'Hamilton' Star Daniel J. Watts Details HBO 'VINYL' Role Hannibal & More [EXCLUSIVE Q&A]

In our latest interview with another talented star from HBO's 1970s music industry series, VINYL, actor Daniel J. Watts called me from the White House to talk about working on the Mick Jagger, Terence Winter and Martin Scorsese TV show, and portraying the embodiment of the funk music scene in the character Hannibal. Watts is currently in Hamilton on Broadway, and performed with the rest of his cast for President Barack Obama, yet he was still so excited to talk about the HBO series!

As an accomplished stage and TV star, Watts has built up a name for himself, which led to this new role. While speaking with Daniel, we I learned that his background in theater and on stage performing his spoken word concerts with a live band, entitled "The Jam," really helped him tap into some of his favorite funk artists' personas that he used for Hannibal.

How did you get involved in VINYL?

I was in Los Angeles, and the auditions were in New York, so my agent had me submit a tape. That was last April, I think, and about a month past and I didn't hear anything, so I didn't think anything of it. Then I got a phone call while I was still in Los Angeles, asking if I could make a producers' session the next day. I couldn't, but I found out that my tape was sent to Mick Jagger and Martin Scorsese, which is bananas. But there was another week-and-a-half of them running around, still looking for someone else. But then I was at my friend's wedding back in New Jersey, and while they were doing the toasts, I got a phone call from my agent saying, "They need to see you tomorrow, can you make it to the studios for another audition?" So I went back to New York, auditioned in the morning and that night I found out that I got it! Two days later, I started shooting.

What attracted you to the role of Hannibal?

First and foremost I'm a huge James Brown fan, and funk music in general. I listen to a lot of Curtis Mayfield ... just like that area, early to mid-70s. Music was taking a whole new form - psychedelic, funk... I just like that era, so to play a funk superstar was just heaven!

Your spoken word project "encourages audiences to focus on social similarities opposed to differences." Do you believe that VINYL in any way furthers that conversation?

Yeah, absolutely. It's like that Bob Marley quote, I have to say it right though: "Music, when it hits you, you feel no pain." I think that the one thing that's been able to cross cultures and socioeconomic statuses is music. There's no boundary to who music can reach. Music can bridge gaps that people can't seem to bridge themselves by having a conversation. But two people can relate to the same song, and take that route.

So on VINYL, there are a lot of different music styles on the same level. The idea of a punk group, a funk superstar, Robert Goulet ... all these different music styles, these different people are coming out of the same place. It helps you let your guard down. Festivals are such a great thing because you can listen to different styles of music and be introduced to different people and different things. So, I think that VINYL is continuing the conversation.

As an actor, is it important that this message is represented in some way with the projects you're involved in?

Sometimes it's hard as performer because sometimes you kind of just have to take the work, but I definitely look for it. Honestly, this is kind of how "The Jam" came about. I don't want this to sound wrong, but I was doing Aladdin before I went to Broadway in Seattle and I had a part that ended up being cut, so there was not much left for me to do. While I was there, not really doing much, not really being fed artistically so to speak at the time, that's when I created "The Jam." So it kind of finds its way to me (laughs). So if I can't find it in the piece, I find a way to get it myself.

Did you discover or rediscover artists from the 1970s while working on the show?

I kept hearing names of artists that I didn't listen to, like Dusty Springfield. New York Dolls? I knew nothing about the New York Dolls. So that's the other cool thing about it. For me, I'm more into the funk, R&B, soul aspect of the '70s. I'm not really into the rock side of it. So doing the research and learning about all these other people. Finding out punk was getting started in the early '70s as opposed to the late '70s or early '80s was interesting to me. So I started looking into more of the history of everything as opposed to specific groups.

The research on this era is just awesome and most of these stories are outlandish and real!

What current acts are you into?

I'm really into Kendrick Lamar. I'm really into Chance the Rapper and the Social Experiment. Gary Clark Jr., I'm digging a lot. Eryn Allen Kane, I don't know how to describe her. She's got a soul feel that's got a pop element to it, but it still has an underground feel. I'm mostly into a lot of hip-hop and soul right now. J. Cole, of course!

You can follow Daniel J. Watts on Twitter right here!