Exclusive: Jacob Latimore Talks ‘Sleight’Posted by Wilson Morales
April 26, 2017
Coming out this week in theaters from WWE Studios and Blumhouse Productions is J.D. Dillard‘s directorial debut ‘Sleight,’ which premiered this year at the Sundance Film Festival and stars Jacob Latimore, Dulé Hill, and Seychelle Gabriel, along with Storm Reid, Sasheer Zamata, and Cameron Esposito.
When Bo, a handsome and gifted high school student, suddenly becomes the sole caretaker for his little sister, Tina, he foregoes college to dedicate his talents to the craft of magic. He wows audiences as a street magician but still has to make ends meet, so he cleverly uses his skills to peddle drugs for the local dealer, Angelo. However when Bo falls for Holly, an adorable teenager in need of support, he decides to get out of the drug business, causing Angelo to threaten his family. Bo must now rely on his sleight of hand and brilliant mind to save the day.
For Latimore, who was recently seen opposite Will Smith and Helen Mirren in ‘Collateral Beauty,’ and whose previous film include ‘Black Nativity,’ ‘Maze Runner,’ ‘Ride Along,’ and ‘Vanishing on 7th Street,’ the role represents a big change in his film career. He’s stepping up to lead status and hopefully a role like this will do wonders for him down the road. A singer as well with a couple of singles released, his debut album ‘Connection’ will be coming out later this year.
In speaking with Blackfilm.com, Latimore talked about working on ‘Sleight’ and playing the lead role.
What’s the story about?
Jacob Latimore: I play a kid named Bo in this film called Sleight and Bo is obsessed with street magic. He loves magic and was obsessed with to ever since he was a toddler. He also sells drugs to make ends meat after the loss of his parents. He has to grow up fast and take care of his younger sister Tina. He’s forced to do light drug dealing and sell to kids his own age and peers. We see how deep Bo has gotten himself with this world and the money he’s made from that business while also using his street magic as part of his skills to get out of it.
What attracted you to the role?
JL: That was the genre bending of the film. You have a little bit of science fiction, reality and family, and a little bit of romance. That’s the dream role for any actor to take on and to carry. It was a different script. Even if we take the magic, the CGI and the effects out of it, we still have a very interesting story. But because it’s has much going on, it makes it interesting to have those colors inside of those real world compelling.
Because your character is a magician, was it a trade that you learn for the role or was it all CGI?
JL: Most of it was as far as the hard core hand tricks. We had a great guy named Eric Jones who was really awesome. He’s been doing magic for about 10 years now a little bit longer than that. For me, the ultimate goal was me to look comfortable holding cards and not afraid to mess up. There’s a certain way you have to spread the cards and a certain way to grip the cards and those were things I was learning as I was prepping for it. I was hanging around Zach Mueller from Fontaine Cards. All the cards in the film are from his brand. I hung around him and his friends a lot at different parts of the world and it’s a really different type of community for those guys. I tried to hang around that energy as much as possible. I was practicing at home. I had a deck of cards everywhere I went. I was always shuffling to look comfortable.
With your character being the center of the film, how does that make you feel as the lead?
JL: I don’t feel as much pressure as I would if I was number four or five on the call sheet. For me, I’ve always loved performing. I’ve always loved entertaining whether it’s doing music by singing or being on camera and acting. Performing has been a love of mine and I just focused on that. It felt good. I felt comfortable. After working on a film like ‘Black Nativity’ or ‘Collateral Beauty,’ where I have all these great actors around me and I’m the new kid, so I had to prove myself as an actor and prove that I can go toe-to-toe with some of the biggest stars. I’ve always felt comfortable in those moments.
How was working with J.D. Dillard as he’s learning the game as a director?
JL: He’s incredible. He has incredible mind. He has a lot of the characteristic that Bo has because J.D. has been doing magic since he was a kid and has been fond of cardistry and magic and comes from that Star Wars world and comic book feel. He’s been that guy. I feel that I’m learning something every time I hop into the character, the script and the creators of it.
What’s next for you?
JL: I’m actually filming a movie called ‘Candy Jar’ with Sami Gayle and Helen Hunt and Uzo Aduba from Orange is the New Black and I’m really excited to be working with her. I’ll be going to Chicago in the next couple of weeks to do a Showtime series called The Chi, short for Chicago. I’ll be working with Rick Famuyiwa, the director of ‘Dope’ and Lena Waite the writer. It’s a 10 episode series for Showtime that I’m really excited to be a part of. In August, I have a film with director Kathryn Bigelow called ‘Detroit,’ where she captures the story of a moment that happened during the 1967 Detroit Riots. It’s centered around that time period and that was fun to shoot with her. I have a lot of things happening at the same time and my album comes out in December. It’s called ‘Connection’ and I’m excited about it.
Sleight releases on April 28th in US Theaters.
Official Trailer
Clip – Police
Clip – Left Hand
Clip – No String
Clip – Window
Red Band Clip – Cross The Line
