This coming week, TV One’s original film IN BROAD DAYLIGHT premieres on Sunday, July 14 at 8 p.m. ET/7C, followed by an encore presentation at 10 p.m. The film is the second installment of the network’s chilling slate of LOVE, LIES AND MURDER movies inspired by true crimes and airing every Sunday night in July.
IN BROAD DAYLIGHT, starring and executive produced by Shad “Bow Wow” Moss (Growing Up Hip Hop: Atlanta), Chyna Layne (She’s Gotta Have It – Series) and Curtis Hamilton (Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le), tells the story of Jordan Boudreaux (Lane), who gets abducted by her obsessed and estranged boyfriend Steve (Hamilton). Jordan’s family rallies the community while her closest cousin, Malik (Moss), makes it his personal mission to find and bring her home safely. The family, community and police band together to find Jordan before it’s too late.
Layne can be currently seen in Spike Lee’s She’s Gotta Have It series on Netflix, while Hamilton was last seen in Lifetime’s “Surviving Compton: Dre, Suge & Michel’le.” During the 2019 American Black Film Festival in Miami, Blackfilm.com spoke with the two actors on their experience working on this film.
Can you talk about what attracted you to the roles?
Chyna Layne: Before I read the script, I had figured out from the description that it was inspired by a lot of real events that have happened with women. I think that it was such an important topic of domestic violence and also survival; and the power of family and community, and how strong Jordan is. And I said, “Oh, my god, she’s a fighter, I want to be a part of telling her story.”
Curtis Hamilton: I’ve actually been a part of a film that is about domestic violence and the reward of how many lives it touched. I thought that it’d be something that I could again, do, but in a different way. The story is obviously different than when I what I did before. It’s always a moving thing. I just thought that my character is something that I wanted to show because there’s are men out there like that, who are so in love, that they’re blind to what they’re doing. And so it’s kind of too late, what’s going on. I just wanted to show the strength and the love, and just how somebody that’s going through something like that can kind of lose control and not even realize it till it’s too late.
Where do you go to tap into that dark side?
Curtis Hamilton: Man, it’s one of those things where you got to get out of body. Because obviously, I’ve never been this way. I’ve never thought of having feelings of hurting anyone that I love so much. So I went to a place that was uncomfortable for me that if I did love somebody that much that things would happen out of control. I just prepared and looked at Jordan (played by Chyna), with so much love that I just don’t know what I’m doing. So I just lost my mind.
We get these stories all the time, no matter what state or country. Have youk now, you, did you read the stories that you know anyone?
Chyna Layne: Oh, yes. This is a universal story. We filmed in Louisiana, but this story happens in New York, it happens in Europe, it happens everywhere. This is a story about people. I remember, years ago, when I was a teenager, I had a family member and she was dating a guy and she was in a deep relationship with him. She was in love. I was in New York and lived in Brooklyn, and she was dating this guy in Harlem. I remember she called me and she said that she had a black eye. I was like, “What do you mean, you have a black eye? So then, I don’t know what happened. But I just blacked out. The guy she was dating was a big dude. He was a construction worker. All I know is that I hopped on the 3 train, I went all the way up to Harlem. I didn’t know what I was going to do. When you are you have a family member, you don’t care how little you are, it doesn’t matter, I will die for my family. So I walked in there and I saw her face. I said, “Get your stuff. Let’s get out of here.” He was there and I swear I don’t know what I thought I was going to do. But in that moment, I knew I could beat his ass. So I basically pulled her out of there and she never went back. She wasn’t strong enough for herself to leave. This is why she called me. We have to go and we have to be strong for our family when they don’t have the strength to do that for themselves. That’s actually personally how Jordan story resonated with me.
Is this something that when you’re done, does it stick with you? Or do you just go on to the next project?
Chyna Layne: No, it sticks with you. For preparation, I listened to 911 phone calls of real women who went through this, I watched police interviews of real women who went through this. So it wasn’t me just making up who Jordan is. When you see a real woman and you hear a real woman cry, it does affect you. That lives with you. You start to think especially about this from dealing with this movie, how do I get to my family members sooner before the black eye? How do I do that?
Do you think about doing a different project so that you’re not pigeonholed with these sort of roles?
Curtis Hamilton: Hell yeah. I just told a friend that I want to do something like Bad Boys. Totally. I mean, I don’t want to touch this again, because it’s so dark. It’s so tragic. I want to do other stuff. Obviously, I love kids. You don’t know me, but I love kids and I like to inspire them. These type of films are not something that I want any of my nieces and nephews and anyone that age to be looking at. But they’re so important. So I do get gratification by doing these. But it’s one of those things that when I look at it, I’m not happy. I’m not happy seeing myself in that light.
With movies playing on the big screen, lots of TV series, and more movies playing on the small screen, why should people see this when it comes out?
Chyna Layne: Well, it’s inspired by true events. I think that it’s a learning lesson. For the month of July, TV One is having “Love, Life and Murder.” So every Sunday, it’s a new film that’s based on true events. I think that’s pretty much the style that it’s somebody’s story out there that’s being told.
Curtis Hamilton: We gave it as much as we possibly could physically and I think that the audience will respect that and enjoy that. We always want to get a message out, but you want to enjoy what you watch.
Chyna Layne: But also there’s a lot of action in this. So this movie, particularly In Broad Daylight, it starts off like, “Oh snap, like you know what’s happening and they’re jumping up out of their seats.” I jumped out of my seat when I watched it. It’s thrilling and it’s suspenseful, and it keeps you entertained. You’re on this emotional roller coaster. If you’re the type of person who shouts at the screen, you’re going to shout at this screen.
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