Exclusive: Rafael Casal Discusses Creating ‘Blindspotting’

Over the course of 10 years, Rafael Casal and Daveed Diggs worked on bringing their film. ‘Blindspotting’, to life. The film addresses the growing racial and class tensions due to gentrification in Oakland, California. We had the chance to sit down with Rafael Casal to talk about the process of writing, producing, and starring in Blindspotting.

The Knockturnal: Your character has such an interesting storyline. What did you like most about him?

Rafael Casal: I really enjoy Miles’s sense of humor, I think that’s probably the most fun dialogue to do. I think the way in which he sort of constantly tries to make everyone around him laugh and keep it light. I think I’m really drawn to people like that, who are always trying to find the funny. And I think that even comes from dealing with a lot of sadness which I think is sort of the other tone of the film. But Miles’s survival mechanism is trying to find the funny, which is ultimately how he helps Colin in the end. I really love that aspect of him.

The Knockturnal: There are some great, gut-wrenching scenes. What was the most difficult for you to film?

Rafael Casal: There’s this scene with a little kid holding a gun which, even when you know it’s fake and you know we’re on set and everyone knows that this isn’t a real situation, it’s still a haunting image to look at. I think we were excited to get that one done and over with and get that image out of our heads.

The Knockturnal: The music in the film is like another character which was your favorite music moment from the movie?

Rafael Casal: There’s a song that comes on when they get out of the car in the opening where a song by Max Ray comes on. He’s an artist that was killed years ago and getting his song in film is not easy. It’s also a very regionally specific song so I think getting to start off the movie with that song as, sort of, one of the first local records that you hear in a music moment when people are dancing and partying and it’s a big celebration of Oakland was a really big accomplishment for us and something we were really, really excited about. But there’s also a song in the closing credits, where me and Daveed got to do a song with E-40 who is our favorite rapper, so that’s one too.

The Knockturnal: You’re a producer, writer, and actor on this project. Was it difficult to balance all these roles?

Rafael Casal: I think any time you’re balancing roles, there’s always going to be inherent challenges. I’m a bit of a control freak so that was probably necessary for me. I think Daveed’s a lot better at when it’s acting time to just be an actor and not worry about other things. But the minute they yelled cut, I was running around to the monitors, I’d watch the tapes, I’d make adjustments, I’d go back to talk to Daveed about the dialogue or talk to the actors about the line and make sure that it’s right, from the writer’s perspective. I’d run over and watch the playback again and then Carlos would force me back on my mark to be an actor. I wouldn’t do it any other way. It’s our way of making sure that this very specific story about Oakland that Daveed and I had lived with for ten years was getting to the cutting room the way that we intended and that was a collaborative process with the producers, me and Daveed, and Carlos our director. We all wore each other’s hats to make sure we got everything.

The Knockturnal: You just talked about the collaboration process with Daveed, but tell us a little more about how its work between the two of you?

Rafael Casal: I mean, we’ve been collaborating on pretty much all of our projects for about 14 years now, and the capacity of that is always a little different depending on the projects. Sometimes one of us is carrying a little bit more of the load than the other and that switches around halfway through, or we’re both holed up around the laptop writing, or we’re doing a concert when it’s more Daveed’s songs than my songs this time or more of my songs than Daveed’s songs, whatever it is. The portions have never really been much of a discussion point, we always kind of accommodate whatever the project needs. What we’re really just about is making sure that collectively and separately both of our work is as good as it could be, so I think it works. This movie changed a lot over time, like how we worked on it, and even the last draft the way we wrote it was really me in my room by myself for a month writing and Daveed and I getting on the phone every two or three days to talk about what had changed because he was on tour and doing TV stuff and didn’t have time to come back and help with the draft. So most of our collaboration was brainstorming sessions in the middle of the night and really in-depth conversations about the function of characters and themes, and then I was the one to execute it. That was the last step, but for years it was us huddled around a laptop writing, like he write a line, I write a line for whatever character we felt like we had a line for. And that collaborative nature that is malleable that can morph to accommodate the circumstance is, in my opinion, the best kind.

The Knockturnal: The subject of race and cultural appropriation is such an important conversation. What do you think the movie says about it?

Rafael Casal: The movie is what I would want to say about it. Rather than try to further make it bite-sized for an interview, I would just encourage people to go see the film because I think it takes that long to even scratch the surface. But I think we like that the movie seems to be provoking a lot of questions within people about how they’re looking at situations that were on the news. I think that’s the most you can ask for when you make a film, that you hope it will provoke people to think about things and provoke questions.

The Knockturnal: Getting this movie done, I’m sure, was not an easy process. What did you learn about yourself during that time?

Rafael Casal: I learned that I need six hours of sleep to function as well as I’d like. But really, I think getting on set, the first thing you want to do is learn about the people you’re working with and see how they understand this vision that you’ve invested so much time in on your own trying to craft because they’re now here to make it happen. And the best way to do that is to make it with a lot of love and a lot of dedication.

The Knockturnal: You’re such a multifaceted talent, what will we see you do next? 

Rafael Casal: We’re working on the music soundtrack for the film now which is all the music inspired by the film. We’ve been rapping and producing in the studio while we’re doing all these press tours. And Daveed and I are writing other TV shows and movies that we’re really excited to get made and we’re having really exciting conversations with people.

Blindspotting hits theaters July 27.