The Oscar nominee, who plays the Monster in Harris’ thriller, explained that he was excited to work on the “incredibly creative” film from the Pulitzer-nominated playwright that lets Black women be “hella messy” on screen.
“So there’s the macro and the micro,” he told Rolling Out. “I love Black women, and I love seeing Black women win, right? I thought this was an incredibly creative script, something different and new, and I think that we, as a community, have been asking for creative and new stories, right? And I feel like the more diverse the landscape of stories are that we get to tell, the more people will stop putting us into a box in terms of what a Black movie is, what a Black story is. We are everything, and so the opportunity to do everything is something that excites me.”
Brown continued, “Aleshea (Harris) wrote a play, then she adapted the play, and she directed the play, and I think she did so brilliantly. I also love the idea that Black women get a chance to be messy in this film, like hella messy. I feel like often times we’re asked, in many stories, to be voices of reason. Sort of the sensible side component of a larger story, and that’s not the case in this. That is exciting to me.”
