Exclusive: Sundance 2015 – Director Charles Stone III Talks Lila & EvePosted by Wilson Morales
February 3, 2015
Very recently, director Charles Stone III showcased his latest film ‘Lila & Eve,’ which had it out-of-competition Premiere at the 2015 Sundance Film Festival. The film stars Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez.
Lila, a grief-stricken mother reeling from her son’s murder, attends a support group where she meets Eve, who urges her to take matters into her own hands to track down her son’s killers. They soon embark on a journey of revenge, but also recovery.
For Stone III, who is best known for directing the hit film Drumline with Nick Cannon; Mr. 3000 with Bernie Mac, and Paid in Full with Mekhi Phifer, “Lila & Eve” brings him back to the film world after working on other projects these last few years. He recently directed the biopic on pop/hip hop/R&B group TLC, titled Crazy, Sexy, Cool: The TLC Story, for VH1. The film hit a home run, attracting 4.5 million viewers and making it the highest-rated original cable movie of 2013 and VH1’s highest-rated original movie ever.
Stone III was also a music video director for many artists such as The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, After 7 and Nenah Cherry. He was also the creator of the popular Budweiser ad campaign “Whassup?”
Blackfilm.com recently spoke with Stone III on getting “Lila & Eve” off the ground and having Davis and Lopez as his leads of the film.
How did the project come about?
Charles Stone III: It came through the regular channels. My agent had got the script from Sara Risher and Darrin Reed, who were the producers on the project. My first liking to it was that it was about a single mother gong into the belly of the beast to find the shooter of her son on her own, and taking the law into her own hands. I was immediately thinking “Taxi Driver” meets “Thelma and Louise” because she meets another single mother through the support group. These are grieving mothers who have lost children. That woman really motivates her, the Viola Davis character, to take matter into her own hands to find the killer because Eve, Jennifer’s character, never found the killer of her child. That was the original motivation and secondly and more important, it was the emotional elements. A mother coming to terms with the death of her son. That was really important. I sat down with the producers and pitched them my point of view of what I though would be a good angle.
Without bringing up the cast, when you saw this on paper, does this seem like a vigilante film?
CS: It’s a great question and the reason I say that is because you say on paper. I just don’t think there’s any way you can avoid it because the concept of a civilian taking law into her own hands to find the killer of her child, and there’s no way of escaping the revenge tone of the film. It’s a cross between a drama and a psychological thriller. There’s a twist towards the end of the film that bring the psychology into it.
Were you instrumental on bringing in Viola Davis and Jennifer Lopez?
CS: When I read the script, I immediately thought Viola was the person that could play Lila, the mother. I told my producers about that and they totally agreed and they sent the script out to Viola and she loved it. She came onboard and that got the film popping for sure. Then it became legit. So we move forward and we were looking at a couple of different folks to play opposite her and Jennifer ended up being a happy accident or a wonderful surprise. She wasn’t on my radar at first. We were looking at Charlize Theron to play opposite Viola Davis and Charlize loved the idea but she was doing something that had a similar tone to the character, so she passed. Jennifer had got a hold of the script through her agent at CAA and fell in love with it. She wanted to meet up with me and have a discussion. We talked about the character and she was very passionate about it. She had a good point of view that had me thinking differently. We decided to move with Jennifer and things got popping again. With Jennifer’s marketing prowess, we were off and running.
What do these two powerhouse names, as well as the rest of the cast, do for you as opposed to having less marketable names?
CS: It’s a total honor to elevate my story-telling resume when you get to work with someone like Viola Davis, but at the same time, the content informed the talent. Anybody can have a great script and have no resume or credits of doing films previously and get the right actor to come onboard because the content demands that. Granted, you’re not going to take a risk on someone who has no experience in making a film. You hear stories all the time about first time filmmakers, but the content and script written by Patrick Gilfillan inspired Viola and Jennifer to come onboard. I think it helps that I’m directing it to a certain extent.
To work with Viola, Jennifer, Yolonda Ross, Aml Ameen, Andre Royo, and Shea Whigham was fantastic. Shea is an amazing actor and very dedicated to the content as is Viola. She’s a total student of the craft. There’s no bullshit. To be able to work with these actors was great.
Is there a distributor lined up already or are you waiting for a better deal at Sundance?
CS: We’e not so much waiting. We’re hunting. There will some distributors that will come to the various screenings at Sundance and the producers have been in talks with some distributors as well.
Is there a message behind the film that’s different from what was on page?
CS: No. I don’t think so. The message that was in the shooting script is different from the first script that went out. There was someone that I added to the main character and her journey that completes the message in some ways. The mother goes to a very dark place to come to terms with the loss of her son and she has to work through the gauntlet of emotions that she goes through to get to the other side and find acceptance. There are various ways of processing those emotions, such as anger and vengeful thought. What I wanted to explore was how far would one go to accept a loss such as hers.
Do you have more projects lined up?
CS: I have a seven-week old beautiful daughter and that’s my next major project of sorts, though it’s a project that will go on for the rest of my life. I do have some projects going on. I have something with Alcon Entertainment called Speedboys, a drama based on real-life events on some kids in inner-city schools in Philadelphia who built an electric car as a science project and they challenged their teacher to learn science and math in a different way outside the school system. They ended up building a hybrid sports car and enrolling in some major competition. It’s a cross between “Stand and Deliver” and “The Fast and Furious.” I’m really excited about that. There are other smaller projects that I’m still in the midst of putting together.
