BLAZING a TRAIL

Queen & Slim IS A ROAD MOVIE, A TENDER ROMANCE AND AN UNFLINCHING LOOK AT WHAT IT MEANS TO BE BLACK IN 21ST CENTURY AMERICA. EMPIRE ASSEMBLES ITS WRITER, DIRECTOR AND TWO STARS FOR A FRANK, FREEWHEELING CONVERSATION ABOUT WHY IT NEEDED TO BE MADE

- AMON WARMANN

THE START: A TINDER DATE. AND NOT A PROMISING ONE.

A God-fearing, unambitious Costco employee named Slim (Daniel Kaluuya) sits down opposite a cynical lawyer named Queen (Jodie TurnerSmith), who’s had a bad day at work. As he drives her home, it doesn’t look like they’ll see each other again. But then a white police officer pulls them over, and the situation erupts into violence. Queen and Slim go on the run, pursued by the law and forced together, gradually realising they have much more in common than they initially thought.

A protest movie made in reaction to numerous recent incidents of police brutality against African Americans, Queen & Slim is unpredictable, gripping and vital. Which makes it all the more impressive that three of the key players responsible for bringing it to the screen are, in relative terms, Hollywood newbies. It’s the debut movie of director Melina Matsoukas, previously best known for a series of visually striking music videos, including several for Beyoncé. It’s based on the first film screenplay by Lena Waithe, creator of Master Of None (for which Matsoukas has directed two episodes) and sidekick in Ready Player One. And it features the first starring performance by the UK-born Jodie Turner-Smith (in 2017’s Newness, she was credited only as ‘Statueseque Woman’).

Completing the quartet is Daniel Kaluuya, a newly minted movie star hot off the success of Get Out and Black Panther. Each of them poured their heart and soul into Queen & Slim, ensuring it remained uncompromising from script to screen. Empire sat down with the foursome on a hot November afternoon in LA to find out how they got it on the road.

This is not your average film. How hard was it to get it through the system?