Already an Emmy nominee for Hulu’s Only Murders within the Building, Thembi Banks has made a splash at this 12 months’s Sundance along with her function movie debut, Young. Wild. Free. Sundance beforehand launched the world to her quick movie Baldwin Beauty in 2020, and now she’s confirmed her chops with a for much longer runtime. A fantastically instructed and heartbreaking story of a beleaguered youth eager for freedom, Young. Wild. Free. makes use of every thing from costumes and cinematography to music and powerhouse performances from its fresh-faced forged to color a vivid portrait of its characters.
Young. Wild. Free. follows troubled teenager Brandon (performed by Euphoria‘s Algee Smith), whose heavy duties inside his household weigh him down every day. Struggling financially and academically, his less-than-idyllic lifetime of caring for his siblings and his not altogether current mom (Sanaa Lathan) is upended when he means a manic pixie dream lady by the title of Cassidy (On My Block‘s Sierra Capri). Her carefree mentality and harmful love of adrenaline goad him into dwelling life as he had by no means earlier than imagined, even when the result’s Bonnie and Clyde ranges of catastrophic.
Screen Rant spoke to Banks whereas on the Sundance Film Festival, the place the director charted her nonlinear journey from episodic tv to a function movie debut and shared how she knew Smith and Capri had been the precise stars to guide Young. Wild. Free.
Screen Rant: You’ve finished shorts and tv episodes, however Young. Wild. Free. was your function movie debut. What was that transition like?
Thembi Banks: It was not simple. I began the method of making an attempt to prep my function and get issues so as, and I bought my first episode of Insecure proper at first [of that]. I bought the primary producers to signal on and an episode of Insecure on the identical time. Then we needed to cease capturing the movie due to COVID, after which in between the wait time, I bought a pair extra episodes of TV. All all through, I used to be fine-tuning my abilities and sharpening my toolset.
It was attention-grabbing that all of it occurred that manner, however I’m actually grateful for the journey. I realized to not have any expectations, as a result of it is not simple; it is wiggles and holes and going from side to side.
I actually love the colour palette of the movie, particularly in terms of Sierra’s character, Cass. Can you speak in regards to the intentionality behind that and the way you introduced it collectively?
Thembi Banks: Yeah, it was actually a collaborative effort. I do know folks at all times say this, but it surely was actually me with my costume designer, the superb Neishea Lemle, and my manufacturing designer, Tom Castronovo. We had conferences and periods the place all of us needed to be sure that we had been in lockstep. Especially round Sierra’s character, we needed to be sure that our concepts blended effectively and that it was natural as soon as our presence got here onscreen, as a result of issues modified there. That was very intentional. I had concepts, however they made it higher.
Algee already made a giant impression with Judas and the Black Messiah and Euphoria, however how do you know he was proper for Brandon? It’s an advanced character, and he is carrying a lot on his shoulders.
Thembi Banks: Yeah, it was actually a collaborative effort. I do know folks at all times say this, but it surely was actually me with my costume designer, the superb Neishea Lemle, and my manufacturing designer, Tom Castronovo. We had conferences and periods the place all of us needed to be sure that we had been in lockstep. Especially round Sierra’s character, we needed to be sure that our concepts blended effectively and that it was natural as soon as our presence got here onscreen, as a result of issues modified there. That was very intentional. I had concepts, however they made it higher.
Without spoiling the ending, how did you’re employed in direction of justifying it, but in addition not telegraphing it?
As an On My Block fanatic, I want to know if you happen to had been one additionally. How did Sierra come into the image?
The title feels virtually ironic, in that you may see Brandon making an attempt to dwell as much as the mantra of being younger, wild, and free, however his circumstances hold pulling him again. How do you stability these two extremes within the story?