Currently playing on Netflix is The F**k-It List, a romantic comedy about Brett Blackmore, an exemplary high school senior who has followed his parent’s 18-year plan perfectly… and gained acceptance to seven of eight Ivy League colleges. For the first time he lets loose with his friends, and watches in shock as their senior prank goes horribly wrong — resulting in every college pulling their acceptances.
Personally destroyed, alienated by his heartbroken parents, and with nothing to lose, he creates a list of all the things he missed out on while prioritizing academic experience over life experience. His post goes massively viral and he becomes a beacon of hope for smothered teenagers everywhere, bringing him unsurpassed fame through the power of social media.
Which of course leads to far bigger problems, ultimately forcing Brett to stand up for who he really is, and learn the most important lesson in life – that living your personal truth is more important than living for whom others want you to be.
Directed by Michael Duggan (Miami Vice, Law & Order); Writers: Dan McDermott & Michael Duggan; Producers: Dan McDermott, Michael Duggan, Matthew Signer; Production Company: Awesomeness Films, Paramount
Cast includes: Eli Brown (Pretty Little Liars: The Perfectionists, HBO Max’s Gossip Girl) as “Brett Blackmore,” Madison Iseman (Annabelle Comes Home, Jumanji: The Next Level) as “Kayla,” Marcus Scribner (Black-ish) as “Clint,” Tristan Lake Leabu (Superman Returns), Amanda Grace Benitez (School of Rock), Andrew Bachelor aka “King Bach” (Fifty Shades of Black, To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before) as “Jasper Zim,” Karan Brar (Diary of a Wimpy Kid) as “Nico,” Jerry O’Connell (Billions) as “Jeffrey Blackmore,” Natalie Zea (Justified) as “Kristen,” Peter Facinelli (Twilight), Camryn Manheim (The Practice) as “Principal Baird,” Laura Bell Bundy, Aqueela.
Blackfilm.com spoke to Marcus Scribner about The F**k-It List.
What attracted you to this role / movie?
I feel like the mantra of the film, “F**k-It,” is something we can all learn to live by and something that is relatable to a lot of people out there. We’re always stuck in our heads overthinking things and trying to hold ourselves back with insecurities but ‘The F**k-It List’ is really about releasing all those fears, letting go and doing what you believe is right, standing up for yourself and for what you believe in and what makes you happiest. So I felt like it had a super positive message and the mantra behind the film is something that I try to live life by now. A lot of people didn’t think that I could become an actor, or that it would be a successful route, and you even start to give up on yourself– but if you say F**k-It and just keep going at it then eventually you’ll chisel away at that rock and create something amazing.
What was your favorite thing about playing Clint?
I feel like he’s this athlete guy who seems to have everything down about him; this surface-level knowledge, but really there are deeper levels to him. That’s not really explored as much with African Americans in film; they never really give us multiple levels. He has emotions and feelings and having a character like that and having that representation is important for people out there that can identify with Clint. I feel like he’s a unique character and someone that adds more to the mix aside from being the token character of color. One of the major through themes of the movie is that everybody can relate to every single one of the characters at some point in their life.
What’s on your personal F**k-It list?
I like traveling a lot and my most recent cool trip was South Africa and that was amazing and beautiful. I want to go back and visit more areas of the homeland and really explore. One of my dream destinations is Japan because I’ve always been into Japanese culture. I don’t know if that’s an F**k-It vacation, though. Also, I’ve always been into cars and one of my dream cars is the R34GTR, they’re not legal in the United States yet, but my dream is to one day say F**k-It and just import one.
I read somewhere in the matrix that boxing was on your F**k-It List, is that accurate?
Yeah, I did a few training sessions and got the footwork down but I’m nowhere near being good. There’s so many more levels to it than I had previously realized, before I’d even tried it—all the footwork, movement and coordination, it takes a lot. And it was so much fun. I don’t know if I can handle getting hit–being an actor and what not I’m not trying to walk around with black eyes. But I guess Michael B. Jordan is out there doing it so maybe I can, too.
Did you learn anything new that you didn’t know before during the film?
Technically, I did. Back then I didn’t have my driver’s license and in the film, Clint has to drive a F-150 pick-up truck. So I had to go and rush to get my driver’s license at that time so I only got my permit. They taught me how to drive on the spot and our director Michael Duggan let me take his Tesla out for a spin, which was pretty intense. They let me drive a Tesla as my first learning car. It was a lot easier than I expected, but it was still intimidating having to learn how to drive with the whole world watching. But yeah, I technically learned how to drive off of ‘The F**k-It List.’
With all the projects you have coming up, how important is it to pave your own way and take ownership of what you want to accomplish?
As black people we have a movement going right now that has been sprouting its wings for a while and I feel like it’s amazing because we’re able, in this industry and in this current time, to take ownership of our own content. And so as a young black man, I’ve been trying to produce, and write and create a lane for people that look like me and also for myself. I’ve always found it fun to create characters so why not try that on a project scale and become a producer and take ownership of my masters.
Writing and producing have really been my outlets during this quarantine but also expanding and trying to become a producer. I’ve got a few projects, one I’m producing with Issa Rae and then another project that’s an adaptation of a book called The Near Witch, so I’m excited for a lot of these things to come out.
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