Michael Jai White says he wanted his new film, ‘Trouble Man,’ ‘to be an experience’

Michael Jai White wrote, produced, directed and stars in his new film, Trouble Man, out in theaters Friday. Though it’s being associated with the Blaxploitation genre, he tells ABC Audio the film is generally influenced by action comedies.

“I have certain issues with [the Blaxploitation era] because there were just a lot of movies that were just action movies and dramas that got swept up into that title,” he explains.

While he admits Trouble Man carries the spirit of “brotherhood, sisterhood and pride” often seen from films in that era, he says the movie falls into the genre of urban action comedy and is nothing like anything he’s seen before.

“I’m not into the formulaic stuff that you’ve seen all the time. I always wanted it to be an experience,” Michael tells ABC Audio.

With Trouble Man now out for the general public to see, he hopes fans can watch and enjoy it much like did when watching Uptown Saturday Night, A Piece of the Action and other movies as a child.

“I want to leave a legacy of movies like that. That’s really my benchmark,” he says. “These movies have made you feel good by the end of it. And there’s just not many of them anymore. So this is where my aim was.”

Trouble Man follows Michael’s Jaxen, a private investigator hired to help find missing R&B star Jahari. Gillian White, Method Man, LaLa Anthony and Orlando Jones also star in the film.

Copyright © 2025, ABC Audio. All rights reserved.