Matt Smith: Did you watch the Fresh Prince of Bel Air as a kid?

Derek Luke: Of course.

M@: What was it like dealing with Tatyana Ali as your sidekick?

DL: She is a very, uh, stunning female. (Everyone laughs.) It's not the fact that there's anything between me and her, it's just that you get props for being next to her. You know what I mean, you leave and they go, "Oh, what is she doing in this movie? And who's girl is she?" And people say "Oh, her and Derek play boyfriend and girlfriend in the film." And they say "Oh yeah, we understand the film." (Everyone laughs.)

Tina (Tatyana Ali) and boyfriend Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke)

M@: Is prayer a part of your life?

DL: (Pauses) Prayer is an opportunity to hear further. It's a….an understated lifestyle in a sense that prayer is not a chance for you just to pray, prayer is a chance for you to hear from God. It's humbling, because it's a way of submitting the small and even the bigger things to Him, and it's a way where you communicate and build a relationship with God. My dad prayed. My grandmother prayed. That's why I'm here.

M@: So you think your prayers have had a part in your career?

DL: Oh, in everything. Not just my career, but me here (opens his hands to the hotel room.) Success is noted as being a very hard thing to deal with, but Biblically it says, “The blessing of the Lord maketh you rich but has no sorrow.” So you know… I like the contract that God wrote opposed to the ones everybody else read. It brought me more peace, more stability. Prayer is a huge thing.

M@: How, biblically, do you handle fame?

DL: That's a good question. All throughout the Bible, Jesus Christ, Abraham, God told Abraham, "I'm gonna make your name great." Now if God was against fame, then there's a…He said, "I have power to give you wealth." If He's against wealth, He says, He never said money is the reason of all evil: it's the man's heart…. I never believed that being a godly person doesn't mean that you're supposed to be weak, that's just a perception. It doesn't mean that people stomp all over you and you play humble and small. I think very much that God is a very strong-minded powerful being, not even a “being.” I just… I believe the story talks about how to conquer evil and concepts, whether they're ideas and things that don't line up.

M@: What virtue in the movie do you think has had the most lasting impact, to you as a person and as an actor?

Coach Haskins (Josh Lucas) prepares Bobby Joe Hill (Derek Luke) for a big play.

DL: I would say leadership. There was a relationship where Don and Bobby Joe, sometimes you feel like you're doing the status quo but in the political league stand quiet. Sometimes the change that needs to happen is buried in your heart. Not everybody can do everything for you, and the reason why leadership is that, I think a lot of men need to step up to leadership, and I saw how sports can build a great leader, and I was impressed by that.

Fellow  interviewer: How do you prepare to go back and play a real person? What does this do for younger generations?

DL: For the young generation, a huge responsibility. My man [gestures towards Matt Smith] was talking about Biblical standpoints. I grew up in a home where a lot of Biblical teachings was [sic] taught, in a sense that there was things that was unsaid. My dad had a variety of friends, and it wasn't a… quote "friends." My dad had a variety, Hispanic to white. I mean very diverse. And one of the unsaid rules at that time was 'You only do this, you only play certain players.'

To me, I think it was an exposing of a wrong way of thinking. And I think for the new generation, it's not just a responsibility to make money. It's a privilege to be on the court, but also with these guys, it's more than a game. They were playing for life, and you can connect life to everything that you do, not just being a basketball player, but being a doctor, a reporter, or a boomer, whatever it is—an actor—to me how it affected me was traces, and even as an actor.

…hey you talk about prayer... I would've chose [sic] all the different type of movies if it was up to me. And that's why I say I thank God because the end result of every film has been victorious in a way. It raised the level of consciousness in the world. So, for me, it's just to create a sense of responsibility that it's more a game, it's more of an honor, it's more than a $150 million contract that you're about to get.

M@: What reaction have you gotten from professional ballplayers about the movie?

DL: …for some, it was the past and it was hurt. Some of it was a tool, because now these guys are loved and loved by so many because they've seen this particular film. Now they have a voice, now they want to say something. Because they saw that it was more than a game, it's always more than a game.