John David Washington revealed the personal dimension to his character in Malcolm & Marie. Both he and his co-star Zendaya stopped by Desus & Mero to talk about the Netflix movie. It’s gained a lot of buzz since debuting on the platform. But, a common question has been, what’s with the exchanges between the two leads. Things get frenetic in the film, but there’s a sort of anger bubbling under the surface that has little to do with the relationship shown. For Washington, it’s a case of trying to succeed and being rebuffed due to things outside your control. It’s a sort of universal feeling, but one that is certainly not foreign to African-American performers. He likened that desire not to be “boxed in” to the same struggles that one of the film’s contributors, Kid Cudi had when he was first breaking through in the music world. You can be as talented as possible, but sometimes it takes time to really succeed on your terms.