Save this article to read it later.
Find this story in your accountsSaved for Latersection.
Dont Let Gocenters on Detective Jack Radcliff (Oyelowo), whose family is brutally murdered.
What follows is a tangled story with various timelines, supernatural intrigue, and double crossings.
Can you talk about the genesis ofDont Let Go?The script came to us quite some time ago.
Its very unusual, actually, that we develop and then give to a director.
Most of the movies we make start with a director or writer-director.
He worked on the script a lot and finally got it to a place where we were pleased.
Then we went and made the movie.
That leads me to my next question.
It was written from a color-blind perspective.
It was probably written white.
When Terry brought up David [Oyelowo], Im as guilty of it as anyone else.
I was thinking of it as a white actor who would play that part.
But then she mentioned David, I thought it was a terrific idea, and we went for it.
And thats happened quite a bit on both our movies and our TV shows.
Youve produced a lot of black-led horror and thriller films likeDont Let Go,Get Out, andMa.
It would be disingenuous to say were doing this because it is the right thing.
We are doing this because it makes the movies better.
And its good business for us.
Thats kind of one half of your question.
ButGet OutandBlacKkKlansmanare very much about race.
Until recently, I think there were just very few African-Americans in horror movies.
If they were, they were cast in I think ways that are kind of quietly prejudiced.
So I think there has been a lack in color-blind horror movies cast with African-Americans.
So there has been a real demand in those movies.
So, speaking of color-blind casting and writing.I reviewedMafor Vulture.
Was that written with a black actress in mind?No.
This is the first time I heard anyone mention it, but I see why you say it.
But clearly its not something we thought about.
It kind of touches on something I said earlier.
I thinkMais not race.
Its about bullying; its about other things.
But I dont think its about race.
I may be right or I may be wrong, but thats my thought about it.
But listen, I completely hear what youre saying.
But its not something I thought about until you mentioned it now.
Im thinking specifically about the fifthPurgefilm coming out in an election year.James DeMonaco writes and directs the movies.
Its more organic than that.
I think the storytelling has to come and you find the issue within it.
When do you know youve crossed a line with a movie designed to rile audiences?
I dont think everything we make is brilliant.
Ive had regrets of things weve made because of the quality.
But I have never regretted anything weve made because of the politics.
How has your approach to producing changed over the years?
The TV business doesnt operate like that.
It isnt a low-cost business.
Its exactly the modelDont Let Gosprung out of and fits into.
Which is that we make the movies for a very low cost.
In exchange for working for scale the director gets final cut.
And we have a lot of creative input.
But in the end the directors have final say and the cost is low.
Some of them work and some of them dont.
But when they dont, we dont get too badly hurt.
And all of them come out in some way or another.
Maybe just on streaming or maybe on 1,000 screens or maybe on 2,000 screens.
But that model that we started ten years ago we still adhere to.
I want to switch gears a little bit.
Youve spoken about how your approach to producer has and hasnt changed.
If I was offered the choice to make the movie again, I would say yes.
We definitely made marketing mistakes, and we made plenty of mistakes along the way.
So Ive learned a lot.
It might change how I would position movies and how I would consult on the marketing of the movies.
But actually the making of the movies?
Is there any chance ofThe Huntbeing released in the future?Definitely a chance.
I wish I could say I had that big of an effect on the world.
Were in the middle of sea change on what is theatrical and what is streaming.
Were all trying to figure that out and we havent.
