How the Stars of ‘BlacKkKlansman’ Got Into Character: Watching ‘Soul Train’ and a Walk Through Brooklyn

By Marc Malkin

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Laura Harrier really wanted to keep the afro wig that she wore in Spike Lee’s new real-life drama “BlackKklansman.”

“I tried to steal it,” Harrier joked with Variety on Thursday at the Hollywood Foreign Press Association’s Grants Banquet. “But Spike was like, ‘No, you can’t take that.’ We’ll see if I can get my hands on it one day.”

In the movie, Harrier plays the college student activist girlfriend of Ron Stallworth, a black cop in Colorado Springs who infiltrated the Ku Klux Klan in 1978 by pretending to be white on phone calls with members of the hate group, including David Duke.

“The incredible costume designer Marci Rodgers sourced all original vintage,” Harrier said. “All of that was actually from the ‘70s. It was just so cool to put on the clothes. I had the fro and I had the black leather jacket. I just felt powerful and badass.”

In fact, Lee asked her to walk around Brooklyn for an afternoon while wearing the wig and dressed in her film wardrobe.

“People were giving me black power fists,” Harrier said. “People were like, ‘Yes, soul sister!’…I felt really empowered.”

John David Washington, who stars as Stallworth, said music was the key to his preparation.

“I rid myself of all R&B and hip hop for almost three months, listening to nothing but War and Jimi Hendrix, ‘Live at Woodstock,’” he said. “I was listening to The Beatles and I was listening to Marvin Gaye obviously. I was watching ‘Soul Train’ every night.”