Please tell us about Watchmen…

I was not familiar with the graphic novel and my son reminded me of the movie. The show’s creator Damon Lindelof delivered a script to me. I read the entire thing and was like, “This guy is a genius.” It’s a gumbo of genres: sci-fi; historical events; an alternate history; comedy; a bit of romance. It’s all of that.

The series opens with scenes of a race massacre – I’m ashamed to say I had no idea that actually happened…

You shouldn’t be. We will right that wrong as human beings to be more diligent about our history. In America, where the incident took place, there’s a lot of people who have no idea. It wasn’t taught in US history classes and was erased, almost.

How is that not taught? The more I read, the more upset I became…

There were several versions of what happened in Tulsa [the 1921 racist attack on “Black Wall Street”]. That was one event. Even though it’s 2019, at least that education is happening… The white supremacy has always been there in the country; in the last couple of years those people have become more emboldened so here we are: masks off.

Do you have hope for the future?

I have to. I want to have grandchildren. I want to feel that we have created a space where they can thrive.

Now, with Watchmen, it’s not a show where you can be on your phone…

You better not do it! I remember when I directed a TV film that my sister produced and we bought a DVD  player for the whole family so we could watch together. They’re watching it while on their phones, and asking questions. My sister and I were getting p****d off. Finally my sister said, “If you weren’t on your f***ing phones, then maybe you wouldn’t be asking that. Watch it again.”

You’ve been on a hot streak since 1991’s Boyz n the Hood…

[Director] John Singleton told me that in colleges across the world, anthropology classes studied that film. I knew that part of our life had never been captured. While Boyz n the Hood was a black community, and people across the world with the same economic restrictions could relate to that.

Strap in for this hot streak: Boyz n the Hood, Poetic Justice, Higher Learning, Friday, Jerry Maguire…

When you hear it put like that, I’m like, “Not bad!” When something speaks to me or the story really resonates with me, I’m fighting for it.

Given your career, what role does intuition play?

Oh, everything. I’m not a deeply religious person, but I am a very spiritual person. It’s all about the importance of being connected to the energy that we are all a part of. After that, it’s how you apply or channel that connection: do you channel it from a negative space or does it come from a positive space?

Watchmen airs on Mondays at 9pm on Sky Atlantic and NOW TV. Catch up on demand now