So I did that, and then we had a callback, and at the callback I killed and it was on Zoom. And then I hit up Dewayne. I had hit him on Instagram and I was like, “Bitch, oh my God, I’m Shanika.” And he was like, “You playing with me, bitch? You know they don’t tell me nothing.” So I sent him the screenshot of the deal, that it was closed. I was like, “Boo, it’s me.” And he was like, “Oh, my God.” And we were so excited because Dewayne is my baby. So to go into this unique experience with him was really exciting.
It’s so rare to see a horror film with an all-Black cast. I loved the diverse array of Black characters that were allowed to exist on screen. Normally in horror movies, there’s one Black person, and they get killed first.
Yes, and it’s one trope of a Black person even then. Although we have seven archetypes of Black people [in The Blackening], we still didn’t represent all of us. There’s too many motherfuckers, right? There’s too many nuances.
I said this before, and I’ll say it again: the writing would not be as strong had it not been written by a Black queer man and a Black woman. We are the leaders of the pack of every fucking march—it don’t have nothing to do with us. Child, it could be eczema. We’re like, “Guys, we got to get new cream. Everybody’s peeling. What is happening?” [laughs].
You have a pretty harrowing night swimming scene in the film. What was it like to shoot it?
Baby, I was on my cycle at 4:00 AM in the lake. And you know why I did it? Because I feel sometimes when you see certain stunts, and you know that’s not the person, that takes you out of it. And I know how to swim. I just was like, ‘No, we’re going to dispel that fucking myth. Fuck you. I’m going to fucking swim.’ They had a whole thing of fresh, alkaline water in a separate trailer so that I could shower right after. It was a man-made lake near Dodger Stadium. It was green. was just treading, going scene after scene after scene. That water was so heavy.
But I wanted to. I was like, this is for the Black girls who swim. And also to dispel the myth. Like, fuck that: No, we are in the water. We’re swimming. Dewayne asked me today, he was like, “Did Shanika know how to swim?” I said, “No, it’s instinctual.” She’s like, “Bitch, we gotta get out.”
Were you a horror movie person growing up?
No. Don’t play with demons. No, I don’t like it. And it really fucks with my brain. And you would think because of that I don’t fuck with true crime, but I’m obsessed. But yeah, I did not fuck with horror.
What do you want people to take from The Blackening?
What I want people to take from this is that they had a good-ass time. They laughed their ass off and they saw themselves on screen, or an archetype of themselves on screen. And that they realize how essential it is to support Black art. Because there is something called symbolic annihilation. If we don’t see ourselves, we don’t see the value in ourselves. And if you are white, please, please, if you want to support us, give up power. Because it’s systemic. It’s as simple as that.
Chris Murphy
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