'Love, Brooklyn' director Rachael Abigail Holder and stars André Holland, Nicole Beharie, DeWanda Wise, Roy Wood Jr. and Cassandra Freeman stop by THR's studio in Park City to talk all about their new film. Everyone shares their personal connection to Brooklyn, their characters in the film and more.
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00:00Something I've not said because it's inappropriate, nobody ever likes it when you tell these stories in press.
00:05But, you know, this movie has been in, like, matriculation for so long.
00:11There was another actor who was attached to play Nicole in Scheduling Conflicts, and I was like,
00:16oh, it's me now.
00:19And I love that for me.
00:21I used to go to bedside Brooklyn every Sunday from Long Island with my family.
00:31That's where we went to church.
00:33My parents are from Guyana, and there's a huge West Indian, Caribbean community at our church growing up.
00:41And so we would travel for an hour every Sunday.
00:44And I hated it because it was so long and it was church.
00:50But as I grew older, it was my only access to community that looked like me.
00:55And when I went to graduate school, instead of living in Manhattan, I went to NYU Tisch.
01:01I decided to live in Brooklyn.
01:03And then I never left until fairly recently.
01:06Yeah.
01:08You have a beautiful connection to Brooklyn.
01:10Oh, thank you for just putting me up.
01:12Give it to us.
01:13I lived in Brooklyn for how long?
01:1717 years.
01:20I fell in love for the first time in Brooklyn.
01:23I lived in Bed-Stuy while I was at Juilliard.
01:25You went roller skating in Brooklyn.
01:27Yeah.
01:28My birthday party was at Brooklyn Bowl.
01:30And you were the one that came and everything.
01:32So yeah, Brooklyn was like, I threw crazy parties in Brooklyn.
01:35You did.
01:37I came into my maturation in New York and in Brooklyn.
01:42Yeah, so I have a lot of love for that community.
01:45And it kind of raised me and created the artist that I am and also the mess that I happen to be.
01:51I still live in Brooklyn now, just like Andre.
01:55You know what's so funny?
01:56I lived in Brooklyn back in Williamsburg before anyone knew what Williamsburg was.
02:01It's like back in 2000.
02:02Before it was cute.
02:03That's right, before it was cute.
02:04But my whole artist journey is mounted.
02:07And so many of us are NYU people, too.
02:10I guess I'm the only person from Alabama.
02:12No, I've been in New York for 10 years.
02:16I was born in New York.
02:17We moved in first grade, I think, down south.
02:21And in the time I was at The Daily Show, a lot of the stories, if you're trying to tell black stories about the uniqueness and the complexity of the black experience as it is now, it always ended up taking you to Brooklyn.
02:36And so it's just a spot that I've always fallen in love with.
02:39And the other thing that I really loved about this story is that this script tells the story of change in a place.
02:46And it doesn't necessarily have to be.
02:48It is a black film.
02:50It is about black love.
02:52It is the fingerprints of blackness across the diaspora all through that script.
02:57But it also represents, I believe, what a lot of places are going through in terms of, like, Brooklyn is unique to me, like, in the same way that New Orleans is or the same way Miami is.
03:09Like, it's a character.
03:11And the people who are native to it are extremely defensive about it.
03:14And they're extremely sentimental about it.
03:17But they also have a, you can just, I don't know if you've ever met anybody from New Orleans.
03:21They feel adrift a little bit in the sense of not knowing what is to become of this place that I've loved and known one way for so long.
03:32And now it's turning into something else.
03:34And we're not sure of where we fit into that puzzle.
03:38So it's just dope to be able to help tell that story.
03:42Are you a bike commuter?
03:44Or was that just for the movie?
03:46Listen, listen, I ride the bike so much.
03:48I love riding the bike.
03:49It's, like, one of my favorite things to do.
03:51People joke with me all the time.
03:52They're like, man, I saw you on your bike.
03:54Yeah, that was me, you know?
03:56I be biking with a coffee in one hand and riding.
03:58People think I'm crazy.
04:00But I love it.
04:01I love it.
04:02I think that's truly a Brooklyn thing.
04:03It's the same thing.
04:04When people come visit me and I'm like, I'm almost there.
04:06And they're like, where are you?
04:07And then they see me coming around the corner on my back.
04:09They're like, what kind of, like, wonderland?
04:11And I'm like, it's Brooklyn.
04:12And I only do that in Brooklyn.
04:13Yeah.
04:14Like, I never take the bike into Manhattan.
04:15I don't take a bike into Manhattan.
04:16Oh, no.
04:17I wouldn't.
04:18We feel comfortable.
04:19Yeah, it's dangerous, right?
04:20See, I live in Manhattan.
04:21So I just walk.
04:22Yeah.
04:23Yeah.
04:24Biking's like flying.
04:25Can't go in a hot hole like that.
04:27No.
04:28Yeah, biking is a Brooklyn thing.
04:29It's so funny.
04:30Ray, were you looking to do a movie
04:33at this point in your career?
04:35When Andre called, you know, it's a gift.
04:39It's a literal gift.
04:40Because not only is it a film, but it's
04:42telling a very interesting story.
04:44And comedically, I get to be something a little different.
04:47I still get to crack a joke and be funny.
04:49But I don't have to performatively
04:51be what people are traditionally used to seeing me.
04:55And I think between daily show and stand-up,
04:58there is a certain expectation when you see me.
05:01So it was cool to be able to have that deviation.
05:04So to even just have the opportunity
05:06to take on that challenge, and then
05:08to have a director that trusts me
05:10enough to not make me do the other things that
05:13are familiar, like, that's a gift.
05:15I was like, Andre called?
05:16I'm like, yes.
05:17Like, two of the suits I wear in the film
05:19are from the daily show.
05:20I love that.
05:23I was like, we're going to save some money.
05:25Yeah.
05:26Now, I think y'all got dress shirts from somewhere else.
05:28See?
05:29Look at them pants.
05:30That was straight daily show.
05:32Thank you for that.
05:33We were all playing things.
05:35I've been on Bel Air for the last four years.
05:37And so Viv is, like, such a pragmatic, you know, heavy.
05:41This character is nothing like that.
05:43She's, like, light and funny.
05:45And I'd love to do more comedy.
05:47And so when Andre showed me this role, I was like, yes!
05:51But he also, but he knows me.
05:53And I think that's why I love a lot of these new TV
05:55shows and movies that are coming out, where people
05:57are playing against type.
05:59But really, you're leaning into people's other loves,
06:01like the other colors they have not been able to play with.
06:04Yeah, I have the same experience.
06:06I know I've, like, sort of been, to Wanda,
06:10was teasing me earlier, because I've been a mom for
06:13She was, like, 12.
06:14I was, like, 22.
06:15How'd she get them kids?
06:16I've been, like, a mom in every movie.
06:18And, like, something really heavy is happening.
06:20And I'm grateful for it.
06:21And I love all this.
06:22Yeah, they're beautiful.
06:23Don't get me wrong.
06:24But Andre sort of knowing me and being like, do some of that.
06:30Let's do something different.
06:31Let's have some fun.
06:33And Rachel creating a safe space to play and actually
06:38asking and encouraging funny choices and improv and things
06:42that I think in other environments,
06:44people are like, we don't really know what that is.
06:46Like, what you're doing is weird.
06:48Can you not do that?
06:49They were like, do it.
06:50And that's, you know, really freeing.
06:52It's actually been a gift for me because I think post,
06:55I felt it in my work sense.
06:57So, that's huge.
06:58We're, like, ferociously protective of each other's
07:02dreams and honestly and earnestly invested in a real way.
07:06And this film is emblematic of that in many ways.