Raine, you’re known for your world-building, so how did you go about kind of keeping to your plan when you were working within a setting you don’t always have control of?
Raine: Because I am a control freak, it was just a lot of planning! Also, South London is just accidentally art directed, right? Even though the film feels authored, and quite specific in its visuals, I hope, I definitely wanted to keep it as authentic as possible. Authentically elevated is what I always say, which sounds incredibly wanky, but it’s true. Brixton market is incredibly colourful, you walk around and it just looks like that. So, it was about being organised with where you want to shoot the locations, like making sure that it’s not ugly, but also being true to what it is and embracing it for what it is.
So, Vivian, you’ve already established you’re not that much like Yas. David, how much like Dom are you?
David: Yeah, nothing, not at all either. I think I got a little bit more game than Dom, just generally! But I think you always want to bring something of yourself to every character. I always like going to different places for my characters, but I think with every character you have to invest, and that takes some of you. So, I’ve definitely got some sensitivity in me. I don’t think you’ll catch me crying in a restroom over a breakup, scrolling through my ex’s Instagram feed. But yeah, I love Dom, and I love that he wears his heart on his sleeve – I think more men should do that.
We’re used to seeing certain tropes and stereotypes when we see Black Brits on screen, but I feel like you completely subvert those through Yas and Dom. How did you approach showing their respective vulnerabilities in an authentic way?
Raine: You know what, it actually doesn’t take much to represent what Black people are like in cinema, if you’re actually Black. You know, I think one of the things that was really important is that they felt like normal people that are having a nice day. And I’ve really felt passionate about the fact that this is what that film is; Black people go and get a coffee, Black people are awkward, Black people laugh, Black people cry over something stupid, they eat Gregg’s sausage rolls, they get on a bus. Like, we don’t always have this traumatic experience, and that was something I was really passionate about and wanted to shine a light on. But also, it isn’t actually that deep. Like, you know, I didn’t approach this thinking, “oh my god, I’m gonna make this film about Black people being normal”. It was just like, white people get to do that all the time. So, my approach was just looking at what my life’s like. And Viv and David approached it in the same way – it’s just life.