'Love, Brooklyn' Director & Cast on Their Personal Connections to Brooklyn | THR Studio at Park City - video Dailymotion

Hollywood Journal

'Love, Brooklyn' director Rachael Abigail Holder and stars André Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise, Roy Wood Jr. and Cassandra Freeman stop by THR's studio in Park City to talk all about their new film. Everyone shares their personal connection to Brooklyn, their characters in the film and more.

Transcript

00:00Something I've not said because it's inappropriate.

00:02Nobody ever likes it when you tell these stories in press.

00:05But, you know, this movie has been in, like, matriculation for so long.

00:10There was another actor who was attached to play Nicole

00:13in scheduling conflicts, and I was like,

00:15oh, it's me now.

00:17And I love that for me.

00:20I used to go to Bedside Brooklyn every Sunday

00:29from Long Island with my family.

00:31That's where we went to church.

00:33My parents are from Guyana,

00:35and there's a huge West Indian Caribbean community

00:39at our church growing up.

00:41And so we would travel for an hour every Sunday,

00:44and I hated it because it was so long and it was church.

00:50But as I grew older, it was my only access to community

00:54that looked like me.

00:56And when I went to graduate school,

00:58instead of living in Manhattan, I went to NYU Tisch.

01:02I decided to live in Brooklyn.

01:03And then I never left until fairly recently.

01:06Yeah.

01:08You have a beautiful connection to Brooklyn.

01:10Oh, thank you for putting me up.

01:12Give it to us.

01:13I lived in Brooklyn for how long?

01:16Like 17 years.

01:18I'm not 17 years.

01:20I fell in love for the first time in Brooklyn.

01:23I live in Bed-Stuy while I was at Juilliard in school.

01:25You went roller skating in Brooklyn.

01:27Yeah.

01:28My birthday party was at Brooklyn Bowl.

01:30Yes.

01:31And you were along and everything.

01:32So yeah, Brooklyn was like,

01:33I threw crazy parties in Brooklyn.

01:34You did.

01:35You know, I came into my maturation

01:39and knew you were working in Brooklyn.

01:41Yeah, so I have a lot of love for that community.

01:44And it kind of raised me and created the artist that I am.

01:48And also the mess that I happen to be.

01:50I still live in Brooklyn now, just like Andre.

01:53And you know what's so funny?

01:55I lived in Brooklyn for like back in Williamsburg,

01:58before anyone knew what Williamsburg was.

02:00It's like back in 2000.

02:01Before it was cute.

02:02That's right.

02:03Before it was cute.

02:04But yeah, my whole artist journey is mounted.

02:06And so many of us are NYU people too.

02:08Yeah.

02:09Yeah.

02:10I guess I'm the only person from Alabama.

02:12No, you know, I've been in New York for 10 years.

02:16I was born in New York.

02:17I moved in first grade, I think, down south.

02:22And in the time I was at The Daily Show,

02:25a lot of the stories, if you're trying to tell Black stories

02:28about the uniqueness and the complexity of the Black experience

02:32as it is now, it always ended up taking you to Brooklyn.

02:35And so it's just a spot that I've always, you know,

02:38fallen in love with.

02:39And the other thing that I really loved about this story

02:42is that this script tells the story of change in a place.

02:46And it doesn't necessarily have to be.

02:48It is a Black film.

02:50It is about Black love.

02:51It is the fingerprints of Blackness across the diaspora

02:55all through that script.

02:57But it also represents, I believe,

02:59what a lot of places are going through in terms of...

03:04Like, Brooklyn is unique to me,

03:05like, in the same way that New Orleans is,

03:08or the same way Miami is.

03:09Like, it's a character.

03:11And the people who are native to it

03:12are extremely defensive about it,

03:14and they're extremely sentimental about it.

03:16But they also have a...

03:18You can just...

03:19I don't know if you've ever met anybody from New Orleans.

03:21They feel adrift a little bit

03:23in the sense of not knowing what is to become

03:27of this place that I've loved and known one way for so long,

03:31and now it's turning into something else,

03:33and we're not sure of where we fit into that puzzle.

03:38So, it's just...

03:39It's just dope to be able to help, you know, tell that story.

03:41Are you a bike commuter?

03:43Or was that just...

03:45Listen, I ride the bike so much.

03:48I love riding the bike.

03:48It's, like, one of my favorite things to do.

03:50People joke at me all the time.

03:51They're like, man, I saw you on your bike.

03:53Yeah, that was me, you know?

03:55I mean, biking with a coffee in one hand and riding.

03:57People think I'm crazy, but I love it.

04:00I love it.

04:01I think that's truly a Brooklyn thing.

04:03It's the same thing when people come visit me,

04:04and I'm like, I'm almost there, and they're like, where are you?

04:06And then they see me coming around the corner on my back.

04:08They're like, are you just...

04:09What kind of, like, wonderland?

04:11I'm like, it's Brooklyn.

04:11And I only do that in Brooklyn.

04:13Like, I never take the bike into...

04:14I don't take a bike into Manhattan.

04:16Oh, no, I would feel comfortable.

04:17Yeah, it's dangerous, right?

04:18See, I live in Manhattan, so I just...

04:21Just walk?

04:22Yeah.

04:24Viking's, like, flying.

04:25Can't go in a hot hole like that.

04:27Yeah, Viking is a Brooklyn thing.

04:29That's so funny.

04:30Ray, were you looking to do a movie at this point in your career?

04:35When Andre called, you know, it's...

04:38It's a gift.

04:39It's a literal gift, because not only is it a film,

04:42but it's telling a very interesting story,

04:44and comedically, I get to be something a little different.

04:46I still get to crack a joke and be funny,

04:49but I don't have to performatively be

04:51what people are traditionally used to seeing me.

04:55And I think between Daily Show and stand-up,

04:58there is a certain expectation when you see me.

05:01So it was cool to be able to have that deviation.

05:04So to even just have the opportunity to take on that challenge

05:07and then to have a director that trusts me enough

05:11to not make me do the other things that are familiar,

05:14like, that's a gift.

05:15I was at Andre called.

05:16I'm like, yes.

05:17Like, two of the suits I wear in the film are from the Daily Show.

05:20I love that. Thank you.

05:22I was like, we're going to save some money.

05:23Yeah.

05:24Now, I think y'all got dress shirts from somewhere else.

05:27See what?

05:29Put them pants.

05:30That was straight Daily Show.

05:31Thank you for that.

05:33We were all playing things.

05:35I've been on Bel Air for the last four years,

05:37and so, um, it's like such a pragmatic, you know, heavy...

05:41This character's nothing like that.

05:43She's, like, light and funny,

05:44and I'd love to do more comedy.

05:47And so, when Andre showed me this role,

05:49I was like, yes, thank you!

05:51But he also, but he knows me.

05:53And I think that's why I love a lot of these new TV shows

05:55and movies that are coming out

05:56where people are playing against type,

05:59but really, you're leaning into people's other loves,

06:01like the other colors they have not been able to play with.

06:04Yeah, I have the same experience.

06:06I know I've, like, um, sort of, uh, been...

06:09Dewanda was teasing me earlier,

06:11because I've been a mom for since the very...

06:13She was, like, 12, and I was like, how should we get them kids?

06:16I've been, like, a mom in every movie,

06:17and, like, something really heavy is happening.

06:20Um, and I'm grateful for it, and I love all this.

06:22Yeah, they're beautiful.

06:22Don't get me wrong.

06:23Um, but, uh, Andre sort of knowing me

06:27and being like, do some of that.

06:28Let's do something different.

06:31Let's, um, let's have some fun.

06:32And then Rachel creating a safe space to play

06:36and actually asking and encouraging funny choices

06:40and improv and things that I think in other environments,

06:43people are like, we don't really know what that is.

06:45Like, what you're doing is weird.

06:46Can you not?

06:47Can you not do that?

06:48They were like, do it.

06:49Yeah.

06:49And that's, that's, you know, really freeing.

06:51It's actually been a gift for me,

06:53because I think post, I've felt it in my work since.

06:56So that's, that's huge.

06:58We're, like, ferociously protective of each other's dreams.

07:03And honestly and earnestly invested in a real way.

07:06And, um, this film is emblematic of that in many ways.

07:10Oh, my God.

07:11There you go.

07:12There you go.

07:13In many ways.

07:14People let me go.

07:15Once again.

07:16There you go.

07:17Then.

07:18No.

'Love, Brooklyn' Director & Cast on Their Personal Connections to Brooklyn | THR Studio at Park City

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