In her directorial debut, actress Victoria Monai Richards brings Search Party: Where’s PawPaw? to theaters, an absurdist family comedy following a college student who rallies her best friends and chaotic aunt to find her missing grandfather.
Richards and co-stars Nijah Brenea and Daisy Fernandez opened up to The Knockturnal about reuniting on screen after first meeting on the set of HBO’s Rap Sh!t. “The chemistry was almost there from the start. We were meant to be … Like how people have soulmates with their partners, there’s soulmates with friends too,” says Brenea.
Richards credits a director on Rap Sh!t with planting the seed for the trio to work together again, after he pointed out the trio’s chemistry on set. When it came time for Richards to write the script with her mother and creative partner, Sherrie Richards, they wrote with Brenea and Fernandez in mind.
Photo Courtesy Atlas Distribution
As a first-time director, Richards also spoke about the challenges of making an independent film and fighting to be taken seriously. “You kind of build your own traction and really fight for the project yourself. If you don’t believe in it, if you don’t believe it could make Obsession type of money, they won’t either.”
Made for under $1 million, Curry Barker’s independent horror film Obsession made major waves with its release this year, and has grossed $524 million worldwide. Brenea remarks, “This year we’ve seen people do their own thing, and it has blown up. They’re literally looking to us to give them the idea and then, potentially fund it, which has happened for people.”
For first-time directors like Richards, it’s become proof of what an independent film can do. “I’ve never worked harder in my life or [done] anything like this, says Richards. “I feel like [financiers] seeing that effort and having those conversations, staying persistent, my mom staying persistent and just pushing through, [made] them take us serious.”
Photo Courtesy Movie Vine
“Search Party: Where’s PawPaw?” hits theaters on November 13.
