The Blackening Star Jermaine Fowler Says He Drew Inspiration From Paul Dano (Exclusive)
Ahead of the release of his upcoming horror comedy The Blackening, actor Jermaine Fowler compared his character to Paul Dano's Alex from Prisoners. In The Blackening, Fowler plays a character named Clifton, whose personality and mannerisms are very specific and deliberate. In an interview with ComicBook.com, he admitted that he based Clifton on a combination of a very general "type" of person -- affluent Black Republicans he knew from the Maryland comedy circuit -- and a much more specific piece, which was Dano's Alex.
In Prisoners, Hugh Jackman plays a parent whose child is kidnapped, and who believes Dano's character is the one responsible. After the suspect is released for lack of evidence, Jackman takes matters into his own hands.
"In Maryland there's a lot of affluent black folks who are Republicans, and I've met a couple of them at comedy shows and stuff," Clement told ComicBook.com's Chris KIllian. "They're all very particular with their mannerisms. It's so weird -- you can put them in a box. They all kind of dress the same, talk the same. But then I watched Prisoners, and Paul Dano's character really stood out to me. I was just so interested in his story. I just love that outcast sort of vibe he was giving off."
That doesn't seem like an immediately obvious influence for a slasher comedy, but certainly it's easy to understand that Dano is often a guy who plays complicated and creepy characters...the type that could easily be at home in a horror movie (or, y'know, a pastiche of horror movies with some laughs sprinkled in for flavor).
The Blackening centers around a group of Black friends who reunite for a Juneteenth weekend getaway only to find themselves trapped in a remote cabin with a twisted killer. Forced to play by his rules, the friends soon realize this ain't no motherf****** game. Directed by Tim Story (Ride Along, Think Like A Man, Barbershop) and screenplay and screen story by Tracy Oliver (Girls Trip, Harlem) & Dewayne Perkins (The Amber Ruffin Show, Brooklyn Nine-Nine), The Blackening skewers genre tropes and poses the sardonic question: if the entire cast of a horror movie is Black, who dies first?
The Blackening stars Grace Byers, Jermaine Fowler, Melvin Gregg, X Mayo, Dewayne Perkins, Antoinette Robertson, Sinqua Walls, Jay Pharoah, and Yvonne Orji.
The film opens in theaters on June 14.