Donald Glover Discusses His Gilga Production Company, Malia Obama's Short Film, And More

Donald Glover | Creator: Tommaso Boddi | Credit: Getty Images for Prime Video

Donald Glover, best known for his work on Community and Atlanta, is opening up about Gilga, his production company headquartered in Ojai, California. One of the projects that has people buzzing is a short film created by Malia Obama, the eldest daughter of former President of the U.S. Barack Obama and former First Lady of the U.S. Michelle Obama.

In an interview with GQ magazine, Glover discussed the process of mentoring Malia throughout the short film's production. "The first thing we did was talk about the fact that she will only get to do this once," Glover said. "You're Obama's daughter. So if you make a bad film, it will follow you around."

Fam Udeorji, Glover's creative partner at Gilga, also weighed in about the former First Daughter. "Understanding somebody like Malia's cachet means something," Udeorji said. "But we really wanted to make sure she could make what she wanted—even if it was a slow process."

Glover also spoke about how he was able to persuade Liam Neeson to appear in Atlanta after the actor's controversial remarks. Glover said that he got in contact with Neeson, who "poured his heart out" and felt "embarrassed" by the comments he had made about the Black community. However, Glover remembered that Neeson had mentioned Jordan Peele during their chat and through the Nope director was able to sway the Taken actor into appearing on the FX series.

"Jordan thought [the idea] was hilarious! So Jordan talked to him. Liam hit me back and said he talked to Jordan and his son and thought it'd actually be a good thing," Glover said.

Reflecting on his past, Glover mentioned that not landing Saturday Night Live was one of the "bullets" he dodged in his career. "Me being on SNL would've killed me. I got friends who made it on SNL and, at the time, I was like, damn. But if I got on SNL, my career wouldn't have happened," he added.

Glover also mentioned he dodged a bullet not booking Parks & Recreation. "Thank God I didn't get some of those pilots. I wanted so desperately to be on Parks and Rec because it was the cool, hipster show. I am the bullet dodger. I feel like Samuel L. Jackson in Pulp Fiction. That wasn't a mistake, you know? God did that."