It was a long trial, and trials are boring, and [the defendants] found ways to amuse themselves.
I wanted to have a whole bag of tricks — not in any way that was prescribed, but, you know, we’re in this courtroom for a long time.
We’re in the courtroom for many, many, many months.
And this, for me, was one of the ways I found to amuse myself — and to also get under the skin of Judge Hoffman [played by Frank Langella], who to Jerry and Abbie and Bobby [Seale, played by Yahya Abdul-Mateen II] and the rest of the men represented everything that was despicable and odious and bigoted and authoritarian in American government.