So its easy to tune out of these things.
A Western is just the geographical time and place the story is set.
The cars become horses, the guns are still the same.
Jeymes Samuel at the “The Book Of Clarence” BFI London Film Festival Headline Gala World Premiere.Antony Jones/Getty Images for Sony Pictures
Now the guys are going to become cowboys.
And I think thats what happens a lot with the Bible as well, with the Biblical era.
DEADLINE: OK, I get it.
Teyana Taylor as Mary Magdalene inThe Book of Clarence.TriStar Pictures
Because Victor Mature was in some of those films that I watched.
Because what would happen, guys, is we learned everything you ever learned about the Bible.
You meet your friend having a fight with him, right?
You might have a fight in a school playground.
People race cars illegally all the time.
Where I grew up, the fastest person in the hood was a girl called Chantelle.
She was the fastest driver.
She was a getaway driver.
The fastest driver in the hood, its just Chantelle.
Well, in this film its very regular, right?
So theres so much you might do with that era.
If you place us in the cowboy days, theres so much we can do.
And from our perspective.
Its almost like an unwritten rule were not allowed to go into these genres.
Were not allowed to go into the Old West where one fourth of every cowboy was Black.
The main cowboy was for Black people.
White people were called cowhands.
So we werent allowed to go into the Old West, just cinematically.
I feel the same with the Biblical movies.
Were not allowed to go into that era for some reason.
And you jumped in.
SAMUEL: We had to, Baz.
Inclusion, diversity and freedom are the most important things to me as a storyteller.
Whether I have a guitar in my hand, or Im opening the final draft.
Its all about inclusion, diversity and freedom.
Freedom to tell the stories that we want to want tell.
And I believe that that freedom isnt given, its taken.
They dont do that.
You do it yourself.
SAMUEL: We have to take it.
You cannot change the words, plans, aims and intentions into dreams.
And then we started embracing words like my dream project.
Its a dream for me to do this.
But no dream is attainable.
You have dreams while you are awake.
None of these are dreams.
Its not my dream.
It wasnt my dream to become a filmmaker.
It wasnt my dream to sell a Biblical feature.
It was my plan, my aims and my intention.
Im going to make a Western.
Im going to make a Biblical era film.
When you get rid of those things, then we are able to makeThe Harder They Fall.
A $90 million movie is your debut.
Were able to makeThe Book of Clarence.
Were able to tell stories where we take them from the Old West to the New Testament.
DEADLINE: Where were you watching those Biblical spectaculars when you were a kid.
Were you at home on a Sunday afternoon, and thenThe Ten Commandments,would come on?
SAMUEL: I was watching them exactly how you said.
Over Easter, theyll always showThe Ten CommandmentsorBen-Hur.
Ill watch them like I watched the Westerns, and I would just be marveling at these movies.
I was always drawn to those stories where Jesus may just pop up in there.
Ben-Hur is being whipped by a Roman and theyre like, No water for him.
I know that man.
He gave me water once.
Ive always loved those things.
And Jesus dying in Ben-Hur, cured his whole family of leprosy, cured of all the lepers.
A man trying to prove hes a nobody, a man that believes he can do anything.
And this belief gets him in trouble with the neighborhood terrorists, so to speak.
Then he ends up on a path of self-discovery, redemption and awakening.
DEADLINE: So this is Jeymes Samuels Book of Genesis on his movie.
SAMUEL: Yeah, this is Jeymes SamuelsBen-Hur.
I wanted to throw chariot races, I wanted to throw gladiator fights.
I wanted to throw a nightclub scene.
They go to the club.
What does it look like when were in the building?
Whats that place look like when we are in the building?
Let me just give them some nice overeating.
It just gives us so much scope.
DEADLINE: What were the parallels?
So you have your Clarence character played by LaKeith.
Was he modeled ever so slightly on a Charlton Heston and a Kirk Douglas?
Charlton Heston looked like his face was born forThe Magnificent.
Kirk Douglas looked like his face was born forThe Magnificent.
Victor Mature, his face was born forThe Magnificent.
My favorite actor of all time is Charles Laughton.
He looked like a regular guy from around the corner.
What LaKeith is based on is us.
LaKeith is a guy from the hood.
The first conversation we ever had, I knew he was Clarence.
Because Clarence is about a regular dude that lives around the way.
Charlton Heston is anything but regular.
Kirk Douglas is anything but regular.
Victor Mature is anything but regular.
They look like Hollywood heroes.
When we shake off all of the oppression and the shackles.
We really believe we can fly and do magnificent things.
And LaKeith Stanfield embodies all of that.
The character Clarence is based on Baz, is based on Jeymes, hes based on us.
He thinks like us.
Thats why I didnt relate to those movies.
DEADLINE: Beautiful, beautiful.
Bad on me because why should he be based on anyone but your creation?
SAMUEL: I understand.
I totally understand the question because those were the movies that we loved.
I loved those movies and Jonathan Majors inThe Harder They Fallwas based on the heroes of the Old West.
But Clarence isnt about those people, and Clarence isnt about color.
Its all about inclusion.The Book of Clarenceis all about inclusion and diversity.
Its all about inclusion, diversity and freedom.
So in that way, any Clarence can be based on the person you walk past every day.
We aint walking past no Charlton Heston.
You know what I mean?
DEADLINE: Got it.
When Clarence and his friends are confronting the Roman centurions.
They do it in a way that seems organic.
SAMUEL: Thank you.
I wanted to show that because it was the Roman Empire.
The whole world was Rome.
They conquered and colonized everywhere.
They were going into everywhere, making trouble on the villages.
Its not as if they were welcome.
The whole world was being overrun by the Roman Empire.
Every scene with Benedict Cumberbatch.
Just the way he embraced and understood the mission.
This is the exact movie thats in my head.
And it just became something to marvel at, on set.
I was fortunate enough that these guys were fans ofThe Harder They Falland wanted to work with me.
It turns out that he [McAvoy] was a big fan ofThe Harder They Fall.
So it was pretty much pretty straightforward.
Ive always been fortunate when it comes to casting people I want to be in a movie.
Hes so dashing that you almost dont expect him to be the one.
And that was very funny.
SAMUEL: Yeah, to be the little rascal, Judas.
Also, I wanted to show the Apostles with youth.
Michael Ward is a hero to the youth, fromTop BoyandBlue Story.
This homeboy fromTop Boy, OK, but now were in the biblical era.
And theres swearing in this movie but shed love it.
But also talk to me about Biblical accuracy.
He says that verbatim, Matthew 24:5.
Because one thing that people always want is hope.
In every single era of my kind, people always want hope.
So theres historical accuracy all through this movie.
Incidentally, then and now theres people that do that, that would just lead people astray.
We know she was looked upon with scorn by the other villagers.
We know Jesus washed her of her sins.
So while the overall story is original, theres a lot of historical accuracy in the film.
DEADLINE: Did you know your Bible growing up, sounds as if you did.
SAMUEL: Yeah, I knew my Bible growing up as much as say the next person.
My mum wasnt strict about us going to church every Sunday, but she was super religious.
My mom has never said a curse word in my entire lifetime.
And my dad used to get angry.
Shed always say, Jesus, lover of my soul, let me to thy bosom fly.
And my dad would go, Joyce, your bosoms will fly off if you keep saying that nonsense.
He didnt understand why my mom… All of her amazement would come alongside a Bible part.
Another person would just say, What?
