‘A Thousand and One’ has been earning rave reviews for resonating reasons.
Anchored by Teyana Taylor and written/directed by A.V. Rockwell, the moving film tells the story of the spirited Inez who returns home to Harlem, NYC in the mid-’90s.
While reacclimating, she encounters a youngster named Terry who is on the cusp of entering the foster care system. Inez follows her heart and takes him into her own care…illegally. What follows is an emotional rollercoaster ride that spans 12 years.
That Grape Juice‘s Chet Kincaid sat down with Taylor and Rockwell for an intimate roundtable discussion in New York City.
During the candid discussion, the dynamic duo opened up about the creative process of the movie (which won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize), cliches, growing up in Harlem, the realities of gentrification, and more.
TGJ’s exclusive interview awaits below…
That Grape Juice (Chet): Coming into this project, you both had no interest in cliches.
A.V., initially you didn’t want to cast a Harlemite to play Inez; maybe it was too on the nose.
Teyana, you wanted to move away from the sexy roles you were typically doing; you wanted to be taken seriously.
So what was it about each other, in your minds, that clicked and made you say this is the one; this is the actor for my project, this is the role for me?
A.V. Rockwell: I think when her name first came up, didn’t say much because I hadn’t seen a lot from her. I didn’t really know the depth and range of her acting. But also, it is cheesy, just to cast somebody because they’re from New York, or because they’re from Harlem. It feels too easy. And I was like, No, this isn’t just about the surface layer of this role. It’s about all the layers and just a woman and a human being PERIOD.
So, she reads. I was only open to people that would read for the role, regardless of who they were. But I think that by the time Teyana did come in, I had seen so much of what I wasn’t looking for. That’s what really made her stand out. I felt that truthfulness, what I was looking for, and how this woman in the world would be represented. I felt Teyana got this character on a number of layers. Even just with a few pages, I could see the full shades of her.
I felt she understood the psychology of this woman. So not only does she know how to portray in a way that felt truthful and connected to her. Either she knows this woman or has been her in some version of life, I felt the empathy, that she was there with her versus looking down at her. But also, just I noticed, it has so many shades for her. I think just as a movie character PERIOD, and she has all the complexity. She has a little bit of humor, and she has this rough and toughness. She also has a vulnerability and she has that loving side to her as well. I felt I could see it working through and just how Teyana’s eyes lit up as she was reading and performing the scene that she knows what I’m trying to do here and she gets it.
It just clicks for her in a way that is really beautiful. So that was really exciting for me and then, as we met and talked, I could just see that she had so much to pull from in order to create and embody what I was looking for.
Teyana Taylor: Yeah, I almost feel it was a match made in Denim Heaven. Denim Heaven and Door Knockers [laughs]. Because this is honestly, she could have found a girl a long time ago. So just even the timing, I want to say, I got the audition… it was really late in the game. When it came across my desk, the moment I’ve seen it, all I had was audition info and the synopsis and a little bit of who Inez was and it was just, I was drawn to her immediately. Of course, being from Harlem was dope but like she said, that was just a surface. Reading what I read. I was like, this is what I’ve always been looking for. I stripped down. I think I had just started growing my hair back out and I was looking crazy. I was just randomly home. I’m like, Kevin, leave my hair like this. I was ready for that moment.
So, I think maybe whatever I was expecting was to see “Teyana Taylor” glammed up and just like she said, almost looking down on Inez when it’s like, no, this is the moment I’ve been waiting for. And like she said, just Inez being within me and reminded me of so much women around me. So, I was ready to be stripped. I have been ready to be stripped for a very long time. I was ready to be stripped in roles that I needed to be sexy for. It was just not what I wanted to do. So, it’s just I think that Inez ‘A Thousand and One’ story was so much bigger than me. AV., I definitely think that was a godly thing. I think it was something that was just written, and like she said, the time when my tape came in, she had seen so many other people. So, a lot of that way, it was a preparation for me to be ready.
That Grape Juice: You two are an incredible match. Beautiful.
A.V. Rockwell: How beautiful is it too? I think that by the time she had earned the role through and through… which that’s another thing I’m happy about. Bobody can never take that away from her, the fact that she really gave everything that she earned this role. She went through all rounds, not as many as she likes to say (laughs. No one can take away from the fact that she fought for this role and earned it in all the right ways. But I think to have that cherry on top that she is this Harlem girl. And this is a movie about protecting her neighborhood, not only what it means to us New Yorkers, but what it means to Black identity and history in general. So, I told her when she first thought about onboarding the film and I was like, Listen, this is a big commitment. But not only are we honoring Harlem, you are part of that history that we are trying to protect. The icons of Harlem that we are trying to protect, what it all means. So, I’m really proud of that as well, that this person who is a part of the legacy of this historic neighborhood gets to be the one that’s leading the torch without it being cliché and without feeling like, Well, damn, she got it because she is from Harlem.
That Grape Juice: As mentioned, this movie is storytelling excellence. It just grips your heart. A.V. I know you stated that an inspiration for this movie is, “The city that you loved so deeply, may not love you.” For both of you, when did you have that awakening moment?
A.V. Rockwell: I think I remember, around the time that I was in college, I was living in Brooklyn, and I just started to kind of see the walls closing in. I just realized how differently I’m just moving around the neighborhood and it’s quiet as f*ck. There’s no action, no vitality anywhere. Then you walk into certain establishments, and it feels everybody’s looking at what are you doing here almost. It’s your neighborhood wasn’t something that – it was like, you were their guests now even though you’re in your neighborhood. Our culture was the culture that was here first.
So, I think I just started realizing that, no matter what neighborhood I’m in, particularly when it came to those black neighborhoods in New York City. I was like, why am I going through the same ordeal? Really feeling like we’re getting more and more like an island. It’s crazy because whether in Brooklyn or even in Harlem, because I lived in Harlem as well. The tenements, especially, I feel like on so many blocks, you would just see everybody outside kicking and having a great time doing what New Yorkers do, but everything else around them will be a completely different experience. So, it literally felt like we were just on islands, within our blocks and within our neighborhoods.
So, I think just that switch in me feeling like: alright, well, I might just be mourning the city, but it’s not like mourning in a way that feels like every new but more that everything is always changing. I was like, this feels different. I don’t know what this means. I was like, am I gonna be able to be here for much longer/
Teyana Taylor: That’s the thing because it changes. It wasn’t like, oh, okay, cute glass buildings. We all outside [laughs]. These things are being built to put us out. So, where do we go? So that’s why I said earlier it’s bittersweet to come back home because you see the change but the change is not for the better. It’s to move the others in and to say, this is the new. It’s just getting real crazy. That’s the bittersweet part about it. It was very rare. We even found some of the same Chinese spots or just spots that I’ve seen growing up. So, when we would find little stuff, it was dope. That was the part that was, Ah, it’s almost okay, cool. Let’s run in front of Magic Johnson just to feel a little bit at home. It was very seldom to see a lot of our childhood still standing and I think that that’s the part that hurt the most.
Like I said, the change wasn’t for us. It wasn’t for our people, at least people that are still here. And that’s the part that hurt me is, they’re not even putting us in position to buy the block or two because they had already moved everybody in. We don’t really stand a chance to win against the people that they’re moving in. Because this whole sh*t is programmed and that’s the discourse. It’s a really bittersweet thing. I put a whole salon in Harlem, an 80s, 90s Steam salon and we want to kind of just moving out and I’m like, the little bit of a grudge that I do have is, I’m gonna come back and I’m gonna buy this whole block. That kind of drive would take me out anyone, even my people. It was just the power of complaints and complexion. So it was the power of those two things right there.
That Grape Juice: Before I let you go. Thank you for making ‘WTP.’ That’s my song!
Teyana Taylor: Thank you so much!
************
‘A Thousand and One’ begins playing in theaters from March 31
