Michael Jai White plays a cop turned private investigator in his new film, Trouble Man. His character, Jaxen, is hired to help find missing R&B singer Jahari (La La Anthony), a mission he completes with her boyfriend, Money, played by Clifford “Method Man” Smith. White says Meth not only helped onscreen but was a huge help off screen, as well. He says the film wouldn’t have been completed if it weren’t for Meth.
“I’m very influenced by what I grew up with, seeing alpha males like Jim Brown and Fred Williamson, and really celebrated how they worked together,” he tells ABC Audio. “This script had been around for a long time, but I wasn’t gonna do it until I found my Fred Williamson, which is Method Man.”
White says Meth was the “perfect person” for the role, because “the world has seen him evolve just from a rapper to somebody who’s worked on himself inside and out.” He says Method Man also played a pivotal role in bringing his idea for the film to fruition.
“[When] you have a mission to do something for the culture that hasn’t been done in a long time, sometimes it takes you actually telling your representatives, ‘Listen, you stand back. I got this. This is a personal thing. We’re going to do this movie together,"” White says. “You know, they’re there to make you money and everything else, but sometimes we roll up our sleeves for the sake of the culture and the sake of our legacy. And that’s what he did.”
The result, Trouble Man, arrives in theaters on Friday.
Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.