The foundation for theLena Waithe-produced movie actually comes from the writer, director, and star’s own actions.
ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: How did the title for the film come about?
RADHA BLANK:What do you think?
Credit: Jeong Park/Netflix
You think I just came up withThe Forty-Year-Old Versionon my own?
Of course I was appropriating his title.
It just felt like the right title for the film.
I guess the commentary would be that there should be people who look like me in stories like his.
No, it was a little more thought behind it.
I was again sending up his films.
It didn’t come out of freestyle.
It was that since it was a web series.
There’s a lot of great themes and moments and things you’re able to include in the film.
It’s a great New York film.
There’s a lot of interesting commentary on Black women in their 40s.
A dope battle rap scene.
What are the things that were really important for you to include in the film?
Just real New Yorkers.
I wanted it to feel authentic.
And I just wanted it to feel chock-full of New York.
What was your thought process behind balancing the narrative of the film with your music performances in it?
I didn’t have a thought process.
I just let the film tell me what it was.
If something didn’t feel like it fit, I would just take it out.
I wanted to check that that the narrative was there and check that that the music had a space.
I’m the child of a musician.
I also make music.
And so it really wasn’t about me thinking, it was more about me listening.
If something felt it was going on too long.
I had to pull it out.
I wanted it to be a full and resolute movie.
I mean, it’s a movie.
It is a movie.
It’s not a musical and I’m not trying to solely promote music.
I’m just trying to tell an authentic New York story.
So it’s going to show up in many forms.
Someone said on Twitter, there’s not enough rapping in the music in the movie.
And I was like, really?
There’s 14 different times people are rapping.
Maybe hip-hop doesn’t show up in the way that they want it to, but it’s there.
People from the culture see it from Da Beatminerz beats to the freestyles to the battles.
It’s chock-full of hip-hop.
I think maybe it’s just not hip-hop in the way people expect it, you know?
No, I don’t make films to win awards.
Robert Townsend calling my film a masterpiece, that’s award enough for me.
And I really do make films to touch their audience and this hasn’t yet touched its audience yet.
So I’m really looking forward to that day.
But no, I was not expecting that at all.
If they do, then they might want to rethink that.
They might want to go into fashion or something else, because that’s not guaranteed.
And it doesn’t mean that the film is a good film that touches people.
That’s not a guarantee.
I think someone who’s focusing on those things might be setting themselves up for disappointment.
I try not to take anything to heart.
The criticism, the praise.
A lot of times I make stuff for myself and my immediate audience.
I’m hoping this is the beginning of my career as a director.
I can only speak for myself.
Maybe now that I made a film, I’ll get my plays produced.
But yeah, I don’t know.
I have no idea what is happening in theater these days.
I just know that after COVID, it will probably have to reinvent itself.
That has nothing to do with them.
That’s the gatekeepers and the gatekeepers pandering to their membership.
We’ll do it this time because it’s people of color and disabled actors.
That would f—ing impress me.
Do you see this film as something that could be expanded into another project, like a TV show?
Oh, hell no.
Hell f—ing no, not if I can help it.
I don’t know why people do that.
I want to be a filmmaker, I want to make films.
I’m not interested in expanding the world of something just because.
If people like it and they enjoy it, then great.
I hope it inspires people.
I hope it heals whoever needs to be healed, but I can tell more than one story.
And then let’s do the Asian version of it and make it a musical and doTheForty-Year-Old Versionin Taiwan.
No, this is it.
I hope this is it.
And no, I won’t be doing aFifty-Year-Old Versionor aSixty-Year Old-Version.
I saw it mentioned before, but why would you not want to really act in your work again?
I’m not an actor.
I played myself and it was fun to send myself up.
But I’m not an actor.
I wouldn’t even insult the craft by calling myself one.
I’m not trained.
I don’t go to auditions day in, day out.
I don’t have the stamina or wherewithal that actors have.
I played myself once and that’s it.
Playing me, it actually is not that challenging.
I don’t know if I can play that woman.
I don’t know that I have the range for that.
And so I would leave those acting roles to the real thespians.
The Forty-Year-Old Versionis now streaming on Netflix.
