SPOILER ALERT: This interview contains spoilers from “The Blackening,” now playing in theaters. Dewayne Perkins is living his dream — though the $8 million box office tally for “The Blackening” was…
for his work on “The Amber Ruffin Show” in the writing for a variety series category, with credits including “The Upshaws,” “Brooklyn Nine-Nine” and the “Saved by the Bell” revival.
In true horror movie fashion, Dewayne and Lisa’s friendship drama comes to a head at a truly inopportune moment — as they argue about their feelings with the Blackface killer just inches away and poised to strike. It’s one of those finely-tuned moments that toes the line between thriller and comedy and, when Perkins and Oliver turned their finished script over to Story, he was so impressed by the vision that he signed on to direct.
Instead, when a character is shot with an arrow, it’s shocking, but it’s also funny. “You’re not seeing his brains blown out,” Perkins says. “It gave enough of what we needed to convey the horror without leaning too far into what we didn’t want.” The final shot shows the fire department arriving just off camera and the group gets sprayed with a high-powered firehose. It was Perkins’ idea to end the movie with the feeling that they’d figured it out, “And then it’s like ‘Ugh, there’s the hand of oppression again!’” he exclaims.
The press tour for the film included screenings at HBCU’s across the country as well as festival stops at the Tribeca Festival in New York , then to Miami for the American Black Film Festival and. “It’s been incredibly positive, in a way that I did not anticipate – and not because I didn’t think that it will be positive,” he says of the public reception. “I just have tried to be very regulated.”
“Seeing how much this story feels universal, even outside of race, outside of age, gender, it reminded me that people enjoy joy,” Perkins explains. “People being like, ‘Oh, we have to see this as a group’ and creating a communal experience. This tour has just kind of weirdly has given me a brighter point of view on humanity.” The cast and crew screening was particularly emotional. “Having people tell me, ‘This movie got me into the union, like you changed my life.
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