Oakland’s historic Grand Lake Theater was packed out as Boots Riley returned home to premiere his latest feature, I Love Boosters, as the centerpiece film for the 69th San Francisco International Film Festival. In attendance with Riley were cast members Eiza González, Poppy Liu, and the ever-enigmatic LaKeith Stanfield.
Stanfield is an unassuming actor. He carries a quiet intensity both on and off-screen, but don’t be fooled by his seemingly chill demeanor; he’s proven a force in every role he takes, building a filmography as colorful as the Boots Riley pictures he’s been a part of. He’s also infiltrated some of this generation’s most notable films and television series, all while reigning supreme as one of the most-used (or “overused,” as he’d say) memes of all time, courtesy of Jordan Peele’s Get Out. Hoping the timeline warriors find a new meme to champion in his latest film, Stanfield opens up to us about that soul-stealing scene, joining Boots Riley for another wild adventure, and how he hopes I Love Boosters will not only please audiences but also ignite change.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Kit Stone: So last night Boots said that he thought of your character before he even started working on I Love Boosters. How does that make you feel as an actor to have a director see you before he even sees the project?
LaKeith Stanfield: In a mind as rich and beautiful and vastless as Boots, I feel good to even populate it for a second. So it’s really nice that he’s thinking of me, and I’m glad because I just love him as an artist and collaborating with him and as a human. So I feel very flattered to be thought about.
KS: Does it add pressure, or does it feel liberating and add permission?
LS: Hmm. Maybe both. I think it’s healthy to have a little bit of pressure when you step into something. It means that you view stakes, which I think means it’s important. But at the same time, I feel very relaxed and free, and I think that’s one of the beautiful things about being an actor, is you get to sometimes exist in a moment with complete boundlessness and you’re not really afforded that in everyday life. All the time, we’re too busy surviving and striving and all that. But sometimes in the eyes of your character, all there is is a moment, and that’s a beautiful gift.
KS: That’s beautiful. So your character gives a whole new meaning to “soul sucking,” and I just wanted to know how that absurd premise actually serves the film’s deeper point?
LS: I guess when contradictions are heightened, it turns our listening ears and eyes on. We’re like, “What the hell is going on?” And all you can do is marvel at the absurdity, and it kind of primes you to listen for what comes next, I think, sometimes. So in this instance, I think love, attraction, obsessiveness, and the need to consume another is sometimes what we experience in relationships, and sometimes it can feel like the soul’s being sucked out of you through your pleasure centers, I think, being in love or in like. So I think it’s a metaphor for that perhaps.
KS: You worked with Boots on Sorry to Bother You, of course. I love that film. What did you notice or learn this time that you didn’t the first time in working with him or what was a welcome comfortability you were reminded of?
LS: Hmm. When I did Sorry to Bother You, my trailer was essentially a van. So that was cool, and I remember feeling like we were building something great here because we didn’t have all these resources. We’re just like kids, out making a movie gorilla-style. That’s how I felt, and I still felt this way on Boosters. Even though we had much more real estate, we had more money, we had more support, but it still just feels like we’re making and creating from a very authentic, real place, and Boots has a way of creating that kind of environment. And I also felt that my interpretation was welcome, that I had an interpretation about this character and that he was interested in that and wanted to build on that and wasn’t so interested in molding me necessarily into his view, although I knew he had a strong point of view. So it was great.
KS: What were one or two scenes, and I’m pretty sure I can think of one of them, that surprised you or made you laugh or shocked you when you saw the finished project? Because it’s one thing to read it on paper, and it’s another thing to see it manifested on screen.
LS: Well, my scene was pretty crazy. I mean, no matter how many times I read it or knew what it was going to be, I wasn’t prepared to see it the way it showed up. And also the scene where Keke and Naomi are walking out of the shop with their clothes full of other clothes, I just always find that really funny and cute. I really like that sequence as well.
KS: I’ve struggled to describe this film to anybody, as I do with most of Boots’ projects. Somebody asked me about I’m A Virgo, and I was like, “I don’t even know. You just have to watch it.” If you had to choose three words start to describe I Love Boosters, what would they be?
LS: Give me liberty.
KS: I asked Poppy and Eiza this: Did you take anything from set? I feel like it’s so fun, and everything looks so cool, even just to have as a memento or anything.
LS: We took Whitney’s wig. So Whitney with the laptops, my wife took that wig. I might be snitching on her right now, but…
KS: Too late, she got it now. It’s too late. And then what’s one thing, I mean, if anything, about I Love Boosters that you wish someone would’ve asked you?
LS: Do you hope that people working in unfair labor conditions in China will see this movie?
KS: And do you?
LS: I do, and I hope they can feel a sense of their voices being heard. That’d be cool.
KS: I love that. I want to say you have such a quiet intensity even on screen, and when they had those closeups in I Love Boosters, I was moving back in my seat, like I could feel you coming through the screen.
LS: I was too close, I’m sorry. I’ll back up next time. I’ll give you a little bit of space.
KS: It was so funny. I love that you were able to do it with your wife. I think that was really great too. How’d she feel about that, you pulling her in? Did she suggest it, or were you like, “Let’s bring my wife?”
LS: Actually, I suggested it because sometimes when you’re in situations as an artist, when you’re doing intimate scenes, you want to talk to your partner about what that’s going to look like, feel like. You want to just sort of massage it and figure out what’s the best and safest way where everybody feels comfortable, and I thought maybe the best way to approach this would be if it were her. And also she’s an actress, so I was like, “You’re an actress, here’s a role, maybe it’ll work.” And so I asked Boots about it, and he did a reading with her, he liked her, and then he did a secondary reading with the producers, and they liked her. And so she got the role, and I was like, “Wow, check it out.”
KS: Keep it in the family for sure. Well, thank you so much. Enjoy the rest of your time in The Bay, and I cannot wait for the timelines to get a hold of this movie and meme it away.
LS: Oh my god. I know, I’m going to be another meme, but at least they’ll maybe pause the Get Out one for a second because I see that thing every day.
KS: I just saw it today!
LS: Right? I mean, it’s so overused, and now I’m ready for a new one. Please give me a new one.
Make Lakeith’s dream come true and find your new meme for him in I Love Boosters, in theaters May 22.
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