Melina Matsoukas On ‘Queen & Slim’ & Black Storytelling

The best films sit with us long after the credits roll. We find ourselves reflecting on the narrative days later–replaying certain scenes or bits of dialogue over and over in our heads. That’s what visionary director Melina Matsoukas aims to do with her debut feature film, Queen & Slim. Known for her masterful work on Beyonce’s “Formation”–Matsoukas has teamed up with trailblazing writer, Lena Waithe to bring Queen & Slim to life.

Coined the Black Bonnie and Clyde– Matsoukas’ Queen & Slim opens with an awkward Tinder date between Queen (newcomer Jodie Turner-Smith) and Slim (Get Out’s Daniel Kaluuya). A fierce defense lawyer, Queen is having a bad day and her time with Slim–an easy-going blue-collar guy isn’t exactly making her day any better. As the date comes to an end, and the pair head home–they are pulled over by the police for a minor traffic violation. When Slim accidentally kills the officer in self-defense, he and Queen embark on a road trip –moving from the brutal cold streets of Ohio to the blistering hot New Orleans and Florida in a race for their lives.

Ahead of the film’s November 27 debut, STYLECASTER was invited to screen the first 12-minutes of the film and to participate in a talkback with Matsoukas. She discussed why Queen & Slim had to be her first feature, why this story is so important, and her visionary storytelling.

“[Lena] and I worked together for the first time a couple of years back on an episode of Master of None called ‘Thanksgiving'” she revealed. “It was the beginning of our collaboration. I call her my work soul sister. At the time, she was writing this film. She said, ‘You’re the only one that can direct it.’ Not wanting our relationship to get in the middle of that decision, I was like, ‘Send me the script.’ I’m always about passion; I have to love the words. I couldn’t put the script down when I read it. I knew this had to be my way into the narrative space and to do it with my sister is like the biggest honor I could have ever dreamed of.”

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Considering today’s political climate with Black Lives Matter, the state of emergency on Black and brown lives–Matsoukas is well aware that Queen & Slim is going to spark some conversations. “I think the largest thing I want people to get out of it is to create that dialogue,” she reflected. “To have people talking about both sides– to change the political climate that we’re in.  There’s going to be people on both sides in this narrative. Hopefully, most are on the right side of history, and we’re part of changing that narrative into a space that has justice for Black people. We created this film to honor those Black people who have lost their lives because of police brutality and try to bring that conversation to the table. But the main theme is love. I love the backdrop of our racial climate for the story because it makes it contemporary. However, the main theme is Black love and how in our unity as Black people, that’s our best power to fight against injustice, to fight against oppression.”

When it came to setting up the characters of Queen and Slim–they are very distinct people who subvert stereotypes and gender roles. “We wanted to show different sides of Black culture and Black life and that two Black people could come together and maybe not get on,” she said. “It was really important to show that we’re not a monolithic group of people. [Slim’s] just your regular guy and he has real satisfaction in being that. [Queen] actually comes from an impoverished background, but was educated, and she was quite successful in her work. She works for people on death row, trying to get them off. ”

Though romantic dramas and comedies are extremely prevalent in cinema–Black love stories are few and far between. Both Matsoukas and Waithe were determined to do something about that. “It’s not a successful date,” the Bronx native laughed. “They’re two people that probably would not have seen each other again, and because they have this common experience, it brings them together. We do this whole modern Black love story where they’re able to support each other in ways that they didn’t even know they needed. You haven’t seen too many Black love stories, especially with two dark-skinned actors. That was really important to us– trying to change the idea of what beauty is by casting two very stunning and strong actors that are both on the darker side of the spectrum. They’re supposed to represent all of us, all the different shades of Black and all the different styles of … and pieces of our culture. And that’s why they had names you could commonly hear in the neighborhood–in the communities. You don’t find out what their true names are until the end.”

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Along with bringing Waithe’s words to life–Matsoukas is also concerned with authenticity. Queen & Slim was shot on-location, and every single choice that was made about these characters as Black people living and surviving in the 21st century was deliberate. This is not a film about Black pain. “We were very conscious of every decision that we made,” the New York University alum stated. “We want to support Black life and Black people living and breathing and thriving every day. That was our main concern, to show Black people not as victims, not being victimized, but to be empowered.”

Though Daniel Kaluuya has already made a name for himself in the industry, Matsoukas knew she wanted to elevate a lesser-known actress. She found her leading lady in Jodie Turner-Smith. “Lena and I wanted to use this opportunity as a platform to introduce a new Black actress into the world, a new voice, a new face, a new performer,” she said. “We had a challenge because Daniel was attached to the film beforehand.  He is a force to be reckoned with, and we knew we needed a very strong performer to stand her ground against him. Jodie came in and she killed it. There was no question that she was our Queen. We brought [Daniel] in to do a test with her. She was so confident. Others had strained under his talent, and she stood up there, standing tall and honestly made him blush on their first meeting. And we were like, ‘That’s the one.'”

Queen & Slim is clearly a film that will leave audiences at the edge of their seats. Though the characters seem to be headed toward their impending doom–according to Matsoukas, it’s not that simple. “The story is a story of them trying to survive,” she said. “They’re trying to escape, and in that shared journey, they fall in love along the way. It becomes their odyssey–their Wiz. They meet these characters along the way that change their view of the world and make them more vulnerable to each other. And the intimacy of the car, I think, brings them together in ways that they couldn’t have imagined and hopefully our audience, and they might possibly get away.”

Queen & Slim debuts in theaters Nov. 27, 2019.