Hi Djimon, you play Chief Mbonga in The Legend of Tarzan. It’s quite rare to see a blockbuster of this scale set almost exclusively in Africa.

That’s always been the narrative of Africa, because Africans haven’t been able to use this universal instrument to tell stories like the west do. So, it’s always a struggle to find dignifying characters.

You have been nominated for two Oscars (1) . Do you think there haven’t been any acting nominees of colour for two years because the Academy favours films where the black characters are subservient to white characters ? Slaves and maids instead of businessmen and scientists…

Interesting. That’s possible! I choke on that, but the reality is also: how many other films are out there about black folks? How many elevating stories about black folks are out there? You have a slave movie, you have a comedy and that’s that. There’s nothing else to nominate. It comes back to the lack of narratives out there for African characters.

You voiced Black Panther for the TV cartoon, but in the upcoming film, he’ll be played by Chadwick Boseman. Were you disappointed?

There are things that you hope to get and obviously everyone was talking about who would get the role and he was lucky to get it. It was not something that was mine that I’m losing. Fair enough that he got the role and I hope he does a great job with it.

It’s exciting that we have Black Panther and Luke Cage at the moment. Even 10 years ago, there were no major black superheroes on screen.

It’s about time! It’s absolutely great news to have a hero that black folks can identify with. Could you imagine my misfortune when my son told me: “I want to be light-skinned so I can climb the walls like Spider-Man” – just because he has seen Spider-Man and Batman and all these superheroes who were all white. The minute he said it, I was like, damn. My whole self was shattered. I was like, wow, what sort of comeback do you have for this? It’s important to recognise yourself. It’s absolutely important. That’s the value in telling stories. There’s a reason why we create fantasy stories, so we can surpass this life condition.

You started out as a model (2) . Is it hard not to get an ego if you are constantly being told how good-looking you are?

Hopefully, you don’t buy into your own hype. Everybody comes to that roadblock where you see yourself on a big screen or a big billboard and it’s quite nice and you’re recognised on the streets and it’s a gratifying moment, but then you realise that it ain’t all that. There’s a price to pay for that type of fame and a bit of that privacy has gone and once you realise that, it’s not all just about you. It’s beyond that and you quickly understand that fame has its own good and bad.

You starred in Gladiator with Russell Crowe and Oliver Reed. Crowe has said that Reed was drunk and difficult on set (3) . Were you aware of all this drama going on or were you away from it all?

No, I saw that. It was not anything more difficult than any other set necessarily. Oliver was being himself and the film was a huge undertaking, but none of that was a disturbance really. None of his drinking really posed a problem for the film. He just happened to pass in the middle of the production.

How do you deal with difficult co-stars? You seem like a pretty chill guy.

That’s exactly how you deal with the difficult actors. You just stay chill yourself and let them be fucking difficult. You just stay cool.

Do you think the rough times you went through as a teenager on the streets (4) have helped to give you more perspective?

I think coming from a less privileged background does influence your make up. Eventually you draw from all of those misfortunes. It can only help. Certainly when you’re playing some of those roles that are very organic and they have to stay raw, it’s important to have that foundation.

Next up, you have a role in Guy Ritchie’s big budget King Arthur film with Charlie Hunnam and Jude Law. You have starred in many blockbusters (5) , but are you still waiting to be offered the lead in one of these films?

That would be nice! I’m looking forward to that.

Have you come close before or are they still not being made with a black actor in the lead?

There certainly hasn’t been that much out there at this point. I haven’t come across many leads in potential blockbusters, but I’m working towards that.

There was a very strong reaction to the Ghostbusters remake from angry white guys. Where do you think this comes from?

Greed. I certainly don’t try to pay too much attention. It’s unfortunate but it’s OK. It just makes the fight that much sweeter.

Footnotes

(1) Hounsou received supporting-actor nominations for In America and Blood Diamond.

(2) He was encouraged by Thierry Mugler to pursue modelling in the late 80s and went on to appear in music videos for Madonna and Janet Jackson.

(3) Crowe said of Reed: “I have seen him walk down the street in Malta drunk as a lord and just hit anybody he got near to – even a man walking with his children.”

(4) After emigrating from Benin to France, he dropped out of school and was homeless for a while.

(5) The global box office take of his films is more than $5bn (£4bn).

• The Legend of Tarzan is out now on DVD and Blu-ray