Black and Blue stars Naomie Harris as Alicia West—a New Orleans rookie cop. After she accidentally captures a shooting on her body cam, she must decide whether to expose the shooters or live another day.
In this action-packed thriller directed by Deon Taylor, Naomie plays opposite Tyrese Gibson as Mouse. We sat down with Naomie Harris, Tyrese, and Deon Taylor to talk about the film’s timely message and intense sequences.
The Knockturnal: There was some type of phone call when Deon approached you…a FaceTime call where he was wearing like a dragon’s suit… What was that?
Naomie Harris: “Yes. He was wearing an alligator head. I mean, I don’t know. I go figure. But that’s just Deon, he’s just so like his own person and he’s so much fun always. And he’s always breaking the rules and the boundaries and I love that about him. I love that energy. And you see that energy in the movie; he’s so positive and upbeat and has such a humanity about him and I think that energy is in the movie.”
The Knockturnal: And that’s important. And speaking of energy, can you talk about what it was like working with Tyrese?
Naomie Harris: “It was so great working with Tyrese. You know what? Actually I have to be honest, I had this whole thing where I was like… because in the beginning he was like, ‘we should like rehearse on our own and I’ll come over to your house.’ And I was like, what? Uh, no, you’re not coming anywhere near my house [laughter]. No. I never had an actor do that before so I was like what is your ulterior motive? It wasn’t until I met his wife Samantha and I was like OK, alright, that’s not what’s going on here. But actually he just wanted to help me. [He said], ‘I am from a kind of community where Alicia would have grown up in, so I can help you.’ And he was just amazing. It’s one of the best acting experiences I’ve ever had because he’s just so generous.”
The Knockturnal: Your character is a hero to some and an enemy to others. So what did you take away personally after being apart of this project?
Naomie Harris: “I think I took away the importance of knowing where your boundaries are. Knowing what is right and what is wrong. And it’s a gut instinct thing. We all know it ultimately but it’s like when someone transgresses those boundaries what are you going to do? You know? Because I think a lot of us just don’t do anything, but we have a choice to, as Alicia says at the end of the movie, be the change and stand up for what we truly believe in.”
The Knockturnal: A lot of people have this controversy behind snitching vs whistleblowing. Do you have any personal takes or opinions on that?
Naomie Harris: “I think when people have done things that are wrong, it is your duty to speak up. Especially if those people can then go on to hurt those people or other people in the future. You know? You have a moral obligation to do the right thing and that is to speak up.”
The Knockturnal: What type of training goes into playing a cop?
Naomie Harries: “It’s so funny. Everybody’s like, what training did you do, I’m like, I didn’t do any training because actually they said to me that I wasn’t going to be doing any stunts. So I was like ok yea, Bethany Levy, who is an amazing stunt double who has done movies before with me, I was like, she’s got it all, they were like, ‘you don’t even have to run.’ By the end of the movie, I was jumping off things, being thrown against walls, and I was totally unprepared.”
The Knockturnal: Wow, it just looks so intense and there’s so much involved.
Naomie Harris: “It looks so real because it was real [laughter].”
The Knockturnal: You said this is the first feature film to have an African American female play the lead role as an officer. Why do you think we haven’t had that story told and what gave you the confidence in bringing that to life in this day?
Deon Taylor: “You know what’s interesting? I don’t know. I don’t know why we haven’t had that. I don’t know why we haven’t had this type of role be played by someone who looks like us. I have no idea, but I’m just happy that I actually read the script and it fell on my lap and I was the one to point that out. Like yo, this is crazy. Did you guys know this? And everyone’s like, no I never even… and when I heard that and knew that and felt that, it was everything in me to make sure this movie was going to be done right and the lead character was going to be someone that was chameleon that could do each and everything that we needed to have done on screen. Being the product of a single-family home with my mom being able to raise me and my brothers and my friends as brothers, I’ve known nothing else but strong black women my entire life. The reality was, my mom was the person that fought the basketball coach, came up to the school and sat in the back of the class, stole on me in front of everybody when I wasn’t doing [what I was supposed to], for real! So when I was getting ready to make this film, a lot of those traits, I know. And I don’t know why it hasn’t been done but I will tell you this, I’m just happy that God actually touched me to have that script and for me to be able to touch Naomie, touch Tyrese, and drop into a film like this. And who would have been able to guess that this movie would be falling right in the zeitgeist of what’s going on with community and culture right now.”
The Knockturnal: And speaking of that, Tyrese, there’s this scene that I know will get people talking. One scene in particular, I should say, and that’s when Mouse calls the police and they arrive. I don’t want to give too much away, but that portrayal was so realistic. Can you talk about what it was like bringing that to film?
Deon Taylor: “It really was. I keep telling him it’s great! I’ve been all over the country. I’m going to let him say something because they’re going to kick us out of here. But what’s crazy is because we were shooting the scene, Tyrese came to me and explained to me what he felt. And he told me where he wanted to go with that scene. And it was one conversation, and it happened. And he came in there and delivered this moment. And I had been telling him every time I screen this movie, how proud and incredible he is in this moment, in this movie. And it’s beautiful. Anyways, I’m going to shut up. Wherever yall at, whoever is watching this… awards. I’m serious. Go ahead, do your stuff now.”
Tyrese: “Thank you, sir. I appreciate it. It takes trust to create what we created. Me and Naomie came into this thing, and we said even though we never worked with Deon, what a blessing it is to have the gift of someone who understands the sensitivities between black, white. Black inner city, ghetto police tension, friction… there’s this vulnerable thing and if you had put the camera in the wrong hands, it would have just been another movie. So before we came to set to shoot that scene, I stayed up all night looking at Eric Garner, Tamir Rice, Rodney King, Nipsey Hussle, Pac, Biggie Smalls, the Rampart Division, just corruption. New Orleans, the mayor that’s currently still in jail. And I realize quickly that there’s a lot of white people—don’t have a racist bone in my body—there’s a lot of white people who were part of this Trump factor and they’ll say, I don’t care about what they’re dealing with, or they’ll say, I feel bad about what they are dealing with. And that’s the one moment where I say, if I can get you to care about what we have to live every day, then that’s going to be the one moment that I draw you in and give you permission to care or activate something inside of you that says, man, if I call the police, as soon as they show up and see that I’m a white person that’s calling the police, then I’m not a threat. I can’t even register that I called for help and I might die today…but we live it every day. And at the end of the day, what I love is that this movie is not preachy. There’s no one on a podium giving a speech, it keeps you on the edge of your seat, and you’re able to look to your left and right and say man, I care for you, I love you. I appreciate you. And this is a move that we want to be successful because more movies like this will be made. Got enough black folks in movies shucking and jiving and he ha ha ha, and doing the yessirs. We got enough of that going on. We need some real shit to be supported.”
Black and Blue is set to hit theaters on October 25!
