Three years after directing “Ride Along 2,” Tim Story’s latest project is directing the newest film in the “Shaft” movie franchise.
Directing from a script written by Black-ish writer Kenya Barris, Story had the opportunity to work with Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree who are veterans to the Shaft film series, as well as newcomer Jessie T. Usher. Tim chatted with The Knockturnal at Red Rooster in Harlem New York about directing the film and exploring its themes that appeal to different generations.
The Knockturnal: What made you want to take on Shaft?
Tim Story: You know what it’s Shaft. At the end of the day it’s a historical franchise it’s one of the premiere black franchises of all time. And then there’s Sam Jackson and Richard Roundtree for them to be a part of this, knowing coming in they were gonna be a part of it I felt like I could bring something to it and make a good movie.
The Knockturnal: Can you tell us what it was like directing acting legends such as Samuel L. Jackson and Richard Roundtree?
Tim Story: Scary. When you get somebody that’s as experienced as Sam Jackson, as well as Richard Roundtree you want to not screw up. You’re bringing characters they played before to the screen and you want to make sure you’re making it work and you’re respecting what they created with these characters before. It’s a good thing when you can pull that off so working with them is a dream come true.
The Knockturnal: Jessie T. Usher also came on-board as the ‘new’ Shaft, what did you notice about him and his portrayal of the new Shaft?
Tim Story: Well the great thing about having Jessie is such a talented funny actor. We also didn’t have any history to create. What I mean by that is we could create a character from scratch and that was fun for me and Jessie to present is that there is a new Shaft on board and he is JJ and we could kind of create our own. So it was good to do that with Jessie.
The Knockturnal: Music plays such a key part in the Shaft film series, especially Issac Hayes’ theme song, how were you able to incorporate the legendary music into this film.
Tim Story: Well luckily we were given the reins to use the Shaft theme once again. I don’t know how we could have made this movie without the Theme of Shaft it was one of the most iconic if not in my opinion one of the best themes created in movie history . And to have that at the forefront of this movie was important. Then when it comes to the rest of the music look we just wanted to be sure we represented all of the generations and use rap, a little bit of trap music in there, R&B, funk we wanted to use everything we could, even some Latin music in there. We just wanted to use everything we could to represent the generations and make sure everybody would kind of dance in the theater.
The Knockturnal: To speak about the different generations, in this film there was a interesting change between the 2000 film and this one in having Richard Roundtree being Shaft’s father rather than his uncle, please tell us about that change.
Tim Story: We knew we wanted to make a generational movie. We wanted to have a grandfather, a father and a son. Although the last movie did have him as the uncle we found an interesting way to explain why in this movie you do have a granddad, father and son. So we just felt that would make the film more accessible so we just chose to do it that way.
The Knockturnal: The film explores the theme of masculinity and how ideas of what is traditionally masculine are different in the ways Shaft II (Samuel), and J.J. (Jessie) express masculinity and the disagreements in what is considered masculine. Why was this an important theme to tackle in the film?
Tim Story: The way we approached it was we were gonna have a debate a conversation about what it means to be a man, what’s the definition of manhood in today’s world as well as the way it was twenty years ago and maybe fifty years ago. And that is what was fun about this movie is exploring that having a conversation. So we just wanted to ask those question. When you see the film you’ll notice we don’t give a lot of answers to what is right. All we do is have two people and in some cases three people discussing what was better about the past and what’s better about the future and what’s better about the present. I think that was important and I think that’s what makes an important debate when it comes to these movies.
The Knockturnal: Tell us about any interesting moments that happened off set while filming.
Tim Story: Gosh we just had a good time. When I’ve had my friend Regina Hall and just us kind of laughing on set. Gosh we tried to put most of it on screen I’m trying to think of stories that happened behind the scenes but I can’t even think of any right now.
The Knockturnal: Islamophobia is also a theme in the film, how did you go about directing with that aspect of the film while being culturally sensitive?
Tim Story: Once again we wanted a dialogue, the Islamophobia is a real thing and we wanted to be sure that [people] don’t always judge a book by it’s cover … and as I continue to say this movie is about a conversation, and it’s about let’s discuss right and wrong, let’s discuss opinions, let’s discuss passionately the way people see things, and I knew if we could just create that debate, it would be and interesting film.
The Knockturnal: What is the ultimate lesson that you want viewers to take away from this film?
Tim Story: That family is everything. At the end of the day we’re crazy sometimes, we’re hard to deal with but ultimately family means everything and we have to protect one another.
The Knockurnal: What else are you working on?
Tim Story: I’m working on a hybrid version of Tom and Jerry for Warner Brothers so that will be out in a little under two years and I hope everyone goes to see it.
The film hits theaters this Friday.
