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A backlash on social media was not the response that writer-director Kobi Libii and his cast expected when the trailer for his debut feature, “The American Society of Magical Negroes,” was released. fell back in December. Perhaps false assumptions best sum up part of the response, as in the case of one viewer who said he expected a black adaptation of “Harry Potter” and felt caught off guard.
Libii’s film is more of a satire that examines the trope of the “magical negro,” a term Spike Lee is credited with coining decades ago to denounce Hollywood’s tendency to cast black characters in supporting roles. white main characters.
Until recently, black satirical films were a relative rarity on Hollywood’s biggest screen. Now that writer-director Cord Jefferson has won the Oscar for best screenplay adaptation for “American Fiction,” that may change. In that sense, “The American Society of Magical Negroes” should arrive right on time.
Actor Justice Smith (“Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves,” “Jurassic World Dominion”) plays Aren, a young visual artist who shrinks in the presence of white people and is recruited into the American Society of Magical Negroes by Roger, played by David Alan Grier, to hone his ability to make white people feel comfortable to prevent black people from coming to harm.
“The happier they are, the safer we will be,” Roger reasons to Aren.
However, Aren’s assignment to be friends with Jason, a young, white tech professional, goes awry when he begins to regain his own sense of self-worth and falls in love with Lizzie, who also likes Jason.
“This conversation about the expectation that Black people are prioritizing white comfort over our own history and our own sense of identity is an incredibly contemporary issue,” Libii told NBC News. “That’s happening politically in the United States right now. You see these laws that are passed in places like Florida around what black history is taught and that literally say that elements of black history, things that really happened in the United States, cannot be said out loud. high in the classroom if it makes white children uncomfortable.”
Smith’s personal connection to the film made him want to play Aren. “I grew up in a very white community. And I’m a people pleaser, and that’s a terrible recipe,” she said. “I myself had to go on a journey of empowerment, similar to Aren’s, and I knew I could lend myself to the story.”
“In Living Color” legend Grier says Libii’s mix of fantasy and comedy with a lot of heart led him to play Roger. Grier, who is both a master of satire and an accomplished dramatic actor, views Roger and Aren’s opinions through a generational lens.
For him, Roger very much represents “how we used to do it.” When Grier was young, he too experienced the growing pangs of well-meaning older men who tried to guide him with the manual they used when they were younger.
“When I was a kid,” he said, “all these old guys were talking to me about the 1920s and 1930s, and I was like, ‘Man, it’s 1963, bro, we’re modern.’ So he is very generational,” Grier said.
While Grier said he sees the initial social media reaction as a sign of the times, those who saw the film came away with a different conclusion.
“The reaction at Sundance was amazing,” he said. “I mainly remember women, black women, coming up to me and telling me their story of long-standing microaggressions and why they chose not to stand up and the guilt they felt.”
It’s impossible to address every incident, Grier says. “You have to pick your battles,” he said. “If we react to every little microaggression, we won’t make it to 12 noon.”
Nicole Byer, who plays DeDe, the head of the American Society of Magical Negroes, has encountered the magical negro trope in her career. “I’ve been to auditions where it’s a magical black role where he’s just a friend. You don’t have any backstory. It’s like she is 32 years old and loves her best friend.”
The title is what initially attracted Byer. “I love the title of the movie. I think it was very polarizing, and then I read the script and thought it was incredible. I love a great premise and I love that it involves a romantic comedy.”
Byer also has fun in the film. “I fly on film,” he smiled over Zoom.
Given a chance, Libii is confident that people will find value in his film. But he also understands the concern. “It’s very understandable that black people are skeptical about what comes out of Hollywood,” she said. “My hope,” she continued, “is that people watch the full movie, which is a much more nuanced and thorough treatment of some of these issues, and then take up those conversations again.”
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