The Blackening's Dewayne Perkins And Jay Pharoah Play Heightened Versions Of Themselves - Exclusive Interview

A hit at the 2022 Toronto International Film Festival's Midnight Madness section, "The Blackening" is coming to theaters in time for all your Juneteenth celebrations. This horror comedy — directed by Tim Story and written by Dewayne Perkins and Tracy Oliver — follows a group of friends having a Juneteenth party at a cabin in the woods. They soon find themselves fighting for their lives against a masked serial killer forcing them to play The Blackening, a board game meant to determine who is the "Blackest" among them and thus the first to die in a typical horror movie.

Looper got the chance to speak with Dewayne Perkins — who, in addition to writing the film, plays the lead character Dewanye — and his co-star Jay Pharoah, who has a smaller but memorable role as Shawn. We discussed how Perkins' original short film was expanded to a full feature, how much the actors were able to put themselves into their characters, and the board games and Black horror movies they love the most.

My first question is for Dewayne, who plays a character who's also named Dewayne in a film that he co-wrote. How much of this character is based on yourself?

Dewayne Perkins: Most of it. It's a heightened version of myself. I wanted to create a role that showcased me, but in an environment I've never been in. But it was very intentional to keep my same name, to push [that] this is a variation of me — because if I got a chance to write for myself, this is what it would be.

How did you go about expanding the concept from the original short film?

Perkins: We wanted to write and create the film around the original short. The biggest task was expanding the characters into real, authentic, depth-of-field characters so that the plot was grounded while still focusing on the horror and then being able to incorporate the comedy. That was the biggest task — learning who these people were outside of the short and giving them life.

Jay, what was your reaction when first reading the script?

Jay Pharoah: I thought the concept was innovative. It was funny. Nothing felt spurious. Everything felt super genuine.

Perkins: Spurious?

Pharoah: You like that?

Perkins: Yeah. That's a good word.

Pharoah: Dude, you've seen the movie. When you have fun and you have horror in the same vein, and when it melds perfectly, you've got a recipe for success. I'm excited. I'm excited for the people that wrote the film. I'm excited for Dewayne. I'm excited for Tracy [Oliver] because I know that they'll get other opportunities to furthermore cement themselves and put more hits out there. This is definitely one of them.

I was blessed to be a part of it. Tim Story's directing — amazing. I knew Sinqua [Walls, who plays Nnamdi]; we had a relationship before. He actually hit me up about the movie. I read it, and we're here, man. I thought it was great.

When you read the script, did you know that you were going to be playing Shawn, or were there any other characters that you were interested in?

Pharoah: Shawn is a reenacting of me, pretty much. I just played it. He's a little more adventurous — I've never played that before. [He's] happy to show people horror or whatever. In real life, I don't mess with no horror. If something squeaks or something, we're out of there. I don't be like, "Ooh, it's squeaking." Nah, forget that.

This character was different. Even in other films I've played, I've gotten ... I don't know if you've seen "Unsane"; I got shocked to death. I got blown up in a movie. But in those films, the character was different because it was more me in real life. This one was a chance for me to play something different that nobody had seen. Besides the fact that the profession, the backstory ... Playing the character was different. But it was Shawn. I was asked to play Shawn, so I played Shawn.

The short film was made with Dewayne's old improv group, 3Peat. How much improv was done for the feature?

Perkins: Quite a bit. There was a clear foundation from the script. Everybody respected what Tracy [Oliver and I] wrote, but there was also an openness to explore what else can come from it. The actors were always empowered to bring whatever they wanted to bring. Tim [Story] was very conscious of getting a clean version of the script and then being like, "Okay, now you could play a little bit more."

That play brought a lot to the film. There's so many moments that I know for sure that I did not write, but it brings so much to the film and allows people to embody their characters in a way that doesn't feel contained. A lot of us do come from improv, sketch, standup. There are a lot of creative people that were a part of this cast, so giving them that freedom to give specificity in life to their characters was essential to what ended up on screen.

What are your favorite Black horror movies other than this one?

Perkins: Me and Jermaine [Fowler, who plays Clifton] was talking about this yesterday — we both really enjoy "Bones" with Snoop Dogg. We both saw that when we were fairly young. It was like, "Oh, this is dope. Snoop Dogg is this ghost killing people." "Leprechaun in the Hood" — I would consider that a Black horror movie because he in the hood with all the Black people; that was a fun one. "The Skeleton Key" had Black people in it.

Pharoah: I've got a couple, I don't know — can I say that they are Black horror films? I know horror in general. "Jeepers Creepers" was always a fun one for me.

Perkins: They had one Black woman. She was the psychic.

Pharoah: They had the boy on the bus. It was two Black players on the bus. Remember that?

Perkins: That was "Jeepers Creepers 2."

Pharoah: It was. "Jeepers Creepers 1," "Jeepers Creepers 2" ... That was dope. Also "House on Haunted Hill" — Taye Diggs was in there.

Perkins: And he survived ... "People Under the Stairs" is also one that had a Black person that survived. Ving Rhames did not.

Pharoah: Also, "Pulp Fiction." That was a traumatic movie ... Samuel L. Jackson, Ving Rhames. It was scary for me.

Perkins: "Get Out," too. I guess that's a Black horror movie.

Pharoah: I liked "Us" too.

Perkins: We can name these all day, but those are a nice chunk.

What are your favorite board games?

Pharoah: Monopoly.

Perkins: Monopoly is a little too long for me.

Pharoah: You don't like Monopoly?

Perkins: Nah, I like be like, "Wrap it up."

Pharoah: Sorry? Do you like Sorry?

Perkins: I love the mechanism in the middle of Sorry, where you press it and then the dice pop up. Clue.

Pharoah: Guess Who. Is that another one?

Perkins: That is not a board game.

Pharoah: That's not a board game? That's a movie.

Perkins: That's a game where you flip the little things, right?

Pharoah: That's what I'm saying. Oh, yeah — that ain't a board game.

Perkins: There's no board. Candyland was my s*** when I was younger.

Pharoah: I used to play that.

Perkins: Now, it's a little too simplistic. The Game of Life ... I love being like, "What's my life going to be? How many kids I got? How much money do I make? What's my job?" That was always a fun one.

Pharoah: Mouse Trap. That used to be fun too. That was really funny. Risk — I like Risk, but "Lord of the Rings"-themed Risk specifically. I'm a geek at heart. You don't got to be a geek to watch "Lord of the Rings." I like "Lord of the Rings"; so what?

Perkins: Is Risk a fantasy game?

Pharoah: Yeah. You got cards and stuff like that. You got battalions; you got little pieces you move. It's all about strategy. It almost feels like chess, but it's a strategic game of how to take people's players, and you roll the dice.

Perkins: Is the game where you say, "You sank my battleship" ... ? Wait, that's Battleship. As I said it, I was like, "No." Got it. Those are my go-tos.

"The Blackening" opens in theaters on June 16.

This interview has been edited for clarity.