Американский сын (American Son)

It was announced that you’re doing American Son, which is an adaptation of the French film A Prophet. What is your approach for the adaptation of that?

I can’t really say too much about that, but it’s very, very different. You will relate to it very differently. I’m making it very modern. I’m making the story just as powerful, but we’re talking about different ethnic races. It’s going well so far. We’ve been casting and location scouting, and done all of that. We’re nearly there with it and we’re about to hopefully close a deal with our lead actor. If we get who we’re trying to get, it’s gonna be really special. I see why everybody loves A Prophet, and I think they’re gonna love American Son just as much. The journey that we’re gonna go down, even though it is really similar to A Prophet, it’s also very unique and very standalone compared to the original. That’s all I can really say. I can’t wait to start filming it.

When you take on an adaptation, as opposed to doing your own work, is there a different level of nervousness to that?

This is the first script I’ve ever directed that I didn’t write. I was nervous in the beginning because everybody loves the original, but Dennis Lehane wrote the script and we’ve had a lot of conversations and I’ve helped rewrite quite a few bits of the story. It’s 100% his script, but there are scenes that I’ve added in and things that I’ve taken out to make it my own. As long as I know the story, I can relate to the story. I can do with it what I did with Blue Story, and make it my own.

What did you learn from making Blue Story that you now want to apply to future films that you do?

I’ve realized that time is everything. I always knew that anyways, but now I’m really fighting for more days on American Son. I need as much days as possible. And now, I know how important it is to get your stuff before the sun goes down, and I know how to stretch everything to get the most out of the day. I’d never worked with a costume department before, so I’d never had to wait for a costume department to come in and change the color, or to add or remove make-up. I’m so used to just going again, not waiting for someone to get more make-up. So, going forward, I will be telling my costume department to only come in if it’s drastic. I don’t care if the color is off, I want the performance first ‘cause I’m not losing time again. From now on, I’m really gonna manage my costume department because you’d be surprised how much time that takes from you, when you’re trying to get a take while they’re applying make-up. I can’t wait to take things to the next level with what I’m gonna do with American Son.

As a filmmaker, you want to establish your voice, and this film really showcases that you have a definite voice and point of view, but then you also want to surprise people. Because of that, did you really put a lot of thinking into figuring out what you wanted to do after making Blue Story?

Yeah, I really did. I got approached by Netflix, even before Blue Story was finished, and they told me that they really want to work with me on a show. I was working with Quibi at the time, and I was getting contacted from BBC to do dramas. I remember thinking to myself, “What do I do next?” I wanted to do another movie, but I didn’t have any other movies written, and I didn’t know if my film was gonna garner enough respect, where a producer was gonna give me someone else’s script. So when American Son came to me, I was like, “I don’t really wanna do it.” I wanted to do something no one had ever seen before. But after I watched A Prophet again and I read the script again, I said, “Can I make this my own?” And they said, “Yeah, you can make it your own.” I thought it would be a perfect follow up to what I’d done with Blue Story, and I felt like it was the best option to go ahead with after my movie. You’ll see the reason why, the way it comes out. I thought if I’d gone to do TV next, then I’d be labeled a television showrunner, instead of a film director, and I didn’t really wanna go that route just yet. I look at Ryan Coogler’s journey, with Fruitvale Station, which was his Blue Story, and then he went on to do Creed, and then he did Black Panther. For me, that trajectory is exactly the way I wanna go. He did a no budget, a small budget, and then a massive budget. That’s the trajectory that I wanna go on now. That’s more for me. If I do come back and do TV, then it’s gonna be my own TV show that I’ve written and directed after I’ve gotten a few movies under my belt.