"Ridley Scott, it's like working with Yoda," said Gooding. "I mean, there was one scene where it's just a really violent scene, a real aggressive scene, and Denzel and I were in a competition. And something wasn't working. I go, 'Listen, if we...' and I kind of rattled off real quick. And everybody's kind of shaking their head, and Ridley goes, 'You know, I have done this before.' It's like, 'That's right! Okay. So what do you want us to do?'"

Gooding plays Nicky Barnes, the pimp who brought heroin to Harlem in the '70s. Expect a wild performance from Gooding. "My character in that is pretty flamboyant. I start to build the physicality of the character from the haircut up. I cut my own hair for all my movies and work very closely with the wardrobe person, especially like in American Gangster. You'll understand that when you see it. And then there's a walk. You know like Jerry Maguire, there was a very specific walk that I had to have for him. You kind of do the private investigator on these different aspects of the character's personality."