Interview With Camrus Johnson

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With the pressure of ending a decade, many of our calendars were suddenly filled with immaculate goals. For the most part, we aimed for summer bodies and set up well thought out budgets for our winter holidays. But in this new age of woke thinking, it is supposedly said that more intuitive goals were being put into motion. This was going to be the New Year that we would all somehow manifest a better version of ourselves and change the world, or at the very least our own.

Yet as expected, being only a month into the year - many of our humbly set goals have adjusted themselves to our busy schedules. Crystals we swore we would mediate alongside- now sit as spiritual decoration, our diets have returned to our stomachs rather than the hype of our gut and when the time allows it, we will occasionally check in with ourselves as a second thought- instead of being conscious our mental health like we promised we would be. Looking at my own resolutions many of the planned actions initially written down have embarrassingly transitioned rather quickly from being apart of a “To Do” list to now being seen as “that’ll be nice to get done”.

For anyone reading this, wanting (or needing) an early reinvigoration for 2020, please feel free to take into consideration the plate that is currently sitting in front of Camrus Johnson. On top of being one of last year’s breakout stars for the CW network – Johnson is at this very moment entering a new season of self excellence. This year alone, he is finalising the works of his very own short film, producing a comic book series from concept, working on putting out more music into the world - and if that were not enough, also has plans to further his already acclaimed directing port folio.  To set things into perspective, the highest ambition I had for the year was to smoke less and drink more water - which looking at it now seems incredibly lethargic in comparison.  Camrus has quite the year ahead and lucky for us, we just get to sit back and enjoy all the works that is to come.

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Somehow still finding the time to act in a seemingly full schedule, Johnson currently stars in the highly adventures Batwoman series as Luke Fox – a tech prodigy protecting the legacy of the dark knight alongside Ruby Rose’s Batwoman. Like most children, he grew up with the cape crusader on Saturday mornings - humming along to the classic theme song and figuratively playing heroes and villains with his friends. Flash forward to today and now actually being apart of the DC world, Johnson with an appreciative glee in his speak regards the opportunity as an out of body honour - a role he once thought could only be imagined. If that is not the ultimate manifestation of a dream coming true or a hustle well earned, than I would not know what is. It’s safe to say now, after hearing Johnson speaks highly of his year ahead, the least I can do for myself is smoke less and drink more water. Bravo Camrus! You are goals.

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Just looking at your upcoming projects, you seem to be a very busy these days. Can you tell us about the Short film you are currently working on?

I try to be! Totally, it's called Blue Bison and it's been a work in progress for about 4 years now, which is crazy. It started off as a little short that I planned to do with my friends and grew to be a much larger project that's now a proof of concept for a larger story...that I still did with my friends. Haha I was very lucky to get so many of my talented homies in front and behind camera. It's a rather dark story centred around vigilantes and touching on the concepts of violence and morality.

Prior to this current project, you had made animated short for your father, which had won a fair amount of acclaim- can you tell us about that project and what it meant to you?

Grab My Hand: A Letter to My Dad is and was just that - a love letter to my pops to help him get through the loss of his best friend. After he watched it I shared it with a couple friends of mine and I was so surprised that they all cried. Since it's such a personal story I didn't think that I would resonate outside of my family, and although I never planned to share the film with audiences, I started submitting it for festivals and still to this day I can't believe that it's won awards and gotten accepted into such huge festivals. I can only hope that it is helping others heal the way that it has my dad. My favourite thing was when someone came up to me at a festival and said the film made him pick up the phone and call all of his close friends from college to check in and make sure they're okay.

On top of writing, singing, writing and directing, you are still wanting to one day develop your own comic book channel- can you tell us of any concept ideas or themes?

I’m actually already developing my comic!! I'm planning to announce it very very soon and I can't freaking wait. Like Blue Bison, this comic has been a work in progress for years and years and the fact that it is finally being made right now is a dream come true. Also...my team on it is just incredible. I'm so lucky.

Speaking of Comic Books- you are also staring in CW’s Batwoman. How was your reaction when you had found out you were cast?

I was with my best friend Chris when I got the call and there was a lot of screaming involved. Haha For a dude that grew up playing the Batman games and watching the DC animated shows, I was so excited not only to book this show but to book such a crazy cool character in it. Luke Fox embodies so many things I want in a character: the brains, the wit, the style, the comradery, the fun? I just love playing him so darn much. And what I know of his storyline is crazy!!! I feel just as lucky now as I did on Day 1.

Do you have any fond memories of the Batwoman storylines and were you into the comic books?

I read quite a few comic books the past few years but I didn't read Batwoman until I booked the show, and no surprise at all that they're super cool. I think my coolest memory so far was working on the crossover episode and having scenes with Kevin Conroy. Hearing his Batman voice in person after growing up hearing it over animation and while playing him with a game controller was mind blowing. He actually did my voicemail for me in between takes. Hahaha I had to change it because my Granny kept getting confused.

The cinema and television is slowly becoming more progressive in diversity, gender inclusion and so forth. What are your thoughts on that?

It's a beautiful thing and it's about time, but "slowly" is right. We still have a long way to go. I love how diverse the leads of our show are, it's one reason I was so excited to start on Batwoman, but in Hollywood as a whole I find that there is much more room for diversity and diverse stories. As long as we continue to build the narrative and create more opportunities to see ourselves on screen and hear real voices, we're headed in a good direction. But that also involves rewarding us for the incredible work that is out there and not overlooking us when it comes to the big award shows and stages. 

How has your experience been in the industry- so far?

It's been great! I've made life long friends in this business and have gotten to work on so many incredible sets with so many impressive casts and crews. I can't wait to see the projects I'm a part of and the new places I get to be in this next decade of the industry.

Apart from being apart of show business- what’s on your mind these day? Could you provide us with some more insight into what else your passionate about?

I'm a bit of a workaholic to be honest with you, but traveling is becoming more and more important to me as I see more places! For so long it wasn't a big deal because my mom doesn't travel a ton (yet!) and when I did have the time to I didn't have the money - then when I finally had the money I didn’t have the time. Also my dad was in the Navy and has seen SO much of the world that I feel that I used to think of traveling as something that you did if your job made you. After going to Tulum, Copenhagen and London for vacations I'm starting to realize how important it is to see more of the world if and when you can. It's a beautiful thing...also unrelated what’s on my mind a Lo is that the world is clearly dying and can we please just make clear plans to keep our great grandchildren alive? Thanks.

Where do you hope to see yourself in ten years time?

Doing what I'm doing now but with a family, a lot more movies, and doing more to keep the earth alive.

Words / QUADE AU

This PIBE online exclusive has been produced by:
Talent / Camrus Johnson
Photography / Shelby Goldstein
Styling / Mandy Mitchell @Celestine Agency