Arguably, the ’90s were a golden age in action cinema. We had some notable Bruckheimer films, like The Rock and Con Air, and John Woo’s Face/Off. Today, they still serve as the blueprints for how to do action films. Just ask Shadow Force screenwriter, Leon Chills!
Shadow Forcecaptures the same spirit and fun of those classic ’90s action films. Chills’ movie stars Kerry Washington and Omar Sy as former special forces agents who get pulled back into their old business to help them save their son and each other. More than that, though, Shadow Force celebrates Black creativity. This is a movie written by Black creators, producers, and actors. There aren’t enough action movies like that in this industry. So it was an absolute honor to chat with Chills about his latest summer blockbuster.
Take a look at what Chills had to say below!
Hi Leon! Congratulations on this movie! I love that Shadow Force takes an actress known for drama, like Kerry Washington, and turns her into a total badass!
Chills: Thank you. Thanks for having me. Yeah, for sure. When in the early days, when it was me and Stephen Love, before I sold it as a spec script, we were thinking about actors to attach….And she was the first person we thought of.
It was such a good choice because she can bring that gravitas. We know she can act, but to see that combined with just fun scenes of dynamic explosions and shooting and awesome stuff like that. Oh, man, perfect. Perfect for action. Good choice.
Chills: Yeah, I think that’s the best way to go about it. Someone who can already handle the dramatic stuff in their sleep. And it just had the action on top of it, other than trying to do it the other way around for sure.
One of the other things I love about this movie is that it is a Black action movie. And you know, it’s a great action movie, but we don’t get to see many action movies led by Black casts, or really produced, created, and written by Black talent. So, to get this green lit, what was that process for you, and how did it go?
Chills: Yeah, for sure, it was definitely like two different journeys: one to the script, and then the journey actually to get the green light…It was my seventh script I had written seven years into my journey to try and become a screenwriter. So I was pretty much writing one script a year. And if you had asked me, I would have thought the first six were gonna be the ones to get made, and they weren’t. So that seventh one I wrote…coming off the release of Black Panther, I was re-inspired and reinvigorated, that if I did write what I love to write, which is, you know, an action movie Black casts, that it actually could have a chance of getting sold and made. And so I did it again. Gave it another try. And eventually, Stephen Love came on to the project. And he really was a big factor in attaching Kerry and [Sterling K. Brown]. I mean, I heard a story during our press tour of him literally going to the set of Little Fires Everywhere and pitching it to Kerry in her trailer. So he was very “boots on the ground” with it as a producer. And once we got Kerry and Sterling on board, you know, that’s when it sold to the bidding war at Lionsgate. After that, [Joe Carnahan] was brought on board to add to the script. It was a learning process for me, because what he did really helped to get the green light.
He added the characters of Da’Vine Joy Randolph and Method Man and characterized the villain into what you see with Mark Strong. And the lesson for me was that you can’t only focus on the heroes, you know? You’ve got to focus on every character so that you get big-name actors to play each of the roles. Once you have an ensemble like that, it makes it a little easier for the studio to finally give you that green light because they’re so fearful all the time.
It added a lot of humor too, because Da’Vine Joy is hilarious. Her chemistry with Method Man is also hilarious. And you get to see her do a little bit of action, too, much like Kerry. I love that. That was so great.
Chills: Yeah, people should want a sequel just to see Da’Vine do more action that you only get a tease of in this.
Yeah, a spin-off with Auntie! That would be great. Can you talk about the process of working with Joe? Did he bring everything you wrote to life in a way you imagined initially? How was that?
Chills: Yeah, for sure. When he came on board, I was excited because, like you said, as a fan of action, he was already someone I would have hoped would have been interested in it. And even though we didn’t work in the same room together on the script, it was clear that we were just on the same page creatively, because everything he added was just additive. And he said he was really just trying to do me proud in terms of what he brought to it. And, yeah, I mean, there’s the boat scene in there that was reminiscent of Face/Off, which is one of my all-time favourite action movies. So he was locked in on that ’90s action aesthetic, which was a big inspiration because that’s what I grew up on.
Those are some of my favorites, too. Face/Off is hands down one of the best action movies ever made, period. And Shadow Force captures that, that Bruckheimer style, which I loved.
Chills: You know, it’s like you said. I mean, a lot of those movies had predominantly white casts. And so for me, as a young Black kid growing up, I didn’t know it then, but I know now that it was a part of the dream to do that.
Absolutely. And thank you for writing a movie, the Bruckheimer movie, that we didn’t get in the ’90s. The thing about being a writer, sometimes that’s a challenge, is the different changes to your script that force you to kill your darlings, you know? Was there anything like that in Shadow Force that you had to cut?
Chills: Yeah, for sure. Really, to get to that point of selling as a script, I had to [cut]. I was getting that it had too much mythology. Originally, it was like they were the Romeo and Juliet of the assassin world. So they were each a part of a rival assassin organization that had been around since the beginning of time. And like Romeo and Juliet, they weren’t supposed to fall in love, let alone have a kid. And so there was all this mythology surrounding it that people were bumping up against. And I had to kind of just realize that I could maintain the integrity of what it is – a story about love and family and protecting each other – and still honor that while getting rid of all that mythology. And so that’s when they became ex-Special Forces. And that’s when it became more grounded and realistic, versus all that fake stuff I had. So it is something you have to do the calculus of your own mind. Can I let this go but still maintain the overall integrity of what I’m trying to do?
It’s the sign of a good writer and a good collaborator above all. Speaking of kids, Jahleel is terrific in this movie. And you know, he plays Ky. Not only is he adorable, but he’s dropping F-bombs left and right. When you wrote this in your script, did you ever imagine a kid saying it? And were you part of the process of picking Jahleel?
Chills: Yeah, he was absolutely everything I could ever dream of in Ky. It’s funny; at the time I was selling it, I didn’t have any kids. And now that we’re at the moment of the movie coming out, I have three. Ky, in the movie, is just like my five-year-old son in terms of being so smart. You try to spell something, and he spells it. And being quick to pick up on words you shouldn’t have said around him. And so Jahleel nailed it perfectly. Like, literally, perfectly. And he’s a superstar in the making. And I wasn’t a part of the process in casting him, but I’ve heard Kerry and Omar say how they were doing chemistry tests with the kid actors. And as soon as they saw him, they just knew…because he’s so good.
I couldn’t agree more. I definitely want to see a Shadow Force 2 with Ky getting into that action. He’s just so charming and so wonderful. Would that be something on your bingo card? A sequel or a series to Shadow Force?
Chills: Oh, yeah, absolutely. I mean, I definitely would love to. It’ll be, you know, up to the box office and the powers that be. But absolutely, the shadow force universe sounds great to me.
Any ideas of where you’d want that story to go?
Chills: I think, generally speaking, there’s one of two ways to go. One is kind of the Terminator 2 route, where it’s more of the same, but just bigger and better, with even deadlier villains. And then there’s another route where it’s kind of a different movie…instead of them on the run, you know, in a sequel. They could instead be the ones carrying out the missions, you know? The ones that they quit in the past, but are now actually doing. So yeah, it’s definitely on my mind. But you can’t get too ahead of yourself.
Well, I’m putting it out there in the universe, sir. I want to see more of these characters. I love them a lot. And the action in this was just top notch. So I hope everyone will see this. I cheer for a follow-up because it’s worth it, sir—really good job.
Chills: That was one of my favorite moments. We saw it in Atlanta with a crowd of strangers, and they were laughing, crying, yelling at the screen. It was the best reaction you could hope for.
Well, Leon, congratulations on the film. Thank you for making this movie, making it possible for POCs to get these Bruckheimer-level movies out there, and just for taking it back to old school action, embracing that genre that we grew up with and love so much. You did a fantastic job, sir. Thank you!
Chills: Thank you!