Show notes
In this episode I speak with writer Director Bomani J. Story about his new film “The Angry Black Girl and Her Monster”. A new horror film out in theaters June 9 and headed to streaming service Shudder. The indie horror film is a remix of on Mary Shelley’s “Frankenstein” and follows a teenaged genius named Vicaria. Who, after her brother’s murder, decides she’s going to find a cure – for death. Now, I’m not going to lie, this is absolutely a horror movie about Black trauma. However, the bloodletting just for “trauma porn”, instead the entire film serves as a metaphor within the horror genre as a commentary on the effects of intergenerational trauma. BAFTA Award winning actress Laya DeLeon Hayes (God of War: Ragnarok, The Equalizer) is incredible in this film alongside Chad L. Coleman, (The Walking Dead, From) and Denzel Whitaker (Black Panther). There are some mild spoilers in this interview. So if you want to see it fresh, go watch the movie and then come back and check out this interview The Angry Black girl and Her Monster is out now in select theaters and headed to Shudder LISTEN BELOW OR CLICK HERE TO LISTEN ON YOUR FAVORITE PODCATCHER If you enjoyed my chat with JACQUE AYE please subscribe and leave a comment over on iTunes for me if you can, it really helps me out. Or, screenshot your podcatcher and tag theblerdgurl over on IG stories with what you liked about it! Show Notes: Bomani Instagram Film Instagram Movie Website Fix your Credit with Self Pop Paranormal TBG Patreon Transcript Email Download New Tab 00:00:00:00 - 00:00:07:07 Karama so, Bomani, welcome. I'm so excited to talk to you about this film. 00:00:07:07 - 00:00:14:24 Karama And as all the little moments of horror that I like. But then there's also like an underlying theme, 00:00:14:24 - 00:00:24:18 Karama let's start with where this came from. What was the inspiration for this film and when did you find time to write this? 00:00:24:20 - 00:00:45:15 Bomani You know, I mean, starts starts with the literature, man. Like, I love the book. I'm a huge, huge fan of the book. And I just felt like they were leaving a lot of stuff from the book on the floor. And I wanted to not only do that, but also recapture the focus because a lot of people focus on the monster. 00:00:45:17 - 00:01:04:19 Bomani And I wanted to bring it back to, you know, the story is about Frankenstein, Rise and fall, you know, the mad scientist. So I wanted to bring that back. And on top of that, I wanted I grew up with two older sisters who, you know, mentored me my whole life, what I love and adore. And I use them as my muse for this. 00:01:04:19 - 00:01:08:15 Bomani So you mix all that and out comes this. 00:01:08:17 - 00:01:17:13 Karama So, okay, so I got two questions for you. Seven From that by book you mean Mary Shelley's Frankenstein, right? Because it's a bunch of Frankenstein that Oh, yeah. 00:01:17:15 - 00:01:18:21 Bomani Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. 00:01:18:21 - 00:01:40:11 Karama To make sure everybody else. And I don't know how your sisters feel, but I'm the oldest and my brothers are younger, and I don't know how I feel. If they wrote a movie about me chopping people up and trying to turn the neighborhood into monsters. So did you get along with your sister? 00:01:40:13 - 00:01:45:15 Bomani No, I got along with my sisters, you know, I mean, obviously as siblings. So, you know, there's going to be dust ups, but. 00:01:45:20 - 00:01:47:24 Karama It's going to be ill because. 00:01:48:01 - 00:01:48:24 Bomani Yeah, yeah. 00:01:49:00 - 00:01:52:11 Bomani But no, we we all love each other. We're Gucci. Yeah, that's. 00:01:52:12 - 00:01:53:24 Karama Actually, speaking to that, 00:01:53:24 - 00:02:00:22 Karama were there moments that you actually wrote things in the script for Vicaria to say they were like, pulled right out of your life? 00:02:00:24 - 00:02:06:20 Bomani Yes, absolutely. They're record right out of their mouths. You know, 00:02:06:20 - 00:02:07:00 Bomani some. 00:02:07:00 - 00:02:10:05 Bomani Of the parts are more like. 00:02:10:07 - 00:02:15:22 Bomani More obvious to them of just like, oh, I remember saying that, you know, But other. 00:02:15:22 - 00:02:17:06 Karama Parts are quite like that. 00:02:17:11 - 00:02:19:09 Bomani Yeah. I was like, yeah, well, one of them's. 00:02:19:09 - 00:02:21:09 Bomani Exactly what she said. 00:02:21:09 - 00:02:30:16 Bomani And then there are other moments where, you know, they they don't know. So it's like there's Easter eggs on top of Easter eggs for four people in here. 00:02:30:16 - 00:02:34:21 Bomani And even for my sisters, you know, specifically for them, 00:02:34:21 - 00:02:39:17 Bomani don't tell them, like you just have to watch it again. And then you can you can see it for yourself. 00:02:39:17 - 00:02:57:24 Karama well, I'm thinking of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein. I'm thinking of Victor Frankenstein being been very wealthy. You know, I come from a wealthy family, just wants to experiment and it sort of feels guilty for what he's done later. But Victoria is not wealthy. Her her. She's a different kind of relationship with death. 00:02:58:05 - 00:03:00:15 Karama Can you go into that a little bit? 00:03:00:17 - 00:03:14:17 Bomani No. Yeah. I mean, I just always kind of saw it as like she was someone who was going to put this together. Like I wanted her to be an actual an actual genius, an actual inventor. 00:03:14:17 - 00:03:22:11 Bomani I never saw it as someone who, like, how many multibillionaires are actually just like, inventing things. 00:03:22:13 - 00:03:34:06 Bomani You know, to me it's just like, hey, there are you know, there might be some. But as far as my knowledge of the people I like, you know, it's just like they're they're genius comes from being able to, like, invest in pay off. Like, you know, it's like, exactly. 00:03:34:08 - 00:03:38:00 Karama You know, those Easter eggs. You have a couple in there about Edison. I was like. 00:03:38:02 - 00:03:40:01 Bomani Yes, I. 00:03:40:01 - 00:03:48:16 Karama Feel I feel the same way kind of about Bill Gates. I'm like, did he really invent all the things? Yeah. Did he just pay for all the places where all the low income people invented that? 00:03:48:19 - 00:03:54:20 Bomani Yeah, you know what I mean? It's just like the people who are actually, like, building a chair is a carpenter. 00:03:54:22 - 00:03:56:05 Bomani Right? Not a. 00:03:56:05 - 00:04:19:19 Bomani Business owner. It's a carpenter. Right. And so to me, she, like, she needed to put this together. So to me she need to have all these elements, right? So it was important to me for it to look like, you know, she scavenged these things. But like, you can't stop the spark, you know? I mean, the first car looks nothing like what it looks like today, but it was put together a certain way, you know, with the means that they had. 00:04:19:21 - 00:04:32:24 Bomani So to me, that's like that was really important to me to kind of capture how her and genius works. Because to me, that's what that's the element of genius that I feel like people forget like of where it's coming from. 00:04:33:01 - 00:04:53:04 Karama Yeah, no, absolutely. And she is a genius. And you show her actually in her something. How sectors relate to being the only black girl in the all white class. Oh, my God. All right. We had all kinds of buttons. But is but that that feeling of otherness and that feeling of being foreign and you are a monster to them because they don't understand you. 00:04:53:09 - 00:04:55:02 Karama And don't be a smart black girl. 00:04:55:04 - 00:04:58:17 Bomani Oh, it hurts my sisters. 00:04:58:17 - 00:05:00:21 Karama Did your sisters help you with some of those lines, too? 00:05:01:01 - 00:05:02:03 Bomani Oh. 00:05:02:05 - 00:05:05:14 Bomani I mean, that scene in the school is directly what happened to one of my sisters. 00:05:05:15 - 00:05:06:13 Bomani Oh, wow. 00:05:06:14 - 00:05:28:22 Bomani Yeah. You know, it's like it's kind of a it's a legendary story around our dinner table, you know, that, like, keeps comes up every once in a while. It's like a greatest hits, you know? So. Yeah, no, like, um, as I said, it was like I was, I was musing after them and, like, and they thought when stuff would happen, they would think maybe I wasn't listening, but I'm always listening. 00:05:28:24 - 00:05:32:00 Karama The younger brothers are always, listen, you got to be careful what you say in front of them. 00:05:32:02 - 00:05:32:09 Bomani Yeah. 00:05:32:14 - 00:05:34:17 Karama My younger brothers are twins. I had it. 00:05:34:19 - 00:05:36:21 Bomani Worse. 00:05:36:23 - 00:05:43:13 Karama They they still kicking my ass. So I just want to corroborate something. This is your first. 00:05:43:13 - 00:05:46:05 Bomani So your first? 00:05:46:07 - 00:05:47:01 Bomani Yeah. 00:05:47:03 - 00:05:54:23 Karama I'm just checking because I'm just going to run off the cast a little bit. Leah Gillette, Jillian Hayes and Hayes. 00:05:54:23 - 00:05:55:11 Bomani You? 00:05:55:13 - 00:06:12:18 Karama Denzel Whitaker. Chad Coleman. Okay, so we got some heavy hitters here for your first time out of the gate. How does that feel when you saw the cast list, when you saw the cast accepting these roles? 00:06:12:20 - 00:06:42:16 Bomani Man, it just made me feel like I was like, wow, Like they're responding, right? Like they they're enjoying this stuff. Right? And like, that was that was phenomenal to me. Like, it just felt so gratifying, you know, throughout this filmmaking process. Like, it's it's a tough thing to get a film off the ground and get it made. But like every there's certain moments that that pay off, you know, whether it's the first time, you know, the producers coming in like, oh, we actually are interested and think we can make this happen, you know? 00:06:42:16 - 00:06:52:02 Bomani And it's just like, Oh, awesome. Like, and then cast, you know, when someone like reads for and then they're like, No, I actually want this part and then they sign on. You're just like, 00:06:52:02 - 00:06:58:10 Bomani Like, you know, it's just like, it's like a payoff of just like, what's the word I'm looking for? Like, gratification. 00:06:58:10 - 00:06:59:20 Bomani But what? Like an. 00:06:59:22 - 00:07:08:23 Karama Occasion? I mean, they are basically signing off on your work. Yeah. The story is you do? Yeah. That must be very validating. 00:07:09:00 - 00:07:17:15 Bomani Yeah. No, it was. That's the. The word I was looking for. Validation. Yeah. It's like it just validates your thoughts because along for a long time it's just you and the script. 00:07:17:15 - 00:07:24:12 Karama you're, you know, to start hearing that table read, did you let the actors improv a little bit? Did they bring other things to the characters? 00:07:24:14 - 00:07:45:03 Bomani Of course. I mean, honestly, the whole crew and the actors. I told them as soon as we got to Charlotte when we were filming, I just let everybody know. I was like, Look, if we capture exactly what's on the script and we have failed, you know, so we need to I was like, This is our blueprint. And that's not to say that you should just throw the script away. 00:07:45:03 - 00:07:48:11 Bomani And that's not what I'm saying. What I'm saying is, is that, for instance, 00:07:48:11 - 00:08:02:15 Bomani When you watch The Shining and you separate Jack Nicholson from that role, you know, you separating a lot, right? Like, you know, it's just like, I can't say that you see that on the page of Jack Nicholson's character, you know? 00:08:02:15 - 00:08:24:13 Bomani So to me, like, that's what that's what we all need to be trying to achieve. I'm not saying we need to all be as good as Jack Nicholson said We need to be achieving to elevate the script as much as we can to bring that script to life, you know? So that was just my approach. So they of course, there were lines that they, you know, improved and did stuff like, you know, 00:08:24:13 - 00:08:38:08 Bomani Aisha and Jada, you know, like, and Riley and Amani who play those roles. There was a lot of stuff that they improved. And did, you know, a whole alphabet scene of her saying the letters? That's her. And she made that like, yeah, So. 00:08:38:08 - 00:08:42:05 Karama Wow, that's that's actually incredible. What were there other moments in there that you were like, 00:08:42:05 - 00:08:44:03 Karama Please tell me we got that. 00:08:44:03 - 00:08:50:03 Bomani Yeah. No, I mean, you know, not a spoiler alert. I hope you put that in, like, the kind, you know, like. 00:08:50:03 - 00:08:52:14 Bomani Like for not, like, years, but, like. 00:08:52:16 - 00:08:53:08 Karama Spoiler. 00:08:53:08 - 00:09:12:03 Bomani I like spoilers, but, you know, during that dinner table scene, when he runs rampant with that, you know, with racket busters or whatever it was, I think like in the script it was just one. But once he connects it to the whole family, like that was them just being all the actors, being in the moment and, and wanting to go with it. 00:09:12:05 - 00:09:47:17 Bomani I like they, they brought such incredible stuff to this movie and like, I always try to leave myself open for that kind of stuff, you know, because a lot of beauty happens, you know, it's just like there's certain things in the script that you just, you know, you're just not going to be able to get, you know, said or you can't see like something as small as during the teacher scene, starting with the Conference of Victoria, just like smirking at the teacher as like kind of like a Q you know, to me and like. 00:09:47:19 - 00:09:48:06 Bomani You know, was like. 00:09:48:11 - 00:09:55:09 Karama Because she knows she's smarter than her and for her to function like, how are you teaching me like that. Yeah. I got from, you know. 00:09:55:15 - 00:09:56:03 Bomani Yeah. 00:09:56:03 - 00:09:56:17 Karama Now 00:09:56:17 - 00:10:05:12 Karama tell me about funny moments on the scene because I heard a rumor that Leah has an aversion to blood like that. 00:10:05:14 - 00:10:09:24 Bomani How did that work? 00:10:10:01 - 00:10:10:18 Bomani You know, 00:10:10:18 - 00:10:18:24 Bomani she taught me something really profoundly valuable during that moment of the art of collaboration with somebody. 00:10:18:24 - 00:10:19:24 Bomani Because 00:10:19:24 - 00:10:24:21 Bomani during her, you know, softball, I was just like, you know, gory moments, You know, the ones I'm talking about. 00:10:24:23 - 00:10:25:15 Bomani Yeah. 00:10:25:17 - 00:10:29:21 Karama You know, this is a horror movie. Yeah. I've got to tell you. 00:10:29:24 - 00:10:32:24 Bomani Yeah, yeah. Blood. Yeah. But the particular moment. 00:10:32:24 - 00:10:56:10 Bomani I'm talking about. Yeah, yeah. You know, she, you know, I was those moments are very exciting for me. For her, she's, like, squeamish and not necessarily into that kind of thing. And in any other circumstance, usually people will just be like, they'll reject it, you know, like, I don't want to do this. And you know what I mean? 00:10:56:10 - 00:11:21:09 Bomani And it's like, which is your right, you know, to to be like that. But for Leah, she saw how much I was into it, and she was like, well, listen, this isn't necessarily my thing, but I like how much you're into this and I'm going to back you, right? Like, I was like, I may not understand it, but I believe what you're doing here. 00:11:21:11 - 00:11:24:15 Bomani And I was like, so and so she just dived in, right? 00:11:24:15 - 00:11:28:18 Bomani like even if I don't u…
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