LaKeith Stanfield has never been afraid of transformation. From his breakout performance in Sorry to Bother You to his Oscar-nominated turn in Judas and the Black Messiah, he’s built a reputation for slipping into complex characters. But in Play Dirty—the new high-octane heist thriller from director Shane Black—the actor shows a different side of himself for the world to see.
Streaming on Prime Video, the film pairs him with Mark Wahlberg in a modern twist on the classic heist genre. Wahlberg plays Parker, a blue-collar thief seeking revenge after a brutal double-cross. Stanfield co-stars as Grofield, his quick-thinking partner-in-crime who’s part actor, part hustler, and wholly unpredictable. It’s a challenge that Stanfield embraced. “I wanted to do something fun,” he says. “This was a step in the direction of being more physical, more in action, and I wanted to work with Mark and Shane. It just felt like the right time.”
Grofield isn’t just comic relief for Stanfield. The character, a performer funding his struggling theater through high-stakes robberies, resonated with the actor’s own journey. Before the awards and acclaim, Stanfield knew what it meant to chase a dream without a net. “I remember those days of couch-surfing and auditioning,” he recalls. “All I knew was that once they saw me, they’d know.” The belief that art could build a life from scratch is what gives his Grofield a sly depth beneath the bravado.
On screen, the character of Grofield flirts with danger the way an artist flirts with an audience. Stanfield says that’s how he approaches acting itself. He doesn’t think about stealing the spotlight in an ensemble filled with stars like Rosa Salazar, Keegan-Michael Key, and Tony Shalhoub. Instead, he looks for harmony. “I’m always asking how to honor the story,” he explains. “How do I make sure the character fits the larger dynamic? Then I start thinking about what would make this person feel whole.”
In Play Dirty, viewers can experience the effortlessness that Stanfield radiates. “Some roles give you more room to stretch,” he says of Grofield. “This one was a blank slate. I got to build him up from scratch and add little things that made him feel alive.”
Filming alongside Wahlberg added another layer of meaning. For the Atlanta actor, the experience doubled as both mentorship and manifestation. Years before Play Dirty, he had envisioned sharing the screen with the Boston native. “I used to sit in my apartment watching him like, ‘yeah, I’m gonna catch you one day,’” he laughs. “Then I was on set like, ‘wow, I’m here.’” The two bonded over business, movies, and their shared love of MMA. “He’s smart,” Stanfield says. “He’s created this whole system—his clothing line, his brother’s restaurant, everything moving in a circle. It was inspiring to see how he built that.”
It’s no surprise that ambition is a theme that threads through both actor and character. Grofield steals for art; Stanfield creates art to steal attention. And while the film may lean into the spectacle of explosions and chase scenes, its emotional core lies in the humanity Stanfield brings to the chaos.
“As an audience member, I enjoy going on a ride where you can’t get off until it’s over,” he says. “When it finally ends, you can celebrate with the characters.” That’s exactly what Play Dirty delivers: a wild, breathless sprint that somehow lands in something deeper. For an actor who’s long mastered the art of subtlety, this role feels like a deliberate shake-up, and a reminder that Stanfield’s range still has new corners to reveal.
“I try to stay stoic and let go of what I can’t control,” he says. “But I’m always building.”