The stars of the film sit down with The Hollywood Reporter to discuss what they learned from the director Melina Matsoukas and writer Lena Waithe, policing in America and more.
00:02Hello, I'm Daniel Kaluuya, and you're watching In Studio with Hollywood Reporter.
00:08We're here to talk about Queen and Slim, which, for me, as soon as I watched the movie, within the first minute, I was like, all right, I'm in.
00:16I'm in. This movie's phenomenal from top to finish. I really, really enjoyed it.
00:22So I wanted to ask you, you're both in almost every scene together.
00:26What did you do to prepare to be in the, inhabit these roles?
00:32Did you spend any time together, or were you kind of coming in, as your characters did, just meeting each other?
00:38Well, we spent a little bit of time together, like, during the prep, you know, after, the first time we met was the chemistry read.
00:44And after that, like, we definitely made a conscious effort to, like, reach out to each other and talk to each other.
00:50We met up and hung out, and then we got to New Orleans, you know, Daniel would come around mine, or I would go to him, and we would read, you know, scenes together, which was really great, because I had no concept of what the workload would be like once we actually started.
01:11Because, like, I'd never been in anything where you were on almost every page in the script together with someone.
01:17So there was never time after that point, really, to rehearse.
01:21Yeah, and then we sat down, just, we kind of just got to know each other.
01:25And I do remember the night before we started shooting in Cleveland, I went to a hotel room, and she taught me about alkaline water.
01:34She broke down, and I was so paranoid, and I thought, oh, my God, I'm so acidic.
01:40So, I kind of, we just got to know each other.
01:44I think you have to be, you just have to be open and get on the same frequency.
01:48So you worked with two creative powerhouses, Melina Matsoukas, the director, and Lena Waithe, the writer and producer.
01:56What did you learn from each of them?
01:58Can you just tell me one thing that kind of stands out that you learned from them?
02:02It stands out for me, I think, for me, it's Lena's, just, force.
02:08She's a very inspirational force.
02:10How she has created a space for this to be so unapologetic, and so offered, and so singular.
02:19It's really inspiring to see, and I learned a lot from that.
02:23I learned a lot from what you can ask from creativity.
02:27And from Melina, it's just, it's just knowing how much she cares, and seeing someone that's so particular about every single inch definitely made me look at the stuff I do, and made me go, oh, I need to step up.
02:42If someone is as forensic on two looks, I had a lot of fittings over two looks.
02:48That's not usually, for a man, that's not usually a focus.
02:52Do you know what I'm saying?
02:52And so, and she cared about everything, every bit of detail, every kind of haircut, every kind of, she'd call me randomly and be like, yo, how are you growing your hair?
03:02Like, way months before the shoot.
03:04And I was like, yeah, make sure you don't cut it, this is down, the other.
03:06So she, she's very, she wanted it to be the best it can be.
03:10The biggest thing that sort of, I think I took from both of them was just that they're two very powerful women, and they're aware of who they are.
03:18They really know who they are, you know, they really know who they are, and they really speak that into the spaces that they inhabit, which I think is a very powerful thing.
03:25And I think often as women in, in different spaces, we often feel like we have to make ourselves smaller, or we have to accommodate the spaces that we're in.
03:35But they're both, they both have this boldness about who they are, about their talent, this fearlessness, that they speak into their, you know, they speak their energy into the rooms that they're in, and whatever they're doing, that's so powerful.
03:49And I really, you know, that was something that I really admired and kind of took as a lesson in really how to do that.
03:55Yeah, Jodi, it sounds a lot like you're describing the character that you inhabited in this movie. How was it for that to be your first leading role?
04:05I mean, it was, it was really special to be able to get to play a woman as complex, and fully formed, and intriguing and interesting as Queen.
04:19And, and she's definitely very much like, you know, some parts of Melina, like some parts of Lina, and obviously Lina wrote the script, so there's going to be, you know, her in that as well.
04:32And I think that the collaboration that came from when everyone, you know, when you guys worked on the script as well, and when Lina and Melina talked about it and everything, there are so many elements in the script that come from real conversations that they've had amongst themselves.
04:45And so there is that kind of element of there in that. But I think also, just as a black woman, there is something, you know, much of what who Queen is, I think, was an experience relatable to any black woman, that she could look at that and say, like, I understand who this woman is, and why she ticks, you know, and I think that's why it was something that was so popular when, you know, when we all read it, all of us in the community.
05:13You know, and we're like, wow, this woman is so interesting and amazing. And I think it's because, you know, as black women, we could sort of relate to so much about her in that way.
05:23You know, I think there's a, there's a common thread in the experience, in the struggle, in the, you know, the desire to be excellent and to carry yourself in a certain way to hide your pain and things like that.
05:35Is there any particular scene that you're kind of excited for the public to see? Like any, any of those great interactions that you have as your two characters go on the run?
05:45For me, it's, I think, Uncle Earl's house is a sequence that I just think is fascinating. Uncle Earl is Queen's uncle in the film.
05:57And it's interesting, someone did actually say the parallels of black masculinity between Slim and Uncle Earl, in the sense that he, when you see him the most unhinged is when he's under the influence.
06:13And what he does when he's under the influence and, and people would see that man as the most outwardly confident version of a black man and having someone like Slim, who is very simple, very content, very vulnerable in this film, but shows the strength in that he shows up for, for Queen.
06:39Yes.
06:40In the film.
06:41In the film.
06:42And those parallels.
06:43And Queen being in the centre of it.
06:45Do you know what I'm saying?
06:46And, and, and understanding, um, why Queen, I just had this thought now, why Queen is the way she is because of the men she's been exposed to.
06:54Do you know what I'm saying?
06:55And, and, and she's just probably assuming, you know, took the jet or say what, probably in front of my interpretation, probably assuming like, well, you ain't nothing anyway, do you know what I'm saying?
07:04And so it's, um, I find Uncle O as a study of black masculinity and the parallels it has with Slim, fascinating, just really fascinating sequence.
07:13Yeah.
07:14Let's talk a little bit about the politics of the movie.
07:17Um, I, I don't want you to have to speak for like your entire nation, but as to, uh, British people, what is your experience with police officers in the UK?
07:29Do you have similar experiences that Americans do?
07:33Um, I, I, I, for, I can only speak for me, I, it's, this is something I intimately know, not logically know.
07:38And, and this is stuff that, like, to the point where being stuck in search as a kid, I thought was normal.
07:46I thought that's what everyone happened to everyone around me.
07:50So, and then it only being a man and looking back on, and friends opening up about their stories and going, it's a bit, it's a bit weird that they've got kids in that position.
08:00And I, um, you know, I really did do as well, a lot of research on policing in America and policing of the black man in America.
08:11Um, because when you really dive into it, you learn so many things, even, you know, why police were formed in this country, you know, which was as a tool to catch slaves.
08:26You know, and how you see, like, the connection, because, you know, obviously there's certain nuances that are specific to this country that we're, we're talking about specifically, you know.
08:36And there's, I, I definitely think that as a black person living anywhere in the world, you understand oppression, you understand, um, state violence, you understand all of those things, because that's happening all over the world.
08:49And whether it's happened to you personally, you know, you understand it logically.
08:53Uh, your characters are folk heroes, that, um, they kind of are part of a long tradition of the folk, the American folk hero.
09:01Um, Daniel, I, you spoke a little bit about Angela Davis. Daniel, is there any folk heroes that inspired you as you kind of took on, as you took on this role?
09:11No. No. Um, it was more just kind of, I wanted to feel as human and as grounded and as every man as possible.
09:23Um, I think that, I don't think he, I genuinely don't think Slim believes he is a hero, or can be a hero.
09:31He even says it goes, I ain't gonna bend the world. I just want a lady that remembers me fondly. Do you know what I'm saying?
09:36Yeah.
09:37He's a, he's a rare, he's a, a person that isn't, isn't pushed into the forefront in this day and age, because he doesn't want much.
09:47He doesn't want the attention, doesn't want the, the limelight, the spotlight, the, and, and that's such an incredible candidate to be in this situation, because he's just trying to survive.
09:57Where are you going?
10:01I'm gonna find somebody with a phone so I can call my family.
10:03If you do that, then they'll know where we are.
10:05Grace.
10:06What if they kill us?
10:07Don't say that.
10:08There's no guarantee they won't.
10:12You're a black man that killed a cop and then took his gun.
10:16I'm not a criminal.
10:18You are now.
10:20Um, congratulations, Queen and Slim. Beautiful movie, check it out.
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