TIFF 2018 Exclusive: Newcomer KiKi Layne Talks Barry Jenkins’ If Beale Street Could TalkPosted by Wilson Morales
September 25, 2018
On the heels of having its World Premiere at the 2018 Toronto International Film Festival, Blackfim.com had the opportunity to speak with newcomer KiKi Layne, star of Academy Award-winning Moonlight director Barry Jenkins’ upcoming film If Beale Street Could Talk.
Hitting theaters on November 30 by Annapurna Pictures, the film is an adaptation of James Baldwin’s novel — the first English-language feature film based on the work of the author, to whom the movie is dedicated.
Set in early-1970s Harlem, If Beale Street Could Talk is a timeless and moving love story of both a couple’s unbreakable bond and the African-American family’s empowering embrace, as told through the eyes of 19-year-old Tish Rivers (screen newcomer KiKi Layne). A daughter and wife-to-be, Tish vividly recalls the passion, respect and trust that have connected her and her artist fiancé Alonzo Hunt, who goes by the nickname Fonny (Stephan James). Friends since childhood, the devoted couple dream of a future together but their plans are derailed when Fonny is arrested for a crime he did not commit.
The cast of the film also includes Stephan James, Teyonah Parris, Regina King, Colman Domingo, Brian Tyree Henry, Dave Franco, Ed Skrein, Michael Beach, Aunjanue Ellis and Finn Wittrock and Diego Luna.
Layne is Layne is originally from Cincinnati and graduated from DePaul University. She will next seen in the upcoming Focus features film “Captive State,” directed by Rupert Wyatt, followed by the big screen adaptation of “Native Son” with Moonlight’s Ashton Sanders.
How did this role come about for you?
KiKi Layne: I first found that the film was being cast, because one of my friends was auditioning for the male lead, and asked me to be his reader, ’cause he thought I would be a great reader for him. So he sends me the sides and breakdown, and I’m like, “Wait, I should be auditioning for this.”
So I ended up submitting a tape from myself two weeks later, and then two weeks after that I was in New York doing a chemistry read with Barry, and Stephan, who had already been cast. Yeah, then I was in it.
When did you start knowing about the book? Before or afterwards?
KiKi Layne: After.
When you take on this role, what did you know that was on page that you said you want to try out for this role?
KiKi Layne: I knew it before I even read the book, before I even read the script. Seriously, when my friend send me the email, the thing I really felt something in my spirit say, “That’s me.”
It was just the character description, which I can’t even remember exactly what it said, but I seriously just felt something leap in my spirit that said, “But that’s me.” It came, literally looking at my phone, I said, “But, that’s me.”
And I don’t know if it was just the combination, I mean Barry Jenkins, James Baldwin, but there was just something. At our Q&A after the premiere, I think Colman (Domingo) said something like he felt like Baldwin chose all of us to be, the people that brought this story to life, and I really feel like I was just picked, it was just in me, like, “That’s you girl.
Doing a film, and then being the center of the film takes a lot. Where do you find the strength to say to yourself, “I can do this,” when you have Colman, Regina, and Teyonah supporting you?
KiKi Layne: Because they were really supporting me. They were really there for me, and so helpful in me navigating this really big experience. It was Regina who reminded me to trust in what got me there. I come from a very strong theatrical background, and she was just like, “Lean into that, then. If that’s what got you here, then that’s, as you are learning more things to build on top of it, but that’s gonna get you through, as well.”
So I just had to trust that if I was there, than I was meant to be there.
Can you about this character, Tish. For those who have not read James Baldwin’s novel, how would you best describe Tish?
KiKi Layne: Tish just has this really beautiful vulnerability and tenderness to her, and that was one of the things I really had to open myself up to live in that place, ’cause I don’t naturally live in that place, of just being that vulnerable, being that emotionally available, being so easily taken care of by others. I’m usually the caretaker, very much so, about taking care of myself.
Tish is definitely someone who people take care of her, and she understands that that’s okay. It was really beautiful to start to see her find those moments of like, “Girl, like now you have this child that you’re bringing into this world, so you have to learn how to step more into taking care of yourself, and ultimately taking care of your family.”
Did you know anybody, or talk to anybody as you prepared for the role? “Oh, I’m playing somebody from the ’70s, I’m playing someone who’s pregnant and 19,” and so forth?
KiKi Layne: I remember texting my mom and my sister-in-laws, asking them about what it was like, their first pregnancy. Little things like that. I remember asking them what was it like the first time they held their first child. So asking questions like that was really really helpful. And just tapping into those similar experiences that I’ve had.
I think the easiest relationship for me to tap into is between Tish and her mom, ’cause I have a very strong relationship with my mom, and I think from there, you know, finding all that love and care and tenderness in there, then I could work it out into all these other relationships that are in the film.
You mentioned your theatrical background earlier. Because this is your first film, at what point did this become did this is too much,or too challenging? Was it rehearsal take number three or four where you go, “Okay, I got this. I can do this now. Let’s let the rest play out.”
KiKi Layne: I don’t know when I had that moment. I don’t think that I did. I don’t think it was until after we had filmed that I just could take a step back and be like, “Well, you did it girl.” And Barry sounded really really happy, and I’m like, well if Barry feels like I took care of his baby, then I’m alright. And also walking away knowing that I had learned so much. To take into that next thing, and just reminding myself that, “Girl, it was your first time.”
This is a major, major opportunity, so important, but also, everybody had their first time. And so to just be okay with that, like that’s what I knew at the time, that’s what I had in my toolbox of what I could bring on set. And now I got some more, and i’ma keep going, and you know, being okay with that.
How’s the grind been trying to do films or get other projects?
KiKi Layne: I’m thankful to be coming up in the time that I am, because so many black artists are now … I feel like we’re done asking Hollywood, like, “Can you please tell more of these stories? Or please make it more like this?”
I think we’ve all just realized, wait, we can do it. We can produce our own things, and there’s so many outlets now to get our stories told by us, out into the world. And seeing how …people want that. Want to see that level of authenticity that only we can bring to our own stories. And so I’m just thankful to see all these young artists creating their own production companies, signing deals with these major networks, and it’s a special time. Moonlight won best picture..
One of the things that’s highlighted in this film is black love, which is rarely what we see on the screen. What do you want folks to get out of this, especially when seeing this movie about two young couples?
KiKi Layne: I want them to get that love is a thing to press into, in the face of injustice, and just whatever you may be facing. I know for me personally, I’m a person that tends to pull back from the people that love me when I’m going through something. And doing this film, it taught me, I’m like, “That’s so silly.”
Because if you got those people around you that will hold you when you just need to be held, that can give you a word when you just need to hear that word, press into that. Especially with everything that we deal with, we need that, and it’s okay to need that, because that’s just what we are dealing with. So I’m hoping that the movie will encourage people to recognize, who is that family for them? Who has that type of love for them, that they can be as vulnerable as all of these characters are with each other?
Can you talk about working with Stephan James, and how the two of you worked together to establish that chemistry that the audience will see?
KiKi Layne: Working with Stephan was so great. I think what allowed us to have that full chemistry onscreen was that I put so much work into building Tish, he put so much work into building Fonny. And naturally, as we are working in these characters, Their love for each other is so essential to who they are, so then once we got together, it just blossomed. Then having Barry there to give us more to feed off of, and to really lead us in that right direction together, it just happened so naturally, honestly.
What’s next?
KiKi Layne: Native Son is next for me. Another film based on another book. I’m thankful that right out the gate these are my first two projects. I think it just speaks to letting people know what is important to me, and also, what I’m not afraid of.
I want to do everything. Will Smith is my favorite actor, because he has so much variety in his career. He’s done all types of roles, played in all types of worlds, and to me, that’s the fun of acting. That’s why I started doing it when I was eight years old, because you get to be whatever you want. And all the things that , especially for young black women, they tell you you can’t be.
Like, no, I can really be queen of the universe. I can be president. I can be, I don’t know, an alien from Venus. Like you could just seriously … and that’s the fun of acting. So even though, right out the gate, these beautiful adaptations of these important works of black literature are what I’m stepping into, I don’t want to be put into any type of box, ’cause that would just stifle the fun of what acting is to me.
What keeps you humble?
KiKi Layne: My momma and my family.
