspired me.

It did, I think, and looked at everybody else.

Probably said the same thing, which goes back to like a Pittsburgh element is like, you experience it all, you see it all.

I don't know if you experience it all, but I saw I saw what the Hill District was about.

I sat there, remember, you know, up in the Hill it was chicken on the hill with.

Well, Willie Stargell used to hit a home run.

Yeah.

Right.

Yeah.

Chicken on the hill with Will.

Chicken it on the hill with Will I mean I mean really started it all.

Every time he came up his swing got back.

He get like that.

All right I say never tell my dad I go dad.

So if we got the hill, do we get free chicken.

If we got there too?

Son, we're not going there.

We're not going up there.

I can't go over the hill.

But it was rough up there, man.

Hey.

What?

But you know what, though?

I hear you.

Now.

You go back to the same things.

You come back to your roots.

It made you who you are tonight because you.

Right?

It's not about me.

Not about me.

I said to myself all the time, I catch myself and I'm like, Antoine, it's not about you.

So, so so you are.

Now you just changed your company's name to Hill District Media.

Yeah.

Yes, sir.

Coach.

My myself, I'm proud of you.

So does that mean you're coming back to do a another documentary or a story about something in Pittsburgh.

Hey, there's a good there's a good 2005 team is a good story there.

Well I coach I'm coming back to do a whole story on the Steelers.

You are!

The Rooneys.

Yeah.

You know I'm we'll be talking to you hopefully God willing.

Oh you y'all will go I I'm gonna go deep man.

That's my that.

Listen I'm, I'm black and yellow all day.

So I come back and it's important story for me.

The Steelers Rep.

That's the real American team.

Yeah I don't care what anybody says.

That team is the real American team.

Right.

It's the Rooneys are amazing people.

You know they do so.

So, so much good for everyone.

They're.

They're the most loyal people I've ever seen in my life.

You know, whether Pittsburgh's having a good season or a bad season, you know, it's always consistent.

People work hard, they play hard.

You know, I love I love the Steelers.

It's it's it's I think it built help build Pittsburgh what it is today.

And it's it is the American story.

You know I sit there and I talk all the time.

I go to for the Hall of Fame and I see Joe Greene.

We said, we have Donnie Shell there, we have John Stallworth, Lynn Swann, Mel Blount is still back there doing his thing.

And so we all sit together.

Jerome Bettis is sitting there with me and I'm like, you know, and you think about the very fiber, what that's about and what it stands for is like it was a blue collar town.

I grew up three miles from there in Crafton.

You know, I had a paper route and I said, you know, I worked in a steel mill when I was coming back.

Yes, he stayed.

So I and I said to be able to go back there and coach and grow up growing up there, I said, I shared, I said when I got the job, I was 34 years old.

Antoine, I made this statement.

I said, if I don't screw this up, I can go back.

My 20th high school class reunion as a head coach, my hometown team.

So my my first job was don't get fired.

So that was my first goal.

But you know, you don't get fired, don't get fired.

So I was able to go for the hit.

Those lights over there for me I'll show you something because I don't know if you'll be able to see it though, because you don't know which cameras use.

You see that?

Can you see that up there?

You got to see that.

What is it that you see?

That helmet, Lynn Swann helmet.

Signed by Lynn Swann.

Hey, well, I got I'm getting I'm giving you a helmet.

You can be signed by me.

I'm going to make sure it’s up there And I have an honor.

And I'm going to give you my book too, because I think you will.

And and you will enjoy because it's about growing up there.

And it's never forget about forgetting where you come from.

Yes sir, you know, and, man, you're just getting to know you.

I am so thank you for doing this.

And, coach is an honor, man.

It's an honor.

The only reason.

Only reason.

It took so long as I was in the middle of finishing the Michael Jackson movie, and I don't want to rush it.

And you were really important to me.

I'm.

It's an honor, honestly.

Like the way you coach the teams, the way you carry yourself.

I can see how these young guys learn from you and became men.

Yeah, like I learned from you.

I literally tell people all the time, I'm like a coach.

Yeah, you are.

And you're one of the coaches that I imagine that, When I'm talking to young people, what you might say to them, how you might inspire them.

You know, I'm a big fan, and I love, everything you've done, that, that that's that's a real honor.

And that really means a lot to me for you to say that.

And and on and on that saying what?

What would you tell the young people today that want to chase a career in arts and filmmaking and that element, what, what what advice would you give them today?

Well, I would tell them.

Embrace failure.

But be brave.

Be brave enough to continue on, but embrace failure and make that part of the house you're building.

That's it.

Don't be afraid.

Because, you know, leaving Pittsburgh to go to Hollywood.

Yes.

You know, it's like night and day.

Yeah.

And, you got to be brave and you got to, you know, it's not going to be easy, but who wants it easy anyway, right?

Right, right.

You know, I guess that's the Pittsburgh to me.

No, no it is.

I said, you know, anything worthwhile shouldn't be easy.

And I think you what you almost so it's so funny because I said there was that team we had that won a championship.

We lost three straight games.

I just said at that point the depths of despair can make you reach the heights of hope.

That's it, you know?

And that was like like when you got down so bad.

Now it's like, look in the mirror.

Don't point your finger, just look in the mirror.

And I just said, every one of you just do a little bit more.

I don't look in the mirror.

I can just do a little bit more.

You know, if we all just take care of ourselves and learn to trust that the guy next to you is going to be here, he's all in.

And just trust and hold people accountable.

Just got to trust that fact.

You take care of you.

I'll make sure as I sit there and oversee this, I'm going to ask you to do some things, some sacrifices you're willing to make.

Put if we can all learn to trust one another and do that, we can accomplish something very special.

And we're not going to look too far ahead.

We're not going to ponder how we got here.

We're not going to speculate what we can do.

We're going to stay in the now, and it's gonna be one game at a time, one scene at a time.

Right?

And when it's all said, coach, that's all done.

Hey, that was a pretty good movie.

That was a pretty good season.

That's that's that's what it's that's what it's about.

That's what it's all about.

Right.

And then onto the next.

Yeah.

That's another year.

Another another cast of characters.

Yeah.

That's right.

It may be another story.

Another story every every year’s different.

Every movie's different.

Be able to adapt and adjust.

Stay flexible in your thinking.

Enjoy the journey.

Embrace the journey.

Embrace the journey.

Man, I yeah, coach from Pittsburgh to here.

It's a journey.

Thank you.

So I just got done talking to Antoine Fuqua, showed him this picture, made a reference to myself in this corner that that was him.

The making of some pretty.

Successful films.

How it was a collection of for me, players and coaches, for him, actors and crew and how our job and his leadership were.

He talks about humility.

He talks about not being about him, but yet he's also being in a position to put people in their best positions.

And in one word, that I love that he used and I use was trust.

Learn to trust the person next to you.

Learn to trust your instincts.

That's what makes him the special director.

That's what made this team a special team.

Yep, another guy from Pittsburgh doing it his way very, very successfully.

Thank you.

Antoine.

Antoine, thank you for doing this.

I gotta be honest with you.

I said the last what I've been doing for the last two weeks is watching film of football games, NFL games, music videos and movies of yours.

So I'm like, okay.

You know.