We had the opportunity to speak with actor Omar Miller about his Esquire Network’s travel-inspired reality series which he created and hosts and premieres October 29. Omar Miller and his good friend and fashion designer Andres Izquieta relish turning two-day trips to cities across the country and world, into something more than just a getaway. They approach these opportunities with a passion and intensity for life experiences that basically creates a “travel high” that routinely needs a fix; Weekend Fix to be exact. Get ready to experience the ultimate travelogue for the modern man. Weekend Fix is a travel and lifestyle series that takes you along for the ride with Omar and Andres to the country’s greatest cities as they use technology, social media, connections and relationships to create incredibly rich, fast-paced, fun-filled weekends.
Read our exclusive interview below:
Q: What inspired the idea for this show?
A: My actual real life travels. I tell people the best thing you can do with your money other than a charitable act is travel. Traveling is incredible. It’s just something you do that is changeable and unexplainable. Opening your mind to other cultures and other ways of living is a pretty amazing scenario. I travel around the world and I’ve been traveling for close to ten years and I thought, how awesome would it be to get some cameras here and capture some of these adventures that I go on. So many beautiful people in the world, you know? So many beautiful people and beautiful things to do in the world and I think so often times in television, in general, we highlight the negatives. This is not that. This show is about showing you a good time.
Q: What was the process of selecting these cities to cover?
A: For this season, because of my scripted TV work, we could not go too far internationally. I wanted to choose some of my favorite cities in North America to cover and show people exactly what you can do in a short period of time and how you can have an awesome experience. So, me and my partner on the show who I do a lot of travelling around with in real life, we picked a city and we got busy.
Q: What was it like getting the inside scoop in each city?
A: It was awesome. A big portion of the show is a discovery process, which happens via your phone app, social media; you have to meet a key person in every city that has the key to the city because that person is around. That guy or girl is around and they know everyone and they are the key to having a monster 48 hours wherever you are.
Q: Where is your dream destination?
A: I really want to go to Australia and South Africa. I haven’t done that yet and I think it’ll be a great atmosphere.
Q: With only a weekend to cover each location, what are the first things that you would do in each place?
A: Usually get something to eat. You have to get your stomach settled otherwise; your whole thing is going to be messed up. Get your energy together, get some coffee or whatever it is to get your mind right and at that breakfast, lunch, dinner, whatever it is, you can sort out some plans of what it is you’re going to do with your 48 hours and literally that van happen on your phone.
Q: Talk about what it’s like working with Andres on this production.
A: It was awesome because we are friends in real life. There were some things he didn’t understand about production because he’s a fashion designer and an entrepreneur and it was his first time in production but he studies quick and he’s a master navigator .He really knows how to get the maximum out of his phone. He uses it as a concierge; he uses it as a real guide and a tool for discovery. We took a trip to Tokyo and in Tokyo, we were completely lost because they did not have any street signs and the street signs they did have were in Japanese. His phone guided us step by step. It was pretty amazing. He’s pretty cool. He knows how to max out. He’s always tardy. Always late. You have to lie about the time so he can get there at the right time. Haha!
Q: What are your top 5 travel essentials for the weekend?
A: Definitely the phone. I am going to need a book, for me I really like something to read to and fro. You need some sort of a jacket with multiple pockets, you always need a pair of nice pants because you never know what kind of situation you’re going to run into and you need a positive attitude. If you have a positive attitude, everything is going to work out even when it looks like it’s not. There are some times where we’ve traveled and I’ve been like “it worked. I didn’t think we were going to get in there”. You have to have a positive attitude and figure out your way. You have to be resilient. You know?
Q: You have been in so many amazing films and shows. Out of all of them, which has been your favorite to work on?
A: The top 2 would have to be “8 Mile” and Miracle at “St. Anna.” Both of those experiences were absolutely life changing in their own sense and anything that can have an impact on your life is hard to beat and for me, in Miracle St. Anna, we had awesome personalities that were in that film. In 8 mile, we had awesome personalities on the film. We were hanging out with somebody who was at the absolute peak on their fame in life and then literally changing your life.
Q: Up next you have “Ballers” with The Rock. What can fans expect?
A: To laugh, to expect high quality of an HBO program, it’s something really special. It’s something you have not seen before. It’s from the producers of “Entourage” and Mark Walberg is involved, and all of these brilliant minds have come up with a world you’ve flirted around knowing but it’s here to tell you what the NFL experience is like off the field.
-Igee Okafor
