Mahershala Ali and Stephen Colbert's chat about cloning gets very deep, very fast

"We all have a better self."
 By 
Sam Haysom
 on 
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Mahershala Ali talking to Stephen Colbert about cloning
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What would you do it if you were given the opportunity to clone yourself before you passed away?

That's the ethical dilemma at the centre of Mahershala Ali's new Black Mirror-esque movie Swan Song, but what would the man himself do if he was faced with such a situation?

"You know I've thought about that a lot, and all throughout shooting it, and even now and seeing how the film came out. And I think I would lean towards the natural order of things," Ali says to Stephen Colbert in the video above, which starts off light and then gets deep very quickly.

"What I walk away with from the film is that in reality we all have a better self, we all have a potential, we all have an inspired self, right? And so therefore we all have the potential to be our best self. So I want to be as present, and as fulfilled as possible, in the time that I have on this Earth, and make the best I can of every day and every moment. And when my number's called, I just hope and pray I made the best use of my time as possible."

If he hadn't become an Oscar-winning actor, it seems Ali could easily have gone into motivational speaking.

Swan Song will premiere in theaters and globally on Apple TV+ on Dec. 17.

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Sam Haysom

Sam Haysom is the Deputy UK Editor for Mashable. He covers entertainment and online culture, and writes horror fiction in his spare time.


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