"We can make it to the end": Jermaine Fowler of "The Blackening" on why Black horror's moment is now
There's an inside joke in the Black community about the way Black people are always the first to die in major Hollywood productions, but sadly, there is a world of truth in those jokes. Need a reminder? In "A Christmas Story," when Ralphie gets his BB gun, he fantasizes about shooting a Black guy. In "Gremlins," a Black teacher is the first to kick the bucket. A Black jogger is the first to go in "Sleepy Hollow." Omar Epps and Jada Pinkett Smith were the first to die in "Scream 2," and even Terrence Howard was the only person to die in "Mr. Holland's Opus." The list goes on.
Black actors know this better than anyone and have spent years building up the mental toughness needed to survive in an industry dedicated to making sure that they don't make it past Act 1. Comedian Jermaine Flower articulated the funny found in this flawed history when I sat down with him on "Salon Talks" to talk about "The Blackening."
Fowler, an actor, writer and comedian who is most known for staring in films such as "Sorry to Bother You," playing Eddie Murphy's long-lost son on "Coming to America 2" and television shows like HBO's "Crashing" and the CBS comedy "Superior Donuts." His newest film, Tim Story's "The Blackening," is a horror-comedy that takes the history of the Black person dying first head on. If the whole cast is Black, then who do you kill first?
"It was really hard to stay focused on set," Fowler shared about working with cast mates like Yvonne Orji and Jay Pharoah. "We would be on set just laughing the entire time that we forget they would say 'Action!' and we're still talking, joking around doing bits or whatever."
Watch my "Salon Talks" episode with Jermaine Fowler here, or read a Q&A of our conversation below, to learn more about why "The Blackening" and Black horror's moment is important to Fowler, his early days doing stand-up and why he prefers to go to the movies alone.
The following conversation has been lightly edited for length and clarity.
It's nice to be talking to a fellow Maryland guy like myself — I'm actually from Baltimore, so it's debatable if we seceded from Maryland.
My God. Wow. I didn't know you're from Maryland, first of all. I'm from Hyattsville. I'm like 45 minutes away from you.
You're not that far away.
Not at all. Just down the highway. When I go to Baltimore, I feel like it's a mix of Jersey, Philly and New York. I think that's why Baltimore dudes and DC dudes got such a weird relationship.
It's a love-hate relationship.
I have no idea. Baltimore just breeds so much talent musically and actors. There's just so much talent down there. I remember when the N.E.R.D. song came out, "All the girls standing in the line in the bathroom," Pharrell said he borrowed that sound from Baltimore club music. I was like, "What?" I don't know if it happened ever since, more Baltimore mainstream house music. But I love to hear more of that, man.
We have this amazing talent of getting really, really close to being something special and then making sure it doesn't happen.
When I was a kid, I went to the harbor and I was like, "Man, it was so beautiful when I was a kid seeing the harbor."
Don't go now.
I went back as an adult, and there was just garbage everywhere. I'm just like, "What happened in the harbor?" But as a kid, that's what happens to you all the time. You're a kid, everything's different and beautiful. When you get older, you're like, "I didn't recognize half this stuff when I was a child." That's what Baltimore is to me.
Did you do comedy clubs in Baltimore?
Yeah. Baltimore Comedy Factory when I was coming up, and one more Baltimore room, off the harbor. I performed all around just that area. Columbia, Maryland. I just drove around doing shows.
Was acting always a part of it? You could've played in "The Wire," right?
I probably could've, actually. I didn't know how to get into acting, so I chose to do stand-up as a way to get into that. When I was in high school, I would just do improv class after school. I had a drama teacher named Mr. Spencer, he really helped us get into the whole acting world and writing too, writing our own material. The other drama teacher was named Mr. Gentry. He was on "The Wire," and that was a big deal.
Who did he play?
I don't remember, but I remember that was his thing. I think he played one of the homeless dudes in the show. Anyway, Mr. Gentry was a big deal when he had that credit. We were like, "Yo, Mr. Gentry's a celebrity." He was like, "Y'all are going to listen to me today. I was on 'The Wire.'" It's like, "All right, Mr. Gentry."
Congratulations on "The Blackening." It's hilarious, and for me, it's also kind of scary too.
Good. I hope so.
I was jumping a little bit. Can you talk about how the film came about?
"Every character in the film kind of represents an insecurity. I feel like every Black person is inherently insecure about something."
I'm a horror movie fan, fanatic of horror movies. The fact that it creeped you out in some ways makes me very happy because it did to me as well. The conception was from Dwayne Perkins, one of the co-writers of the film. He made a sketch years ago, through his comedy sketch route, called "3Peat." It was a sketch based on what you just saw in the film. Tracy Oliver saw the sketch and wanted to make it longer form. She wanted to write it as a film with him, and they did. So I read the script, my manager sent it my way, and she said, "They want you to play Clifton." I read it and I was like, "Wow, this dude's such a nerd." It was crazy. I had some reservations about it at first because of what he represented and I was just like, "I'm going to do it."
Clifton was the funniest dude, though.
Thanks, man. On paper, he was just a nerdy guy, and without ruining anything, he definitely had a story behind, he had a POV behind his actions, of course. When I got the script, I spoke to [director] Tim [Story] about it, and Tim and I just clicked like that. He just trusted me with a lot of the things I wanted to bring: the mannerisms, the way he spoke, the way he dressed. It was definitely a process.
It's a real POV because there's something to say about he's a Black dude who wants to . . .
Just be accepted. This is all he wants.
But he doesn't really fit. He doesn't listen to Lil Durk. He can't hoop. You know what I'm saying?
But that's the thing. You probably would never know that about him because people don't give him a chance at all. By first glance, you go, "I can't hang out with that dude." You don't even know if he might like King Vaughn. No one knows because he just comes off as such a dweeb, you know what I'm saying? But also, you wouldn't even know he voted for Trump if he didn't say he voted for Trump. So, that's the thing about the film. You don't know who these characters are unless you really get to truly open yourself up to them.
Yeah, Black people voting for Trump is not always a secret, unless they're on Twitter.
That's the issue with Twitter. I feel like I know too much about people because of social media. I don't even want to know that much about people. I hate social media for that reason.
"I had jelly for lunch."
Yeah. Like, I didn't need to know that about you. OK, jelly and Trump. Okay, cool. Whatever. I don't care. Man, people are so open to that. But every character in the film kind of represents an insecurity. I feel like every Black person is inherently insecure about something. I feel like in the film it all comes out. But Clifton's the one that honestly, he let it get to his psyche a bit.
The film takes place in a cabin in the middle of nowhere. Would you go to a cabin like that in real life?
Me and my lady, we go to Palm Springs and Arizona. Actually, the creepiest place we went to was this Airbnb in Sedona, Arizona. I don't know why Sedona just looked beautiful, but at night, it was so quiet. In LA, helicopter's always floating above you or whatever, and traffic or whatever, but it was the quietest place I've ever been to. I thought that night I was going to die. I did. But I'm open to it. I'm open to doing stuff like that.
I'm missing something because it hasn't resonated with me yet. I have a friend, him and his girlfriend had rented a cabin in North Carolina and he has a five-minute video of a bear that was hanging out in front of the door. They're like, "Y'all should come the next time." And I'm like, "For what? To be a bear snack?"
Is the bear going to be there next time? Does he know I'm coming? Should we tell the bear ahead of time?
I love animals, but there's a boundary. You're in their territory, so you got to understand that. You are a guest in their home, honestly. That bear knocking on the doors and him going, "Hey, you didn't check in. You should probably check in next time."
That's what I'm saying. I shouldn't be there.
I love nature. I'm a big nature guy. Give me some shrooms, I'm going outside.
You got to check in with nature. You got to check in.
I think you should. I think you should. That bear was reminding you.
Send me a postcard, man. I'm not coming out there. I think the scary part, and in relation to the film, it's these friends are getting together to have a good time, but there's so much unknown. It's like, "Yo, y'all could've did that at an Airbnb in Oakland or some s**t."
You definitely could've. But I truly feel like getting out of their comfort zone is very important. I think everyone should do a field trip sometimes.
You're a horror movie guy. A lot of horror movies start in a cabin.
Every one of them.
Maybe we should rethink cabins.
Yeah, yeah. Maybe the word cabin. We should change the word cabin or something else. A cabin is inherently creepy. It is a creepy word because of the implication. Anything can happen in the cabin because of the horror movies. It's the atmosphere. Wood creaks, you're secluded from everything. It's the perfect place to murder a bunch of people.
There's so many hilarious people in the film. Jay Pharoah's in there.
How did you guys get any work done?
We didn't. It was really hard to stay focused on set. In fact, the cast is so big, we would be on set just laughing the entire time that we forget they would say action and we're still talking, joking around doing bits or whatever. Our set word was Fela Kuti and that meant "shut up." We got to work. So, anytime the AD would be like, "Action." Like, "Fela Kuti. Fela Kuti." You'd be like, "Fela Kuti. Fela Kuti." So, we get back to work.
"I didn't know how to get into acting, so I chose to do stand-up as a way to get into that."
We love each other, man. It was a great cast and everyone was just happy to be there. We shot it during the pandemic, so we was just happy to be out the house and just be around other people. Everyone had masks on. You had to abide by the masks rules and all that good stuff. It was creepy as hell, man. We shot it during the apocalypse.
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You said you're a horror movie guy. What are some of your favorite horror movies of all time?
"Sleepy Hollow" is No. 1. I watched that almost every day. I don't know what it is about that movie. It is atmospheric as hell. I love horror movies set during the Victorian period. It's just the juxtaposition of the blood and the outfits and the music. The score is gorgeous. That's my favorite movie in general.
Are you one of the people who are like, "Run, run, run"?
You know what's funny? When I go see a movie, I'm very cerebral. I'm watching it. I don't even like when people talk during the movies. I just want to watch it and enjoy and digest it. I say nothing. I'm always up here.
That's why going to a movie on a date is a terrible idea.
I want to go by myself. Does anybody else go to the movies by themselves? It's me and the movie. Not me, you in the movie. I want to watch this for me. I don't like when people be like, "Hey man, what's happening next?" I'm like, "We're seeing this at the same time. What are you talking about?"
"Slashers don't scare me. It's really the unknown that scares me."
I would say the original "Halloween," John Carpenter's "Halloween" with Jamie Lee Curtis is the best horror movie ever made. I saw "The Exorcist" for the first time during the pandemic because as a kid I would hear the legend of how scary this movie was. Slashers don't scare me. It's really the unknown that scares me. So, "Exorcist" creeped me out because the whole religious horror stuff really does creep me out. But it's movies like "Final Destination," which is on my list too, that scares the s**t out of me. After I saw the first one, I couldn't just walk around normally. I had to look over my shoulder. I was afraid to just exist because of that movie. That movie scared the hell out of me because there was no killer. You couldn't see it, you couldn't feel it.
Everyone talks about that scene in the second "Final Destination," that log scene. I think every road was closed after that movie came out because one, the chain broke and I was like, "All right, the chain broke." But then, the log . . . And the log just shoved its way through the windshield. The funniest part about that scene is the officer, he dropped his coffee and he looks up to the log and he [makes a face]. It's the funniest part of the movie, it's just the reaction. I'm like, "His last face was that?"
If you grow up in a f**ked up neighborhood and somebody's shooting or something and a bullet doesn't hit you, you kind of feel like "Final Destination" because now it's like, "I dodged death."
Dude, it's funny you say that because I'm sure a lot of people have never been on a plane before. In the first one, the plane explodes and stuff, so that probably wasn't relatable to a lot of people. But in the hood and you dodge a bullet, that's your "Final Destination." That's it. They should do a Black "Final Destination." That should be the sequel. That's the sequel. Just reality from Trenton, New Jersey. That's where it takes place. Maybe Camden. I don't know. Baltimore, maybe Baltimore.
With the success of movies like "Get Out" and "Us," and now we have "The Blackening," it feels like we're in the Renaissance of the Black Horror Film. This is the Black Horror Film Civil Rights Movement. You too can die. You too can make it to the end.
We can make it to the end. We're going to make it to the end. You're right. I feel like when I first did "Sorry to Bother You," me, Tessa [Thompson] and LaKeith [Stanfield] and Steven [Yuen], and we were all just vibing just about the fact that we aren't in a lot of the films that we love. We were talking about "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind." It was like, "Love that movie. No n*****s in it." And a bunch of movies that I love. A bunch of ones I named.
The fact that they're giving filmmakers like Boots [Riley] and Jordan [Peele] and Tim [Story], Dewayne [Perkins] and Tracy [Oliver]. They're building and paving their own way. They've built their own lane. And I think it's beautiful, man. It's beautiful that I can see myself in films like that now, and my daughter can see me in the films. It's really nice, man.
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It also gives you the confidence to just create outside of what we're always taught to create. We can dream in a different way now.
Yeah. I mean, the confidence is always there. It just took time. It took time. I think "Get Out," we can talk about the movie all day. That movie just really is one of the G.O.A.T.s. You can watch the movie so many times and pick up different things from it. But what it built out, the careers it built out. Like "Friday," you watch "Friday" and you see what that movie is. It's a great film. Greatest ending movie ever made to me is "Friday." Ever made. You look at that movie's success and the careers it built out. The cast, it opened the world. Bernie Mac, Chris [Tucker]. [John] Witherspoon. Everybody, man. I see this movie, "The Blackening" being the same, doing the same thing.
Katt Williams.
Even Terry Crews. I knew Terry Crews from that gladiator show from way back in the day on UPN. But then, "Friday [After] Next." It's an introduction. I knew of everybody in our cast individually, but the fact that I got to work with them on one project, man, everyone is so perfect in the film and played their position so perfectly and it just built such a great movie.
What's next for you?
For me? Man, it's a bunch of stuff. I always like to keep it under wraps. People don't want surprises anymore. Everyone wants to know everything right now. I'm a big fan of just keeping everything tucked away.
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