Posted in: Exclusive, Interview, Movies | Tagged: Bomani J Story, Chad L. Coleman, Denzel Whitaker, exclusive, interview, Laya DeLeon Hayes, The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster Director on Cast Flexibility

Bomani J Story talks to Bleeding Cool about cast flexibility in his horror film The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, influential work & more

When RLJE Films and Crypt TV provided Bomani J Story a golden opportunity to direct his Frankenstein-inspired horror film The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster into production, he made the most of the talent around him. The film follows Vicaria (Laya DeLeon Hayes), a brilliant teenager who believes death is a disease that can be cured. After the brutal and sudden murder of her brother, she embarks on a dangerous journey to bring him back to life. Story spoke to Bleeding Cool about planning the film, how the cast's flexibility enhanced his script, and the films and filmmakers that influenced his work.

Planning 'The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster'

Was there a feeling-out process, or were you set from the get-go on set?
Story: There's always a balance or a dance between those two of stuff that you have figured out and stuff you're still working through before it snaps into place, hopefully at some point along the lines [laughs]. I saw certain sequences in my head that were like, "I know what this dream sequence is" and "I understood what was happening there." There's a scene when Vicaria [Hayes] and Kango [Denzel Whitaker] are on the Hill, and he tells her, "I'm the one that's keeping the family alive."

That one took a little bit of time. We were figuring out as we went and landed on something. There's an argument scene that they have when they're trapped in the room in the monster's outside between Kango and Vicaria. That one took more time to figure out. The dinner table scene was a mixture of where there's a certain element of [how] I understood [the idea]. Still, I didn't understand how far emotionally actors were going to go during that particular scene or the range we were going to be able to hit because it's a long sequence of events. That one was a balance of figuring it out as we go and understanding the parameters of what we want to do. I must balance it too.

With the script you wrote versus the feedback from the talent, were there changes you found you had to make or have any improvised scenes, or was everything shot as is?
It was strange because I tried to offer a lot of leeway to actors to reinterpret and say things that they wanted. They'll take advantage of that because I never want you to feel locked in. If you have something better to say, then say it. If you have a better way, then do it. You know that's going to be better because it's going to feel natural, and it's going to feel real. I offer that, and then some actors I would give that to them, and they're fine messing with it. They would go in and give a dynamite performance, but they would be saying it exactly like it's in the script [laughs]. Whatever works, right?! Some of the jokes that Kango was cracking on Vicaria were improvised. There are some improv lines in there and I'm not afraid of that.

Were there any films and filmmakers that influenced you?
There were a lot of films that were going through my mind, one particularly was 'The Fountain,' because they have a line where [Hugh Jackman's character Tom Creo] says, "Death is a disease." That always resonated with me. I wanted to pay homage to that. As far as horror mechanics, some of these classic horror movies, like the original 'Black Christmas' (1974) and 'The Eye' (2008), were a no-brainer for me; I loved that. 'The Texas Chainsaw Massacre' (1974) was a massive influence, one of my favorite horror movies of all time. That was a huge thing. David Lynch's 'Inland Empire' (2006) was something I was like looking at because that movie was scary [laughs]. I was even examining 'Alien' (1979) and how things like the xenomorph's teeth look strange [laughs]. [David] Cronenberg had some stuff that was going through my mind while I was making this movie. There were a lot of horror and filmmakers I drew from. I like all the films and have them cycle in my head.

The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster, which also stars Chad L Coleman, Keith Sean Holliday, Reilly Brooke Stith, Amani Summer, and Dale Cordice Jr., comes to theaters on June 9th and digital and on-demand on June 23rd.

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