Questlove admits he didn’t believe he was a storyteller before finding success as a filmmaker
TheGrio...
The drummer and director describes the change that shaped his career and how “The Tonight Show” helps The Roots spend time with their families.
Questlove says he had to change how he viewed himself before he could embrace filmmaking. The Roots drummer discussed the power of vulnerability while looking back on his Sly Stone documentary and the Earth, Wind & Fire documentary he directed.
During a conversation with Variety’s Jem Aswad at the Variety Experience and Culture Summit: The IRL Advantage, Questlove recalled telling people to find another filmmaker because he didn’t believe he was a storyteller. It took encouragement from others to see that he could take on the work. “I gotta be the change I want to be,” he said.
He made his directorial debut with “Summer of Soul” in 2021. The film revisited the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival and later won the Academy Award for best documentary feature. His 2025 documentary, “Sly Lives!,” examined the self-sabotage he had noticed among successful Black creatives. His latest documentary follows Earth, Wind & Fire and the legacy of its founder, Maurice White. It premiered on HBO on June 7, 2026.
While making the Earth, Wind & Fire film, Questlove read books that White had read during the band’s early years. Those books influenced his approach to creativity. He said he feels like a new artist and is still learning what the Questlove brand means.
He recalled the detached attitude he associated with musicians like Miles Davis and admitted that he once tried to protect his own feelings on records. He said the power of vulnerability matters in creative work and politics alike. Unless people learn what their emotions mean and how to use vulnerability, he warned, “we’re going to implode as a world.”
Questlove also said being the house band on “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” lets members of The Roots be present with their families. He called that the best part of the job. The band joined Fallon on “Late Night” in 2009 and followed him to “The Tonight Show “in 2014.
Comparing The Roots with the Beatles, Questlove said his bandmates remain close friends. They still joke around like they did in high school, he said, even after decades working together.
Without that bond, he said, “all this is for naught.”