In the blink of an eye, the actress can jump from genres. Three new projects show their skill in all their facets.
Imagine teleporting to one of your favorite cinematic universes and getting an idea of how KiKi Layne feels right now. “I wasn’t entirely surprised,” says the 29-year-old actress, betting alongside Eddie Murphy on Coming 2 America. the sequel to his 1988 comedy. His eyes open wide behind his glasses. “Like, ‘Hey, this is the sequel to Come to America, and you’re Prince Akeem’s daughter. What is it?” Layne, who describes herself as a ‘big fan’ of the original, discovered a wonderful thrill at seeing Murphy at work. “It was amazing to see the master’s point you have in your work,” he says. It’s very exaggerated or something; were just the faces he made or a one-line phrase that improvised, and made everyone laugh on set. Layne, who says modestly, “I’m not an actor,” says she was relieved to play the puppet equivalent of Murphy’s funny guy in the film, which will be released on March 5 on Amazon Prime Video.
Despite downplaying his abilities, Layne definitely has a diversity when it comes to crossing genres – he’s temporarily become a popular Hollywood product thanks to his turns on the Barry Jenkins-era drama If Beale Street Could Talk and L Gina Prince-Bythewood’s action hit The Old Guard. Olivia Wilde tells me that those performances are what led her to play Layne in her next movie Don’t Worry Darling, a mental mystery centered on a 1950s housewife. “She moved me to see how non-verbal she can speak and how boldly vulnerable she is in front of the camera,” says Wilde. “I was very impressed by his presence. What I’m looking for above all is bravery, and she obviously has that in abundance. Layne appears alongside Harry Styles, Florence Pugh, and Gemma Chan in the period play, dressed in restrictive clothing appropriate for the period. “I mean, a belt is precisely what you want – weigh everything! Layne’s jokes. “But I’m glad we don’t have to do it every day. ” While the film’s plot is as well wrapped up as one of the 1950s silhouettes, Layne has one of the most difficult roles in the film, says Wilde, adding, “She plays a woman who embodies absolutely opposite extremes of the world. emotional spectrum. I’m impressed by her ability to be so vulnerable in one scene and playful in the next. KiKi is obviously a movie star. “
It will also be a manufacturer for the first time with the upcoming Ring Shout, a series founded on P’s novel. Jel Clark, who follows Maryse Boudreaux (played through Layne) as he bureaucracys a trio of monster hunters with two friends. “The monsters they hunt are called Ku Kluxes, who are necessarily other white people who have become monsters, because they have become so involved in hatred and violence that they act on other people of color,” Layne says. amid last summer’s protests against the murder of George Floyd through the Minneapolis police. A friend had shared a video through James comparing racists to “moral monsters. “”I was like, ‘Wow, that’s what he said, when you’re so inhuman, that immoral, you become a monster,’ he said. “And when you witness this kind of trauma and hatred, what kind of hatred does it put on you?How does this start to manifest and become a monster too?»
Layne appreciates the task focusing on blacks in science fiction, something Hollywood does very rarely. I don’t know if they think we don’t like this or if we’re not engaged, he said. “We like it!” Layne has also made it a precedent for paintings with female directors and women of a specific color, such as Kasi Lemmons (Eve’s Bayou, Harriet), who will be the director and showrunner of Ring Shout, and Prince-Bythewood, of whom The Old Guard has one. Netflix’s biggest hits of the summer, attracting 78 million viewers in its first month. “People were surprised that this action movie, directed through a black woman, is one of the most successful Netflix videos of all time. however, a wonderful director is a wonderful director,” Layne says. And being a woman, being a user of color, in any case, adds to the intensity of the creativity that this user is able to bring, an intensity of attitude that has been lacking in the industry.
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Ultimately, Layne needs the projects she produces and stars in to convey to her audience the same feeling she had as a child after watching Brandy spin on screen as Cinderella. As he contemplates a project, he asks himself, “How does the little black woman in me make me feel?” He also tries to create a representation with his fashion choices. As excited as she is for the sequel, Layne, an avid fashion fan (Pyer Moss and Christopher John Rogers are two of her favorite designers), is a bit disappointed to have to announce Coming 2 America through Zoom. She and her stylists Wayman and Micah had selected pieces from emerging black designers to wear on the press tour. “It was such an iconic film for culture, so we wanted all my press looks to be for culture too,” she says. She hopes to be able to offer red car looks for Don’t Worry Darling, whose release date is to be determined, she admits that she possibly has a bit of competition: “Harry is going to be the real star. [There]” she jokes she. Meanwhile, she is very happy to be back on set, an environment in which she obviously feels like home. When she passes a car, erasing our exchange with the roar of her engine, she reflexively apologizes, then, like a true movie star, she jokingly yells, “Hold the sound!” – VERONIQUE HYLAND
This story appears to be in the March 2021 factor of ELLE.
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