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Dewayne Perkins doesnt play by cinemas preestablished rules.
The longtime homies find themselves in peril when an unknown murderer begins hunting them all down.
And it does so for a reason, says Perkins.
Cinema just allows characters to be white and exist, so we wanted to have that same energy.
I had to learn how to do that my whole life.
Its nothing thats ever questioned.
Its pushing the genre forward in a very progressive way.
The Blackeningstems from a comedy short in which you also named your character Dewayne.
For example, Gina fromMartin when people see Tisha Campbell, theyre like, There goes Gina.
If this movie is a hit, I want people to be able to call me by my name.
The shared chemistry of the cast makes this horror-comedy so lively.
Knowing your background and that of your co-star X Mayos, it felt like improv at times.
The script created a really good foundation for what you see onscreen.
There are opportunities to kind of adjust things here and there.
And Tim Story really created an environment that gave us the freedom to play.
I thought that was the best dynamic that worked for the film.
As a cast full of Black people, inherently the film will be Black.
The task was to show that Blackness can also be universal and nuanced.
Survival is universal, community is universal, and friendship is universal.
We wanted to allow these Black people to be as specific and unique as they are.
It isnt a definitive statement on Blackness.
Youre simply seeing Black people be Black.
And they sure did.
We used that moment to create the red herring.
But when the reveal happens, its doubling down on the conversation of what is Blackness.
How we can or cannot quantify it and how that affects people.
What do you look forward to writing next?
That is new, because you simply have not seen those people exist in these spaces.
Those are the two Im most excited to work in next.
I love action movies, and I would love to write a queer rom-com.
Yes, she gives.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
