Exclusive: Writer-Director Deon Taylor Talks Thriller ‘Traffik’Posted by Wilson Morales
April 16, 2018
Coming out this week from Lionsgate is the human sex trafficking thriller Traffik, written and directed by Deon Taylor and starring Paula Patton, Omar Epps, Roselyn Sanchez, Laz Alonso, William Fichtner and Missi Pyle.
Plans for a romantic weekend getaway at a secluded mountain estate turn to terror when Brea (Paula Patton) and John (Omar Epps) accidentally discover the hidden world of a brutal biker gang. Joined unexpectedly by their friends, Darren (Laz Alonso) and Malia (Roselyn Sanchez), the foursome is forced into a deadly fight for their lives against the gang who will stop at nothing to keep their dangerous secrets from getting out.
For Taylor, who recently ventured into comedy in 2016 with his horror spoof “Meet the Blacks,” starring Mike Epps, George Lopez, Mike Tyson, Zulay Henao and King Batch and will have its sequel later in 2018, Traffic follows the thriller genre he’s associated with for years. He another thriller hitting theaters this year with “Motivated Seller,” starring Dennis Quaid, Michael Ealy and Megan Good. He’s also serving as a producer on Jamie Foxx’s directorial debut feature, “All-Star Weekend,” with Foxx, Robert Downey Jr., Gerard Butler and Eva Longoria.
Blackfilm.com caught up with Taylor as Traffik is set to theaters.
What attracted you to do this project?
Deon Taylor: I never was thinking of a trafficking film, but what happened is that have a 12 year old daughter, who started reading all these articles on the Internet about young kids being trafficked. Not only that but she started having these conversational with her gane whike playing video games. We pulled the register up to see who’s she talking to. She said it was some guy from Seattle who is 12 years old. I flipped out because she is oblivious to this stuff. Once i staterd looking into it, i discovered it’s a domestic issue and not from other countries. Then i started thinking about doing a film about this.
There are thousands of stories of girls being abducted, girls being trafficked, girls being taken at gas stations, and i thought it would be interesting to blend this into a thriller. You can get some amazing eyeballs on it but at the same time give you a dope message in the media. That’s how i built the story and it came off well.
As an independent filmmaker I was trying to figure put who i cam to shjot ths movie. I wrote a letter to one of my favorite cinematopher Dante Spinotto. I wrote him a lettet about meeting up so i can pick his brains about the camera and light. Strangely enough just to show you how God works, this man wrote me back. He said he didnt know me but he read the letter and would meet with me. Two weeks later i’m in the house of this 72 year old legendary filmmaker. We hit it off and had a blast and asked if he would shoot my film and he said yes. It’s a blessing. When you do an independent film from writing, directing and going after the money, it gives you a different synergy. It’s your baby. It’s not a bunch of people telling you how to film. That’s how the film came off as well as it did.
How did Paula get in as your lead?
Deon Taylor: Paula was my first choice. I reached out to her through her agent and through her friends and she was very reluctant to do the film. She didnt think the script was good. I chased her for three months while rewriting the script and draft. It was weird because there were a lot of young ladies interested in playing the part. Getting Paula Patton is a huge get for me. I felt that she had been battle tested twicebin cinema and Deja Vu was one of those films. It’s a classic where you loved everything about her in the film. I haven’t seen her have that type of arc in any of the films she’s been in. In my film, she was battered, she was bruised, she had to fight. She had to find information and i thought that this could be interesting. Paula is the everyday woman. She’s beautiful. She’s funny. We ended up having a draft she responded to and we started speaking the same language creatively. We started bonding and understanding who her character was and who the other characters are. We went on a journey together. There were some 18 hour nights. She did all of her own stunts, jumps and dives. When you see her being dragged through the park, that’s really her. She was committed from top to bottom. You couldn’t ask for anything more. She was amazing.
How different is Traffik from other thrillers?
Deon Taylor: This is not the every day run of the mill.you see sometimes. I wanted two people completely confused throughout the film. Traffik is more of a minority thing than it is a white thing. More folks from inner cities are trafficked than from metropolitan cities. Atlanta, Compton, Watts, Oakland, Chicago and Gary are places where young girls are taken. I was affected because my young daughter is paying attention to this. These girls are at an event one minute and then waking up three weeks later drugged and having had 200 sexual partners and beaten up. I wanted to make a film that was disruptive in that way and give the audience a reason how these things happen. I also wanted to make a movie that didn’t follow the traditional thriller rules. When you go through something in life, there are no rules.
What’s a good reason for folks to come see Traffik?
Deon Taylor: We believe in the content and we also believe in the story. At this point, with Avengers: Infinity War coming soon and Rampage with The Rock out before us, at some point, there is an audience for this. There is an urban noir thriller. There is an audience for people who want to go the movies and not be CGI to death. I feel like that this is the movie for that audience.
