Co-writer and director Mo McRae’s feature-length debut A Lot of Nothing aims to spin a lot of plates, and it manages to do so in a style that finds the actor and filmmaker establishing himself as a talent well worth keeping an eye on.
The story finds Y’lan Noel and Cleopatra Coleman starring as James and Vanessa, a seemingly perfect couple who end up caught in a night they’ll never forget. After watching a news report on a police shooting, the pair discover that their neighbor (as played by Justin Hartley) was involved, and they try to figure out what to do about it.
Needless to say, things don’t go as planned when the suburban spouses go full-on vigilante, matters that are further complicated when James’ brother Jamal (Shamier Anderson) and his heavily pregnant partner Candy (Lex Scott Davis) show up for the dinner date that had completely slipped their minds.
A socially-conscious thriller with plenty to say that also has lashings of humor and absurdism, A Lot of Nothing is destined to get people talking. Ahead of the film’s release, We Got This Covered had the chance to speak to stars Anderson and Scott about the film, their experience telling a timely story, and what they hope audiences take away with them when the credits come up, which you can check out below.
It must be exciting for you guys to know the film is releasing, especially since it’s been so long since the premiere and you’ve had to wait patiently for the day to come.
Lex Scott Davis: Yes! Very, very excited.
Shamier Anderson: Extremely.
In terms of the story, your characters are innocent bystanders in a way, but they end up becoming disruptors once everyone puts their cards on the table, story-wise. That must have been a fun dynamic for you guys to play with on set, especially when the entire film in one way or another is about subverting and upending expectations.
Lex Scott Davis: Definitely subverting expectations. And it was a lot of fun. But it was also very difficult to for us, just trying to stay as grounded in reality as much as possible. I think we weren’t trying to be funny, or trying to bring the humor per se, but it was just a crazy situation that you can’t help but to laugh at.
Everyone’s performance has to walk a delicate tonal tightrope, given the twists and turns that happen throughout the story. Was there room to allow collaboration between the four cast members alongside Mo to find the right way to approach the material, or was it all there on the page to begin with?
Shamier Anderson: It starts with the page, but I think it’s a combination of everything. I mean, I think it’s – in my opinion – like the pages there as kind of a roadmap. The beauty is a lot of us have bridges and relationships, all of us have worked with each other before, I feel like I’ve done like three movies with Lex now, it’s just incredible.
But I think, under the guise of Mo, and the producing team Inny [Clemons] and David [Oyelowo], it really was like the perfect storm. I just think a lot of good people who are invested in this project. We just wanted it to be great. And so it’s part of the reason why we… after COVID hit us, and we had to take a beat and coming back through, as Lex said previously, it speaks to the work environment.
I think people just love this. Honestly, I think we would have done it for free. Like, that’s how excited people were to be a part of this. And then yeah, it was it was awesome, if that answers your question.
The film has a lot to say about plenty of important things that are incredible relevant to the world we live in, but it never preaches, or winks towards the audience, or tells them how to think and feel. So, as performers and audience members, do you think – or hope – sympathies and loyalties might end up lying with different characters depending on how each individual viewer experiences and interprets the story?
Lex Scott Davis: Yes, I think that there is a point of view in every human person lived through these characters. I think each character represents something drastic from the other. And so I do hope that there is a healthy dialogue that comes from this at when audiences do watch it.
And kind of dissect the minds of Jamal versus Candy, even, because those are very different ways of thinking, even though they were a couple. So yeah, I think it’s so many different things you can take away from it, including officer Brian and his his wonderful POV into law enforcement. Yeah, it’s so many layers.
It’s not an easy film to sum up, but how would you best describe A Lot of Nothing in your own words? Because calling it a timely, socially-consciousness thriller that’s a little bit on the absurd side and has some genuinely funny moments isn’t really doing it justice.
Lex Scott Davis: Satirical thriller! That’s it. That’s how you describe it. It makes you uncomfortable, and it makes you laugh, and it makes you sit on the edge of your seat. And I think all of that is kind of wrapped up into into that genre; satirical thriller.
A Lot of Nothing is now playing in select theaters and VOD, and be sure to check out our review of the movie here.
Published: Feb 5, 2023 06:25 am