The new buddy comedy, One of Them Days, starring Keke Palmer and SZA as best friends Dreux and Alyssa, hits theaters this Friday!
Best friends and roommates Dreux (Palmer) and Alyssa (SZA) are about to have one of them days. When they discover Alyssa’s boyfriend has blown their rent money, the duo finds themselves going to extremes in a comical race against the clock to avoid eviction and keep their friendship intact.
Directed by Lawrence Lamont and produced by Issa Rae, One of Them Days is a hilarious new addition to the Black cinema landscape.
We had the lovely opportunity to chat with Lamont and Rae about the movie, filming in LA, watching the friendship bloom between Keke Palmer and SZA, and much more.
Check out the full interview with Issa Rae and Lawrence Lamont below:
Issa Rae has starred in, created, and uplifted work that centres Black storytelling, and One of Them Days is no different. With her producer hat on for this film, we wanted to know what it was about this particular movie that wanted her to champion it for the big screen.
“Oh my god, as soon as I read the script! You know, I’m a big fan of Syreeta Singleton’s writing. We work together on Rap Shit and on Insecure. And she just writes the best female characters, the best female friendships. And so, given that this was set in LA, where I’m also from, and was a buddy comedy that I hadn’t seen in a while, I just immediately identified with the characters, and I was like, ‘We have to make this happen,’” Rae said.
One of Them Days has some noticeable cultural references from popular Black movies, particularly with the Friday franchise and B.A.P.S. As such, we wanted to know more about Lawrence Lamont’s creative process and some of those touchstone movies he thought about while directing One of Them Days.
“I mean, honestly, both of those, you know, B.A.P.S. and Friday, but also films like Superbad, you know? And just going and tapping into ’90s black cinema, you know, all the stuff that John Singleton was doing, Poetic Justice, Boyz n the Hood, the Hughes Brothers – just really keeping the essence of LA alive, but making sure the world was broad. So, I pulled from everything, man. Some Spike Lee in there, some Kurosawa in there, if you find it, you know? But definitely the iconic Black cinema,” Lamont said.
One of Them Days felt authentic partly because the film used LA as its backdrop. Rae and Lamont worked together to ensure authenticity, and it started with being able to film in LA.
Rae said, “Believe it or not, fighting to shoot in LA, honestly. Like, that’s huge; nobody’s really shooting stuff here, and so we felt privileged to be able to do that and represent the communities that we’re shooting in.”
Lamont followed up with, “Yeah, and actually using a lot of the neighbourhood as background. You know, that’s something that we did as well in this film. It’s a lot of regular background extras, but we wanted to keep the community involved, so that you see people walking around in the background. They are literally from that community.”
As the story is about friendship, everything hinges on the chemistry between the two leads. Palmer and SZA do an excellent job of playing best friends who are going to extremes to keep a roof over their heads.
“I mean, honestly, seeing their friendship just become so organic that it was moments in our film that you would think was scripted, and it’s not, you know?” Lamont shared.
Rae continued with, “Yeah, even behind the scenes, watching their friendship form. You know, there were times where it was just like, just talk on camera, because the way that y’all are talking right now and what you’re talking about…you know, obviously they come from large entertainment backgrounds, so they had a lot in common, and to just hear them immediately lock-in, it just was perfect for these characters who also have known each other a Long time. So it was cool to just see their friendship develop generally.”